Ghost of Dwight Drane

Whaaaat???????

Right....they were rebuilding, yet 3 months earlier they handed out contracts to free agents that had the Sabres #1 in the league in cash outlay for the 2011-2012 season. Most of us here by now have figured out Darcy is a yesman/survivor/weasel.....or whatever you want to call him. In one regard I can forgive Pegula for the initial mulligan given, however the fanbase is so up in arms right now that the entire franchise is more worried about protecting this Failure of a GM through spin, lies, etc....over actually trying to put a quality product out there. It's pretty sickening.

Crawford got a hip and a skake on the same crash earlier as well.....I guess it's the playoffs. Although I don't feel too much desperation yet in these games. Intense but not desperate

I pay to watch NHL...playoff potential caliber hockey.... Not, we spent the most cash of any NHL team in 2011-2012 to sign guys to bonuses, bury guys in the minors and overseas...yet still managed to miss the playoffs and suck even further the next year. This is a sham...plain and simple. Sometimes you just have to divorce your first love....then scrub any mention of what happened in the past so people can't see how crazy you were in the first place.

18 geldings...plus Ott and Weber......

And the fact that during crap times...people pay up for inferior goods given it is still cheaper than the premium goods on discount. At least that seems to be the sales pitch.....

The Sabres are a Giffen Good....................

Good thing Darcy is a type D - ...........................Gives 3 or 4 a chance to still support him because he isn't an F.

76 and sunny all week.........oh how nice it would be to liven up downtown...... Thanks for F'n us all yet again Darcy!!!

No... The center situation to start the 2007 season is justification to dismiss Darcy The center situation to start the 2008 season is justification to dismiss Darcy The center situation to start the 2009 season is justification to dismiss Darcy The center situation to start the 2010 season is justification to dismiss Darcy The center situation to start the 2011 season is justification to dismiss Darcy And the center situation to start the 2012 season is justification to dismiss Darcy.........................

Leave the analytics to TrueBlue and Wraith........

Hey....remember a little over a year ago when Max Talbot was out there for less than 2 million......Or Getzlaf was on the table for Myers? Thems were the days.......

Speaking of that.....I eagerly await the follow up on LGR's new conquest with the saucemaker.

I'm sure they can. The owner of the site is public, and I don't think anyone here is a big enough D-Bag to make stuff public like that. That being said......every time a Nittany Blue car drives by the house.....I dive in the shrubs......

Hey....we're all owned baby....one way or another.....we're all owned............. And you are correct.....everyone has a choice. That's the bottom line.

It's tough to walk away....but I'm clean and sober on the ticket front for going on 6 years now. I used to have Club seats for the Bills, knowing that if they ever made it to the SuperBowl you pretty much are a slam dunk to get tickets. After a while when the seats starting breaking, and I figured out it was pretty much costing me $1500 a year for an extra hour of alcohol, a dessert cart, and a 50-1 shot of seeing a SuperBowl, I just kept my regular seats. You can pony up the $3K for tickets from all your savings. It stinks....you want to have fun and enjoy and be part of it. When you have zero faith in the person who ices the players......it's tough to make that commitment. WHich gets to X's point......valid theory....never going to happen with current GM. Maybe we can win a Calder Cup in 5 years......that's the upside.

