apuszczalowski

Again, the problem with all of this, like all negotiations, is that they never feel any pressure to get something done til the 11th hour. Up til then its just a game of chicken to see who caves first. No side will cave until the last minute, so theres no rush to get anything done til then. They keep putting off meeting to get something resolved, when you would think they would want to just sit down together in a room ASAP and not leave until something is worked out. If they get to a lockout, they will break from talks again and take things slow until the next deadline. if something isn't reached then, it will be slow until the next deadline and so on until one side caves You would think they would want to resolve this quickly and quietly since they just lost a full season to the last CBA dispute and fans were just starting to let that one go and move on.......

Obviously you guys need more guns out there......... Only way to stop gun violence is with more Guns

Why does it have to be one or the other? The chance or lieklyhood of eventually getting buried in the minors due to your outrageous cap hit may deter someone from wanting to play in Buffalo, but may not be something they worry about in New York City. If he goes to NY or Philly, he is on a team thats typically seen as one of the East Cup Contenders and gives him the best chance to get to a Cup, where as if he goes to Buffalo, does he have a better chance of getting a cup? If he wins the cup in the next 2 seasons he may turn around and say he will retire and not have to worry about going to the minors. But out of NY, Philly or Buffalo, which team has the best odds of getting him a cup so he can retire?

Does he want to completly uproot his faimly and move to Buffalo? From what it sounds like, he wants to keep his ranch in Phoenix and if he doesn't stay with teh Coyotes, his first choice is to stay close to home so his family doesn't have to move or be uprooted accross the country for a couple years. Of course he visited some east coast teams (Cup contenders The Rangers and Flyers) to keep his options open, but that doesn't mean those teams are high on his list. He never came to visit Buffalo, and doews anyone outside of Buffalo feel that they are a true cup contender with or without Doan?

He said that at the trade deadline this year, he never said that they would never trade for guys that would become UFA's at the end of a season during the offseason. All he said was that he wasn't looking to make a deal for a rental at the deadline this year And they are a desired location to go to because they are the biggest American hockey market and one of the largest, most attractive locations in the league. Your comparing the city of New York to the City of Buffalo, its not like the Blue jackets are getting away with doing things like this successfully

Other teams may tell him that they can't match the offer Buffalo has for him, but that doesn't mean the rest of the league is out for him. If the guy cared about the money, he would have agreed tot eh Sabres deal already. He cares more about where he plays the most, thats why he wants to stay in Phoenix. He may accept much less to stay there, or be willing to take less to play somewhere closer to home instead of relocating all teh way accross the country to somewhere he has no connection with

I think theres just as good of a chance that Iginla can be moved as there is of Doan chosing another team to play for then Phoenix.I never said that Calgary has Iginla on the trading block and is actively shopping him for picks and prospects. But for the right price, any player can be moved. Doans been a FA available to sign anywhere for over a month and a half now, being offered a deal about double what anyone else is offering and he continues to wait for the ownership situation to be finalised, continuing to move his self imposed deadlines. I only threw out the idea of making a push to try and get Iginla out of Calgary....

I disagree on this, I think the longer it plays out, the less likely he is to come here. The selling point to him right now from the Sabres is the contract. If the money and years haven't already made up his mind to come here, he ain't coming unless he is completly out of options. The only thing keeping this dragging on is the ownership situation in Phoenix. He desperatly wants to stay there, but doesn't want to re-sign until its official that the deal is done and they have an actual owner. If the announcement is made that they will not be sold to Jamieson and he doesn't sign the Sabres contract at that time, he won't be a Sabres unless everyone else in theleague turns to him and says they are out.

You assume that the guys coming up are going to be quality guys and will make an impact at a young age in the NHL though. Your assuming these players become Vaneks, Pomminsteins, and Ennis', rather then Staffords, Roys, and Kassians Your also hoping the new CBA doesn't restrict the cap space, but right now, no one knows what the new CBA is going to look like and what will happen to existing contracts

Because Doans contract is for a player over 35 and its a guaranteed cap hit. If his play severly declines, your stuck with a huge cap hit and would have to get rid of guys to open up space to make moves while your stuck with a declining player taking up a large chunk of your cap. Atleast with Iginla, your giving up pieces, some of them can also be picks or guys not currently on the roster for a younger player whos cap hit can be lowered later on. To get him, you don't have to necessarily give up roster players, Picks and prospects can also be moved.

