deluca67

100% true. I should have said establish a "new identity."

IMO, establish a team identity and find players that fit that identity.

Is this not the same strategy Regier has failed with year after year? You can't departmentalize toughness. Sabres fans should know this by now.

The Canucks might get a bigger return by trading Schneider because of Luongo's contract. How about this for a long shot scenario. The Canucks dump Luongo, then they trade Schneider and the #25 pick to the Sabres in a deal involving Miller.

Watching Vokoun starting for the Penguins, I am beginning to wonder if the Miller trade boat has sailed away. It is likely Vancouver is going to move one of their goalies. Calgary will look to move Kipper and Fleury may be on the outs in Pittsburgh. Suddenly there may be a abundance of top goaltending available this off-season which will drive the price down. The Sabres may have waited too long.

60% of the time, they win every time.

This is a deal I can fully endorse. I would go as far as calling it a coup if the Sabres could possibly pull it off. Couturier has size, is physical and at times has a nasty streak. He is only 20 years old and already has 120+ NHL games under his belt. I would be willing to part with Miller and the #16 pick for Couturier and the #11. What a draft day it would be for Sabre fans if they could pull this deal off and somehow move Vanek to the Devils for the #9 pick or Carolina for the #5.

I know the Islanders have been a punch line for a while now, the team they are putting on the ice now is no joke. If they can add a couple of pieces they will be a real Stanley Cup contender.

The sad thing is, of all those free agents you listed the Sabres would likely be able to sign only one and would have to grossly overpay to do it. The player they could sign is likely only looking to cash in before their career is over and isn't incredibly motivated to win. Ennis we never really knew each other anyway.

Every time a player is injured on a cheap or questionable hit I blame one party, The NHLPA. They should be the driving force behind tougher sanctions in situations like these. I don't blame Shanahan, he is just a player thrown into a position he is terribly unqualified for. Most likely he is just a figurehead who announces the decisions and has no actual say in the matter at all.

You're talking roster filler. Are we now to pretend that by "utilizing free agency" Regier meant filling out a roster and not building a winning team? These signings were for filling out the roster in Rochester, why not just name every player in the ROC that was signed as a UFA. We both know who Regier meant when he brought up free agency, it wasn't Porter, Flynn and Ruwhedal. These guys were never supposed to where a Sabres jersey. They weren't part of the plans to building a winning team. I know you know that.

"We utilized free agency" in it's self is a lie. They tried to utilize free agency and they got shut out. All they ended up with was Leino at 10x's his actual value. There are inconsistencies in much of what the Sabres have been saying as of late. That comes from making it up as they go along. The funny thing is what the Sabres say they will be doing is exactly what I have been saying this team needed for years now. Tare it down to the ground and rebuild from scratch. I love the idea of this new direction. I have two major issues with it though. 1) No faith in Regier's abilities as a GM to pull it off. 2) There actual commitment to the process, much of what I have heard from the Sabres seems to be backtracking and face saving. Regier reminds me of the exchange in "Pretty Woman." Terry Pegula, "What's your name?" Regier's response, "What do you want it to be?"

I think you are missing the original point. It's not that offers were made that should be criticized. Listening to the press conference and hearing the direction the Sabres are trying to go in, and then have them claim that the new course actually started last trade deadline is misleading fans. I'll even say an outright lie. It was reported at the time the Sabres had made free agent offers to Suter and Parise equivalent to Wild's offers. Those offers destroy the timeline, IMO. We can agree to disagree, IMO, this new direction didn't start at last years trade deadline. It started after another failed attempt to land a major free agent and another failed season.

You would think at least one. Certainly not the most seasons failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs in franchise history.

In what regards?

Not at a $100 million. When you are beginning a major rebuild, which the Sabres claim they were already in the process of doing at the time, you don't commit that level of assets to one player. And let's face some facts, to call Zach Parise a "45 goal, point per game player" is being extremely generous. He has scored 40 goals once in his career and is nowhere near being a point per game player. Parise is a slightly grittier Jason Pominville. When you are starting a serious rebuild the first step is to liquify assets. Turn older assets into prospects and picks, assets that are a more flexible currency in the NHL trade market. You don't lock into a contract that limits your flexibility. The Sabres made free agent offers to Suter and Parise to win now, it was not a move to enhance or expedite a rebuild. It is those offers that make much of what was said by the Sabres at the press conference BS.

So can Drew Stafford. ;)

I think it all depends if your team sucks or not? If the Sabres were having a season like the Blackhawks or Penguins than 82 games isn't enough. As a fan you would like to see them play every night. Where the Sabres are now it makes a 48 game season seem too long.

They were 27 last, 28 this year and 29 next year. We all know how the age thing works. The point still remains the same, you don't give out those type of contracts to 30 somethings or even 27 year olds when you are starting a major overhaul. For Black & Regier to somehow indicate that when they made the offers to those free agents they had already decided to do a major overhaul is a lie after the fact. The "rebuild" didn't start at last years trade deadline, that is a convenient starting point to pick since many see the moves made that day as positive. This is clearly a front office that had a chosen direction for the franchise and are now scrambling to find a new direction since their first attempt failed miserably. You asked about free agents, if the Sabres where in a better position there are free agents they could be interested in: Pascal Dupris Jarome Iginla Rayne Clowe - (would love to add to Steve Ott for the new core) Matt Cooke Brenden Morrow Mark Streit David Clarkson - (would love to add to Steve Ott & Ryane Clowe for the new core) Considering the money given to Leino, who knows how much the Sabres would have been willing to overpay for real hockey players. Leafs or Bruins? If Lupul is injured it hurts the Leafs chances greatly. If both teams were 100% the Bruins would be the better team and I would given the Leafs a punchers chance. With an injured Lupul and already up a game at the moment I would have to favor the Bruins. The same goes for Ehrhoff, he has played two seasons for the Sabres and banked $31 million (minus what ever was lost do to the lockout) that is why Ehrhoff is a Buffalo Sabre. He choose money over a chance to win. Leino signed because no team in it's right mind would offer him $21 million for the first two years, I doubt any team was willing to off $21 mil over the term of a contract let alone $21 mil covering just the first two seasons.

It's possible in the Sabres mind they feel they can't sign any free agents, Mike Ribero or anyone else.

If this is true, and the Sabres feel they have to go to such great lengths to protect Regier, I wonder if the problem isn't that they wanted to keep Regier but that they tried to replace him and couldn't find anyone willing to take the job. There is something strange going down at the F'N Center, there has been so much recently that just doesn't make sense.

And how embarrassing for this franchise would it be if Mike Ribero turned them down? When it comes to free agency Terry Pegula has been like a guy in a brothel with his pockets full of $100s who can't find any takers. The only time he got lucky was with the girl who was blind and hunchback called Villie Leino.

There is a huge difference between establishing a new core with younger vets and signing two players that will take up over $15 mil of cap space for what seems like forever. When you sign Parise and Suter to those contracts it's not with fans "suffering" in mind. It's to win now. It is possible that the inability for the Sabres to land premiere free agents that has lead to their sudden epiphany. This new idea of rebuilding may be a way for the Sabres to save face going forward when the prime free agents continue to say "thanks, but no thanks."

You don't start a rebuild by signing a couple of 30 somethings to long term $100 mil contracts.

If the Sabres were "rebuilding" starting at last years trade deadline, why would they make offers to Suter and Parise as had been reported. Just more evidence of a lie.