It's a sad situation. I was as excited as anbody here when the rumors of Pegula started to surface. A guy like that gets his prize and it was obvious a sale was about to happen. Nobody is going to knock him for the good he started to do with reaching out to the alumni, the increased effort to charitable events and hands-on initiative the family took to that, even the lockerroom and perks were well meant. But we were also told that there would be a "transparent" relationship between the team and the fans. It started out well, as the honeymoon was in full swing. Now however, the franchise is acting way too much like the previous one by dodging the local media, handing out excuses on a platter, and trying to sell real estate development over on-ice production. The last ownership group telegraphed their play. Golisano got a sweetheart of a deal with most of the debt being forgiven on purchase. Larry Quinn was rewarded with a minority share of the team, and needed that to vest into long term gains before the sale went through. They were able to play off of the pent-up demand from the '06-'07 run, and maxed out their profits very well. It was easy to identify their true goal, and even in doing so on this board, people took a lot of flack for calling them out. Yet once they sold.....it was obvious to everyone and then used as an excuse to trump up the New Improved Sabres structure.....even though 99% of the employees were the same.....including the GM and players. There was true hope with Pegula and Black. Most successful businessmen, if they feel the last management group was inefficient, make major changes to the structure of their purchase. They added scouts....great. Not looking like that has helped much. Ted Black is a very smart person who has the ability to think big and outside of the box. It seems however either he is totally on board with Regier, or doesn't want to risk upsetting Pegula by saying..."He has to go". Either way, I have started to lose a great deal of faith that he is an honest broker. Now all of a sudden yesterday he talks of keeping the value of the franchise for the next owner and president......and spins the numbers including the ticket increase......and trumpets how great Harbor Place is and everyone should be happy about that, even though on Day 1 when asked, he said they are not there for real estate development and had no interest. "The well runs dry eventually"....."I can't count on Terry being like this forever".........Holy Cow! Is this what the fans were told coming into this? Is this what we were to expect? It's starting to feel like Golisano/Quinn...and the team is actually worse! And somehow through all this, a disingenuous GM keeps his job going on 2 decades. Most of the fans felt in the begining, "we are in this thing together with you"......and the suggestion box was a cute idea, and Ted Black was accessible and actually had a lot of positive things to say because so much was new and changing...at least the off ice stuff. But now he is spinning that he and the GM are both employees of Pegula, he is the non-hockey guy, yet Pegula has no reason to answer questions. How can anyone buy that crap? He says it right there.....the chain of command INSISTS that Pegula should answer questions about Regier and Ruff. Black just charted the structure for you right there......if not Pegula, then who? I wanted to believe that Black was coming from an honest place, but this little experiment right here just goes to show he isn't. I contacted him to tell him he was a security risk for the Sabres by having that Twitter account out there and not understanding how it works. Out of respect, I didn't say anything. I still leaned on the side of caution and gave him the benefit of the doubt because I want to like the guy. So when shown here, instead of admitting to himself "Whoops", the arrogance kicked into a higher gear and he tried to cover his tracks within hours by following 2 more players. Considering he only followed 2 players outside the organisation in the multiple months the account was up, I find it a miracle if he just so happened to add them an hour or two after exposed here. But his misunderstanding exposed him yet again. Trying to discount the fact that he telegraphed to me who the Sabres were targeting a month before the deadline at best, and to make me look like a liar at worst....he adds Kane and Read. But the chronological aspect of Twitter shows in fact that those 2 players were just added to his follow and weren't there all along. Speaking of that.....his first two follows were Bob McKenzie and LeBrun. Now you can easily play that off as normal.....and it just may be.....but given the way the local media is avoided and the sweetheart stories McKenzie has done so far on Pegula (post PSU)....no wonder he was the first to tell on deadline day that the Sabres were done dealing. I want the Sabres to do well.....that's why I shut up. Yesterday was a game changer however. These guys think they know what is best for everyone, and the early promises are starting to be broken. There is SOOOOO much potential with Pegula as owner if there was just a strong enough force of hockey people at the top. He really is a dream owner, and if someone in his brass just had the sack to wake him up and say...."Regier has to go".......then holy cow, would the fans ever throw their support towards him again! Guess what.....you can "work with me" as well. I love dogs, cigars, and the Sabres.....and I'd be damn sure to fall on the sword in a heap of shame if I was the GM of this team and failed through so many cycles. I would literally be ashamed to show my face knowing how much I disappointed MY CITY. It's too bad. I thought this group really had the combo of heart and smarts to pull this off. I'm not so sure now. Boy....that was either really sloppy......or Freudian.........or maybe both? PA......we may have another case to add to the court docket........

