Has your opinion of Darcy changed?

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

That's the beauty of it. Instead of discussing what actually transpired on it's own merits, we can debate the merits of things that didn't happen instead. And it's particularly convenient when you can conflate the two. That leaves room for a whole range of facts that can't ever be refuted.

 

GO SABRES!!!

 

What happened on it's own merrits?

 

Today, a team known as a national laughingstock for being gutless and soft, just traded it's (sadly) toughest core member and the most talented power forward prospect this team has seen since possibly Danny Gare........for a draft pick that will probably hit the ice in 2015 and anothe 185lb center with great offensive upside.

 

That's what happened.

 

I say....meh......70% say it's the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread.

 

Fair enough?

[TrueBlueGED]

What happened on it's own merrits?

 

Today, a team known as a national laughingstock for being gutless and soft, just traded it's (sadly) toughest core member and the most talented power forward prospect this team has seen since possibly Danny Gare........for a draft pick that will probably hit the ice in 2015 and anothe 185lb center with great offensive upside.

 

That's what happened.

 

I say....meh......70% say it's the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread.

 

Fair enough?

 

I didn't watch him play....but Gare was a power forward prospect? He's what, 5'4?

 

Who is saying it's the greatest thing since sliced bread? Do you have to sensationalize everything? I think the Sabres made a good move that helped to fill a gaping hole on the roster, and I think they got the better prospect of the two in the deal. Are they Stanley Cup contenders? Are they all-world now? No, of course not. I think they made a good move that helps the team....if that's the greatest thing since sliced bread to you, then whatever.

[TheChimp]

You're acting like the rest of us don't want Stafford and Roy gone and aren't disappointed that Darcy didn't move them today. We are. But calling this whole thing a bust because it didn't happen is ridiculous. We've got quite a while before the puck drops on the 2012-13 season.

See, you want an example of me being completely misrepresented, here it is. If you read my posts I never called this a bust. Not even close. I'm merely being realistic in saying that just picking up Hodgson did nothing whatsoever to shed dead weight. It's all still here, being dead weight. And my little sister could have gotten rid of Derek Roy and Drew Stafford today, if the team's desire to shed slackers and rebuild correctly was the priority and not "getting the best return" for them, if that is why you keep saying they're still here and not on planes heading to Cup contenders. So we might have had to take less than what nashville gave us for Gaustad for Roy and Stafford. My guess is a couple of 2nd rounders. DONE DEAL, if you want to rebuild and get rid of slackers and just call it what it is.

 

I think my words might not be reaching you guys the way I mean them to. Guess that's my fault. Sorry, everyone.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I didn't watch him play....but Gare was a power forward prospect? He's what, 5'4?

 

Who is saying it's the greatest thing since sliced bread? Do you have to sensationalize everything? I think the Sabres made a good move that helped to fill a gaping hole on the roster, and I think they got the better prospect of the two in the deal. Are they Stanley Cup contenders? Are they all-world now? No, of course not. I think they made a good move that helps the team....if that's the greatest thing since sliced bread to you, then whatever.

 

Obviously you never saw Danny Gare play, score, or beat the crap out of anyone.

 

What happens here is everyone is on a sugar high, and I'm one of the few who will say "You better go to bed, you have to wake up early tomorrow."

 

Then when tomorrow comes and I have to wake these same people up.....I am the a-hole because they feel like crap and want to sleep.

[Koomkie]

Sounds like he has been captain on multiple teams including the Canada world Jr. team that won it all, plus he was captain of the Brampton Battalion. So, it isn't like he hasn't done it before.

 

and don't forget that vancouver fans felt as though he may someday be their captain.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

See, you want an example of me being completely misrepresented, here it is. If you read my posts I never called this a bust. Not even close. I'm merely being realistic in saying that just picking up Hodgson did nothing whatsoever to shed dead weight. It's all still here, being dead weight. And my little sister could have gotten rid of Derek Roy and Drew Stafford today, if the team's desire to shed slackers and rebuild correctly was the priority and not "getting the best return" for them, if that is why you keep saying they're still here and not on planes heading to Cup contenders. So we might have had to take less than what nashville gave us for Gaustad for Roy and Stafford. My guess is a couple of 2nd rounders. DONE DEAL, if you want to rebuild and get rid of slackers and just call it what it is.

