Trettioåtta

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=640755

So has anyone played the demo? If so thoughts? Miller is the top rated goalie in the game i believe.

Why do things have to be mutually exclusive? Just because you are altering the back office or altering merch etc. does not mean you can't also make changes on the hockey side. Nothing has happened this off season because of the cba - it is that simple. TBH, i have heard rumours that DR and LR were the ones pushing for this third jersey. If we fire them, then everyone's problems are solved.

I really like those gold ones. I also quite like the preds mustard yellow in a weird way. It would make my day if we had a preseason game and both wore our yellow ones :P

Is your name TrueBluePhD or Garth? http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/GARTH/Turris-Is-Ennis-Comparable/6/46310

Yeah, true, still 6 years just seems so short - but then i guess in 6 years i could be married with kids o-O, so it's all relative

Seems odd that they would vut the cap by so much and cause trouble for most of the league as all it would mean is there would be a lot of NHl talent in the AHL probably. Does anyone know why they want the cba to only be 6 years long? Seems like a load of trouble to have to resort out in 6 years...

So by the next time they meet, they will have met and discussed the CBA for a grand total of around 140 minutes over the last 2 weeks

October 14th

It is to stop teams signing old guys to like a 5 year contract that goes 10, 10, 1, 0.5, 0.5 - which lowers the cap hit, then after year 2 the guy retires. So all along the avoidance of the cap was planned

Very sad to here. Sort of an end of an era

Football is a game of money, you can literally buy players, hockey requires you to give up assets instead. Not comparable in this way. And yes, obviously all players are available for a price - but that is basically a platitude. Why give up "an awful lot" for a player, when there is another one, who might not be as good but can be gotten without losing assets? You would have to gut your team to get any of the players on your list. Brown and Thornton would be the easiest two to get. Brown would have been cheap 6 months ago - but they would probably want Myers, Ennis, Foligno + before even considering trading their captain who literally lead them to the cup this year. Why would you want Thornton? The guy would cost a bomb, is old and is famous for being ###### in the playoffs?

Don't be thick. He said out there, by out there he does not mean in this known universe. He means vaguely available. Yes weirdly we could use Malkin and Crosby more probably, and whilst they are out there on planet earth somewhere, they are not presently available, or worth the cost.

Will this lock-out not really screw with the NHL's TC license etc. I would not want to spend loads of cash if the NHL has cancelled two seasons in 10 years...

Despite disagreeing with basically everything you have said for the last week. This i agree with. People here do have that attitude. I don't think money would hugely matter for Pheonix. But if he is moving his family, he might as well move them for some combination of money and a shot at the title.

Than and Then i agree with. But Loose and Lose make no sense until you accept that and purposefully remember that you mean the counter-intuitive one

The same deadbeat team who made it to the conference final? Remember the days of 06 and 07 when those deadbeat teams made it that far?

In the last three years he got 55, 60 and 50 points - that doesn't seem like a guy who is on a serious decline, a serious decline would be 60, 50, 40 points. The fact that he has played on one team is irrelevant? As is the fact it is in a different conference. Hockey is hockey. Nick Lidstrom played for one team out west, i really doubt he would have not been an all-star if he had moved teams. No he gets more than $3mill because he puts up 50+ points. He gets more than $4 million because he plays with a physical game, can score and can lead. You might not covet him like some here, but you make it sound like this guy is a third liner who is struggling to make his way in the world. He is the incumbent for the MM Leadership award. Yes he has only won two playoff series, but that is hardly his fault, the team has been bankrupt. How many playoffs did the Sabres win when we were going through all the ownership stuff? How many times did we even make it to the playoffs? "Washed up"? I guess that also means Stafford is washed up? As they had the same number of points, but Drew hit less, led this team to a lower position in the draft, and was less consistent. Last season Lidstrom was not the powerhouse Conn Smyth winning guy he was in 02, but he was not washed up. I agree about the cap strapped thing, but i think people need to be responsible with their wording. The guy is worth $5 million for the next 2 years, easily, he may even be worth $7.5 million for 2 years. He is probably not worth $7.5 million in 4 years, but you could say that we can cross that bridge when we come to it, as these contracts have never hurt teams in the past (although that could also be risky as there is a new CBA looming)

