Robviously

Trading Vanek, Pominville, or Miller would make sense if we were getting very high-end, can't-miss type prospects in return. Those guys are pretty rare though. The idea of trading them for generic "prospects and picks" is just stupid. Any contender would be thrilled to acquire Vanek and Pominville in exchange for their 1st round pick, which would probably be between 20th and 30th overall. That's a long shot to make us better in the long run. Meanwhile, the teams with the best prospects are, like us, looking to the future, so they probably aren't willing to trade them. (I have no idea what the market for Miller is since most contending teams probably have a goalie they're happy with.) I notice that everyone shouting for these guys to be traded never has anyone in mind coming back. It's always just "prospects and picks." Someone should propose a specific trade involving one of those three and explain why it's plausible and why it'll make us better in the long run.

They need to keep it going. I've got tickets for March 6th.

2005, 2006, and 2007 weren't especially strong draft classes though. We definitely missed some big opportunities (Enroth over Lucic) but it's not like everyone was scoring huge talent those years except for us.

If all the buzz about ROR's leadership, intensity, and dedication is true, then the trade makes a ton of sense. I still don't know about those things with Myers. Is his conditioning off because of his work ethic or because of his body? Is he struggling with high expectations or is he really just never going to be all that tough mentally? I don't know. We do need more leaders. I think Pominville and Vanek are a good influence and do everything they can, but it's clearly not enough.

Both feelings are completely valid. Even Ruff knew his time here was up. You could hear it in his post-game interview after the Winnipeg game and he knew as soon as Regier showed up at his door on Wednesday. That doesn't mean people don't respect him as a person or recognize is coaching achievements and everything he's done for the city of Buffalo for decades. As a player or coach, he's been involved in 54% of the Sabres' games since they were founded. It was a sad day for any fan of the team even if it was time, not unlike what it was like seeing Marv Levy or Jim Kelly leave the Bills. But don't let that stop you from being a tedious douche and calling everyone who disagrees with you a "phoney."

I said for a long time that we needed a fresh start without Regier and Ruff. But had the Sabres fired Regier and given Ruff one more chance with a new GM, I could have lived with it even with how messed up everything is. But right now we have the worst of both worlds with Regier hanging on.

The idea of Lindy Ruff trying to watch the game last night and deciding he couldn't is too much. I think I've got something in my eye. I didn't listen, but if he singled out Pominville, Vanek, and Miller as guys who really cared, that makes me feel a ton better about those three.

I'm ready to move Myers. I don't know enough about O'Reilly to say for sure if I want it to be for him.

Yeah, when you're Inigo Montoya and someone killed your father. Not so much when your favorite coach gets fired and you decide to troll your way to vengeance.

Does anybody like being yelled at by their boss? And how many people perform better when that happens?

Well, propose a trade and we'll talk it over. Demanding that we trade him for whatever isn't going to help though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLyxmD_UAK4 [sabres are still better than the Star Wars prequels.]

If the Sabres decide NOT to keep Rolston as the coach for next year, would he just go back to Rochester to be the coach there? It sounds like he's done well with the Amerks and it would suck to kick him out of the organization entirely just because he couldn't turn around an incredibly dysfunctional team in a mere 30 games.

One last thought: Losing tonight might be good for Rolston since he pretty much has the green light to do whatever he wants for Saturday's game. He was basically handcuffed with a starting lineup today, but after how tonight's game played out he can justifiably do anything with respect to who sits and who plays with who. Hopefully he does something interesting (or several somethings).

I don't even know what's going on anymore.

The team is probably still reeling from the decision. Most of the players probably barely know Rolston and don't know what the future is. A few practices will go a long way. The problem is that they aren't going to get any time to gel with the shortened, compressed season. This really could end up being one of our all-time worst seasons.

Good. You're one of the smart people on this board. We need you to stay that way.

This is going to be your thing on the board now?

Lindy definitely softened his approach this season, but I have no idea if that was his idea or something management/ownership talked over with him.

Supposedly it's a deep draft so even later picks in the top ten can get you something special. Let's hope this is the right year to bottom out.

I'd like to see what a new coach could do if he had a training camp or, you know, like more than 24 hours......

Yeah, I don't think Rolston can show up and fix things instantly. Toronto has been better than us all year so losing tonight probably shouldn't be a shock. (Though I had the Sabres winning this one.)

Agreed. You definitely shouldn't drive or operate heavy machinery while watching Jochen Hecht play.

The Blackhawks drafted 1st overall in 2007 and won the Cup three years later. It doesn't take a very long time to go from awful to contender.

I'm much more worried that hell trade out young players.