TP was able to convince others to waive clauses and agree to a deal, and its not like Doan is begging the Sabres to come to Buffalo either so I see that being a washFeaster can tell the fans and media he's not available, that doesn't mean he wouldn't move him for a decent offer. I seem to remember hearing the same thing out of Columbus about Nash for a while....

Thank you for that wonderful compliment, I would have been fine if you just called me brilliant, the really brilliant was a sweet touch, lol

And thats just the Bills section of TBD, PPP section is a much darker place!

And you know this how? Its a very realistic possibility, the Flames have been rumored many times to be willing to move Iginla for the right price, and most people agree the Flames should deal him while they can get something for him and rebuild properly. Iginla is much closer to being deserving of a $7.5 mil a year deal, and he isn't over 35 so if you gave him that deal for a longer term, this is a contract you can bury or get rid of later on when he is declining. Its not going to be a cheap deal for Buffalo to make, but it would give them a much better chance to win now then grossly overpaying for a guy with little playoff experience. Realistically, for a rebuilding team like the Flames, iginla can probably be had for a group of prospects most likely someone like McNabb included, and a couple of high draft picks, and hes a player who has more years left to play then Doan. The biggest roadblock for me with Doan (the one that makes me turn around in the other direction) is the "over 35 rule" for his contract. These are the kind of contracts you need to be very careful with cause they handcuff you with your cap. Doan at a reasonable contract (less then $5mil cap hit for those 4 years) is a no brainer. Overpaying for Doan know isn't going to help "Hockey Heaven" or change the view of the team (only putting a good consistent winner on the ice will do that) its just shows desperation, and a willingness to overpay which might attract some players who are looking for a big payday. What happens next year if they don't win the cup? They are going to have to move players in order to free up cap space to re-sign some players and will be out of the running for some top FA's because they will have less cap space. The Rangers where able to get out of cap problems because they didn't give huge contracts to gives over 35. They could bury the bad contract to Redden in the minors, the contract to Drury is lessened with his retirement, and they have been lucky enough to have some very good players develop in their minor league system to go along with one of the best goaltenders in the league. But what has all the spending gotten them? Great regular season and not a sniff of the Stanley cup. Its funny that so many think that Doan is the key to turning the Sabres into the Cup Favorite, when his playoffs experience includes getting past the first round only once. He is basically Chris Drury without the playoff Stanley Cup Experience, and not even Drury was able to get this team into the SC Finals

It very well could cost them atleast one of those 2. A cap hit of $7.5 mil for a guy going into his late 30s that can't be buried in the minors, or removed if he retires may cost them someone they won't want to lose to get under the cap, or to give them flexibility to make future moves. How many will be happy buying tickets and selling out the arena in 2 years if Doan doesn't lead them to a cup and they are forced to deal away a Vanek or Myers and play a bunch of young rookies til they get the cap cleared up? Or do people expect there to be linups to take Stafford or Leino with their cap hits off their hands? Ok, so one and right now they are lucky cause they may be able to get out of being in cap trouble because he is injured and can be put on LTIR which is the only option where he isn't still counted against the cap with a slightly easier to take $4.9 mil cap hit He is the kind of player the Sabres need, don't get me wrong, but that kind of contract is crazy for someone his age and with his stats. If they desperatly need a lockerroom leader/motivator, they might be better off calling up Drury and seeing if they can get him out of retirement for the veteran minimum, then put him in the press box every night as a healthy scratch while finding someone else to fill the on ice spot. Someone said earlier about the availability of a leader who can perform on the ice, If I was DR, I'd be on teh phone right now offering the Flames a really nice package for Iginla. Lockerrom leader, physical goal scorer and someone who can still perform on the ice and is closer to deserving a $7.5 mil cap hit, thats the kind of player the Sabres need to help get them over the top

How many of those players were signed to long term deals after the age of 35? When they entire deal is counted against the cap weither they are playing, retired, or buried in the minors? None of those teams gave ridiculous contracts to guys over 35. Doans leadership may be something that the Sabres are lacking, but not at the kind of cost that they are looking to spend thats going to have long term rammifications tot he lineup. This is a very risky gamble hoping that this guy is going to come into Buffalo and be able to turn around an entire lockeroom just with his leadership capabilites. If you think that the Sabres only missing piece to become a cup contender is Leadership, then maybe its worth it, but this is a huge gamble that can leave the Sabres to having to completly dismantle the roster and some very lean years of rebuilding if it doesn't work out and they are stuck with a 39 year old with a $9 mil cap hit, watching guys like Ennis flourish with another team

