Ghost of Dwight Drane

John Rigas - Tom Golisano - Terry Pegula Tim Rigas - Larry Quinn - Ted Black Doug Moss - Larry Quinn - Pat Lafontaine If we are playing the Sesame Street game.....I know which one of these stands out......no sleuthing needed......

I like Tim Murray, and all things being equal, am happy he is seemingly in charge of hockey decisions. He is honest though, and his soliloquy about dealing with an owner when that specific aspect was never mentioned is huge to me. I also own his exact same wardrobe from Casual Male that he has paraded out the past few days. I'm thinking maybe 2xl and 48 portly for Tim though.... It's just the pure disappointment of it. You never gave them the benefit of the doubt, and I tried for a few months. I'm not mad because it was fun getting excited, even when D'Agostini scored a seemingly meaningless goal.....but I just wanted to be a fan again. Now the locusts and snakes are in the fields like so often over the past 2 decades....

Has anyone seen the medication list of any Sabres execs?

People in the know have 4 different stories. It's not cut and dry. I just go off of history, character shown in the past, and concern. The beef wasn't with Murray...PLF MIA days before trade and supposedly Nolan has extension offer. If it is some outlier....you don't choose to have this happen NOW. The spin coming from GR et al about Lafontaine being difficult and having concussions.....that is a John Kerry swift boat attack. Yes, Lafontaine did this before. He left after seeing Charles Wang operate who is pretty much slam dunk known as the worst owner in hockey. If anything, it shows brilliance and foresight...which with the concerns some of us have had here....and outlying this EXACT scenario given the addition of Battista and history of Pegula....it's a concern. If Tim Murray and Craig Patrick stay, then it is much less of an issue. Murray can't leave now....Patrick, he's probably taking a nap before bridge club tonight. If he goes, it will be in the offseason to limit damages. My heart was totally in supporting this team, and was excited about the trade deadline and making actual analysis of deals and possibilities. Now we are just back to typical 3 ring Buffalo Sabres circus.

LOL at you not posting a 10 day span as Lafontaine and Nolan were being hired and lurking yesterday but not posting til today. :) I have no idea what the truth is....but I don't buy for 1 second that Lafontaine decided to leave during the most crucial week of the season to go back to a patronage job after making major life changes. The Sabres sloppy and delayed response should say that this was not a cut and dry situation. I'm perfectly willing to say PLF is capable of flying off the handle.....but even DB's don't do this to their enemies. Lafontaine would not want this public no matter what the true situation, this week.

I'm not concerned about Tim Murray.....his response given the uncertainty of the situation sheds light on THIS situation. It's like when your parents get home from vacation and left the kids alone for 5 days. They walk in the door and ask, "How is everything kids, did you miss us?" And the first thing the kid says is..."Yeah, and we didn't have friends over or drink out of your liquor cabinet or nothin'!"

The owner had nothing to do with the question or any previous one. "Are you comfortable being the GM here?" Great answer?..."I'm in my glory. It was always a dream of mine. I love scouting and finding players, and it's been great getting to know the guys here on the team and staff. This trade deadline stuff makes for no sleep....but yes....love it."

Murray offered that as the first thing off the top of his head. That is psych 201....he's an honest dude...it's weighing on him. So the story is that Lafontaine missed his 120K a year job in NYC after he moved the family and committed the high school kid for 4 years....even though he makes more in interest per year on his net worth and can make the same amount from that job in 6 public speaking engagements?

Murray when asked "Are you comfortable being the GM here?" The first thing he says is...."I am, I know that you ultimately have to answer to the owner...he's the one that writes the checks.." He wasn't asked about the owner, or there was no inkling of anything having to do with the owner in the previous question....that came spur of the moment. Think about it.....

Nope....Lafontaine was supposedly MIA since Tuesday. The Sabres had no story to run with yesterday after 6 hours of national media, local, fan, alumni, and bishop speculation and bickering. If it was cut and dry, the Sabres would have had a media plan crafted by Wednesday and rolled out an orderly separation. Look at the grumpiness and clumsiness of the press conference today. Pat Lafontaine is tough to deal with.....after all you knew was Darcy Regier.......

"I'm not going to beg him to be here, we want people who want to be here, coach or players." "Ultimately I have to answer to the owner."

Oh...you got the GR memo that went out at 6PM last night?

