Darryl Shannon's +/-

It's a battle between him and Deslauriers for who has no business cashing an NHL paycheck. To think we have another year of him cashing 4M+ to get the puck, hesitate, hesitate some more, then play the puck off the boards to either ice it or give it away. In truth, trading for him speaks to poor judgement from Murray, but playing him on the top pair for a large part of this season speaks even more to Bylsma being, well, Bylsma.

Disagree totally. Bucky showed his true colors as a hack here. And tried to backpedal after saying, "I didn't mean to be crass..." - as a professional of the written medium, he could have asked that same question a million different ways without coming off insulting. This was a sad day for the Bills, and just as sad for the Buffalo news. They dragged each other down.

So given some of the depth we've seen coming up from Rochester, how on earth did 44 start the year on the ice?

Maybe the whole point was to make sure they had a window to talk to him. If you are building a program you believe in, and you are fully committed to it as an owner and team - then why not.

For all the talk about Vesey being entitled and going against the system, I think the point being missed is that he's taking a large amount of risk on himself. By completing school and holding out to the very end, he gave up a year of earning power and pushed back his next contract. I don't blame him for one second to try and hand pick the best situation, with the best ice time and linemates to make his RFA contract as rich as it can be. The good thing for us is that we very well might be the best possible spot for him today to maximize that next deal. And sort of like Drouin and his issues with the Lightning, I like when players do this as it means they believe in themselves.

For the running shoes and price issue, go once to a good store, get fitted and make sure you like the shoes. From there, shop on amazon and save 35-50 bucks a pop for the higher end versions as you can buy a year or two behind online.

Everything I've seen from national writers says that it's not a good thing. From just a TV point of view, it's brutal to see 5 minutes wasted while refs hold a gameboy to determine if a goal stands or not. Even funnier was that there was a review from Toronto that was then challenged again by Hitch. Imagine if they overturned it after they said it was okay? I don't know all the rules for this, but it sounds like Toronto can ask for a review, but then a coach can as well. Why would that be possible? It's clumsy, it slows things down.

I'd like it to be like the measurement of the curve of a stick. If you are wrong, you get a 2 minute penalty. It would stop the nonsense of challenging when you want a longer timeout, and probably would have made ChIcago think really hard about challenging tonight.

I view his path as very similar to Bryce Harper. Game the system as quickly as you can to make money as you only have a few years to do so. Taking that path means you are all in betting on yourself. If you fall to pieces, you're not getting a free college ride to play the game if you go the pro route.

Selfishly a down year coming into his RFA contract isn't a bad thing for the team going forward.

Good points, I guess in all of the rush to tank, I never really thought about who actually made the overall decision. For most GM's, if you pitch that method you probably have a pink slip in 1-3 years so it would go against their interest for self preservation. So yeah, odds are this was probably the mission driven by Pegula. Makes me wonder about Toronto with all the spending they've done in their front office, in 2-3 years will we see something totally different there if they are stagnant? The economics of a tank also interest me - Buffalo is probably the worst place to do it in considering the building has been mostly full, but if you pull this stunt in Miami or Carolina odds are you would take a real hit at the box office. If your salary is 20-30M under the cap though, maybe that is good business? For years the Bills did this with "cash to cap" but I think the NFL is a different animal with revenue sharing.

Sorry, I'm having a tough time understanding this. Signing Ehrhoff is meddling, yet deciding to tank, or not sign someone due to their personal makeup or not trading a player wouldn't be? Personally, the organizational decision to go through with the tank is proof enough to me that Pegula isn't meddling. It hurts you at the box office (yes, we sold out almost every seat but had to expand season ticket base to do so) and puts the onus on the scouting staff and GM to turn assets into success. And agree or disagree with the method of tanking, at least it shows an organizational plan. Beats the heck out of breaking even with Golisano.

Remember that Mike Milbury was once a GM and that a stranger pulled off the street probably could have done that job better. As an owner who cares about more than making a profit on a team, don't you bear responsibility to oversee your product?

I'd hope it was training camp.....haha. A midseason switch to fighting resulting in PIM's that high would be nuts. Given his numbers in junior you'd have to assume that to be the case. Think back to that era, if you belonged in the NHL you should be able to roll out of bed and be at least a PPG in junior. He wasn't even that.