 

I think my words might not be reaching you guys the way I mean them to. Guess that's my fault. Sorry, everyone.

 

It's a strange world.

[darksabre]

See, you want an example of me being completely misrepresented, here it is. If you read my posts I never called this a bust. Not even close. I'm merely being realistic in saying that just picking up Hodgson did nothing whatsoever to shed dead weight. It's all still here, being dead weight. And my little sister could have gotten rid of Derek Roy and Drew Stafford today, if the team's desire to shed slackers and rebuild correctly was the priority and not "getting the best return" for them, if that is why you keep saying they're still here and not on planes heading to Cup contenders. So we might have had to take less than what nashville gave us for Gaustad for Roy and Stafford. My guess is a couple of 2nd rounders. DONE DEAL, if you want to rebuild and get rid of slackers and just call it what it is.

 

I think my words might not be reaching you guys the way I mean them to. Guess that's my fault. Sorry, everyone.

 

I think the problem is the view that this team is indeed in full rebuild mode. They aren't. Darcy is a GM that will calculate his options to death. If the future reward of trading Stafford and Roy isn't big enough, then he wont make that move.

 

Just because they weren't moved today, doesn't mean they wont be moved later.

[Koomkie]

69

[TheChimp]

I think the problem is the view that this team is indeed in full rebuild mode. They aren't. Darcy is a GM that will calculate his options to death. If the future reward of trading Stafford and Roy isn't big enough, then he wont make that move.

 

Just because they weren't moved today, doesn't mean they wont be moved later.

No, I know, later, when their contracts are up and we don;t even get the bag of pucks for them. We agree, this is simply Darcy doing things differently than someone else might, someone with more guts. But what do I know, right? ;)

[K-9]

What happened on it's own merrits?

 

Today, a team known as a national laughingstock for being gutless and soft, just traded it's (sadly) toughest core member and the most talented power forward prospect this team has seen since possibly Danny Gare........for a draft pick that will probably hit the ice in 2015 and anothe 185lb center with great offensive upside.

 

That's what happened.

 

I say....meh......70% say it's the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread.

 

Fair enough?

 

It's a start.

 

No doubt we have a grit and leadership void on the roster, but Kassian wasn't providing either at this stage. So we traded one prospect with upside for another at a more critical position of need with Hodgson having shown he's far more NHL ready. So far, Foligno has shown more consistent toughness and physical play than Kassian and, while he doesn't possess a couple of Kassian's offensive skills, they could bring him up and be improved in every other aspect of physical play with the exception of being a good fighter, although Foligno would be more than willing to drop them none the less.

 

As for the Gaustad trade, I don't see how it can be argued that we didn't get far more than expected for an UFA with 20 games left in the season. We lacked grit and toughness with him so I don't think his loss will be that devastating in that department and it's quite possible that somebody else (Regehr, Weber perhaps) assumes that mantle.

 

As for who that number one pick eventually ends up being, it's hard to say. You're right, if we keep the pick and select a player, it'll be another couple years at the earliest that he's on the roster. But what if they package that pick? Having 4 of the top 60 picks is a nice bargaining chip to get another big skill player that can help right away.

 

Contrary to some simian opinions, nobody here is ready to canonize DR because he had a good day. Just giving credit where credit is due. That's hard for some people who are convinced he's incapable of doing anything right.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[darksabre]

No, I know, later, when their contracts are up and we don;t even get the bag of pucks for them. We agree, this is simply Darcy doing things differently than someone else might, someone with more guts. But what do I know, right? ;)

 

None of the players that people wanted shed from this team are UFAs this summer besides Brad Boyes, so what exactly is the complaint? That Darcy wasn't gutsy enough to move them before next summer?

[...]

I think my words might not be reaching you guys the way I mean them to. Guess that's my fault. Sorry, everyone.

