I hear ya!
I just hope that this time around, we can rebuild, and actually win a CUP.
All we have done is rebuilding over and over again, without winning the CUP.
- Sabresfan88

I think the past 5 years, before the last year, Darcy attempted to retool on the fly. The problem was IMO he over paid to keep the core which left little to attract upper level players. Sure he had some money to throw at players on the decline but never got those difference makers. Many of his own regressed when paid a contraction that demanded current or better performance in a cap era.

Worst part is he never pulled the trigger to shake up the team and in the end Ruff was a lame duck. I am not saying Ruff would have turned it around but given the team and gm's track record Ruff was hung out to dry.

At least now we are seeing the rewards of an owner that cares about the team.
College kids are brought into the organization that before never happened. In the last 15 months we got 4 sought after undrafted free agents, that never happens here (Buffalo).
The pipeline is starting to fill up and in a few years this can be turned around, esp with a new gm.

Where does the owner want the team to be in three years?
What will the GM do to get us there?

No reason to extend Miller or Vanek if they are going to have a gm that refuses to shake up the team when in a funk and refuses to address the teams biggest needs

If you resign Miller and Vanek, it will be lengthy deals and their skills will decline during the contract.

The top 4 D has not been fixed and if your going to move forward with Vanek and Miller, you can't pencil in the kids for those spots, you have to get 2 difference makers on the back end.

Same for center, you can't wait for coho to be the number one center, you need to get that difference maker and hope the competition for the number one center makes coho a hungrier player.

Still need a RW for the top line and a pair of wingers for the second line if you resign Vanek and Miller

Staff, cut the losses.

Most players Darcy retained over the years lacked the drive or desire to be difference makers, at least for 60 minutes a game, every night, every shift

rant over

he will be a great GM IMO
- homiedclown

He's the guy I wanted the Sabres to go after....also wild up 1-0

rant over
- homiedclown

i still wont be mad if darcy is retained. it would obviously be better with someone new (at least we all assume that - remember, its always possible to hire somebody even worse). But I think darcy was never in a position to allow the team to bottom out, he couldnt have tried any harder than he did this year to tear the team down but someone they still kept winning due to some of his better recent acquisitions (pardy, flynn, porter by far were 3 of their top players down the stretch)

combine that with grigorenko who finally looked like he was hungry in a game last night and we will see how he looks playing in rochester going forward in the playoffs, and with armia who quite possibly might be our best prospect by a long shot, they seem to be in a good rebuilding spots with all these draft picks coming up. free agency is pretty much dead, darcy seems to be making good trades and good draft picks so they have a leg up on most other teams in those categories.

the only thing the team has been missing is a trade for an impact player. something like carter to LA. if Carter was on buffalo this year they are in the playoffs without a doubt.


tl;dr: i'm fine with darcy's job recently. unless he fails to move stafford then whatever he does this off season i will be 100% behind him.

I think the past 5 years, before the last year, Darcy attempted to retool on the fly. The problem was IMO he over paid to keep the core which left little to attract upper level players. Sure he had some money to throw at players on the decline but never got those difference makers. Many of his own regressed when paid a contraction that demanded current or better performance in a cap era.

Worst part is he never pulled the trigger to shake up the team and in the end Ruff was a lame duck. I am not saying Ruff would have turned it around but given the team and gm's track record Ruff was hung out to dry.

At least now we are seeing the rewards of an owner that cares about the team.
College kids are brought into the organization that before never happened. In the last 15 months we got 4 sought after undrafted free agents, that never happens here (Buffalo).
The pipeline is starting to fill up and in a few years this can be turned around, esp with a new gm.

Where does the owner want the team to be in three years?
What will the GM do to get us there?

No reason to extend Miller or Vanek if they are going to have a gm that refuses to shake up the team when in a funk and refuses to address the teams biggest needs

If you resign Miller and Vanek, it will be lengthy deals and their skills will decline during the contract.

The top 4 D has not been fixed and if your going to move forward with Vanek and Miller, you can't pencil in the kids for those spots, you have to get 2 difference makers on the back end.

Same for center, you can't wait for coho to be the number one center, you need to get that difference maker and hope the competition for the number one center makes coho a hungrier player.

Still need a RW for the top line and a pair of wingers for the second line if you resign Vanek and Miller

Staff, cut the losses.

Most players Darcy retained over the years lacked the drive or desire to be difference makers, at least for 60 minutes a game, every night, every shift

rant over
- homiedclown

OK!
I can't read the book you wrote!
However, good points!

I think the past 5 years, before the last year, Darcy attempted to retool on the fly. The problem was IMO he over paid to keep the core which left little to attract upper level players. Sure he had some money to throw at players on the decline but never got those difference makers. Many of his own regressed when paid a contraction that demanded current or better performance in a cap era.

Worst part is he never pulled the trigger to shake up the team and in the end Ruff was a lame duck. I am not saying Ruff would have turned it around but given the team and gm's track record Ruff was hung out to dry.

At least now we are seeing the rewards of an owner that cares about the team.
College kids are brought into the organization that before never happened. In the last 15 months we got 4 sought after undrafted free agents, that never happens here (Buffalo).
The pipeline is starting to fill up and in a few years this can be turned around, esp with a new gm.

Where does the owner want the team to be in three years?
What will the GM do to get us there?

No reason to extend Miller or Vanek if they are going to have a gm that refuses to shake up the team when in a funk and refuses to address the teams biggest needs

If you resign Miller and Vanek, it will be lengthy deals and their skills will decline during the contract.

The top 4 D has not been fixed and if your going to move forward with Vanek and Miller, you can't pencil in the kids for those spots, you have to get 2 difference makers on the back end.

