Window of opportunity short with Sabres

[Mike Oxhurtz]

This. In fact, DOUBLE THIS.

 

I'm so tired of people bringing up those two players. I really don't care what the context is anymore, either. The Sabres are well beyond that period.

 

Let's just hope we stay on the right path. So far, so good this season.

[Eleven]

Did anyone really consider Drury and Briere big name players before they came to Buffalo?

 

Drury? Are you freaking kidding? Stop, use the Internet, and read about that acquisition. Yes, he was a household name among any households that followed hockey. Briere, not as much, but for what we traded? Come on. You're looking for reasons to bitch. Stop it. The team is doing just fine without them right now, and while not every game is fun to watch, the Sabres seem to be winning.

 

PS: Keep blaming "Regis."

[X. Benedict]

So far, great start to the season. The Sabres look really good so far. Nice move Myers had in the shootout for the win.

 

This season so far, we finally look like we're back on track to be a serious playoff contender again. But, with Quinn & Regier's track record, I feel the Sabres have a small window of opportunity to be a winner. I'd say 2-3 years at most, then Quinn & Regier will fail to resign key players and fail to get equal replacements for the lost players. We've seen this twice before, after Hasek left to Detroit, then again after the 06-07 season when Drury & Briere were not resigned and the front office failed to get replacements for our 2 former co-captains. I hope that Quinn & Regier have learned from their past mistakes and are able to keep this team a winner, but only time will tell.

 

 

If you keep track...nearly every team in the league will have at least a 50% attrition rate in 3 years.

[Mike Oxhurtz]

The team is doing just fine without them right now, and while not every game is fun to watch, the Sabres seem to be winning.

 

 

You're right, it only took us to miss the playoffs two years in a row (after making it to EC finals two years in a row) to try and get things right. But I guess that's what we can expect from Sabres managament. I guess it's too much to ask our management not to screw things up. At least in Detroit & New Jersey, their management has been consistently good for over 15 years now. So what's your agrument gonna be on that? That Detroit has a better market than Buffalo?

[...]

They're only an OT better than they were this time last year. Your thread is a little premature.

[wjag]

They're only an OT better than they were this time last year. Your thread is a little premature.

That's the amazing part to me. This is about where the wheels came off the bus last year. If it was Ottawa and not NJ or Wednesday, I'd be nervous I was having a deja vous moment. But the goals against number this year tells a different story. I'm sure one of you numbers researchers will prove this not true too..

[Kristian]

Let's not forget First in the Northeast. Lowest GA league wide. A point behind the Caps with two games in hand, five behind the Pens with 3 games in hand, already have our 13 points for the first set of ten games, second only to Bryzgalov, Ryan Miller at 1.69 GAA, and we're not Toronto!

 

There's something to enjoy.

[Eleven]

You're right, it only took us to miss the playoffs two years in a row (after making it to EC finals two years in a row) to try and get things right. But I guess that's what we can expect from Sabres managament. I guess it's too much to ask our management not to screw things up. At least in Detroit & New Jersey, their management has been consistently good for over 15 years now. So what's your agrument gonna be on that? That Detroit has a better market than Buffalo?

 

My argument is gonna be exactly what it has been, and I know that others here disagree: the Sabres have been to the "final four" one third of the time during Regier's tenure, and that's damned good, and better than anything we've seen from previous management.

[carpandean]

They're only an OT better worse than they were this time last year. Your thread is a little premature.

Fixed. They were 6-0-2 last year and are 6-1-1 this year.

[nfreeman]

No, that's the point. Darcy took a chance on talented players needing a change of scenery. If you want Darcy to land a "big name" player, be ready to part with Myers, Kassian, Butler, Ennis and the like. You just can't trade nothing for something. As for signing "big name" players, it hardly ever works out. Look league wide, the best players on the best teams are drafted or perhaps traded when they were prospects for some other teams "big name" player.

Well, I mostly agree both with the post generally and the bolded statement, but now and then a big UFA signing really does work and make a big difference. I would cite Chara in Boston and, so far, Gaborik for the Rangers as examples. I mention this mostly because Quinn likes to claim that they NEVER work, and this is just not the case. I do think though that most of the time the big-contract UFAs are good to very good players (like Drury, Briere and Soupy) who are way overpaid.

 

Who is this Drury guy everyone is talking about?

 

 

Can't I just enjoy the Sabres,.. now? With the guys they have on the team,.. now?

 

Do I have to think back on past glories and how it went downhill?

 

Do I have to look ahead to when they aren't winning again?

 

We're not even ten games into the season and it's been pretty fun so far. That's it. That's all the analysis I want to do right now.

Amen, brother. And while it's reasonable to wonder whether management has learned its lessons, it's way too early to worry about it at the expense of enjoying what just might be a great revival.

 

If you keep track...nearly every team in the league will have at least a 50% attrition rate in 3 years.

True, but this kinda gives management an undeserved (IMHO) pass for royally screwing up a great team that should've been in the hunt every year.

 

My argument is gonna be exactly what it has been, and I know that others here disagree: the Sabres have been to the "final four" one third of the time during Regier's tenure, and that's damned good, and better than anything we've seen from previous management.

Right on.

[shrader]

Well, I mostly agree both with the post generally and the bolded statement, but now and then a big UFA signing really does work and make a big difference. I would cite Chara in Boston and, so far, Gaborik for the Rangers as examples. I mention this mostly because Quinn likes to claim that they NEVER work, and this is just not the case. I do think though that most of the time the big-contract UFAs are good to very good players (like Drury, Briere and Soupy) who are way overpaid.

 

It's almost never the big signing that does it all though. People seem to think that all it takes is one big move, but it's really a series of moves that make that difference. Take a look at your example. Sure, Chara has been great for Boston, but that also came at a time when a bunch of young guys were coming into their own. They brought in a lot of other players over the last three years too, guys like Kobasew, Ryder, Wheeler, and others that were big time contributors last year. To throw all the credit to the Chara signing is the kind of shortsightedness that far too many fans fall victim to.

[nfreeman]

It's almost never the big signing that does it all though. People seem to think that all it takes is one big move, but it's really a series of moves that make that difference. Take a look at your example. Sure, Chara has been great for Boston, but that also came at a time when a bunch of young guys were coming into their own. They brought in a lot of other players over the last three years too, guys like Kobasew, Ryder, Wheeler, and others that were big time contributors last year. To throw all the credit to the Chara signing is the kind of shortsightedness that far too many fans fall victim to.

Right -- you can't sign one great player and think it will solve all of your problems. My point was just that one great UFA can in fact make a big difference and be worth the investment. It doesn't usually work out that way, but this is more because the great players in the NHL don't usually change teams as UFAs.