 

I get what you're saying, I believe. Same with GoDD. I think it can be summarized by saying Darcy failed to strike fully and completely while the iron was hot.

 

Hodgson is a good pickup; a first round pick for Gaustad was well done; and, getting rid of the Queen of Sabres' Softness: MAG, was a good move.

 

But, the point that I think is being raised here is what moves did Darcy NOT make? The players nearly all of us wanted to be gone are not gone, and some folks think that Darcy may have missed the opportunity to get rid of these players at possibly a higher value than, say, the off-season when things move slowly and decisions aren't made hastily.

 

What was the line about Connolly? "Addition by subtraction."

 

So, the lack of moves indicates to some that the Sabres either value these players too highly, or, they don't see them as a problem and have no intention of moving them. The latter being much more disappointing if true.

 

The trade deadline doesn't occur in a vacuum and therefore the Sabres still have "the core" in place with less size, now, on the ice. These are indisputable facts. It seems, with these moves, that Darcy isn't being bold enough - he made one obvious move with Gaustad (and it's arguable he lucked out in getting a first round), and a somewhat controversial move with the Kassian/Hodgson trade.

 

Not everyone will be pleased about the Kassian/Hodgson trade and I can see why. We're still talking about the Sabres and Darcy Regier - it'll be okay if he replaces Kassian with a scary player (as I've typed many times already today) and moves Roy and Stafford over the summer - but it's just as likely that he won't make these moves.

 

It's kind of like getting blue-balled by a tranny before you knew he/she was a tranny.

[dudacek]

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

Darcy Regier, our meek, quiet, drinking-herbal-tea-beside-the-unplugged-fax-machine Darcy Regier, has stones the size of Harry Neale’s liquor cabinet.

In a league lining up to emulate Milan Lucic and the big, bad Bruins, in a market quavering with fear and unrequited rage in the emasculating shadow of Milan Lucic and the big, bad, Bruins, Darcy has dealt the closest thing to a textbook power forward prospect this team has ever drafted.

You don’t do that without stones.

This is among the riskiest deals I can ever remember the Sabres being involved in.

And it’s risky for both sides.

Everyone on this board has spent the past three years dreaming of Kassian turning into Cam Neely. Few of us would have had the stones to trade him, not with that huge “what if” factor.

But they are saying similar things in Vancouver about Hodgson.

I live in the Vancouver media market, and the buzz here about this World Junior golden boy Captain Canada has been intense virtually since he was drafted.

This kid was hyped. In a Vancouver fan’s perfect world, he was going to become a slower Steve Yzerman — not the same skater, but with the same skill set and the same intangibles.

From what I saw at the WJC they may have been right. Haven’t seen that player since, but this year glimpses are starting to emerge.

We’ve all been clamouring for a number one centre.

Hell, we’ve frequently pointed out how tough it is to get one without a top pick in the draft.

This kid is not a number one centre, not yet. I’m not convinced he will be.

But his history suggests he can be.

Darcy saw that and took a swing for the fences.

He should plug right in between Vanek and Pominville — two talents that seem perfectly suited to unlocking his skill set. And who knows? He may flourish.

Just like the Big Zack Kassian of our dreams may flourish riding shotgun with the Sedin twins and putting that punk Marchand’s ugly nose through the back of his head in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Two GMs have made a calculated risk here with an unsaid suggestion that the guy they traded away isn’t quite the player the press clippings and the fan base has made him out to be.

Both GMs could be right and Kassian and Hodgson will become the latest in a long line of Chris Grattons bouncing around this league.

But if just one of them is wrong, that (former) GM is going to be wearing that decision for the rest of his life.

Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

[nfreeman]

OK Fellas.....here is your top 9 forward list that will be getting 53 minutes of ice time.

 

Tell me which one of these guys will make Lucic hesitate from going duck-pin bowling with your Vezina winning, silver medal wearing, elite goaltender.......

 

Pominville, Roy, Stafford, Vanek, Lieno, Boyes, Ennis, Hodgson, Gerbe

 

None of them. And it is absolutely still very much of a problem.

