Sabres vs. Thrashers (12/30)

[PromoTheRobot]

Wasn't Miller a 5th rounder?

I'm stunned that Miller was a 5th round pick because he was a pretty hot property coming out of college. I believe he set a NCAA record for 17 career shutouts.

 

"Miller was named the best college player in the U.S. 2000-01 season after posting a 31-5-4 record with a 1.32 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and 10 shutouts"

 

PTR

[inkman]

At least there's no condescension here on sabresreport.com! <_< :lol:

My monitor never gets wet. Well, not at this sight. :unsure:

[inkman]

I'm stunned that Miller was a 5th round pick because he was a pretty hot property coming out of college. I believe he set a NCAA record for 17 career shutouts.

 

"Miller was named the best college player in the U.S. 2000-01 season after posting a 31-5-4 record with a 1.32 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and 10 shutouts"

 

PTR

He was drafted in 1999. A good prospect at the time but not nearly the accomplished Goalie that he became in 2001.

[PASabreFan]

Inkman, somewhere Clip Smith is laughing at that one. God Bless the Clipper!

[PASabreFan]

god... RJ is on fire. this game shows that he loves hockey again. you can really hear the entheusiasm (sp??) in his voice.

You got that right, Corp! It's been a long time since Jeanneret sounded like this. I would almost say it harkens back to the glory days of the French Connection. It's as if Jeanneret is sipping from the fountain of youth. It's great to hear!

[inkman]

I had to google Clip to figure out what you are talking about. I guess it's a Buffalo thing. I reside in Crapchester. Speaking of google, I had no idea Ryan Miller was an outspoken gay british snow boarder. :o

[inkman]

You got that right, Corp! It's been a long time since Jeanneret sounded like this. I would almost say it harkens back to the glory days of the French Connection. It's as if Jeanneret is sipping from the fountain of youth. It's great to hear!

I walk around the house quoting RJ, all the time. It's usually, "Half way through the third period". I have never heard anyone illustrate the time with such enthusiasm. I love it. :D

[nfreeman]

I will disagree with on Peters. Let Boulton rack up the penalties. And if things get ruff you still have Mair and Gaustad. Sitting Paille is a mistake. The Thrashers are a good skateing team. Seeing how he could keep up is what I would like to see. Peters only had 5 shifts for a total of 2:57. The Sabres gained nothing from it. Paille needs ice time in the NHL to prove if he can do it or not. Play the kid and lets find out. Don't waste anymore time with Peters. We already know he can't play.

 

Robi? He tows the company line well. Not to keep beating a dead horse but the Sabres did offer Z the $4 million a year to stay it was his choice to leave. Miro is a different story. If he was such a problem they should have dealt him and gotten something in return before he hit free agency. Even a mid round pick would be something. Wasn't Miller a 5th rounder. You never know. I will never be in favor of letting players go for nothing.

 

 

DeLuca -- I'm open to being proven wrong, but I'm pretty sure we did NOT offer Zhitnik $4 million per year. I think once it became clear that he wanted $3 million-plus, we bailed out. If you can post a link or something conclusive to the contrary, fire away.

 

As far as getting something for Miro -- yes, of course, it would have been better to get something than nothing. But look at how many huge talents switched teams this year as UFAs -- ie where their former teams got zero in return. There were only a handful of cases where the former team got something -- and I believe in these cases the players involved were much better than Miro. Every other team in the NHL knew we didn't want Miro at $4 million per year -- they weren't going to give Darcy something when they could get him for nothing.

[Taro T]

I've said this over and over again until I am blue in the face.  Peters is a waste of a roster spot.  Paille didn't show me anything over the last few games to prove that he can't handle duty on the 4th line.

 

Please make Andrew Peters disappear from the Sabres roster forever. :angry:

Labatts, I agree with you that Peters is not an NHL caliber player, but I don't have as big of a problem with having him as the designated press box sitter as you do.

 

There are a few reasons that I feel that way.

 

1. We'd all agree that the Sabres need to have at least 1 healthy scratch forward on the roster so you can have someone to insert into the lineup in case of illness or pregame injury. I personally would prefer that forward to be someone like Peters rather than someone "useful" to Rochester because a player is not going to develop / improve by sitting in the press box night after night. Thorburn, Paille, or any one of the other young forwards in Rochester / Buffalo will be much better served playing rather than sitting. Peters will not improve significantly by getting playing time, nor will his game deteriorate much by sitting.