You are right about the Ott/Myers talk....... Darcy pretty much admitted he screwed the pooch with giving all that money to Myers. Even seemed to hint his value is down as a player 1 year out. And contract talks with Ott...I'd hope so. How much of a cluster would this season be without him to soothe? I don't speak of conspiracy......I speak of avoiding a horrible situation that is 100x more important than a hockey team. The front office hid from the local media then and have yet to comment on any relationship with key entities. If they are willing to do that, then when they hide for the actual hockey team when they are in the tank, not what I expect to see from those I should trust. There is no reason to avoid the first....which when they avoid the second, and I know why, it raises my suspicions on the first. That truly scares me. I hate possibly besmudging an innocent person, but 90 seconds in front of a camera in a timely fashion with heartfelt disdain and explanation at what happened at SM could have put me at ease. All the connections that came to light during the silence was very uncomfortable. When I question, I look. I wasn't happy with what I found. Nothing concrete......but if I was that close to something so disgusting, I'd be out there begging for forgiveness for not seeing it. Thanks for the Twit compliment though. That's my biggest point here.....the idiot fanbase that doesn't know any better could see what the braintrust was thinking the whole time. If Ted isn't responsible for hockey issues....why is he on the case? Whatever......I need to get excited about the WNBA or something. I would actually feel 10% bad if Darcy read this board. :)

It is actually a good idea. You can get a good feel for what the pulse of the fan is, and if you are open minded, a few good ideas. I truly believe 99.9% of the people that post here want to see a Stanley Cup in Buffalo. I read what I consider a great horseracing message board but do not post there. Those closest to me in the business know my passion for things and the drive to research and ability to come up with information and ideas. Something popped up pretty negative about a person close to me and I was on a golf cart with them when they asked if I had seen it. I just smiled. They went off on how crappy it was, and I knew the truth....and said don't bother...they don't know what they are talking about. But there was also a time when the site brought up a national broadcast and there were critics involved on it. I actually agreed with the critics on this. It was not my call, but our relationship is such that input is always welcomed, but not always followed. I had the same concern as the critics....and I expressed them ahead of time. After the event, it didn't go as planned. Those concerned on a message board actually made the right call over the person closest to the horse. The person learned from this however.....and the same mistake was never made again......and giant success followed. You should never be afraid to take in information. Black is a marketer as well, which would make even more sense to look at stuff like this board. I can see him and Gibby huddled together with a bag of Act II microwave popcorn.....reading this on a slow, offseason Tuesday morning.

ain't it! This board is great today. I think the skeptics all ran for the bottle.

They won more playoff series in the past 11 months than the Sabres in the past 6 years.... And have been in more bankruptcies......... And paid out about 70% of the cash in salaries the Sabres did....... And still finished higher in the standings.......... Talent gets you nowhere.......there is always a leader with brains that will take you out. Tom Brady was a 6th Round pick for a reason. Put him in the QB challenge skills contest and he is mid pack. Derek Roy hustled his ass off as a winger for Drury. That's how the synergy happens...... And I know you are just being funny X.....I'm talking in general here.

I'm sure he reads the board......and in the beginning I was excited. Ted's got a bit of the "it" factor in a positive way. Too bad he's digging in to protect a weasel of a GM instead of convincing the boss to step back on this one.

Yeah.....if I end up in the river....those around me know who did it..... If it was anyone else, it would have happened long ago!

And follows lawyers from Pitt, and a local relevant school...... 2 hours after I posted about LaCavalier and Ryan...which I knew about and posted close to 2 months ago......he added Kane and Read. After I noticed that...he added the OHL, Shannahan, and something else......... You are correct. No tweets, and all relevant follows. He hasn't quite figured out he is digging his own hole by adding people since Twitter works in chronological order. Maybe he wants to change that picture of him in the Sabres windbreaker with the 3 day lip hair, and the paper machet dolls. Instead of holding up the Stanley Cup....maybe they should be holding up the model of Harbor Place???? But Terry has no interest in being a real estate developer......Ted told us so when they first got here.

Something is very amiss today................I like this online community......I love my city and the people in it........I distrust those who have been in hold of my city's hockey team for over a decade now. Instead of admitting mistakes.......the latest crew just keeps digging deeper and deeper. I like the Owner's wife, and the team President.....not so much the Chief Development Officer.....and certainly not the General Manager. I really want to like the owner......but he doesn't talk. He doesn't talk about the General Manager or the Chief Development Officer. That scares me. That makes me mad. I will get the word out through the pipeline if things go bad here. I don't think it will..........