Ghost of Dwight Drane

But what is your boy Scopp going to do now that he has to actually say nice things about the Bills for the rest of the decade? :P

I truly think Roy would be a fine #1 between Vanek and Iginla. A guy like Iginla goes full speed and would open up ice for those two while taking away a lot of the physical beating Vanek has to put up with. Roy back in the day was a decent forechecker, but he was on the wing at the time so I don't know if that translates perfectly to center. If they had that one guy to groove with though, I could see Roy putting up 25-60-85 and Vanek at 40 and Iginla 30 very easily. You need to find synergy instead of giving guys away because of the hole management and coaching philosophy has built. I think it's cheaper bringing in a gamechanger at wing than overpaying in a trade to try and land another center to play #1 at this point.

Why hasn't anyone gone nuts on Sabres coaching for bringing back Roy in the playoffs for 1 game last year when he obviously wasn't ready? I speculated he was in trouble with that knee last year and thought it was stupid, and after seeing the results this year......what say you?

Wanny is good people. You go to a 4-3 for the most part now where you have better matchups. He was working with Gailey and Edwards but never took control of D. Wanny has some strong opinions but is not an overbearing guy. If McGee is let loose, just get a top 3 vet at CB, and a passrushing OLB in FA and the draft and you can work a solid system because a lot of these guys have football IQ. I'm excited to see these guys progress as disappointed as the season ended after the nice start.

I know. I've been getting the same account statement for 14 years showing up in my mailbox. I just KNOW there is going to be another juicy dividend payment like in 1999.

fair....and how many ribbons worth of misses have we wrapped that present up with?

The Polian boys are out in Indy.

When is the last time we bought low or sold high?

Dude.....I'd be more than happy if out team was Bearforce. Problem is they are more like Twinkforce. Sweet vid...thanks....

I know your thoughts on Stafford but that's the thing. Darcy takes any success of a player under 30 and continues to project continued improvement on them going forward. The thought that they may have peaked out and may remain stagnant or even regress never seems to enter his mind when valuing his players. We hear it year after year that the core is "young" and will improve. Buy low, sell high.....simple formula. You may have a guy that you love and value, but if he is hot and you can get something you need by using him.....you have to do it. If you like 2 companies, stock A and stock B, and they are both trading at $10 but you think they are both worth $20.........and you invest all your money into stock A and it goes to $17 in short order while stock B goes to $12 but you still think it's worth $20.......isn't it smart to take money out of stock A and put it in stock B? Now you can buy the same amount of shares in stock B and still have $5 a share left in profit which could convert into a draft pick or another player using this scenario. What Darcy does is says...."Oh....look at the stock at $17....maybe it will go to $30!" Then he sits on it, and next year it is still at $17...or down to $15....or even up to $20.....but at the same time stock B may just have well jumped from $12 to $20.....or it could have even gone to $15.....but for a trade value, you still more than make out by swapping from A to B and banking your profits. Now your stock A went from $17 last year to $8 this year. You can sell and cut your loses, or get a CEO and CFO in here that can manage the company correctly and get the stock closer to where it belongs.

The Sabres are in 12th place halfway through a season where they are the highest paid team in the league. I think we have firmly established a 1st round loss was the ceiling for last year's team. With a little bit of luck and facing close to 40% backup goaltenders last year, they managed to squeak into the playoffs the last week of the season. With a little bit of luck, I will win $150 million in Powerball tonight and buy everyone on the board season tickets next year.

Toronto turned down a 1st and 3rd for Clark MacArthur at the deadline last year, and he was in the same situation as Stafford. At the very least you could have gotten a 2 and 3, and saved $4 mil in cap space.....or $8 mil if you were a seller and didn't trade for Boyes.....or $11.5 mil if you took a pick for Hecht.....and a 2nd for Connolly.....and a 2nd for Montador...... What Team Sunshine+Kittens needs to understand, is that every time you cry for patience, we hit a crossroads like last trade deadline where Darcy remained and went for a feel-good push towards 8th place and a 1st round loss, instead of collecting a cupboard full of picks and unloading the salary of blah players.

You are so cruel.....almost like a hockey person that would have nothing but glowing things to say to Pegula about Darcy Regier...... :P

I think you have to separate motivation and morale. If your morale is down, your motivation may be lacking. If you had Iginla and Doan in here the past 3 years, or someone at their physical, skill and leadership level....and a coach who valued physical play, I think Stafford has the tools to be a consistant 30ish goal scorer. It's like a preacher's hot daughter having to work the stripclub.......someone's going to have to show her how to do it because Daddy sure hasn't.

I'm fine with giving him the money. He is a much more complete player than Evans was. 6 for 45 is fine with me.....tag 2 years onto freddy at 5 per......get a tackle, an OLB, and a #2-3 speed receiver with hands.....and you have a great shot at 10-6+ next year.

I can't believe I am doing this.....but Stafford might be fine with a new coach and a few new leaders here. The time to get rid of the core was 2-3 years ago. Now almost all of them except Vanek and Pominville are at low points in a trade value perspective. You dump the GM and coach and give the rest of the season to sort out who you can salvage with a different on-ice philosophy. Not to say you don't end up shipping out some of these guys, but it isn't smart right now. We are going to end up overpaying for a few new players and bring them into the same tired system, only to find out next year the GM, coach and all your players suck and you are stuck in hell for 3 more years.

He's not a bad kid.....he just needs some perspective. He doesn't get it. He's tough as nails though and works hard. He's not a superstar #1, but he's a legit #1.

And too good not to...... Here's a thought.....Bills pull the upset today and they have the same winning percentage as the Sabres.

I always said I want to party with the Channel 2 girls. If I had known that was the last I might see of her, I would have done what needed to be done. I really got to like Marissa Bailey when watching the Drug telethon. She was great at improv and really flowed and did well. Ed Kilgore on the other hand......he casually outed someone's daughter who was in rehab, called a sponsoring golfcourse crappy, and went into a panic when the prompter went down....all in a span of 5 minutes.

I'm running out of Christmas cookies to live off of....

Update: She was standing for a report at 5:30 and the contour was amazing. She anchored at 6 and was seated at the desk, keeping her heaving bosoms in check with the desk and camera acting as a virtual cage. Still master of my domain. Shucks

Marissa Bailey fans......Channel 2...LIKE NOW! Christmas green number is barely holding them in. I'm headed offline for a few.....

No....I was saying look at how Del Zotto has developed and made constant progress. That is one of the variables of them going from mediocre to the upper quadrant of the league right now.

Del Zotto was sent to the minors when everyone was ready to hand Myers the next 10 Norris trophies.

I'm starting to see Leopold as a cool character behind the scenes. Some of his quotes and actions the past few weeks are pretty goodhearted. Check out the Lindy Ruff youth practice right after the book reading. Lindy's pretty funny with them. Watch the goalie drop a load at the end of the video when Ruff takes a slapper from 15 feet out. I like relaxed Lindy.