Trettioåtta

Kane works because of Toews is the Yin to his Yang. That team is held together because of the professionalism and all roundedness of Toews. This moves Kane to be the more peripheral one dimensional star who puts up the points and does what he likes. If we get Kane, firstly we trade Grigo, Armia, Ennis, Coho + to get him (a.k.a. a king's ransom) and then Kane becomes the centre point of the team. If Kane as the go to guy is unprofessional then it will undoubtedly flow through the team. Why should a 3rd line checker put his career at risk to block a shot if Kane won't even turn up non-hungover to practice? People want Kane because he is from the city - I have said it before, maybe it is a cultural thing because England is so small, but I don't understand that mentality. Ask what the price for Kane would be and then ask what the price of Toews would be - it will be night and day for a reason

Urgh I really wanted him on our team.

8 and 7 are his lucky numbers - he was born on 8/7/87 and chose to wear 87 because of that, as a result he sees it as good luck

Unsurprising, but some teams have the idea your centrepiece makes the most money, and so i expected an $8.7 million per year 8 year contract

He makes more than Sid. Sign and trade? (extra year if you sign with current team) Sid and Malkin make $18.2 million next year...nearly 1/3 of the cap on two players

There's not a whole lot to say right now. Website looks quite nice, but content and regular updates will be what counts. As well as insightful and most importantly accurate commentary on the Sabres and sabre's players futures. So it will take a while before your site has the history to prove its worth

It doesn't help the teams have alwasy sucked

Who do you think should have won it?

Sutter was pretty good last year

Boston failed to make the playoffs in 07, won the cup 4 years later. Turn arounds are fairly quick (well they can be) Your point on Ville is a joke i assume? As he was literally a no-show

Finished finals yesterday. Now i can start thinking of a job whilst i do my masters :) (Congrats to those engaged/happy)

No he can. The QO is just to retain his rights, so he becomes an RFA. If he wants he can sign elsewhere in another league with no problems. If he signs the QO then he is under contract and cannot play elsewhere He has pretty much no leverage he has not even played enough games in his career that add up to one season for a starter. He has been incredibly shakey and there are other goalies out there. He might have a chance at a number 1 spot in the NHL - is it really worth him fighting for an extra 500k? No. The sabres have a proven record of saying goodbye to greedy players. If he refuses, he gets traded for a pick, stays a back-up all his life (losing future gain) and the Sabres sign Bryz for a few years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovO3g62PE0&list=PLFF586E36EFD74763 They made these animated shorts on the history of the world - i found it helpful to understand stuff. I might rewatch the first 2 seasons, i spent most of them having no clue who anyone was

Loving the analysis stuff you post - do you write a code to extract the information from the NHL website (i.e. where do you get your information)? Re: Shot blocking - it wears thin with the players because it hurts and defensive hockey with little offensive hockey is boring. The fans find Torts style boring, the players find Torts style boring, the only reason it has lasted is because it works. I think that both Thomas and Lundqvist's reputation and stats are helped by the ability of their defence and the style of play in the defensive zone (they are still great, but the stats make them seem better than they are)

The last 5 teams remaining are the last 5 stanley cup champions

I still forget that we started (and ended) this season with two centres. The 23 year old sophomore and the 18 year old rookie. Sure we had Ennis, Hecht, Ott, Gerbe and Leino etc. but we only had 2 real centres. In other words, the Sabres centres had a combined 91 games of NHL experience Yet we didn't finish in the bottom 4

I think Ott prefers playing wing. He prefers getting into the corners at both ends of the rink and grinding along the wall more than playing in the centre of the ice. Ideally you'd have him on the third line with him taking the draws then moving to wing and let Darren Helm take over. Man I so want Helm here. I'd give up the 16th pick for him

Foligno isn't a top 6 forward but tries to play like one. Stafford is a top 6 forward (he has had back to back 50 point seasons for this year and has had 5/7 seasons where he has played around the 0.63ppg mark- that is a top 6) but tries to not play like one Myers is not a shut down d-man. But he has shown in the past that he can shut down the other teams top players. Stafford was on track for 32 points this year, that is his lowest since his rookie year when he put up 27 points (in 41 games). DR should not have foreseen that. Foligno played 30 games this season in a bottom 6 role and still tried to dangle - there is just no excuse for it. I think he will be s frustrating player for a few years until he accepts his role and stops trying be able to do everything on the ice Myers...well who knows about this basket case. I don't buy the narrative that he has been regressing every year, but he was definitely awful this year. I'm hoping it was because of the surprise start and so he was always playing catch-up in terms of conditioning and focus on the ice

I agree. But I think the players are also partly to blame. Stafford is/should be a top 6 - he has proved he can play at that level in the past. Foligno has proved he can use his body to get through defence but would try and dangle 90% of the time. Myers has proved he can skate the puck into the zone and use his size to shut the opposition down.

This is one of the worst articles I have read. I don't understand how people seem to be confused why people aren't lining up to come here and want to leave? It has nothing to do with being a bad organisation. It is because we are not winning. It is that simple. Why would a UFA in the prime of his life or near the end want to play for the Sabres who are not a contending team? Boyes - article forgets to mention he is on a line with Tavares, which is literally the only reason he has had a good season Tallinder - helped the Devils to the SCF by sitting in the press box Campbell - was traded for Bernier and a pick that turned into Ennis, it deliberately leaves out the Ennis part to mislead its reader Lydman - Anaheim has finished 6th, 13th and 2nd since acquiring him. I think their rise to 8th has more to do with their coach Regehr - Why would any impending UFA not waive their NMC to go join the current champs? He had roots in Calgary, hence needing to be convinced. He hasn't lived in Buffalo nearly as long. Such a weak argument Gionta/Conacher - Honestly, people need to be consistent. If we had these guys people would be yelling DR was a moron for getting too small a team. Canadiens fans were yelling it after they got eliminated. Gerbe, Roy, Ennis, Conacher, Gionta all on one team... Orpik - Would be nice to have him, I wasn't aware the Sabres refused to talk to him - is this true? Pyatt - The guy was lost in the shuffle, same as Paille. We still have that problem now, too many meh guys with no defined role. That is on DR. However, if we have too many of them then some need to go. Pyatt got traded for two 5ths basically. It is not a shocker that two 5th rounders never made it to the NHL (C.F. Campbell and Ennis). Pyatt is a good 4th liner, but 4th line players are replaceable. Bottom 6 players are replaceable. Pyatt is not Helm, he does not dominate in the bottom 6, he is just a upper 4th line player Paille - I liked Paille, it is a shame he was traded. I think we chose Kennedy in part because he was a local boy and Paille was not. I don't have a problem with what the Sabres did to Kennedy, to me it was cocky of him to refuse the initial offer and try and squeeze 200k more out the Sabres with one season on his resume. Boston's 4th line is probably the best in the NHL. The other reason Paille struggled here is that he was a 1st rounder, and as a result, I think everyone (management, coaches and fans) expected him to become a Toews and so he was put in the wrong positions Either way this article is horrendous, it excludes details that don't fit its argument, it has an inconsistent logic within its argument and it vastly over represents the impact Sabres players have made on other teams

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/22/holmgren-no-plans-to-buy-out-bryzgalov/

They said they weren't going to buy Bryz out I think

It was his 100th playoff point - that's why he took it. Just so happens he scored it 14 seconds before the end

"It's a frustrating night," Alfredsson said. "But we've never quit, and we're not going to stop now. The odds are against us in every way. I don't think there's much going for us. Maybe that's the way we like it."

That's what i have always read into his comments. I also think he might have an underground layer, perhaps with henchmen