Darryl Shannon's +/-

Why do people think a NTC means eichel can pick his destination next year? It only mattered for hall because he was a 1 year deal. 4 years remaining on eichels deal w NTC gives the team the option of saying no. It wouldn't be ideal obviously, but the team likely has more control.

Quit or was fired. I believe the latter. This Wawrow tweet doesn't pass the sniff test. It makes Pat look worse if true. Hiring anyone with the express purpose of furthering your own agenda is the worst kind of leadership. For the hire a president and get out of the way sentiment....this is the danger that exists with that line of thought. I still think it's the direction we need, but you must select the right person.

A new team would pay 14M in real cash for 18M on the books. I don't know if retaining salary could be done for one year of the three, but for a cash strapped team it could make sense.

Depends quite a bit on how you qualify an organization as best. A lack of ethics from the very top down to the ball boy makes me disagree. Personally, I'd take losing on the field and acting like human beings off of it. Botts may soon join the scrap heap, but his handling of the lehner situation makes me proud. How do you think the "best org in 4 sports" would have handled that?

You wonder why the NHL doesn't allow 3rd and 4th jerseys. That tied to the goat head for alternates would be fun. Limiting jersey configurations just seems like a lost chance at more money.

Who cares? Not sure if we said the same stuff about Ray, May, Robitaille or Lorentz. They technically count as journalists too? Do you really expect the next version of Jim Kelley to be hired by the team? This reminds me of Harrington being critical of Lauren Hall. Her job was not to be a hard hitting journalist, but the Twitter tough guy went after her of all people. Simplify this....someone who has a PSE paycheck will never meet the definition of journalist that many want here. That needs to be filled outside of the mothership. That said, they are still producing content that is technically journalism.

If this is move 1 of the off-season, Botterill has my attention. This is not a safe choice. Buckle up.

This isn't counting the buyouts, is it? Leino, Ehrhoff and Hodgson. That should close that 55M gap. The only time I've ever wavered about Pegula not using his money fully for the good of the team was when he supposedly refused to pay O'Reilly's bonus prior to trade. If memory serves, the regehr trade was sweetened by taking the corpse of Kotalik too. I'd rather see more money thrown to the fans to make our experience better. Lower concessions and items from team store. Give more to STH's. Inject life into the arena, have areas where kids can play. Get live bands. Be creative, have fun.

Seeing recent social media, have your kid make a sign asking for a stick from a specific player. In terms of other random cool things for a young kid. I think around lunchtime city hall lets you up on the observation deck. It is a great view on a clear day. That isn't for from your hotel. The buffalo zoo isn't far and is also a decent time as well. Hope you guys enjoy and come back when the team is playing better.

No idea about practice, but if your hotel is by Pearl Street definitely go to Gabe's gate on Allen street for wings. Let us know what your kid likes to do (hobbies, interests, etc)....by morning we can probably help line up a fun day.

Not just that, but timing matters the same way it did with O'Reilly. Kane and his style of play makes an 8 year contract as foolish as the okposo deal. Trading him and lucking out with a first round pick is the best possible scenario.

A fun game to play....how many teams give skinner 7 years at 8M per or greater. Oddly enough, I think we backed into dealing from a position of strength.

Clawing into the playoffs is never something we should be jealous about. He's a decent player, but age, personality and cap hit made sense to move on. Do we really think O'Reilly at 31 would help us win a cup while making 7.5 per?

Actually, Hasek year 1 with the wings is even better than O'Reilly this year. Reigning vezina winner pushes way out of town (totally justifiable given criminal element running team, in hindsight), and publically stated he wanted return back to be as small as possible. Past vs present is a far different story given cap management though. After sobotka is off the books, we all might be singing a different tune.

Ha...so we need to eliminate the first 40 years of team history where finances were an issue? Hasek to red wings Kane/Bogo Fuhr to buffalo Lehner/Legwand Peca while holding out

I believe Botterill was aiming for the next 3 years with that trade. Shedding O'Reilly's cap hit and adding assets was the point. I think this year was about (hopefully) coming close to the playoffs. I can't imagine he believed things would be this bleak. That said...our outlook going forward is far more flexible. We don't have to worry about paying 30+ year old O'Reilly 7.5 per.

It's not like St. Louis is a wrecking crew. They are in the playoffs by a 5 point margin. Watching 90 last year, this wasn't a guy to build around going forward. Good player, but not a cornerstone.

What's odd about this - his decision to walk away was viewed by most as a positive if you are only looking at dollars and cents. I wish him the best going forward, and admire someone who can walk away from more money than almost all of us would earn in a lifetime.

I'd argue this isn't close to "a few fans" anymore. McDermott's idiocy turned this poor guy into both a national punchline and a sympathetic figure at the same time. Of local media, only cappacio seems to be really classy about this. As for the J Peterman clip....shame on that guy. Imagine taking that call. So you want me to mock a dude who just lost his dream job? When I'm personally a professional success? Sign me up, let's do this. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but finding joy in mocking someone who appeared to give full effort but was woefully short on talent seems wrong.

The thing is.....if we traded Risto for Hall we wouldn't have Dahlin.

I'd agree with you if it wasn't priced at the level it was. Give me a beer and a dog for five bucks and I'm okay with dive bar bathroom conditions. But they are charging premium levels, and the product, at least this night was awful. It makes you wonder where your money is going. I think the Atlanta falcons lowered prices on all concessions and actually profited more. You don't even need to do this to be good to fans. You can help the bottom line. Win win for all parties. Just seems like a tone deaf start. Sleep walking wasn't limited to the guys on the ice it seems. And if you have hung on as a STH through this, it seems as though your devotion is taken for granted.

$11 per beer, crowded hallways, bathrooms with standing "water" by urinals, a boring product on the ice leading to an arena as quiet as I've ever heard it. Yeah....that was no fun. I've long held that Terry and Kim are great for the area. They have put money into our region leading to others (cough, paladino) finally rehabbing their vacant real estate holdings. Buffalonians are better off because of them. All that said, multiple people were asleep at the wheel to lead to last night. Not raising season ticket prices but bumping concessions 20ish % is not a good look. I'm hearing arena renovations are coming before next year....but they may have waited one too long.

Here is the bigger problem. Did the coach really want to give Peterman another shot? If so, he should have walking papers. And that reflects on the owners who gave him the job as well. Here is to hoping we get to see growth and Hope from Allen. It is the only logical call, but also may result in another 3 years in purgatory.

I guess the question then is why? If it's the right answer, and is the best possible result....does it matter who did it? I'd argue this is what leadership is all about. I guess I think of it as.....coach can be enamored with a player because he does absolutely everything right. Except in the game. Doesn't hurt to have outside counsel.

If the coach's decision was to play Nate Peterman again, I'm cool with veto power.