Ghost of Dwight Drane

Broken bone in foot. He's expected to be back, but probably not in time for deadline day. When I stumbled upon the idea that the Sabres are after Vinny and Bobby Ryan, LeCavalier went down that night with injury. I firmly believe Pegula wants some star power names in here, which would include a center if possible, and Darcy is under the gun to get something done. Darcy is probably being allowed to freely work every angle, but Ted Black is overseeing the process and keeping constant communication between Darcy and Pegula. If you listen to Regier a week or so ago, he melded in the thought we need "big time" players in here, or words to that effect. Listening today to Black, he is slowly weaving a pullback in support long term for Darcy and pretty much says he is "hovering" around the trade process without saying it. He also let a blurb slip about forwards maxing out at 25 to 27...which would lead to increased speculation they are going to move Pominville and possibly even Vanek, and that a guy like Ryan would be a target if he is available. He also blurbed last week about big trades being like big real estate or corporate deals that take weeks and months to close. Ted Black is the key in this. I like his playful, shoot from the hip style in conversation, but that sometimes leads to information being leaked if someone reads between the lines and has a beat on the history of the personalities involved. I could be wrong, and the injury could have derailed things, but I firmly believe I am on the right path here. As a fan and out of respect, I won't fill in the rest of the blanks until after the deadline....and I could be smoking crack. Much like the Doan thing over the summer where I actually used my Drane offbeat process to try and matchmake and lobby his crew to get him here, it would be fun to add value instead of just playing detective with the Sabres own assets. But the puzzle is much of the fun.....

Vegas odds show a coinflip. We were underdogs in Tampa

Uncle Ted must have slipped him a C-Note to trash Miller so the fanbase gets used to the concept once he's actually traded. Remember.....the lone time Pegula has come out of hiding and actually said something about this team, it was to bash Miller and say his daughter could goaltend better. I seriously doubt Miller has let that 100% go, and when he sees how dysfunctional the team has been, I'm sure he wouldn't be crushed to leave.

That was worth the entire read! It really reminds me of something that would happen to Buffalo.

Like when we had Drury and Briere, and Gary Roberts and Guerin were available....... with a bunch of young forwards in the pipeline like Roy, Pominville, Stafford and Paille?

Wow... Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Iginla, Kunitz, Letang, Morrow, Neal, Dupris, Sutter, Cooke, Martin...... I'm saying a prayer for Mario tonight. This is the kind of stuff you do when you have nothing to lose.

My barbers are on the BlueCross commercial and I sometimes get confused when I hear the voices in the room when I'm not paying attention.......

He doesn't leak it, and I give him credit. I identified Vancouver and a center last year, but it was no leak, just spitballin. ......but as we have seen in the past with, "So No Richards?"......things now get out. Not the kids this time.....the braintrust. Thank you!

Can you trade for a guy that is injured? You know...if the acquiring team waves liability?

If this trade goes down....it will blow your minds how simple this was to come up with......the Sabres "braintrust" left themselves wide open and naked.

Sweet....get your tickets now for the 31st as Iginla tries to stamp himself a Bruin by making Pat Kaleta retire......

I would pay to swim with Darcy......I hear that experience has healing powers.......

It's only the song.......trust me.....

It would be interesting to know his true measurements. He was 6'7" and 202 coming in. And the difference in each inch as you get over 6 feet is an extra 6-7 pounds per inch to support. Myers, if he was built like Leopold who is probably the perfect build for an athlete at defense believe it or not.....should probably be in the 235lb area. He has been awkward no matter what the deal is....confidence, endurance, training, limbs, etc. He's just such a special case that you sunk a $10 million bonus into that I would bring in a half dozen consultants just to see if you can get him right.

He can't put on big weight, much like Miller. Lindy never understood that Miller couldn't log the big ice time without shriveling up by the end of the year. Miller CAN be a top 5 goalie if he plays 60 games a year so he can be somewhat fresh for the playoff grind. Myers is a physical freak and you can't treat him normal. There is a horse in the barn that is so tall.....that he has to go to 5th position in ballet to bend over and graze. Nobody had seen that before and it freaked the heck out of everyone because it puts stress on the suspensory ligaments. They do different stretching drills with him than the normal horse and luckily he is smart so he takes care of himself. I have not been impressed with the Sabres training staff over the years as far as individual development. We just seem way too cookie cutter in fitness and display on the ice. Maybe all of my bitching about Ruff not developing power forwards has a bit to do with this. I don't know.....but I'm getting more and more confident that Myers is not going to have the lightbulb turn on while here.

No, he has to stand around 4 feet out and 2 feet to the side and leave the slot open if he really wants to charm. Holy Cow.....this thread and this fanbase has turned into Mad Maxx. I can't blame everyone, but it is scary going forward. The lockout was so much more fun.

I'm getting sick of the "myers was out of shape" meme going on. A pro athlete, even if slacking off in full, can get back in great shape in a matter of weeks on a rebound. The Sabres of the 70's would be hungover and smoked 2 packs of Camels a day, yet they go hard for a few weeks and were fine night after night. Something is amiss with Myers. He has to actually focus on moving his legs to get momentum going....I mean, looking down at the puck, and actually think about moving his legs.....that's how sloppy he has looked. He is thinking about everything he does out there. It's really weird. That was the risk you took by taking a physical question mark. He was one thing at 18, but now that he is 23....everything is a bit goofy. I would pull the chute on this kid and get back whatever his value is at this point. The "fatigue" thing is not a new thing for him. The guy has appendages 20% longer than the average fella......circulation will be an issue, even if everything else is peachy. I'm still not convinced everything else is peachy. Leopold was actually a decent player in the past. I have no idea what is going on with him other than maybe he is hitting the wall, or the whole team is so dysfunctional like Chz said that nobody knows what is going on out there. I would think you can get a 3rd for him.

You guys have more guts than me. That's a good thing you tried to do. We can't save the world, but you went above and beyond. And hot asian college girl.....7,000 miles from home.....in line for millions......with daddy issues.......JACKPOT! It's that sort of franchise player opportunity that makes all the years of female study and suffering worthwhile.

Everyone has gone batty.........and like Jimmy V said.....never give up......

Hurley is...he had a nice farm and hunk of a nice stallion that he ran in the Derby, but like pretty much everyone in the industry at one time or another...one moment glory, next moment dust. You see Rip Simonick there over the summer every now and then. He's owned some too.

Sorry...Penn St. needed to keep their football coach.....

I just love how they do the anthem there....

Here's to negative Corsi's for everyone and a 3-2 win!!!

You saw the football guy retire video too?

Oh yeah.....where is the obligitory "Pics of the Sister?" post? :P