The worst thing about all of it is that like in all negotiations/politics, nothing is ever done early to prevent it. Everything is done at the last minute before something drastic happens. Its really not that hard for someone not from either side to sit down and come up with a fair deal for both sides, but no side wants to give up anything and its all just a big game of chicken, waiting to see what side will crack first and give in. They could have settled all of this weeks ago if they would stop playing the game and just sit down and work out an even solution. Its why I think these CBAs should be made by an impartial arbitrator who takes both sides demands and assembles something for them that will work fairly for both sides. Unfortunatly,it will never work that way and we will continue this dance every couple years when they need to work out a new CBA

i think your overvaluing him and what he brings. He is basically the replacement for Drury except without the Big Game/Playoff/Cup experience. Making this kind of commitment to him at this kind of money you better be sure that he is the final piece to the puzzle, cause this is a kind of deal that can cripple a team and cause them to have to go into a full rebuild if it doesn't work out. He better be the final/only missing piece to turn this current roster into a SC contender, cause it leaves you with no wiggle room without being forced to try and unload talent. Your going all in with this move You can't go out and say that this deal won't hurt the team under the cap because of how the current rules are without knowing what the new CBA looks like. Most likely, the deal would also have to include a NTC/NMC in it cause its highly doubtful that a guy so loyal to his current team will accept a new deal that would allow the team to ship him somewhere else. I really don't see him going anywhere but Phoenix, unless the current ownership deal completly collapses. He keeps extending his deadline with them, and its obvious he doesn't want to go anywhere else. I'm skeptical on him wanting to come to Buffalo, he doesn't sound like a guy who cares about the money part of the contract, he wants a place where he will feel comfortable and is close to home/family. If he cared about the money, he would have signed the Buffalo deal by know. I still think its possible that if he doesn't go back to Phoenix, he takes less to go somewhere closer to the Cup and his home

yeah, what Claude said, not every poster reads the past few posts of the thread before they post something!

Fixed it

It doesn't, Hard work and co-operation by those in government is supposed to make it happen, Good luck with that...........In todays politics, its really tough to get anything done cause typically, neither wants to help the other side out and do whats good for the entire country, Its their way or no way. They want to make sure that themselves and their supporters are taken care of first, the rest should take care of itself In theory, both sides have ideas or methods thats should work, but won't unless they get full co-operation from everyone involved. The government giving money to companies and areas in the stimulus packages works great in theory, but goes horribly wrong when the money stops trickling (if it ever even started to trickle down) when the guys at the top use the money for themselves. Giving the wealthy larger tax breaks so they can re-invest that money into companies and businesses to employ more people works great too, when that money is invested and spent back into the business instead of being put into offshore accounts. The problem is, its close to impossible to change all of this quickly, and without some very big changes that will never go through

No, I don't think they have a problem with stomping.Taking out something sharp to carve your name onto one of the rings, or trying to scratch off Brett Hulls name while changing the Stars with the Sabres, thats a different story......

Have either of these guys proven they can do this for a full NHL season? Remember Kassian? He was supposed to be one of those guys that can beat you on the scoresheet and beat the snot out of you. No ones saying that they wouldn't want guys that can do both, unfortunatly there are very few guys that truly can. Most of this discussion is about overvaluing hits over offence. I am all for the Roy for Ott trade, but I'm not going to ignore the fact that although the got tougher with Ott on the ice, they still lost a good chunk of offence from Roy and unless it also improves the defence or goaltending to the point of being able to consistently win 1-0 or 2-1 games, the added toughness isn't going to help much. Your whole team doesn't have to be tough guys/physical in order to win or be a tough team, like all sports teams, you need a good balance of everything.

Are there really that many people out there that don't have some form of government issued photo ID that would be prevented from voting? I can't think of anyone over the age of 18 that I know that does not have some kind of photo ID. Maybe there is a bigger difference between Canada and the US then i thought. It seems like common sense that you would have to show some sort of proof of who you are in order to vote in an election

Of course in those years, IIRC, they won because they had just some goaltender who went by the name Hasek who could give them a chance almost every night to win when only scoring a goal. Maybe the Fans have the same ability as DR did with the last lockout and are forseeing the next new NHL where hits are going to win you games and goals are a secondary stat......