Sabres PC and GR Radio Appearance

[inkman]

Like i said in another thread, I, too, am willing to give then the benefit of the doubt also. I am already concerned, however, that Kennedy and Butler have not been signed and that they seem to be already laying the groundwork for disappointment with Miller and Pominville.

You should also start worrying about the players that aren't even born yet that they will be drafting. It's never too early.

[LabattBlue]

Blue, do you know, does the rule state no negotiation till July 1st, or no deal till July 1st. Either way, if they are serious about this, deals should be in place by mid June. What are they going to do charge you with tampering with your own players?

SF526 answered your question, but for future reference I defer all that CBA crap to Taro T! :rolleyes:

[carpandean]

(ii) A Club that wishes to sign a Player to an "extension" of an existing SPC, may do so only in the final year of such SPC.

So, that means that they can extend Gaustad, Bernier, Paille, MacArthur, Ryan(?), Pratt(?) and Numminen(?) at any time, right?

 

 

 

Note: (?) means "... if we decide we want to re-sign him." The others, I am certain that we will.

[SabresFan526]

So, that means that they can extend Gaustad, Bernier, Paille, MacArthur, Ryan(?), Pratt(?) and Numminen(?) at any time, right?

Note: (?) means "... if we decide we want to re-sign him." The others, I am certain that we will.

They can sign any of the above listed players to extensions any time prior to July 1st since all of them are currently in the final year of their contract. With regard to the Restricted Free Agents, so long as the Sabres make a qualifying offer that meets the terms and conditions of the CBA prior to the deadline (which I believe is June 30th), basically one year at a 10% raise from their current salary, the Sabres have the right to first refusal on any offer sheets made to their RFAs or the right to first refusal on any arbitration awards as well. I could find the exact quote in the CBA for you, but I'm too lazy digging through that mess. I'll defer to Taro_T for exact quote and verbiage.

 

Edited to reflect text of CBA on RFA Qualifying Offers from 10.2:

 

"(B) Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a Group 2 Player requests salary arbitration, or a Club requests salary arbitration, pursuant to Article 12, such Player will not be eligible to negotiate with any Club other than his Prior Club or sign an Offer Sheet pursuant to this Article 10, except as provided in Section 12.10.

(ii) In order to receive a Right of First Refusal or Draft Choice Compensation (at the Prior Club's option) with respect to a Restricted Free Agent, the Prior Club of a Restricted Free Agent must tender to the Player, no later than 5:00 p.m. New York time on the later of June 25 or the first Monday after the Entry Draft of the final year of the Player's SPC, a "Qualifying Offer", which shall be an offer of an SPC, for one League Year, which is subject to salary arbitration if such Player is otherwise eligible for salary arbitration in accordance with Section 12.1, on at least the following terms and conditions:

(A) if the Player's prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary is less than or equal to $660,000 for that League Year, 110% of the prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary.

(B) if the Player's prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary is greater than $660,000, but less than $1,000,000 for that League Year, 105% of his prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary, but in no event to exceed $1,000,000.

© if the Player's prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary is equal to or greater than $1,000,000 for that League year, 100% of the prior year's Paragraph 1 NHL Salary.

(D) if a Player is eligible to receive a Two-Way Qualifying Offer, the Paragraph 1 Minor League Salary component shall not be less than the higher of the Player's prior year's Paragraph 1 Minor League Salary, if any, or the minimum Minor League salary. A Qualifying Offer shall not be open for acceptance prior to July 1. If a

Qualifying Offer meeting the above requirements is timely made, the Prior Club shall have a Right of First Refusal, exercisable in accordance with Section 10.3 below, or Draft Choice Compensation, exercisable in accordance with Section 10.4 below. A Qualifying Offer will be deemed to have met the above requirements if the Prior Club timely 31 provides the Player a completed copy of the notice attached as Exhibit 19 hereto, in accordance with Exhibit 3 hereto.

(iii) A Club's Qualifying Offer must be a One-Way Qualifying Offer if the applicable Player has: (A) actually played (excluding games missed for injury, illness or disability) 180 or more NHL Games in the previous three (3) NHL Seasons, (B) played at least sixty (60) NHL Games in the previous NHL Season, and © not cleared

Waivers in the period between the 12th day prior to the commencement of the previous Regular Season and the end of a Club's previous Playing Season. For purposes hereof only, a goaltender is deemed to have played an NHL Game when he was dressed and on the bench as a backup. In all other cases, a Qualifying Offer may be a Two-Way Qualifying Offer.