 

2. He is making the league minimum of $450k. You are not wasting any $'s by having him as the spare forward because anyone else in that position would be making at least as much and possibly more.

 

3. While I think you could make a very legitimate case that a Chris Taylor could be the spare forward, I also think that Taylor is a useful player in Rochester and Peters would not be. It's in the Sabres best interest to keep some useful players in Rochester rather than have them sit in the press box in Buffalo.

 

4. There are probably only going to be about 10 games this season that I think Peters should get into the lineup for, this would be one of them. I don't have a problem with Boulton taking penalties and Buffalo getting powerplays, but I do have a problem with Boulton running Miller. He did that once. Peters was on the ice when Boulton was for Boulton's next couple of shifts and Boulton was too busy skating away from Peters to bother with running Miller again. Although idiot boy did run the goalpost quite nicely after that. Also, although Mair or Gaustad could fight Boulton if necessary, why risk having one of them break his hand or something else and be out of the lineup for a month when you have a perfectly capable guy sitting in the pressbox that you wouldn't necessarily miss if he was injured for a month.

 

I like the fact that the league is going to a speed / talent oriented game and getting away from clutching / grabbing / and gooning. Until fighting is illegal or guys get suspended for running goalies, not just 2 minute charging penalties, there will sadly be a place for players like Peters.

[Taro T]

 

DeLuca -- I'm open to being proven wrong, but I'm pretty sure we did NOT offer Zhitnik $4 million per year.  I think once it became clear that he wanted $3 million-plus, we bailed out.  If you can post a link or something conclusive to the contrary, fire away.

 

As far as getting something for Miro -- yes, of course, it would have been better to get something than nothing.  But look at how many huge talents switched teams this year as UFAs -- ie where their former teams got zero in return.  There were only a handful of cases where the former team got something -- and I believe in these cases the players involved were much better than Miro.  Every other team in the NHL knew we didn't want Miro at $4 million per year -- they weren't going to give Darcy something when they could get him for nothing.

n,

 

I haven't found a link yet, but the Sabres offered Z $4MM+ back in '04 before he became a free agent. He turned the offer down. I'm pretty sure the offer this off season was comparable to the Isles offer $3.5MM but for a shorter duration.

[nfreeman]

n,

 

I haven't found a link yet, but the Sabres offered Z $4MM+ back in '04 before he became a free agent. He turned the offer down. I'm pretty sure the offer this off season was comparable to the Isles offer $3.5MM but for a shorter duration.

 

 

OK, so I did a little googling on this, and the most authoritative info I can come up with is that:

 

1. Zhitnik's FORMER agent told the AP that, towards the end of the '03-'04 season, the sabres offered Z a 4-year, $16 million contract. There was no corroboration by anyone else (anyone with the sabres, any other news source, or Z himself) of this claim.

 

2. after the 03-04 season, the sabres made an offer to Zhitnik the terms of which were not disclosed, but his NEW agent described it to the AP as "serious" and "nothing to sneeze at".

 

this is from the AP via espn.com at http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1833202

 

So, the only source for the proposition that the sabres actually offered Z $4 million per year is a guy Z fired. Levin is a former soviet hockey executive whom, as far as I can tell via google, doesn't have any other clients other than another russian guy who's now in the minors. He also used to represent Pavel Bure, another russian. Frankly, he sounds like one of these mobsters that extort money out of russian players.

 

This just isn't enough for me to believe that the Sabres offered him $4 million per year. That would have made him the highest-paid player on the team by a solid 30% over Drury -- at a time when a new owner had just taken over with a specific budget in mind for the payroll and when everyone knew a lockout was coming that was going to lead to a salary cap. I'm not buying it.

 

Again, I'm open to being proven wrong, but I need to see some evidence. The idea that we made him that kind of offer just flies in the face of the way the sabres operate. (and rightly so, I might add -- think of what we could spend that $4 million per year on -- e.g. locking up Briere and Lydman and having some left over).

 

Go Sabres.

[Taro T]

 

OK, so I did a little googling on this, and the most authoritative info I can come up with is that:

 

...

n,

 

I still haven't found any "proof" of Z's offer, I don't know necessarily that we will be able to find the actual offer. But some comparisons that say $4.0MM - $4.5MM would not have been out of the question are:

 

Miro was scheduled to make $5.2MM in '04-'05 had the season been played.

