LTS

Defensive scoring is so heavily influenced by the ability of the forwards to be in position to screen, deflect, and bury rebounds. This team is not good at this at the moment. In fact, the forwards get so little respect that teams don't feel the need to collapse their wingers down as far as the Sabres do to help cover the low areas. This leaves less time for the defense to maneuver and make plays at the blueline. That said, Pysyk makes routinely smart plays. He's rarely out of position. He gets his shot through the first pair of legs. He's going to turn out far better than we think at this point I believe.

Yes, there were quite a few people calling for that change. And there were others who were not... the threads from last two years certainly demonstrate the battle of the Storm Cloud and the Kittens. I don't disagree with your commentary on the banners. I think your point actually underscores the entire problem. The team showed success and yet showed failure. So, given that history with that coach it takes a bit of time to recognize that fit hit the shan. They looked at 2006 and said.. why not again? We have the pieces. Look at Pominville now.. thriving away in Minnesota. Perhaps the introduction of Pegula gave the core hope that Regier would be gone but when it didn't happen they decided to stop playing as hard. Ruff lost them.. eventually all the pieces were changed for something new. Good discussion. :)

The right time is always some time. It's easy to say when it is especially when events unfold in a manner that support your theory. However, at the time the decisions are being made there are a multitude of possible endings and it's not so cut and dry. This franchise has been through hell over the past two decades. It suffered the loss of its founding family, it suffered through a scandalous and criminal leadership, it was rescued from bankruptcy by an investor who rebuilt the team to viability but wasn't quite willing to let the contracts commit his money too long term. It was bought buy a long time fan of the team who is known for his dedication to his people. Leadership isn't firing someone every time there is a mistake. Sometimes you see something in someone and you hope they can find it too. So you bring in people to help them and give them guidance. In the end, it's a few too many bad decisions and you end up in this situation. And sometimes it's works out. I think it's insane to think there was no plan. There was plan to win with the core they had. Unfortunately it seems that all 3 components weren't a good fit. So this is the aftermath. All of what has come before is gone and they start again. They do it because that's all they can do. Unless everyone wants to them quit trying.

Regier studied under the most famous of Islander GMs.. I hear he's available in case they need a change.

Wait the Avs didn't respond to their goalie getting steamrolled? Oh.. wait. They wouldn't have.. it was the Wild goalie getting steamrolled. :) Still, the lack of insane response by the Wild can only be attributed to one thing.. Pominville has clearly made the Wild a soft team unable to respond to opponents steamrolling their goaltender. I hope every goalie in the league takes a shot at Kadri for that.

Yea... 16 years ago.. Google did not exist. Netscape Navigator was the browser of choice 56Kbps was the top speed for internet access (on dial-up!) Steve Jobs had just rejoined Apple The NHL website looked like this: http://web.archive.org/web/19970620032311/http://www.nhl.com/ The only sad thing? The new GM will still have to know how to operate a fax machine.

Pegula probably doesn't enjoy firing Regier. He's known as a guy who is loyal to his employees. At the same time, change was needed. I think the hiring of LaFontaine lends itself to two things. First, the Sabres hire a respected person to lead their hockey operations. Second, LaFontaine returning to Buffalo shows other players that he likes Buffalo and that he is comfortable being here. Perhaps that sways a few opinions. Hiring Nolan is interesting. I think his sample size as coach isn't large enough to really know what he'll be. He's dying for ANY shot to coach again in the NHL. If he shows well then it won't matter if the Sabres keep him, he'll get his shot. If he doesn't show well then he knows he's done. At the same time people will be pleased it's him and they know he's a straight shooter. We'll now know what this organization is about. That's all I think we've wanted. it's a new day.. the path forward is unknown. Time to see what happens.

In other news people who eat pickles die 100% of the time. The Sun comes out tomorrow. And Las Vegas says you can bet your bottom dollar.

Bottom line is the Oilers are going to have to dump someone at some point and everyone knows it. They can say they won't, but they will.

It would be a suicide pass if he hits him from the front. He hit him from behind. See Campbell v. Umberger for the textbook definition of a suicide pass.

Clean? That looks like a textbook definition of a blindside hit to me.

Agreed. He's a no quit guy, that's for certain.

Since the Flyers are scoring less than the Sabres right now it might be a case where they still won't get that record. :) It's all in the wording. He said he didn't receive a contract offer. That doesn't mean he wasn't told that they would make him the highest paid player in the NHL.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/23/sports/nhl-roy-is-charged-with-domestic-violence.html Yea.. apparently late October is the time for goalies to beat their wives. (I actually think there is a statistic out there that shows October as being one of the higher violence months).

I'll try to write updates when I go to the games.. I don't go that often. :)

I've now learned that I must really like dishwater. Thanks for testing that out and letting me know!

Had this queued for a response and then saw this... And that's the point. Moulson has proven he can score when paired with a top center and score well. If nothing else a GM will go forward with it. NHL Network showed a stat demonstrating linemate effectiveness. Over the past X years (2010?) the most active line mates in scoring (where two line mated earned a point on one goal) the Sedins were number one at 92. Moulson and Tavares were #2 at 82. That's saying a lot about their chemistry and their effectiveness playing together. I'm sure I made that more confusing than it should have been but I saw them talking about it in the morning and I hadn't had coffee yet.