 

Darcy has pretty much been hitting it out of the park since Pegula gave him his cojones back.The Regehr and Gaustad trades were pretty much Jedi mind trick-caliber deals, and he managed to pluck a very talented center out of the sky on deadline day today.

 

Nonsense. DR is accountable for sticking with a terrible core that has delivered one letdown after another for 5 years, including a truly terrible season this year, and for assembling a payroll that has insufficient cap space to bring in a difference-maker UFA this summer.

 

I am one of Darcy's harshest critics, but who cares what the top 9 look like for the rest of the season? I can almost guarantee that no matter who the GM is, the top-9 will change in the off-season by 2-3 players.

 

I hope you're right, LB, but I'm doubtful. No one is going to take Stafford's contract during the summer -- the time to unload him was today, when other GMs got deal fever -- this is how DR got a #1 for Gaustad. Someone might take Roy, but he would've yielded more today, so if DR didn't like what he was offered today he probably won't like what he gets offered this summer. And I don't see Pommer, Vanek, Ennis, Leino, Hodgson or Gerbe going anywhere.

 

What...my "conspiracy theory" on how Vancouver has no respect for Buffalo's ability to develop or efficiently use power forwards after they got a hold of Pyatt and went "holy s#!t those guys have no clue!"

 

Ask Webster about the $$ he had to give to the SPCA because I said Bernier would get a big deal.

 

Then there was Torres

 

Then Mancari

 

Now Kassian

 

It's no longer a conspiracy theory when it has been happening in plain sight for years.

 

Vancouver may think this, but the results indicate that if they do think this, they are mistaken.

 

I hate it when you disagree with me and decide it's because I don't understand complexities of the game or management. I am pretty sure we could have gotten rid of Derek Roy AND Drew Stafford and called this what alot of us wanted to call it, a real rebuild. Darcy didn't get rid of who I or many other wanted gone, so yeah, it's disappointing. But I'm not mad about getting Hodgson, not at all. I'm mad that you and some others seem to want to tear me and my posts apart when I'm not attacking anyone personally and have refrauined from doing so since I started posting again. THAT does make me mad, yeah.

 

I agree with the bolded part. The rest is just noise. Give it a rest.

 

I didn't watch him play....but Gare was a power forward prospect? He's what, 5'4?

Obviously you never saw Danny Gare play, score, or beat the crap out of anyone.

 

Gare was much, much better than any forward the Sabres have had since Black Sunday.

[TheChimp]

None of the players that people wanted shed from this team are UFAs this summer besides Brad Boyes, so what exactly is the complaint? That Darcy wasn't gutsy enough to move them before next summer?

If Darcy ain't in rebuild mode now, he ain't never gonna be in rebuild mode. And I'm not complaining about it, merely noting it.

 

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

Darcy Regier, our meek, quiet, drinking-herbal-tea-beside-the-unplugged-fax-machine Darcy Regier, has stones the size of Harry Neale’s liquor cabinet.

In a league lining up to emulate Milan Lucic and the big, bad Bruins, in a market quavering with fear and unrequited rage in the emasculating shadow of Milan Lucic and the big, bad, Bruins, Darcy has dealt the closest thing to a textbook power forward prospect this team has ever drafted.

You don’t do that without stones.

This is among the riskiest deals I can ever remember the Sabres being involved in.

And it’s risky for both sides.

Everyone on this board has spent the past three years dreaming of Kassian turning into Cam Neely. Few of us would have had the stones to trade him, not with that huge “what if” factor.

But they are saying similar things in Vancouver about Hodgson.

I live in the Vancouver media market, and the buzz here about this World Junior golden boy Captain Canada has been intense virtually since he was drafted.

This kid was hyped. In a Vancouver fan’s perfect world, he was going to become a slower Steve Yzerman — not the same skater, but with the same skill set and the same intangibles.

From what I saw at the WJC they may have been right. Haven’t seen that player since, but this year glimpses are starting to emerge.

We’ve all been clamouring for a number one centre.