I firmly believe that Pat Lafontaine is the type of person who would not leave at such a crucial time as a few days before the trade deadline when your team is about to have as big of a makeover as it has since 1970. He just wouldn't do that. He would go and take a vacation to a secluded desert island for a week and the press release would have come out March 6th. That is what is so concerning here. I think even a scumbag would have the couth to wait a week. I want to hear from everyone. It's not fair to assume guilt either on the Sabres or Lafontaine. It may be in the best interests of everyone in the long term, but the timing just rekindles every feeling of distrust, cronyism, dysfunction, and politics that has hung over this franchise for far too long. I was just getting comfortable with the idea of being a giddy fan again, and then reality strikes. I got a call last night from a personal situation that is fairly big which mimicked my feelings about the Sabres. Always go with your gut....think it out, but go with your gut....

http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/22203-gm-speculation/page__st__280#entry528432 This is the most logical scenario for me right now, but I truly want to hear from everyone. The kind of stuff that has gone on the past 2 days does not bode well under any circumstance. Now you have Nolan sounding wishy washy. What does Tim Murray think? He at least had Patty as a buffer between him and Pegula. Is Battista going to be over his shoulder? Tim Murray said he is renting a condo and didn't even put anything in the fridge yet a few weeks ago. I can only imagine what is going through his head right now. How do you put your full heart into a trade deadline rebuild when you probably have to question yourself how long you can truly see yourself staying in Buffalo. It's just a bad juju. And Pat Lafontaine did leave before....he left Charles Wang....was that a poor decision? This is the scary part. I just want to hear from everyone right now. This is government overthrow kind of stuff. They should march every major member of the organization in front of a mike so we know they are still alive. Murray, Black, Patrick, Devine....I couldn't care less about Sawyer, and Benson is too busy getting appointed to the board of Penn St by Governor Corbett with the media backlash there....but I really thought we were over the hump. What should be a Christmas Eve type atmosphere of the trade deadline has just been ruined by learning the kids crashed the car on the way to Grandma's house...and we don't know the condition except for 1 DOA.

Do you have any sunscreen I can borrow?.....

We've wargamed for this exact scenario. I'm withholding judgment for now because it seems there are more moving parts to this. This is so Buffalo though. We can't even get excited about the trade deadline because our worst fears have been rekindled. Well....it was a nice run of 70 jaded-free days.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qcs_eoM6vo

In the midst of this I get a 3 AM call-out from an AP writer?

I'm learning the rules to cricket just in case...... I need another sport besides football......

I know he needed to get it moving...we needed to do this last February and June as well, but never did! I don't mind if Stewart is flipped. Just weird seing him talked down. For all the love of Marcus Foligno, Stewart IS Marcus Foligno, but with 10+ more goals per year potential and proven ability to take on heavyweights. I understand he is inconsistent, which is why StL is smart for swapping him out for OTT. I would do the same thing if I were a GM....say...like trading Stafford for Gary Roberts in 2007??????? Thanks...I'm just fine with the trade. Pretty fair.

It's an honor having an AP writer not only knowing who I am, but suggesting I hold court over a news medium while feeling the need to engage me over his own description of this humble internet poster.... If Larry Quinn has been hired by the Sabres.....I'm moving back to Florida...

Which is why you move him now.... He's had a history of being fragile. Let some other team play out the risk/reward scenario. We are lucky he is back from the abyss. Be happy if he has real value, because 3 months ago his contract probably made him close to untradeable. Remember....Murray is like a consultant coming into a company at this point. These aren't his guys, and unless he loved someone before he got here, the most efficient move is for him to maximize value and acquire players or picks that will turn into players that HE loves. It's time to convert into Murray Currency....

I have no idea why people aren't happy with this trade. The last few days, consensus was talking down what we could get for Miller. Murray said he did this in 2 stages. Miller 1st then Ott. For Miller, a UFA, you Halak, Stewart, and a conditional 1st. The Blues were 5-2 to win the Western Conference BEFORE the trade. That means there is a 40% chance they will be in the conference finals. Add the prospect of Miller resigning and it is probably better than a coinflip you get the 2014 1st rounder. Halak is an average starter and is worth a 2nd in his own right. Stewart has plenty of value. He is still young and it's pretty funny watching him get dismissed. He is 2 years younger than Stafford, and has 15 less goals than him in 120 less games...is bigger, and has a history of playing physical. That's 4 reasons he is better than Stafford in general. He's better than Steve Ott, except for consistency of leadership. I would be absolutely fine if he was a Sabre going forward, especially under Nolan. For Ott you got a 2015 1st round pick, and a recent 2nd rounder who dropped because of injury. Both of these trades were in-line, or better than expected on a value basis, and you got first jump by setting the market. We all know the UFAs were gone. By doing this early, not only does it increase the pressure on teams like ANA, LA and Vancouver to do something and possibly overpay for guys like Ehrhoff, Myers, Moulson....but it now allows Murray free-time to actually explore and work on potential hockey trades that were not automatic. It's a lot harder pondering shipping out guys like Myers, Hodgson or Foligno when you are spending the last few days and hours trying to squeeze blood out of a rock on the guys who HAVE to be moved. Now...maybe you spend 3 days going back and forth with Anaheim in a controlled process. You weren't going to get Gibson for Miller...but how about Myers being involved? I love the fact that we set the market for once, did it out west where we can feel more comfortable making further trades, and got fair value at the very least.

Sorry...I meant 4 weeks.....