LaFontaineToMogilny

Shane Doan is moving himself into Dwight Howard territory for me. Yet another sound bite this morning that essentially yet again says: I know I sort of set a deadline yesterday, so if the Coyotes doesn't clarify soon it might be time to start listening to offers... It's getting really hard to see these little leaks from his agents as anything other than trying to squeeze 4 years out of the Coyotes, when they probably want to offer less.

There might be other teams willing to match that offer, but I feel pretty good about the assumption that Buffalo was the team that set that price. It also seems the Doan is about ready to make a call either way, but who knows if it's just the agent keeping the water muddy.

I don't need Doan to be a sniper, we already have one of the better snipers in the league. I want Shane Doan because he fills out the Vanek line perfectly. He'll go to the net, work like a horse and knock pucks lose leaving our other $7.5 man to do what he does best. It also sets us up with what I would consider three very solid scoring lines. Everyone saw what Ennis et. al. did against second pairings last spring. With Vanek, Hodgson, Doan commanding top pair matching that leaves opposing teams with matching their two bottom pairs up against either Foligno, Ennis, Stafford or Ott, Leino, Pominville. That is why I am drooling for Doan. The 'secondary' scoring has the potential to go up significantly. On top of that, he could be a strong veteran presence that the Sabres are dying for. Sure, he's a couple years older than I would like, but other than that he is a virtual perfect fit for the way I would construct the Sabres.

I hope almost everybody else around the league feels the same. For the Sabres though, I would be more than happy to see them get Doan for that deal. I think Shane Doan is as close to a perfect fit for the Sabres as you can get.

Is the Sabres not being mentioned as a possible Doan suitor cause for concern, or a sign of classic ninja-style Darcy flying under everyone's radar? In my mind it is pretty much confirmed that the Sabres have made an offer to him at least, isn't that enough to even get us to possible suitor status? http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/21266-2012-2013-trade-rumor-thread/page__st__1000#entry408590

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/18577/morning-links-doan-to-have-critical-talk According to ESPN Doan will have a key meeting with the Coyotes today and Detroit is out, Vancouver might also be out.

Bah, that's nothing! My favorite team went bankrupt a couple years ago and got relegated down to the 7th level of the league. Weird when your favorite team and one of the most storied franchises in the land plays in essentially a beer league. It's been great for our record though. Since it happened we've tied one game and won everything else.

That's funny. When I lived in Norway I asked someone to get me a Mogilny jersey right after he was traded. That jersey purchase is what eventually led to me moving to California.

That is a bit of a mystery even to myself. I don't know. In my formative years I was drawn to California, but I ended up following the Sabres and I do not know why. I played hockey and was interested in the game, but could only get box scores in the papers once every three days or so, or not really box scores, I would see the score line. When I figured out how to get the Armed Forces Radio on my old radio (there used to be a NATO airbase not too far from where I grew up) I would be able to catch hockey (and football) games, game started at 1am (or 4am) local time and I would be glued to the radio. For some reason I would just be drawn to the Sabres. As we say where I am from, you don't pick your team, the team picks you. So, without ever have set a foot in Buffalo, I've been a Sabres fan for a few decades, and in a roundabout way The Sabres are the reason why I ended up moving to the USA.

I have built a tiny little mini sticks rink in the garage where the boys and I shoot some pucks around. The other day one of my kids scored down low on his brother and I heard him yell in excitement : "Bottom shelf, where mama puts the vegetables!" I felt in that moment that I am a success as a parent.

What??? I still replay my own taped copy of the Boston game the Sabres won 6-0, Lucic had a goal disallowed for the flimsiest of reasons, Kaleta bumped Chara into Thomas and also scored. Everything you can ask for in a game in my eyes.

I am fully Norwegian, well I think technically I am 1/16th Swedish, but I don't like to talk about it.

I currently live in Los Angeles, but I have been a Sabres fan since growing up in the rugged Scandinavian mountains of Norway.

Must be an animatronic Maybe once I hit 250 posts.

That's nobody's business but the Turks

Not at all. At least in South Africa and Japan/South Korea soccer has a reasonable following in the population, not so (still) in the USA. I agree that hosting the WC in South Korea and Japan was a mistake, as will hosting the world cup in Qatar be. It would also be a mistake to host it in Canada or the United Sates. I'd rather see a country like England host the World Cup a second time before it is brought to the US or Canada (and many other countries). I understand that FIFA is hellbent on spreading the game to as many countries as possible, and that will probably lead to the US hosting the World Cup again within the next two decades, but I would like to see countries that care deeply for soccer host the World Cup rather than the ones that has the greatest financial upside for the corrupt fat cats in FIFA.

That's great that soccer is growing in Canada, but there are scores of countries all over the world where soccer is infinitely more popular that has never been close to hosting a world cup. And yes, the US did host a World Cup, but that was a similar travesty in my opinion.

No more of a travesty than South Korea or South Africa getting automatic berths as host nations, not to mention Poland AND Ukraine taking up two spots in the European Championships. The real travesty would be that the World Cup would be hosted in a country where there's very little interest in football.

The most recent Cup winner did however rely quite heavily on their fourth line to be able to play significant minutes.

I am happy to hear all of this.

I feel I still have some leeway considering some other repeated statements about other players currently on the Sabres. ;)

If he is capable of holding down a regular 4th line spot on the wing I will be very pleasantly surprised.

My only hope is that someone will be willing to pay more than the Sabres. I cannot stand Bobby Ryan.

Maybe there's substance to the Millers wanted out rumors and this is a way to how Miller that his protection is indeed being taken seriously. Perhaps the play of Miller had more to do with feeling abandoned by his team than not getting his rocks off after all? Perhaps John Scott turns out to miraculously hold down a job on the fourth line? I am a glass half full guy, but I admit I was hoping for more from free agency. Perhaps tomorrow brings a big fish.

I'm afraid you are right. I guess his value is as a nuclear deterrent. Seems like this is a $600 000 move to make sure nothing like the Miller incident happens next year.