He racked up 446 PIMS in his first year with Rochester - so I don't think this was the case of a reluctant switch from hockey player to goon. Given the era and the lack of concern for head trauma, I think this was sadly the same concept as going from a scorer to a lock down defensive forward. Outside of that, I do appreciate the effort and work he's put in to his second career. The improvement he's shown from year 1 is massive.

Shocked at the return....I would have thought we'd get a 5th for him max. And I love that now the Sabres retaining money in a deal to better a draft pick is old hat, even if the odds of a 3rd round pick are middling to make an NHL roster. Murray striking early may mean he wants to have more time to wheel and deal at the deadline. So hopefully the guys have big suitcases.

Respectfully disagree...the original point read to me as, the Sabres themselves shouldn't be actively reaching out to other fans to watch games at the Arena, especially when the owner said he would "drill another well" if he had to make money. When you are building something and actually making downtown a destination, I see absolutely no issue with inviting people in to share it. It's no different than wanting to spend a fun weekend in Montreal, skating the canal in Ottawa, lapping up beers on Causeway street, or sitting on a patio in Tampa while catching a game when your team is in town. I love that this is something to argue about.....five years ago the current courtyard marriott was a boarded up fenced off blight. This will be a non issue when we are winning games and making a run in (hopefully) 2-3 years. And remember....in a few years we'll have a 600 seat beer hall within sight of the arena, with ice skating and a hotel right there. Talk about a great road trip.

So not for nothing, but college football which is known for having some of the best atmosphere in all of sports will commonly hold many tickets for opposing teams to share in the experience of watching a game. Respectful, back and forth cheering leads to a more interesting experience for all involved. I think the biggest problem here is that us against them feelings are the things that lead to violence and stupidity. Do we really want to have an arena where opposing fans are turned into vegetables like Bryan Stow? That's the biggest issue I have with the direction this conversation has gone - the concept of not wanting other fans here seems over the top. It's actually really funny when you think about it, but the people advocating for only Sabres fans to be allowed in the building also want diversity on this website. Seeing games in other barns with fans of the opposing teams who were gracious and fun to be around makes the game itself more special. I've been to several....and in Montreal where people are helping you out with French and tapping you on the shoulder to make sure you see a fight behind the play adds something.

The easy way to look at this is that the Canadian dollar falling and the Leafs being almost as bad as us has hurt not only the secondary ticket market but also the primary. But the better point to think about here is the whole concept of "our house". I'm a season ticket holder, and by far, the best atmosphere is when games have a large contingent from the other side. More noise, more emotion....it's better for us and the game. As long as people don't act like 5 year olds and brawl, is it really bad to have other people in the building? This isn't remotely close to flirting with Toronto like the Bills did to hold us hostage and/or test out a gigantic market. This is probably related to people looking at our gate receipts and monitoring how soft a Sabres ticket has become on stubhub.

That's right....he blew away everyone in the interview process. God that feels like ages ago.

It's entirely different from the direction of the franchise while under Ralph. Not once did we hear that we are small market and can't afford him the same way it was thrown around when Chan ended up as our coach. When is the last time there was excitement about a hire at head coach for the Bills? The last time they got a top name in this sense may have been Gregg Williams when Donahoe was in town? And Rex actually has a resume.

Don't most people with the argument you are making want Terry getting out of the way of the hockey folks and not meddling? Isn't building an entertainment complex and hotel exactly what should be wanted with that angle? I'll never understand the no win situation people put him in. Spending the only private money in that area in like 30 years to attract outsiders for the first time in ages. Buying the Bills for a premium.

Not for nothing, but Myers is somehow still even for his +/- and he is miles better than he was at the beginning of last year. Remember, this is a guy who could barely carry the puck.

I think the angle that isn't being looked at is the league office. Everyone knows our organizational plan this year is to be sure to secure the second overall pick, with hopes of the first. A coach openly calling out what a joke our team is could get attention from the league. Remember how close they were to drastically changing the rules for the lottery this summer? And what I find funny is, many yelled for Darcy to walk away from his job if he couldn't have full control of the operation. Where are the calls for Nolan to do so?

Isn't it a safe assumption that by the time this team is ready to make a move, we will have a different coach who will have a more favorable viewpoint on analytics? I think Nolan is right in a sense....with a team this bad, advanced stats really don't matter one bit. Rewarding players for effort during another losing season probably has more value than figuring out which guy is the best to put on the ice against the other team's first and second line, right? Every single matchup we have this year the numbers are against us anyways.