IKnowPhysics

I can't imagine how ###### this team would be to watch if we had worse goaltending. The existence of Ennis, Hodgson, Vanek, Pominville, Ehrhoff, and Miller is the only reason I haven't thrown something through my television.

What's the timeline? Do we try to get better immediately or do we admit and commit to a rebuild (which we haven't done in years)?

Yes.

Trading a guy who's averaged 68 points per season over the last six seasons for an unestablished 55 point kid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQB4nAjZIdE

Ugh, I've done that in games a few times. It blows. Last time I did that (I was tripped), I slid on my belly and my shoulder smashed into the end boards. It was the first time I couldn't get up immediately after because it jarred my neck, head, and spine. I finished the game, but the next day, I went to work with my arm in a sling. It didn't get separated (I was surprised) or break, but I had bruising and muscle sprains 360 degrees around my shoulder front and back. If you're not on your side and facing the boards when you're sliding, there aren't many good ways of protecting yourself and cushioning the impact.

The night is always darkest before the dawn.

If you get bored, the science museum is nice and is close to the RnR HOF. HOF's worth it. Don't skip out on the Great Lakes Brewery either, some of the best beers in the nation, IMO.

Right. And there's been more than a few tough times that encouraged the media to badger Regier about what has to change and he's put in a position where he almost has to say that to get them off his back about Ruff, but I still don't think he'd try to give the impression that it could never happen. Seems unprofessional.

Miller is leading the league in saves by almost 80. That's about four games worth of shots against for St Louis. Miller's sav% is 0.913. Nabokov, who we just made look like an all star, is at 0.903.

I was doing a little more reading so that I was prepared to deal with whatever service I can get when I move to my new place shortly. DirecTV and Dish Network already carry just about every regional sports network in HD, so when it's time for Center Ice to pump the feed to you, they just switch that channel on for you. That means you often get both feeds and usually both in HD. Cable and FiOS use inDemand, which broadcasts many feeds in SD, mostly for the reason of saving the digital cable providers some bandwidth (inDemand is owned in a joint venture by several of the large cable conglomerates). I might have to do my best to remain with DirecTV.

One of the little stats that makes this organization great is that the team has only finished a season with a record worse than .500 seven times (out of 41+ years!). Three of those were in the first four years of the Franchise, and none of the rest were sequential- we always bounced back. That's how bad this team is. They get the winningest coach in Sabres history fired and are on pace for the second worst points percentage in franchise history ('71-'72). I have some hope for next season, but this might be a long shortened season.

Kevyn Adams I believe, probably with a little in-game input from Teppo.

Not sure where to stick this nugget, here seemed as good a place as any... Ennis has recorded 9 points in his last 10 games. Hodgson has also 9 points in his last 10. The rest of the top six: Vanek has recorded 2 points in his last 7 games, Pominville 1 in his last 9, Foligno 1 in his last 8 games, Stafford 5 in his last 13 games. The young centers we were unsure about in the off-season now seem to be trying to carry the team offensively. And that's a big problem, because while we began the season as one of the higher scoring teams, we've only scored 10 goals in the last 7 games. Our major problems now to extend to just about every area of the ice outside of (minor issues at) goaltending. Shitsticks.

'95-'96? '71-'72?

"Don't look at me. I think these people are completely nuts."

Yeah, I don't know the details of the interviews. I've alwayshad the impression that Darcy as a legitimate business professional, regardless of perceptions about his hockey accomplishments. Even in the best of times, I didn't think he wouldn't say never to firing a coach. That's probably because that was one of his first lessons on the job- dismissing the Jack Adams winner from that year.

Good thing we fired that guy.

This.

a) I doubt it. He'd probably have a long discussion about the direction of the team with the incoming GM, like he did with Pegula before signing his contract extension, but extenuating circumstances aside, he'd likely have stayed. b) I can't remember Darcy saying something exactly to that effect. Folks may have gotten caught up in the "coach for life" mentality Back on Feb 6th, Mike Harrington framed a lot of that up with paraphrasing and auxiliary quotes. That story was picked up and retold by a few national-level rebloggers, who speculated Ruff wouldn't be fired this year.

Perceptions of idiots. You think Ruff would be fired and turn around to publicly endorse Regier because he's a weasel? Regier has to be a business man in a super-competitive, cut throat business, operating in a position where he must hire and fire dozens of people when he's under intense public scrutiny. I think he's done a good job at NOT ###### everyone he has a business relationship with, and his long tenure is part of a testament to that. The Knoxes weren't dumb when they hired him. He's got a lot less weasel in him, if any, than many, many other professional sports GMs. Which is a pretty good ###### accomplishment, considering that all of the player agents he has to deal with are complete weasels. Every team sells themselves as a playoff team. There were lots of questions about the composure of this team before the season, but you chose to buy into it. I bought into it too, but I'm not being a baby about it. We were under financial restrictions. Doesn't matter how much money Golisano has if he's not willing to spend it. If you thought Roy was overpaid, go back and look at McKee's post-sabres contract. Regardless, go back and do the salary cap math to determine if we could've matched Vanek's offer sheet if we sign Drury ($7M+) and Briere ($5M+), nevermind that Drury didn't want to sign here at any price. Ted Nolan was feuding with the world-class franchise goaltender. Darcy wanted to give them one year to work it out. Darcy had the ball to offer a one year contract to the Jack Adams award winner because it was the right thing to do. When that didn't work, he had the other ball to let Nolan go (a terrifically unpopular move in the eyes of fans), and then he hired a coach that would take them to the Stanley Cup Finals two years later.

One of many reasons why nobody that's played for another team really wants to play there. Maybe they want DiPietro at GM but want to maintain the cap floor.

Thread title edited.

Lindy Ruff's final words: "If you wonder what I've been up to, I've been driving around from Tim Hortons to Tim Hortons, rolling up the rim right now." I'll miss that.