 

Drury's pre rollback salary this season would have been $3.85MM and his average remaining salary over the life of the contract (I think the contract runs through '07, but not positive) would have been $3.95MM without the rollback.

 

EDIT: Also, Z made $3.75MM in '03-'04. Simply offering him a 10% raise would have put an offer over $4MM.

[deluca67]

n,

 

I still haven't found any "proof" of Z's offer, I don't know necessarily that we will be able to find the actual offer. But some comparisons that say $4.0MM - $4.5MM would not have been out of the question are:

 

Miro was scheduled to make $5.2MM in '04-'05 had the season been played.

 

Drury's pre rollback salary this season would have been $3.85MM and his average remaining salary over the life of the contract (I think the contract runs through '07, but not positive) would have been $3.95MM without the rollback.

 

EDIT: Also, Z made $3.75MM in '03-'04. Simply offering him a 10% raise would have put an offer over $4MM.

Is it fair to say that the Miro situation was completly different the Z's?

 

Miro aside.

 

The Sabres wanted Zhitnik. The plan was to have in on the blueline. IMO it is the #1 factor in Kalinin's drop in play. Z's faults aside, this team would be better with him and the guys in the locker respected his game. Briere was upset when he talked about Z moving on. I don't know if WGR keeps all of their tapes in ther 'Audio Vault'. If they do listen to the Briere interview back before the season started.

 

My biggest problem with that whole thing was listening to Darcy talking about how "charm" was the biggest factor on signing free agents. Since money would be even around the NHL it would up to the GM's to sell their cities. He says that, then his #1 priority walks.

[Taro T]

Is it fair to say that the Miro situation was completly different the Z's?

 

Miro aside.

 

The Sabres wanted Zhitnik. The plan was to have in on the blueline. IMO it is the #1 factor in Kalinin's drop in play. Z's faults aside, this team would be better with him and the guys in the locker respected his game. Briere was upset when he talked about Z moving on. I don't know if WGR keeps all of their tapes in ther 'Audio Vault'. If they do listen to the Briere interview back before the season started. 

 

My biggest problem with that whole thing was listening to Darcy talking about how "charm" was the biggest factor on signing free agents. Since money would be even around the NHL it would up to the GM's to sell their cities. He says that, then his #1 priority walks.

DeLuca, I am not about to go arguing with you about Miro or Z. We have discussed these issues several times and both of our positions are well known. I definitely am not going to argue with you about Z because we are about 90% on the same page on him.

 

I think Z being gone is a factor in Dmitri's diminished production but I believe the groin has not completely healed and believe it is affecting his play more than Z being gone. (No, I don't think it is a sports hernia, I think it is a minor groin injury but I do not expect it to heal fully without rest which is why I am not too upset that he has been out of the lineup with the hand injury.) I would prefer he not come back before the Olympic break because if he could get fully healthy and revert back to '03-'04 form, he would significantly improve the D corp.

[deluca67]

DeLuca, I am not about to go arguing with you about Miro or Z. We have discussed these issues several times and both of our positions are well known. I definitely am not going to argue with you about Z because we are about 90% on the same page on him.

 

I think Z being gone is a factor in Dmitri's diminished production but I believe the groin has not completely healed and believe it is affecting his play more than Z being gone. (No, I don't think it is a sports hernia, I think it is a minor groin injury but I do not expect it to heal fully without rest which is why I am not too upset that he has been out of the lineup with the hand injury.) I would prefer he not come back before the Olympic break because if he could get fully healthy and revert back to '03-'04 form, he would significantly improve the D corp.

Kalinin not at 100% and now the news about Briere? As much as this team needs a Defenseman they may have to start looking at a short term replacement for Briere. The ROC guys have played well but not having Briere leaves a hole upfront. Maybe a rent a player type move?

 

If Kalinin does have a nagging injury? The Sabers have been preety good about those things. I couldn't see them ignoring it. If he wasn't 100% I don't think they would risk it.

 

As well as the Sabres have played. Kalinin raises the quality of the defense whens he's at 100%.

 

Quick question. The Sabres have had success with the guys from the ROC. Why haven't they brought someone up to replace Fitzpatrick?