The guy is a 50 point scorer with leadership abilities $4 million would be a pay cut and a steal. $3 mill would be moronic. The guy is worth $5 million easily. The guy would have been 3rd on our team in points. $7.5 is overkill, but let's not pretend he is some useless bum. Joel Ward gets $3 million and he is a 4th liner Yes but we also need Hecht and Boyes to resign young guys

One of the reasons other teams have gotten away with it is because: a) wasn't an over 35 contract b) the cap always went up enough c) the cba didn't penalise it With a new CBA it could be a much riskier signing. Especially as he would probably get a NMC. It would be a lot to pay for him over the next 2 years, however, the last 2 years could be crippling. We have our younger guys to resign and on a 4 year contract it isn't out of the realm that we would have to re-sign Girgs/Grigs before he is off the books

Teemu put up 16 more points and is 7 years older and took $4.5 million. I think as Doan is younger and more physical he is worth the same, despite putting up less points. The real issue is in 2 years time, when he is a lot older and still taking a large slice of the pie. I'd do 2 years 15 mil or 4 years 20 mil i think - but 4 years 30 mil seems very excessive in the future I think Doan is the physical body who opens up the ice, Cody is the pivot who is strong defensively and his no look passes are beautiful and both feed the pure goal scorer that is Vanek. Cody and Vanek seemed to work well together at the end of last season. With Cody and Vanek together i could see them hitting the 60 and 70 point barriers, respectively. Just an opinion though.

Doan is a 50 point player minimum, in todays NHL that is worth $4-4.5 million, easily, he is meant to be one of the best leaders in the game and is also very very good with the community of the area he lives in, that has to be worth another million. That salary is obviously an over payment, but that is to get him to want to play for us instead of a nicer city. I think a CVD like would be good. They would be defensively responsible and could put up the points. Doan would be the big body hitter on the line. Also Doan would be good for developing Cody as a person and a player

Betman seems to be playing a lot harder ball than the PA. The Pa's proposal seemed fairly fair and a good starting point. Where as the leagues seemed like it was doing the classic style of bargaining where you start asking for like 4 times the asking price. Not sure i like his approach with the limit just 23 days away

Just as with Crosby, from a hockey point of view it is ridiculous to give these contracts to players who struggle to stay healthy. However, from a business point of view, both those guys sell seats and jerseys and are good for the NHL's image of talented players. Weird really. He probably got a couple of million for playing in Alberta. Nobody likes it there. Not even the locals

I agree it shows out commitment to winning. But having a high profile UFA sign here because of money doesn't show to the rest of the NHL that we are a desirable city or location to future UFAs. If Doan was to come here for $4.5 million, it would show that either this is a great place for a guy like him/family or that we are committed to winning and could convince him as such. That would make future players stop and say, well if it is good enough for Doan to go to it must be good. Otherwise they will just say, well Doan only went there because the over-payed him by 50% I also don't think it would harm our reputation and would probably improve it a bit. But i don't think drastically overpaying for a player will make people consider Buffalo a desirable location. The city is considered pretty rubbish in comparison to others, (i quite liked it when i visited, but it didn't have the same feel as NYC), especially NYC which is just down the road. Thus the only thing that will make players want to play for the Sabres for a competitive rate is us winning. It is quite the vicious circle. Once you become good players want to play for you, but in order to become good you usually need good players. That is why sucking and building through high draft picks has worked in recent years If they alter the cap then the players will have their salaries rolled back. If they change the rules on contracts then either the teams get to restructure the deals, or more likely, the contracts already signed will stand. You can't punish a team for violating a rule that did not exist