Ghost of Dwight Drane

I think you mean Ryan? I didn't see as much of the series as it usually overlapped a lot with the Bos/Tor NY/WAS ones. Bobby Ryan has always been a bit of a question mark with them. He had a crazy childhood and his name always comes up for trade every now and then. Sadly....he will be the most probable to come to Buffalo. It wil be interesting to see if Detroit can give Chicago a fight. I am gathering up loose change in my house today to invest in Boston tonight.......

He shipped out Gaustad, Kassian and Roy for Hodgson, Ott and Grigerenko.......and signed John Scott. The only reason guys like Pardy and Porter were in there was because his golden boys Sulzer and Leino were hurt. And Weber was again a Lindy whipping boy the first 3 weeks of the season. This team actually was a net negative on toughness from the start of the 2011-12 season. The strategy was to overpay your own young guys who end up regressing, like he always does.....not being able to lure a difference make in free agency....and not having enough assets to trade for real difference makers. Yes....good catch. I was going off Wiki list, team and player pages, and this thread.....missed Sedin....I think Jovonovski may be captain.... Sedin....48 Games....22 Hits.....6' 2" 192lbs......and a fanbase that wants to blow up a talented but soft team! :)

:w00t: Oh....this could be classic.....Buffalo Sabres, "The Musical", set to the backdrop of the Titanic..... We could run it at Shea's from April to June.....plenty of time and ticket money out there.....

Why do I see visions of all the plumbing bursting inside the FNC bathrooms, and fingertips clinging to urinal beershelves?

Good news for Sabres fans.....Anaheim losing out in the 1st increases the chances they will be willing to make a trade.

I know....I know..... The Titanic saw the iceberg well before it hit. Too late. I'm just waiting for the rioting to begin in a quest for lifeboats over the next few years...... It's just so frustrating......Ted and Terry want to give Darcy a cookie for seeing something 6 years after 90% of section 322 could see it........

It isn't about hitting....it's about being able to take care of yourself and your teammates. That's why I listed the size of all those guys. Some people say that there are a bunch of creampuff captains. There aren't. The only one out there who is, may be Zetterberg in size and hitting....but he is 5x harder to move off the puck and will actually go into a corner and come out with it. Pominville is not only last in hits, but in the lower percentiles in every physical metric. It's like having a 5' 2" 105 lb female white cop and sending her into downtown New Orleans, expecting her to "lead". In all likelyhood she will just try to survive. Half of the captains listed can and will drop the gloves with pretty much anyone. The reason they don't do it more is because most of them are too talented as well and it will be a waste.....but they do it when needed or to make a statement. Yes...the Sabres need more talent, but I think this city is so used to watching creampuff hockey for so long that they forget what it is like to have players that are both talented AND gritty.....the type of pool where 95% of the world tries to find their captain. Why do you think the town is so in love with Ott? It's like being out to sea for 7 years and coming into an Asian port for a weekend with a couple grand cash on you. And if 4 captains in the entire league is "several"......you may want to refresh me on the definition of the word. I don't know how people can still say some of the stuff they do. A faction of this board has been screaming from the rooftops what type of player is needed for 6 years......yet the GM has no clue, and as the team regresses and had to be exploited, exposed, and embarassed by the Lucic incident....we are now being told to suffer with a rebuild led by the very same GM that has a hockey chemistry IQ of 55. There is plenty of room on the team for an Ennis, Hodgson and Ehrhoff......you just need to find 6 more Steve Otts and Mike Webers who can lead by physical example...AND actually have enough talent to play real minutes. It's just so frustratingly simple to a lot of the fanbase.....it would be nice to have the people running the team understand.

They HAVE had an identity.....and had the perfect captain to reflect THAT identity......