Hell, we’ve frequently pointed out how tough it is to get one without a top pick in the draft.

This kid is not a number one centre, not yet. I’m not convinced he will be.

But his history suggests he can be.

Darcy saw that and took a swing for the fences.

He should plug right in between Vanek and Pominville — two talents that seem perfectly suited to unlocking his skill set. And who knows? He may flourish.

Just like the Big Zack Kassian of our dreams may flourish riding shotgun with the Sedin twins and putting that punk Marchand’s ugly nose through the back of his head in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Two GMs have made a calculated risk here with an unsaid suggestion that the guy they traded away isn’t quite the player the press clippings and the fan base has made him out to be.

Both GMs could be right and Kassian and Hodgson will become the latest in a long line of Chris Grattons bouncing around this league.

But if just one of them is wrong, that (former) GM is going to be wearing that decision for the rest of his life.

Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

Very enjoyable read.

[nfreeman]

None of the players that people wanted shed from this team are UFAs this summer besides Brad Boyes, so what exactly is the complaint? That Darcy wasn't gutsy enough to move them before next summer?

I get what you're saying, I believe. Same with GoDD. I think it can be summarized by saying Darcy failed to strike fully and completely while the iron was hot.

 

Hodgson is a good pickup; a first round pick for Gaustad was well done; and, getting rid of the Queen of Sabres' Softness: MAG, was a good move.

 

But, the point that I think is being raised here is what moves did Darcy NOT make? The players nearly all of us wanted to be gone are not gone, and some folks think that Darcy may have missed the opportunity to get rid of these players at possibly a higher value than, say, the off-season when things move slowly and decisions aren't made hastily.

 

What was the line about Connolly? "Addition by subtraction."

 

So, the lack of moves indicates to some that the Sabres either value these players too highly, or, they don't see them as a problem and have no intention of moving them. The latter being much more disappointing if true.

 

The trade deadline doesn't occur in a vacuum and therefore the Sabres still have "the core" in place with less size, now, on the ice. These are indisputable facts. It seems, with these moves, that Darcy isn't being bold enough - he made one obvious move with Gaustad (and it's arguable he lucked out in getting a first round), and a somewhat controversial move with the Kassian/Hodgson trade.

 

Not everyone will be pleased about the Kassian/Hodgson trade and I can see why. We're still talking about the Sabres and Darcy Regier - it'll be okay if he replaces Kassian with a scary player (as I've typed many times already today) and moves Roy and Stafford over the summer - but it's just as likely that he won't make these moves.

 

It's kind of like getting blue-balled by a tranny before you knew he/she was a tranny.

 

Beat me to it. Excellent post, even with the freaky coda.

 

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

Darcy Regier, our meek, quiet, drinking-herbal-tea-beside-the-unplugged-fax-machine Darcy Regier, has stones the size of Harry Neale’s liquor cabinet.

In a league lining up to emulate Milan Lucic and the big, bad Bruins, in a market quavering with fear and unrequited rage in the emasculating shadow of Milan Lucic and the big, bad, Bruins, Darcy has dealt the closest thing to a textbook power forward prospect this team has ever drafted.

You don’t do that without stones.

This is among the riskiest deals I can ever remember the Sabres being involved in.

And it’s risky for both sides.

Everyone on this board has spent the past three years dreaming of Kassian turning into Cam Neely. Few of us would have had the stones to trade him, not with that huge “what if” factor.

But they are saying similar things in Vancouver about Hodgson.

I live in the Vancouver media market, and the buzz here about this World Junior golden boy Captain Canada has been intense virtually since he was drafted.

This kid was hyped. In a Vancouver fan’s perfect world, he was going to become a slower Steve Yzerman — not the same skater, but with the same skill set and the same intangibles.

From what I saw at the WJC they may have been right. Haven’t seen that player since, but this year glimpses are starting to emerge.

We’ve all been clamouring for a number one centre.

Hell, we’ve frequently pointed out how tough it is to get one without a top pick in the draft.

This kid is not a number one centre, not yet. I’m not convinced he will be.

But his history suggests he can be.

