LTS

You treat the players like they are cattle. They are not. They are able to choose and play for whatever team they like and if the Sabres make a habit of not doing right by the player then they will find themselves at the bottom of the list. No player IN Buffalo will be happy playing here and none will want to come here. This is a business, but what you are not realizing is that players are not only the employees but they are customers as well. You've got to sell your product to them. You've got to make them believe that you want the best for them and that the best for them is what aligns with the best for the team. If you treat employees like this now then I'm guessing you'll have a pretty high turnover rate and a low morale. This leads to an attitude of employees doing the minimum they can until they can find another place to go. In some cases they'll provoke you to fire them because at least they get a cushion. In the NHL you can't just fire a player so they are even more in control. Players will go out there, they will play hockey, but they aren't going to dive in front of pucks and do other things that might cause them personal pain for the benefit of the team. It's not worth it for them. If you treat them right then they come in and they will run through walls for you. They want to succeed but it's not just about the money. A bunch of overpaid prima donna players with entitlement issues will not win a Stanley Cup.

That and he hasn't done anything to warrant being in the game.

Well, if that's true then it makes you wonder what their plan would be going forward. Until some moves are made I don't think we know exactly how Tim Murray and Craig Patrick see this team. I'm dying to know. :)

Does that account for the other 4 players who are on the ice with him at the same time? I'm not saying there's no validity there but if you are paired with a weak D partner and some poor forwards the likelihood of a goal being scored goes up right? So, if you put out a good "D" pairing to offset a weaker forward set then they are likely to be scored upon but perhaps less so than if you had a weaker "D" pairing out there. They are also less likely to be on the ice for goals because those forwards aren't scoring. Just my thoughts. If the information you referred to works to explain some of that away I'm all ears.

Just remember, you have pads on.. so falling doesn't hurt. Learn'em. Practice going around the faceoff circle forwards and backwards.

When has overpaying for a player ever worked to a team's advantage? What teams are going offer Callahan that kind of money? It could happen, but in a year or two that signing won't look as good.

Nice. Perhaps I will run into him around town in the offseason. That would be cool. Good for him. Mendon is awesome. :) It'd be nice if he chose to play locally for personal reasons. Horton chose Columbus because he wanted a smaller city to play in. Players do things for various reasons. Still don't know what it would take to get him in the offseason.

I dunno. They are scoring at least. This is something they struggled to do before. If nothing else, even at the expense of defense which we all know is suspect anyway if they can score there is some hope. If you remove some of the dead weight on defense (McBain, Sulzer, Weber) and replace it with (Pysyk, McNabb, Ristolainen, Zadarov) it seems like it probably gets a little better back there. The D aren't who we look to for scoring as much as we do the forwards. I'm not saying they are great, but scoring is a good start. Besides, even with Miller gone we have no idea who will be tending the net for the Sabres. There are some FA goalies out there and I'm sure the Sabres are going to grab one of them.

Interesting. Although I wouldn't think they would put the (& Family) part on the sign if it was just him in town. I should have asked them when I was there. Oh well, I will be back there again soon. I saw it on a Saturday morning while driving to Auburn for a hockey tournament. I don't recall it being there Sunday night when I ate there for dinner (this was a week ago).

So let me recant a little bit. Tthis happened in the WJHC. The puck flipped into the air and a player swiped at the puck, missed, and whacked another player in the face. (Can't remember which game it was at this point.) I remember being surprised there was no penalty called but they did say it was because he was swinging at the puck. I thought it was still rather ignorant because it really gives cart blanche to just whack a player if the puck is in the air and it seems rather reckless. Either way, being smacked with a stick never feels good. A penalty should be all that's given. Perhaps Thomas can claim he was simply trying to play the puck because he thought it was popping out of his glove? :)

He might be the most liked Sabres behind Steve Ott right now. You could probably include Miller in that group too. After that, I'm not sure. As for how good he will be? I am definitely not down on him at all. I think he has the potential to be so much more than what the prior posters have indicated. Yea, perhaps I am a bit starry eyed on him but I really think he is something special. He's not a pure offensive talent, but paired with a pure offensive talent he's the guy who will make the space and allow that talent to be as good as he can be. He plays within himself and I think as he progresses he's begun to get more creative and make new kinds of plays he hadn't earlier in the year. It's almost as though he has his own internal development curve that he's following. Not trying to be more than he is until he is ready to be more than he was.

Well, he might have. I think he moved to Mendon recently. There was a sign on the side of a local restaurant "The Cottage" that said "Welcome NY Ranger Captain, Ryan Callahan, and family to Mendon." I couldn't figure any event going on in the area so I assumed he might have moved his family there. Wonder if his kids go to public school? (does he have kids?) They'd be in the same district as mine.