Same for center, you can't wait for coho to be the number one center, you need to get that difference maker and hope the competition for the number one center makes coho a hungrier player.

Still need a RW for the top line and a pair of wingers for the second line if you resign Vanek and Miller

Staff, cut the losses.

Most players Darcy retained over the years lacked the drive or desire to be difference makers, at least for 60 minutes a game, every night, every shift

rant over
- homiedclown

I'm fine with Hodgson as our 1c he is playing really well and is only going to get better because of his work ethic.

I think if we can sign 1 Defensemen, a top-6 scorer, and another 3rd line type veteran we could be all set.

The FA market could end up being pretty good this year because of a few teams that are pressed up against the cap like Minnesota, TB, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. Those teams may end up buying out players or not resigning players that they would normally extend.

Still going to be tough to convince them to come to Buffalo though.

Good reeds, all. Good points. Homie, I think it can also be hard to bring in difference makers without some kind of foundation, or core they will fit into. But overall agree.

And you can have Peters, twice.

I'm fine with Hodgson as our 1c he is playing really well and is only going to get better because of his work ethic.

I think if we can sign 1 Defensemen, a top-6 scorer, and another 3rd line type veteran we could be all set.

The FA market could end up being pretty good this year because of a few teams that are pressed up against the cap like Minnesota, TB, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. Those teams may end up buying out players or not resigning players that they would normally extend.

Still going to be tough to convince them to come to Buffalo though.
- rsj2588

I agree. No one wants to play here. I say their loss. Great owner, great building, great fans. Look at all the guys who pass up buffalo for other places and have it not work out anyway.

Minny better (frank)ing choke... CBJ won and they're ahead 2-1 with just over 1/2 of the 3rd left...

Minny better (frank)ing choke... CBJ won and they're ahead 2-1 with just over 1/2 of the 3rd left...
- LetsGoBuffalo75

It should be tied, that Kobasew goal should have counted. Seriously if he has that kind of footwork in tight spaces with out knowing where the puck is he should be on the next plane Barcelona..

Also seriously it would just make a way better story if Columbus got in, they deserve it way more than Minnesota. And then there's the draft pick too

Refs just handed Minny the 8th seed. B.S. call.

Edit: Never mind, great PK by the Avs. Maybe a little momentum now?

Refs just handed Minny the 8th seed. B.S. call.

Edit: Never mind, great PK by the Avs. Maybe a little momentum now?
- LetsGoBuffalo75

Hope so! Although realistically the difference between them missing and making it is like 2 spots.

Geez, now some ridiculous non-calls in favor of Minny.

Screw you Colorado.

Screw you Colorado.
- LetsGoBuffalo75

Bastards

Bastards
- keptupl8

This season just gets worse and worse...

This season just gets worse and worse...
- LetsGoBuffalo75

lol it's literally 2 spots...not a big deal at all. They won't make it out of the first round

lol it's literally 2 spots...not a big deal at all. They won't make it out of the first round
- Sabresfan-365

I could care less about the spots. It would've been our 2nd lottery pick in the draft. It's the entire reason we were rooting against them. 2 is a hell of a lot better than 1 in this situation.

This season just gets worse and worse...
- LetsGoBuffalo75

Oh well!
So what do we get now that freaking Wild are in the playoffs?
Hey, at least the Flyers won, and they will pass us in the standing!
That help a bit!

Oh well!
So what do we get now that freaking Wild are in the playoffs?
- Sabresfan88

If they missed the playoffs, a 2nd lottery pick, 2 top 15 picks with both having the potential to be #1 overall. Now that they made it, 1 top 15 pick and a pick that has the potential to be 30th. It's a significant downgrade.

If they missed the playoffs, a 2nd lottery pick, 2 top 15 picks with both having the potential to be #1 overall. Now that they made it, 1 top 15 pick and a pick that has the potential to be 30th. It's a significant downgrade.
- LetsGoBuffalo75

Darn!
That does suck!
Let's hope we win the lottery, or be in the top 3!

3 time cup winner

jennings winner

keep the jabs coming and just look at stats though




I would think a poster with that profile picture can "remember" who the good goalies were in that era

just keep looking at the stats though

since you have a hard on for miller, look at his ranks for GAA and Save % for each year he was a starter

get back to me when you list his ranks for every season as a sabre starter for those stats


or keep hiding behind a computer and cop out with the wins stat and ignore the other stats
- homiedclown

I dont recall Moog ever being the starter in the playoffs on his cup winning teams?

If they missed the playoffs, a 2nd lottery pick, 2 top 15 picks with both having the potential to be #1 overall. Now that they made it, 1 top 15 pick and a pick that has the potential to be 30th. It's a significant downgrade.
- LetsGoBuffalo75

If they missed, it would have been the 14th pick with less than a 1% chance of winning the lottery. They most likely aren't getting out of the first round, so either way it's a mid-teens pick. Not really much of a difference.

30th place — 25.0%
29th — 18.8%
28th — 14.2%
27th — 10.7%
26th — 8.1%
25th — 6.2%
24th — 4.7%
23rd — 3.6%
22nd — 2.7%
21st — 2.1%
20th — 1.5%
19th — 1.1%
18th — 0.8%
17th — 0.5%

The Wild missing the playoffs would have pushed our chance of #1 overall from 3.6 to 4.1%. No big deal

The Wild missing the playoffs would have pushed our chance of #1 overall from 3.6 to 4.1%. No big deal
- keptupl8

Meh!!
Alright, it is not a big difference!

Meh!!
Alright, it is not a big difference!
- Sabresfan88

New blog...

no it's not, unless the Wild beat the Blackhawks