Darcy saw that and took a swing for the fences.

He should plug right in between Vanek and Pominville — two talents that seem perfectly suited to unlocking his skill set. And who knows? He may flourish.

Just like the Big Zack Kassian of our dreams may flourish riding shotgun with the Sedin twins and putting that punk Marchand’s ugly nose through the back of his head in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Two GMs have made a calculated risk here with an unsaid suggestion that the guy they traded away isn’t quite the player the press clippings and the fan base has made him out to be.

Both GMs could be right and Kassian and Hodgson will become the latest in a long line of Chris Grattons bouncing around this league.

But if just one of them is wrong, that (former) GM is going to be wearing that decision for the rest of his life.

Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

 

Another good one. Keep 'em coming, dudacek. You also have been too quiet lately.

[...]

And then there's this point of view. Equally valid and interesting.

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

...Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

[bunomatic]

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

Darcy Regier, our meek, quiet, drinking-herbal-tea-beside-the-unplugged-fax-machine Darcy Regier, has stones the size of Harry Neale’s liquor cabinet.

In a league lining up to emulate Milan Lucic and the big, bad Bruins, in a market quavering with fear and unrequited rage in the emasculating shadow of Milan Lucic and the big, bad, Bruins, Darcy has dealt the closest thing to a textbook power forward prospect this team has ever drafted.

You don’t do that without stones.

This is among the riskiest deals I can ever remember the Sabres being involved in.

And it’s risky for both sides.

Everyone on this board has spent the past three years dreaming of Kassian turning into Cam Neely. Few of us would have had the stones to trade him, not with that huge “what if” factor.

But they are saying similar things in Vancouver about Hodgson.

I live in the Vancouver media market, and the buzz here about this World Junior golden boy Captain Canada has been intense virtually since he was drafted.

This kid was hyped. In a Vancouver fan’s perfect world, he was going to become a slower Steve Yzerman — not the same skater, but with the same skill set and the same intangibles.

From what I saw at the WJC they may have been right. Haven’t seen that player since, but this year glimpses are starting to emerge.

We’ve all been clamouring for a number one centre.

Hell, we’ve frequently pointed out how tough it is to get one without a top pick in the draft.

This kid is not a number one centre, not yet. I’m not convinced he will be.

But his history suggests he can be.

Darcy saw that and took a swing for the fences.

He should plug right in between Vanek and Pominville — two talents that seem perfectly suited to unlocking his skill set. And who knows? He may flourish.

Just like the Big Zack Kassian of our dreams may flourish riding shotgun with the Sedin twins and putting that punk Marchand’s ugly nose through the back of his head in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Two GMs have made a calculated risk here with an unsaid suggestion that the guy they traded away isn’t quite the player the press clippings and the fan base has made him out to be.

Both GMs could be right and Kassian and Hodgson will become the latest in a long line of Chris Grattons bouncing around this league.

But if just one of them is wrong, that (former) GM is going to be wearing that decision for the rest of his life.

Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

 

I disagree with the Regier has stones part but that was a very entertaining and well thought out post. It was a risky move by both traders today. I hate the fact that we lost a possible power forward in Kassian but Hodgson has huge upside as well.

[Eleven]

I came to a startling conclusion as I spent my afternoon pondering this trading deadline day.

Darcy Regier, our meek, quiet, drinking-herbal-tea-beside-the-unplugged-fax-machine Darcy Regier, has stones the size of Harry Neale’s liquor cabinet.

In a league lining up to emulate Milan Lucic and the big, bad Bruins, in a market quavering with fear and unrequited rage in the emasculating shadow of Milan Lucic and the big, bad, Bruins, Darcy has dealt the closest thing to a textbook power forward prospect this team has ever drafted.

You don’t do that without stones.

This is among the riskiest deals I can ever remember the Sabres being involved in.

And it’s risky for both sides.

Everyone on this board has spent the past three years dreaming of Kassian turning into Cam Neely. Few of us would have had the stones to trade him, not with that huge “what if” factor.

But they are saying similar things in Vancouver about Hodgson.

