Porous Five Hole

Assuming VO can finally put together a full season and reaches his ceiling of 30+ goals, this is a decent deal for the Sabres. If he doesn’t put it together, it doesn’t really hurt anything because the money wasn’t going elsewhere anyway. I am surprised less than 5M is what it took to buy out VO’s first UFA season. Or maybe the comps of 20 goal scorers making 5M+ didn’t exist and this is good money for him. Either way, it appears he “really wants to be here.”

I just wonder if Calgary not offering their built-in benefit of an eighth year in the contract had him questioning their commitment to him?

If Comrie is worth five more wins (10 points) than the goaltending combos we had last year, and Power matures as a premier talent could/should (say his addition/play is worth three wins over last year’s group), this is a 90 point team. And what if this comes to fruition and the Sabres make a deadline deal for additional talent? A lot of “if” and hope, but it isn’t unreasonable to me. If this team continues to grow, a wild card run could be had. I’m drinking the hopium! 🍹

Sent you a beer. There’s no time like the present.

This is true that the state did that, but that could have just as much been a part of the BK restructure proceedings versus a purchase contingency. I assume the loan was in default from two owners ago.

This part isn’t correct. In the book, Golisano specifically railed against the Hamister public/private partnership (50M in public money) that fell apart. BTG explicitly stated no public money was part of his purchase of the team.

Pretty sure anyone outside of WNY wouldn’t know that ROC was Italian-centric during his youth.

OSP covers his acquisition in the book, and threw shade at everyone (Hamister, Pataki, and anyone else who tried to make the first deal work).

Oh I think you know

Yea, I’m in ROC and it is probably more well known here…

Thank you for responding. I’m not asking who your sources are…but I am curious, if you’re comfortable, with their line of work? Team source, media source, agent source, or something else? The long-told story is what you’re insinuating, but the horse’s mouth says otherwise. And that is what got me curious.

You’re saying he’s lying about Drury not agreeing to a deal?

Yikes, you just made me realize how thin the D is at the moment. I hope the Sabres do some serious shopping as opposed to 750k to a couple of JAGs & Mark Pysyk.

Thanks. I’m sure this will shock absolutely no one, but Paychex gifted a copy to each of their employees. My wife works for Paychex and received it today.

OSP is out with a new book and spent 22 pages on his Sabres ownership. I’ll save you all of the cringy anecdotes (there’s plenty—he ballwashed himself a few times over) and summarize the four things that I thought were the most interesting: 1)”So, do we owe a games-played bonus to Jeff Jillson?” BTG was furious that the team missed a 250k end of season games-played bonus in his contract (which he states was signed with SJ) for a player who was not playing particularly well. Darcy and team wasn’t aware of the clause and it kicked in. BTG asked how much of the bonus his previous team, San Jose, was going to pay. The answer was none. So he asked who was responsible for reviewing the contract and therefore who was responsible for missing the addendum. No one answered, so he asked “who was going to pay me back the lost money.” “What happened then could almost have been a farce on stage. There we were in my glass-walled sunroom sitting around a table, bathed in sunlight, in silence. The discomfort in the room was palpable- at least it was for them. I was happy to sit in silence and I'm good at it. The others fidgeted and looked as if they liked to be anywhere but there with me in that increasingly hot sunroom. Everyone knew that it was Darcy's department that had missed the rider, so he was feeling particularly uncomfortable. I let the silence go on for forty five minutes - I just sat there. Larry was the first to break. He decided to escape to the patio, but due to the stressfulness of the situation, did not see the glass doors were closed. He walked head first into the glass doors and ended up on his prostate with a welt on his face.” Eventually, Darcy offered to repay BTG his 250k. Golisano said that wouldn’t be necessary and moved on. 2) Drury & Briere D-Day BTG stated the team was within 100k of the cap during their last year here, and signing both players at UFA would be impossible. Especially given the inevitable raise each were in line for. The team decided to focus on signing one, and the one was Drury. His upside was less, but his leadership was the driving force behind deciding he was the one. “There is a Buffalo columnist who insists that we subsequently reached an agreement with Drury and then reneged on it- this is pure fiction. Although we had discussions with his agent that at one point appeared as if they might lead to a contract, they never reached fruition. When it became clear that Chris was headed toward the best offensive season of his career, ultimately finishing with 37 goals, his agent asked that we defer further discussion until the postseason.” So interesting. We all know what happened next. So all was true that Briere never got an offer (until perhaps the last moment, and it was below market). BTG gushed about Drury & Briere and harbored no ill will. 3)The sale to Pegs. “The owner of a cell phone manufacturing company (Balsillie) showed some interest and offered $165 million if he kept it in Buffalo, but $235 million if I helped him to move it. In the end, I decided not to sell. I then got an offer from Terry Pegula…The offer was $189 million, a lot less than I could have commanded without the clause, but I was happy. I'd had a great seven years. I'd bought the franchise for around $7.5 million and when the dust settled I'd made about $I50 million.” I do not know where the 7.5 figure came from. 4) He met his future wife, Monica Seles, at the outdoor game. I had no idea…

The Hawks no longer have a cap crunch, but they do have to pay this.

Being the only team on his list is reasonable. Can you imagine if he came home & helped bring the the Sabres back to playoff relevance? It is reasonable. Teams in a position to win now do not have the cap space to absorb PK. If he wants to finish his career in Buffalo, it won’t take much to acquire him due to his full no-move clause. If he wants to be a deadline mercenary, then the Sabres can look at it next year based on his production. Long story short, he’s here if he wants to be because it won’t be cost prohibitive and he wants to be a Sabre. If that’s really the organization rallying cry, then it’s pretty feasible.

Holtby has a major injury and Mikko signed in Europe.

Thank you for taking the time to write out what I was thinking.

From a UFA goaltender perspective, there’s not much left. (Assuming Campbell & Keumper aren’t coming to Buffalo) Eric Comrie Thomas Greiss Martin Jones Jaroslav Halak David Rittich So Comrie, I guess?

He was a pending UFA. Are you sure Husso was willing to sign here? Otherwise your conclusion is off base.

Agree. I seem to remember him on stage for every first round draft pick in recent memory.

I’m late to this thread and draft day two in general, but if Terry wasn’t at the draft…that’s pretty noteworthy, isn’t it?

After two covid cancelations, Rage Against The Machine will finally play Key Bank on July 25th. Pumped! One of the few 90’s era bands I never got to see.