Indeed. In fact I think right now is the time the Sabres should be finding a team that wants exclusive negotiating rights with Miller. If there is a team that is going to go after him next year then perhaps they can facilitate the goalie trade to Edmonton and take Miller (contingent on contract extension, or not I suppose). The Sabres can basically work a three-way trade to send a D to Edmonton and perhaps get some picks/prospects from Miller's preferred team along with something from Edmonton. That's the best hope I see at this point if it's true that Miller blackballed all Canadian teams (which won't make him real popular in Canada I am thinking).

Yes.. he took hits in front of the net. He didn't really ever get a body on people on the ice and he usually lagged behind the play when it turned back towards the Sabres zone. There is more than just the slot in front of the opposition net to playing hockey. Vanek has talent, it's his choice to apply it. You can point to his OT goal against Washington as proof. He can chase people down. He has excellent stick skills to shoot and steal the puck. He has speed when he wants to use it. He just doesn't do it all the time. As for the conditional pick they discussed on WGR the possibility that Darcy asked for it. I thought the reasoning was fairly solid too. The Isles gained very little out of this. They can flip Vanek but do we think they'll get more than they would have gained by flipping Moulson? if they can only replace it then they basically lost Moulson for nothing. The Sabres on the other hand can flip a player who hasn't been declared as going to Minnesota yet and has proven goal scoring ability. If the Isles are picking 1-10 this year the Sabres get a 1st round pick in a deep draft in 2015. They can get another 1st rounder this year if they flip Moulson as well. If the Islanders do make the playoffs or pick 11-30 then the Sabres get a 1st rounder this year and can still flip Moulson for a 1st rounder next year, etc. I dunno, the Sabres seem to have a ton of upside here whereas the Islanders can only hope to flip Vanek to replace what they gave up in the first place and if they are flipping Vanek that means they expect to miss the playoffs or not have a chance in which case they could be in the 1-10 range.

I just watched the video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTSsQ7UwnZ0 It looks like Dubinsky's shoulder goes straight into Koivu's head. (:41 mark of the video, Dubinsky's elbow in fact is in contact with Koivu and Koivu's head is jarred sideways). Just saying, I don't think it's body first.

Good point, but my thought was only that they needed to do it for Miller so they were good. Now we know they did it with Vanek, but Moulson moves easier than Vanek's salary if they decide to move him. Most likely use of that clause is with Miller and they have more room to maneuver. All of those contracts come off the books at the end of the season so they could start again but I think they are going to use their buyouts. The question is which two of the three end up gone? (Myers, Leino, Stafford). My guess is Leino and Stafford. If I am recalling correctly the Sabres still have two compliance buyouts as Gerbe was a straight buyout right?

Boo. He should have. That was the craziest crap suspension I've seen. And now that Dubinsky isn't even getting a whiff of a review for whacking Koivu in the head he had an even stronger case. Oh well.. give it up, pack it in.

A few things to think about when we talk about how easy it is to move a player.. especially one who will be a UFA at year's end. The Sabres have $8mm in cap space, the Isles have $11mm in cap space. If they are going nowhere they could offer Vanek to another team and absorb 50% of the cap hit (isn't that the max?) for the other team. So a team with $3.5mm of cap space wants Vanek? No problem. The Isles retain $3.5mm in salary and the other team trades them $1mm in salary and boom.. Vanek is gone. The Sabres can do the same with Moulson, but more importantly, they cleared $3+mm in cap space by moving Vanek. Why does this matter? Because now they can eat a full 50% of Miller's contract to move him to another team who wouldn't want to take on his $6.1mm hit. As for Moulson not wanting to sign here.. I love how we all just assume to know what a player wants. Where did Horton end up? He chose Columbus, a team that has middled around for quite some time. Bottom line, if Moulson performs the Sabres will make an offer. If he wants it, he will sign. If not, he will get moved. The Sabres own this situation. As for Vanek? We'll see what happens. I think there were times that he definitely was a downer for the team. He has the ability to do great things, he just didn't always follow through with that.

They were already challenging for that with Vanek. :) So, my son, the ever witty 9 year old hockey nut's response when I told him this morning: "So, they traded #26 for #26?" Hah.. hadn't even thought about that. Assuming Moulson wears 26 because he likes that number then I'm guessing if he's in the lineup tonight (which I assume he would be) there will still be a #26 but just a different name on the back. Strange. The other thing to keep in mind is that Moulson hadn't signed a deal with the Isles either. So even though he supposedly LOVED playing with Tavares he wasn't willing to sign a deal to keep playing there. Also, Moulson could end up signing with the Isles next year as well. That's the thing with UFAs. I think this is a good trade, they had to move Vanek now so a team could get benefit.

Yep.. point is Moulson is a 30 goal scorer when he has a center with him. Other teams know that his numbers will go down with the Sabres but they'll expect them to pick up when they acquire him. Vanek had little value except to a team that could go for it this year. The Isles have the youth and are succeeding enough. Truthfully, if all the Isles did was swap a 30 goal scorer with a 35 goal scorer do you think they won this trade? Speculating what other teams might have given for Vanek is pointless.. they didn't do it. What comes from here is what makes or breaks this trade.