I live in the Vancouver media market, and the buzz here about this World Junior golden boy Captain Canada has been intense virtually since he was drafted.

This kid was hyped. In a Vancouver fan’s perfect world, he was going to become a slower Steve Yzerman — not the same skater, but with the same skill set and the same intangibles.

From what I saw at the WJC they may have been right. Haven’t seen that player since, but this year glimpses are starting to emerge.

We’ve all been clamouring for a number one centre.

Hell, we’ve frequently pointed out how tough it is to get one without a top pick in the draft.

This kid is not a number one centre, not yet. I’m not convinced he will be.

But his history suggests he can be.

Darcy saw that and took a swing for the fences.

He should plug right in between Vanek and Pominville — two talents that seem perfectly suited to unlocking his skill set. And who knows? He may flourish.

Just like the Big Zack Kassian of our dreams may flourish riding shotgun with the Sedin twins and putting that punk Marchand’s ugly nose through the back of his head in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Two GMs have made a calculated risk here with an unsaid suggestion that the guy they traded away isn’t quite the player the press clippings and the fan base has made him out to be.

Both GMs could be right and Kassian and Hodgson will become the latest in a long line of Chris Grattons bouncing around this league.

But if just one of them is wrong, that (former) GM is going to be wearing that decision for the rest of his life.

Two GMs with stones my friends, and for once one of them was ours.

I like it.

 

Dude, is that a post, or a Pink Floyd song?

 

(kidding.)

[LabattBlue]

I hope you're right, LB, but I'm doubtful. No one is going to take Stafford's contract during the summer -- the time to unload him was today, when other GMs got deal fever -- this is how DR got a #1 for Gaustad. Someone might take Roy, but he would've yielded more today, so if DR didn't like what he was offered today he probably won't like what he gets offered this summer. And I don't see Pommer, Vanek, Ennis, Leino, Hodgson or Gerbe going anywhere.

Boyes is gone for sure, and I'd be shocked if one of Roy or Stafford(hopefully both) are not moved. The bigger question...who is brought in to replace them?

[darksabre]

If Darcy ain't in rebuild mode now, he ain't never gonna be in rebuild mode. And I'm not complaining about it, merely noting it.

 

I don't think Darcy believes in "rebuild mode". I think he prefers to attempt to swap pieces out and while attempting to maintain a competitive team.

 

There is an inherent danger associated with entering full rebuild mode. Some teams never escape it. And those that do sometimes spend a very long time there.

 

Darcy's approach is frustrating. He's made some poor decisions in the past, but also some very good ones. I'm not an apologist for him. but it appears I simply have more patience with his methods.

 

Based on how he's drafted, and the moves he's made recently, I recognize it as a desire to move slow and steady rather than fast and furious.

 

Writing off this season as a lost cause, I'm looking forward to the summer. I was surprised by his work today, and I hope he surprises me again. But don't think I wont be frustrated if Roy and Stafford are still here in the fall. I expect them to be moved before then. You can write that down.

[Eleven]

Boyes is gone for sure, and I'd be shocked if one of Roy or Stafford(hopefully both) are not moved. The bigger question...who is brought in to replace them?

 

I'll bring you or your kid brother in to replace Stafford.

 

Roy is a different story. It actually may be two #2 centers instead of a #1 and a #2 in Buffalo next season. Last time we had that, it worked out pretty well.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I'll bring you or your kid brother in to replace Stafford.

 

Roy is a different story. It actually may be two #2 centers instead of a #1 and a #2 in Buffalo next season. Last time we had that, it worked out pretty well.

 

Connolly and Roy?

[nfreeman]

I'll bring you or your kid brother in to replace Stafford.

 

Roy is a different story. It actually may be two #2 centers instead of a #1 and a #2 in Buffalo next season. Last time we had that, it worked out pretty well.

 

Or 3 of them, if you include Ennis. And Roy is exactly the kind of guy who will deliver a big year in his contract year.

[Eleven]

Connolly and Roy?

 

Drury and Briere.

 

And you knew whom I meant, dammit.