(iv) In the event a Prior Club fails to make a Qualifying Offer as set forth in this Section 10.2 and fails to elect salary arbitration pursuant to Section 12.3(a), the Player shall immediately become an Unrestricted Free Agent and shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any Club, and any Club shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any such Player, without penalty or restriction or being subject to any Right of First Refusal, Draft Choice Compensation, or any other compensation or equalization obligation of any kind.

(v) A Qualifying Offer shall automatically expire at 5:00 p.m. New York time on July 15; provided, however, that the Club may by written notice to Central Registry and the NHLPA, sent in accordance with Exhibit 3 hereof, provided on or before 5:00 p.m. New York time on July 15, extend the deadline for Qualifying Offer acceptance to a date (which must be a fixed and definitive calendar date) determined in its sole discretion."

[Bmwolf21]

On a side note, before my head explodes while trying to read the CBA gobbledygook, here were some interesting quotes from Lindy at the PC this morning:

 

(In interest of full disclosure, I have not had the opportunity to listen to the PC or interviews on WGR. I am going off the WGR story right now and hope to listen to the presser tomorrow.)

 

LINK

Ruff on the team's struggles:

 

"There was reference to giving up leads. We had fairly good success at locking down with two lines last year. Elevating the Roy line, they were pure offense last year, and asking them to put up on the defensive side, they struggled. There was growth there. It was tough growth, but it was growth."

 

Ruff on Miller:

 

"His season was a little bit of a roller coaster ride, and he dealt with some personal adversity early in the season and I think that hurt him. There was a good period of time that I felt he got his game locked down, and it wasn?t as consistent (as it was in 2006-07). There was time that we didn?t protect his backside in games. It?s the time of year that players are going to be hard on themselves."

 

Ruff on whether he wants to see Miller play 70-plus games:

 

"Ideally, no (to 70-plus games). It was a very trying season for him, and you don?t know what you?re going to get out of your goaltender until you go there. Hindsight is always a tough place to go. I think he lost some quality practice time in a real tough schedule. In February and March, he couldn?t take three days to practice (the little things)."

 

Ruff on Tallinder and Lydman:

 

"First, I?ll talk about Henrik. You addessed the broke his arm twice, separated his shoulder this year, had some very serious injuries that didn?t allow him to train. His game wasn?t anywhere near what I have him as a defenseman. His biggest challenge is to mentally get over those injuries and physically get stronger."

 

"In Toni?s case. Toni for the most part always shows a lot of battle. He?s going to lay down block shots. He?s gonna hit. Toni?s game wasn?t as good either, and I think those two kind of fed off each other?s weaknesses. They?re disappointed. We?re disappointed."

 

Ruff on Thomas Vanek blaming himself for the team not making the playoffs:

"He scored 36 goals or whatever he scored. His growth is not in the goal scoring category. That is his gift that he?s always had. I?ve told him that his growth is going to have to come away from the puck, possibly as a penalty killer on our team. I identified that as an area I?d like to see his growth continue. We may not be as close as we are if Thomas doesn?t get the number of goals we got. This isn?t an individual sport, it?s a team sport."

 

Ruff on Steve Bernier getting into better shape.

"He is in elite shape. He?s in as good a shape physically as any player who?s walked into our training room. We?ve had players who?ve had to lose 15, 16 pounds to get into elite shape. Steve is very lean. What he needs is, as a big man, a little bit more quickness. That takes footwork, five months of, it may be skating instruction, it may be off-ice footwork. He?s a young player that needs a lot of direction. He?s an elite athlete when it comes to condition."

 

Interesting stuff, some stuff we've discussed here already (Miller's workload, inconsistency, and the fact that sometimes it was the D and sometimes it was Miller screwing up - different areas of the team not covering for another area's mistakes.)

 

Sounded to me like he hit the nail on the head WRT to Toni and Hank, especially how their weaknesses fed off one another, and with Vanek's play needing to get better away from the puck.

