Kruppstahl

I hope it's better than the National Anthem. :o

Who's watching?

team personnel I guess.

Yep. Pittsburgh is getting help by getting Bylsma off their books; Murray should tell them to take that 3rd rounder and shove it. See article linked in Post #58 above.

Was this article posted yet? http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/35839/teams-can-seek-draft-pick-compensation-for-fired-coaches-gms-executives Follow Bob McKenzieVerified account‏@TSNBobMcKenzie Some of teams that supported defined compensation didn't believe it would apply to "fired" coaches/GMs. But it does.

There is a documentary kicking around Youtube on Gilbert. Somewhere in there, Jacques Demers sums up Gilbert perfectly as I remember him. Jacques says something like: "Over the years, very few players have had the ability to pick fans up out of their seats. Guy Lafleur was one of them. Bobby Orr was one of them. Wayne Gretzky was one of them. And I believe Gilbert Perreault was one of them." Gilbert was what is now almost completely lacking in hockey: a superstar that was fun to watch doing anything on the ice.

Based on what we've heard so far in totality, I think Babcock went deep into the negotiation process with Buffalo, but simply preferred the TO position. When he got what he wanted from TO, he took their offer and not ours. Buffalo and Toronto are 2 very different places in all kinds of ways. I don't think there's more to it than that. I'm ready to move on from the Babcock situation. I hope Tim takes his time with the search. I think my new #1 wish is for Claude Julien to get fired so we can hire him in Buffalo. That will have to play out over time. I'd like to see Tim Murray continue to poke around, but at least wait for the playoffs to end and be patient right now.

Ted Nolan hasn't handled the politics of the front office well through his career, or at least is perceived around the league in that manner. That has had an impact on his coaching career as much as his technical knowledge of the game. He was never going to coach here beyond the tank period, and he surely knew that.

Neither of your offers are close to proper value for the #2 pick that gets Jack Eichel. If it was me, the pick wouldn't be on the table.

It's impossible to discuss what happened today from an outsider's perspective. We don't have enough information. I hope the story is leaked to the Sabres' preferred journalistic outlet soon. I think it will be interesting and entertaining.

If he is fired and becomes available, Julien is the best candidate I can think of. I put him slightly above Hitchcock in that regard.

Oh certainly. That is not a new development. He landed on his feet in his current scouting role relatively quickly after being fired here. He was completely out of his depth as an NHL coach, but I think he's a good guy at heart. I never understood the game he played with the press here though, particularly during post-game press conferences. He adopted a strange false persona and was putting on an act in my opinion. And it didn't work. I always thought that was weird.

Some of the tweets coming out are interesting though. It does sound like they were played on some level. We don't know now of course. If the Sabres got hosed, they will likely leak the story to their journalist of choice. The guy who has pissed them off the least lately I assume. We may catch a whiff of what happened here soon. I think it's probably an interesting story.

It's a miracle! Mrs. Babcock must really want to live in Toronto!

Hey, say what you want about Ron Rolston...but no one. I mean no one! No one wears women's gardening gloves like that man, particularly while conducting hockey practice for an NHL franchise. Fun Fact: his daughter plays with and is good friends with my buddy's daughter! Family still living out in Clarence apparently...Ron now a scout in Phoenix.

I agree with your points all around. This could almost create even more of a mess up in TO. There is going to be a power imbalance there between Babcock and whoever the new GM is. That franchise is a long way away from being healthy. Less competition for us!

I don't know if Babcock wanted to go to Toronto all along or what... But it seems fairly clear the Sabres offered him the moon and thought we had a deal. Babcock used the offer to get the same or more from Toronto. As LGR4GM posted above, this could make for some extra fun during the Leaf games in Buffalo. If only the building wasn't half filled with Leaf fans on such occasions.

I think this is likely correct.

New Tweet from Shawn Stepner, WKBW: League source tells me #Sabres thought they had deal in principle w/ Babcock 2 days ago around same term/dollars as Leafs. Maybe even 9 yrs. This tweet was supported by another tweet from John Vogl confirming same.

We don't know the full story, yet. We may never know the full story. But it certainly sounds like Babcock played us like the proverbial fiddle.

TIM GRAHAM ON TWITTER: Sabres livid for way Babcock handled past few days. Sabres so confident he was coming that they were prepared for Monday news conference.

I'm going to say Luke Richardson is now Candidate #1, but I don't know. I hope Tim Murray casts a very wide net and looks far and wide for the best possible candidate. That is what Patty La La did and he found us a good GM. Blashill is my preferred #1 now, but he will almost certainly be coaching in Detroit.

Well if Buffalo is out, STL is out, SJ is out... I'm guessing TO. Then we have the tweet about the TO corporate jet revved up and ready to fly to Detroit and all that.

Jeremy Rutherford reporting that Armstrong and Hitch are meeting right now. This was re-tweeted by Bob McKenzie. NEWS: McKenzie says Blues were told 2 days ago by Babcock: "I'm out."

Still good sources saying Buffalo out and Detroit is out. I guess no confirmation about TO yet. Could be SJ?