Eh? It doesn't matter if you are "trying" to play the puck. He didn't play it, he missed and slashed Thomas. Just like if you high-stick you high-stick (which this does hit right near Thomas' mask on the first connection. The only exception to the high-stick is the "follow through" or shot motion (ie. when the stick comes up to take a slapshot - I think Brad May nailed Kariya in the face on something like that, no call). Soderberg clearly slashes Thomas. He deserved everything he got. Good on Thomas for protecting himself.

Buffalo should show better tonight. Pittsburgh is unbelievably talented and it showed last night. I'll have it on in the background (too much work open to sit down and focus completely on the game).

Well.. then you probably did just fine. Fermenting beer never smells great until you've brewed many batches and develop a Pavlovian response. If she complained about the smell of a sugar solution boiling then I'd be worried. :) what did you make? Finally, had Brooklyn Fire and Ice last night (it's a draft only release). Smoked Porter... it was quite tasty.

Lots of wisdom in this thread. The only beef I have is with people questioning making a move sooner or later. It's like someone jumping the stock market right? If one team decides that NOW is the time they want to move they may offer a deal that appeals to the Sabres. I'm guessing that almost immediately the Sabres are sending out notice that there is an offer and the ball is rolling. You move now or you lose your opportunity. I think it's possible to create a pseudo trade deadline scenario that way. The only thing it removes is the impact of the time between now and the actual deadline. Of course, one injury to Moulson, Miller, etc. and the Sabres are left holding an empty bag.

Reality check tonight. As much as people want Stafford gone not having in him in the lineup would hurt tonight. Assuming Leino will be out and Omark will be in?

This thread is as useless as the player.

Why do you say $68MM is too pricey for them? A big name goalie only serves to keep fan interest in the team. They will make the money there in Anaheim. I'm not aware of them being in trouble financially. Remaking their D with the open money shouldn't be hard to do. In addition there the cap is likely to continue rising so there's money every year to sign players with. Just to clarify. The discussion is where Miller ends up in the offseason. The Ducks would be crazy to change anything at this point barring an injury.

Did you miss the press release where Pegula purchased the blueprints to the Janus Project?

I'd disagree there. I was looking at Capgeek. They project the Ducks to have $23m in cap space next year. They have their top 4 forwards locked up long term. They might eat about $5-6m in cap space signing Winnik, Perreault, Silfverberg. I don't see them signing Koivu and Selanne is gone. The D is ALL signed for next year. They move Fasth and save $2.9m. They move Fasth's salary and they only need perhaps $4.5m more to sign Miller at a total of $7.5m/season. They could lose Winnik and Penner this season too but if the Ducks are bringing in Miller I'm thinking they both sign 2 year deals to have a good shot to win again. So, Perry, Getzlaf, Bonino, Palmieri, Cogliano, Winnik., Penner, Silfverberg, Perreault. All but Silfverberg are in the top 10 of scoring. The D is all signed as I mentioned with Fowler (also top 10 scoring) signed long term. Commited Salary next year: $46m (subtracking Fasth's $2.9m) - 7 Forwards, 7 D, 1 G Sign Winnik at $3m (up from $1.8) Sign Penner at $4m (up from $2) Tender Perreault at $2m (up from $1.05) Tender Silfverberg at $1.5 (up from $0.863) 11 forwards under contract at an additional $10.5 m and total payroll is $56.5m - leaving an open 4th line forward spot (< $1m). So, sign Miller at $7.5m and they are on the hook for $65m. If the cap is $71.1m (capgeek projection) they still have $6m in cap space left and are basically the same team. The following year they have 3 UFA D and 1 RFA D. That would leave them roughly $20m in cap space to sign 4 D positions.

Not sure where you are talking the two teams to make a trade. I had said I don't think Miller ends up there this season. I think he signs there in the offseason. The only trade would need Anaheim to ship out Fasth. They could also keep Fasth and have Gibson and Andersen in the minors. I just don't think there's any way they give Fasth the keys to team. He's been injured much of the season. He earned a contract last year but Hiller was still the man.

Hiller is a UFA. That leaves the with Fasth and Andersen and Gibson. They have two young goalies and I'm thinking they aren't going to put their faith in Fasth. They could most likely move him. They bring in Miller who not only shores up goaltending for them but also provides solid mentorship to their younger goalies. Miller ends up in LA and is happy as can be. Their defense is set. They will most likely lose Selanne and Koivu this year but they will remain strong in the top 6 with Getzlaf, Perry, Cogliano, Bonino and Palmieri.

I'm convinced that Miller ends up in Anaheim next year. Where he ends up this year is anyone's guess. I like Murray's statements. Some of it just seems like pure common sense and but the fact that he lays it out there is a positive. You'd think that almost all GM's are going to operate the same way.

Okay... that's awesome.