Oh really?................. Jason Pominville had the least amount of hits of ANY Captain with 19 in 39 games..........He is 6' 0" 186 lbs Lets take a look at the Captains...shall we?........... Playoff captains: Getzlaf 44 Games......89 Hits......6' 4" 221 lbs Brown 46 Games....156 Hits.....6' 0" 207 lbs Iginla (w/Cal)...44 Games....65 Hits....6' 1" 207 lbs Towes 47 Games.....24 Hits.....6' 2" 208 lbs Backes 48 Games...158 Hits.....6' 3" 216 lbs Thornton 48 Games....23 Hits....6' 4" 235 lbs Zetterberg 46 Games.....20 Hits...5' 11" 195 lbs Chara 48 Games....101 Hits.....6' 9" 255 lbs Callahan 45 Games....154 Hits....5' 11" 185 lbs Crosby 36 Games....21 Hits.....5 ' 11" 200 lbs Ovechkin 48 Games...120 Hits....6' 2" 220 lbs Phaneuf 48 Games....131 Hits....6' 3" 214 lbs Gionta 48 Games....37 Hits......5' 7" 174 lbs Alfredsson 47 Games...28 Hits....5' 11" 200 lbs Streit 48 Games....34 Hits....6' 0" 197 lbs And the non-playoff captains......... Staal 48 Games...35 Hits....6' 4" 205 lbs Landeskog 36 Games....86 Hits.....6' 1" 204 lbs Morrow (w/Dal) 44 Games....85 Hits....6' 0" 209 lbs Horcoff 31 Games....24 hits....6' 1" 208 lbs Weber 48 Games....112 hits....6' 4" 232 lbs Salvador 39 Games....36 Hits....6' 2" 220 lbs Giroux 48 Games....57 Hits.....5 ' 11" 172 lbs Doan 48 Games....118 Hits....6' 2" 225 lbs Lecavalier 39 Games.....74 Hits....6 ' 4" 219 lbs Ladd 48 Games....98 Hits.....6' 2" 205 lbs Pominville.........Last in Hits Pominville.........3rd from last in hits per game (Zetterberg, Thornton) Pominville........6th shortest ( Callahan, Crosby, Zetterberg, Gionta, Giroux) Pominville......3rd lightest ( Callahan, Gionta, Giroux) So.....Lindy's Captain was last in hits......and of ALL the captains that ranked lower in any category of physicality.......(Zetterberg, Thornton, Callahan, Crosby, Gionta, Giroux).....Callahan had over 7 Times the hits and will fight, block shots, and do whatever you want,,,,,,Crosby is a once in 2 decade talent.....Thornton is an old man who used to scrap more and has 50 lbs on Pom-Pom......Giroux is a chippy lil' sh!t ala Briere.....Gionta may be the closest to Pominville of them all yet still averages almost a hit per game......and Zetterberg.....who plays for the team Darcy and Sawer cream after.......and may be the only Captain in the league that can come close to as big of a puss as Pominville was. Nothing against Pominville.......he didn't make himself captain. Darcy hitched his wagon to him.....and Lindy made him the Captain. I can't fault the kid for something that was forced upon him. So.....who is the average Captain in the NHL? 6' 1 1/2 " 208 lbs 73 Hits Again....Jason Pominville.....6' 0" 186 lbs 19 Hits If you can find me 5 players less likely to drop the gloves.....move off the puck.....or stick up for a teammate......I'd sure like to see it. In fact, if we were playing Name That Tune.....some here would be tempted to say name me 1.......

Rob Ray told a great story about Pat LaFontaine the other day....about how LaFontaine instigated a whole bru-ha-ha by doing something over the top, and Ray was the one who ended up getting jumped in the end.Then Patty tried to save him, knowing he was the reason Ray was getting pummled. That's the thing about a true captain....a guy like LaFontaine had as much pure talent as almost any player out there....he worked hard....but he also was smart, and would get that wry little smile because he was 3 steps ahead of you in his head and was about to say or do something very calculated to make you look goofy. He is great off the ice and can play the part of diplomat....and moms all over town want to pinch his cheeks and bake him an apple pie.....but this guy is a ball-buster of the highest degree and a great example of what a captain is. Crosby isn't a saint as we have seen....Towes plays bigboy hockey......the list goes on. It's hard finding extreme talent with a body of a man and mindset of a general.....but they are out there. If it was all about talent...why did it take Bert so long to get the "C"? Why did the smart people in this town know Mucks looked desperate by giving Mogilny the C? That's why some people have been so critical of the Sabres structure these past years.....a coach handpicks captains off a roster assembled by a guy in control for 2 decades....and we are given Pommer? Greatest guy in the world....God Bless him.....but if ever there was an entire structure set up to fail during crunch time.......you see what hockey is really about this time of year. Our stucture has been light years away. And thanks for all the Q talk NS. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to juniors. At least I'm learning about some of the action. I do like Moosehead beer though!

Oh Fella......3 Am....I think I fella offa da wagon.....

Back in the 70's.....guys would wake up still drunk, do a line to get their head on straight, smoke a pack of Reds, grab a burger and 3 pints at Mulligan's, then go to the arena for the game. You want to roll, or you don't. And the leagues are killing sports these days by going this way. WTF.....40% of the NFL can't read on a 4th grade level, yet we need to worry about someone dipping their shoulder to get an extra 3 yards because they might cause a boo-boo? Pommer was quite cautious when he had his dinger here.....there were even rumors going around. I can't blame the poor guy for grabbing an elbow, but holy cow....guys join the military and get explosive devices launched at them for $40K a year.....for $5 million let's buckle up buttercup.