 

I thought Bernier's struggles were not conditioning-related, but rather a result of not knowing the system and not having chemistry with regular linemates (but then again, who gets that under Lindy?) Turns out it's his quickness and footwork. Sounds like he is a little more of a project than we thought, but it sounds like Lindy really likes him.

[X. Benedict]

Ruff on Steve Bernier getting into better shape.

"He is in elite shape. He?s in as good a shape physically as any player who?s walked into our training room. We?ve had players who?ve had to lose 15, 16 pounds to get into elite shape. Steve is very lean. What he needs is, as a big man, a little bit more quickness. That takes footwork, five months of, it may be skating instruction, it may be off-ice footwork. He?s a young player that needs a lot of direction. He?s an elite athlete when it comes to condition."[/i]

 

 

 

I thought Bernier's struggles were not conditioning-related, but rather a result of not knowing the system and not having chemistry with regular linemates (but then again, who gets that under Lindy?) Turns out it's his quickness and footwork. Sounds like he is a little more of a project than we thought, but it sounds like Lindy really likes him.

 

This surprised me. Your body can be chiseled and aerobic conditioning can still be suspect.

Needs quickness and footwork? Interesting answer.

[stenbaro]

This surprised me. Your body can be chiseled and aerobic conditioning can still be suspect.

Needs quickness and footwork? Interesting answer.

He should take up boxing..Works wonders on the footwork

[tom webster]

What was the Q&A about the video scouting?

 

They just tried to make the point that video scouting is there way of identifing players because there is no way that they can have scouts at all games. Darcy tried to make the point that more teams are going to it and did meantion the "young" scouts they have going through video. After they were gone, Chris even said that Larry told him they are in fact spending more on vidoe and travel than before.

A couple of points;

1) I find it hard to believe they are spending more

2) I believe the real savings was getting rid of the veteran scouts as well as directors of scouting and replacing them with younger guys.

[Done]

This surprised me. Your body can be chiseled and aerobic conditioning can still be suspect.

Needs quickness and footwork? Interesting answer.

 

I'll tell you one thing....Lindy has NO problem with the system. He defended not having any veterans around, saying that he doesn't believe in individuals as leaders. He wants Bernier to work on his quickness and footwork, (i.e, lose 10 lbs like Gaustad so you can skate faster and don't worry about hitting people). He didn't have a problem with the roster, and just blamed things on youth. I take offense that he called Ryan Miller (3 months from 28), a very young goalie.

 

This press conference was a disaster. Not in a big news sort of way...but how can Lindy be happy with what transpired? It's a sad day when I come out of it thinking that Larry Quinn made the most sense out of them all.

 

I am obviously not the Sabres' target demographic...a Thirty-something with traditional hockey values. It really is time for me to stop whining about it and just leave them behind. The NHL got the message. I'm loving the playoffs. The Sabres REALLY don't want MY money though. I guess in the end that is fair.

[inkman]

He wants Bernier to...lose 10 lbs like Gaustad so you can skate faster...

 

I thought he needed to work on his footwork? Didn't Lindy expilcitly say that Bernier is phenominal shape?

[X. Benedict]

I thought he needed to work on his footwork? Didn't Lindy expilcitly say that Bernier is phenominal shape?

Not an ounce of fat on him.

[Done]

I thought he needed to work on his footwork? Didn't Lindy expilcitly say that Bernier is phenominal shape?

 

Read into it. Dave Andreychuk needed to work on his footwork too....all 600 goals of him.

 

Gaustad came in smaller this year. He wasn't out of shape either. To me, Bernier looked very quick for his size. It is just another example of Lindy wanting the move it fast in transition type of game. Bernier is more of a "half court" player, but just like guys like Gaustad, Vanek and Kotalik....he's going to be cloned into a defense first, don't play the body player.

[inkman]

Read into it. Dave Andreychuk needed to work on his footwork too....all 600 goals of him.

Speaking of which, on the draft special the other night Luc Robitaille looked like a 4th grader siting next to Andreychuk. :lol: He is massive.

[frisky]

Miller could be considered young in terms of NHL experience. It was his 3rd year in the league and he may be expecting Miller to have a very long NHL career. So, in comparison to others, like Dom or Brodeur, Kolzig, Osgood, and others, he's still young.