All around the Fracker's bench Theodore chased the weasel Teddy thought twas all in fun POP goes the weasel Twelve million for the Tinman and Roy Twelve million for a marfan in fetal Where did all our money go POP goes the weasel Danny's got the whooping cough And Chris has got the measles That's the way the story goes POP goes the weasel Stand up man?........I'm not saying the guy would give the nuke codes to the Russians....because he doesn't have those kind of nads........the guy is all about surviving though my friend...... This thread needs to be revived at least once a week....... I would have offed myself before going to the lengths to protect myself this fella has......

Yes!!!!

Sabres: Miller: No....Vanek:Probably...5 for 35 Miller: See Ya Vanek: 5 for 125....to win a Cup and play on a team that isn't crap in a city I enjoy.....No

Pffttt....What do Juneau?

I love the Freudian slip to feminine.......maybe we should have used that over the years. I would think they both want to go bye-bye at this point. At least the trade returns are something to talk about.

Did you take Brooks Orpik because advanced statistics say he starts in the offensive zone on the 2nd powerplay unit 94% of the time when 1 or more defensemen are hurt or in the penalty box themself and will be matched up against Boston's centers in the Eastern Conference finals who are a paltry 43.6% on defensive zone draws on the road? Or did you just use the eye test and say...."Yeah....give me the Pittsburgh dudes.....they're good."? Might as well pile on. :)

Shhhh......they're reading this.......

I am enjoying the CBC 3rd team announcers say "Polack" 38 times in the last 2 minutes........It almost deserves a Youtube.....

Definitely DeLacey..........

Marty is cray-cray....in a good way. And I can forgive Regier for trading him as he was an asset and could be looked upon as a capable starter somewhere......but the revolving door of backups that came in afterward never found a balance with Miller. I think Miller can be a top 5 goalie if he played 55-62 games a year. It's right there for us to see at the end of every season.......even without the playoffs, Miller drops a lot of weight by the end to the point it is noticable. I find it amazing this staff has not seen that as an issue all these years. When were the Sabres at their best? '05-'06 and '06-'07........how many regular season games did Miller play? 48 and 63.......Going forward? 76...69 plus the olympics.....66.....and 61, even though he was injured for a long stretch. This year he was on pace for 68 over a full season. There ARE goalies out there who can thrive under a giant workload, but they are becoming more rare given the pace and size of the game these days. We were spoiled with Hasek because he was a pure freak of nature.....but other than guys like Brodeur, Price, and maybe a few others.....the league has finally figured out it make sense to space your breadwinning goalie properly to have him in peak form come a playoff run.

Guess what has only been twisted 6 times in the last 6 years?????????????????????? The turnstiles at HSBC Arena for a playoff game!!!!!!!

But does Eddie LeBeck have better advanced statistics than Enroth?......

Fair point.....let's play a little tit-for-tat... Traded for Gratton (bad).......Traded Gratton for Briere (good).....let Briere walk for nothing in return after offering him same contract Briere would have signed 10 months earlier (bad) Traded for Warrener (good)......Traded Warrener to get Drury (good).....let Drury walk for nothing (bad) Traded Grosek for Gilmour and Dumont (good)........Let Gilmour walk and one of the most respected players of his generation talked openly negative about the organisation (bad)......Let Dumont walk for nothing to make a point to his Frenchie friend Briere (double bad) Traded for Barnes (good) Traded Peca for Connolly and Pyatt instead of Iginla (really really bad) Failed to trade for Gary Roberts or Guerin knowing that the team was about to let Briere and Drury walk and only had 1 shot at the Cup (bad) Signed Connolly, Roy, Kotalik, Afinogenov, Kalinin and Gaustad to inflated contracts while letting Grier, Dumont, McKee, Briere and Drury walk for the same cumulative money (really...really..really bad) Let Biron go so Lindy could work Miller to the point of a skeleton year after year (bad) Drafted Vanek (good)......gave up 4 #1 draft picks from a horrible team and signed Vanek to one of the biggest contracts in the league because he F'd up Briere and Drury (quadruple bad) Drafted Myers and Ennis (good)..........Paid Myers and Ennis $15 million last year (bad) Said Lindy was his coach as long as he was GM (good).......Fired Lindy after taking a 5 year extension on top of the other extension he took as Pegula was closing on the purchase of the team (weasel) Made it to the Stanley Cup and conference finals on the heels of inheriting the best goalie in the world and a team led by the GM and coach of the year....as well as a set of new rules coming out of the lockout that turned an also-ran into a contender (good....I guess)...........missed the playoffs almost every other year (bad) So the way I see it, almost every major victory for Darcy ended in a flaming defeat at some point.......and there are a baker's dozen of other crapola incidents to lead most of us to the conclusion we hold dear...... WE'RE SCREWED!