Is Buffalo One Move Away From Being A Cup Contender

[deluca67]

Three things;

1) I don't think this team would fare well under 2005 rules

2) I agree almost entirely with Taro's assessment

3) I feel the need to say this out loud, Drew Stafford will score 35 goals and record 125 huts next year

I had no idea that Stafford's contract was up so soon. I thought he signed a longer deal. ;)

 

The Sabres and fans are going to be chasing Stafford's potential just as they spent years chasing Connolly's potential. They'll see a flash here and there that causes exclamations like these and cause the Sabres to be hesitant to move him. In the end we will all be lamenting what could have been if Stafford just took the game more seriously as we did with Connolly.

 

Or the teams with the players everybody wants are drastically overvaluing them. Regier is far from the only one who has refused to pay the absurd asking price for Nash (and I'm assuming the price on Ryan is probably only 1 piece less). These crappy teams with a star want other teams to rebuild their franchise for them, which isn't going to happen.

In a talent starved league the price for quality hockey players is always going to high. Nash and Ryan are game changers. If they are available a team is going to pay the price. I'd rather that team be the Sabres. I would hate to see another opportunity to add real talent to this franchise pass them by.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

He got one thing wrong, though; Canada has not "been celebrating its birth longer than pucks have been finding nets." Hockey is older than Canada's independence by a long time.

 

Actually, Eleven, not to nitpick, but Canada is not independent at all.

 

Being part of the Commonwealth, we cannot really do anything without the approval of her majesty. Every now and then there is talk of Canada becoming a Republic and as the older generations, who really "love" the British Monarchy, die off it may actually happen one day.

[spndnchz]

They got their qualifying offers over a month ago. Within the next week we'll know if they're going to arbitration or not.

 

I have to fix this. Ennis does not have arbitration rights. Kaleta does.

[Eleven]

I have to fix this. Ennis does not have arbitration rights. Kaleta does.

 

Hopefully Kaleta is smart enough not to Kennedy himself out of a job.

[Marvelo]

The goal of Terry Pegula to win multiple cups is unrealistic. For a small market, Buffalo will be lucky to win one cup. The year they almost won it, all the planets were in alignment...Carolina stood in Buffalo's way, then Edmonton. They couldn't get it done. Just one cup will be enough to more than satisfy the fan base.

 

Buffalo is not one player away. There is too much dead wood still on this team and there are too many ifs. The Sabres management over the years have fallen in love with certain players who just aren't reliable. I'm not sure this attitude is going to change, even with the influx of money. If anything, all the money has given the management a certain boldness to go out and make some very stupid mistakes.

 

Players like Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek have become grossly overpaid and have too many miles. Miller is replaceable at a fraction of the cost. I'm sure most goalies can now put up the kind of numbers he's put up in recent years. I think Buffalo can get stable goaltending without Miller. Vanek is tantalizing because his streaks give us the illusion that things will last forever, but most often he looks like a broken down old car.

 

I have hope for Grigorenko/Girgensons but they're 18 years old. I don't see them having much impact until they're in their early 20s, if at all. The NHL draft is such a crapshoot.

 

Free agents who come here have to be very special people. Not only do they have to agree to work with the organization, their lifestyle has to fit the Buffalo lifestyle in order for them to be happy and productive. I don't see too many top flight players coming to Buffalo. They want the bright lights.

 

I think like many of you the Sabres need a new voice behind the bench. But it looks like Ruff/Regier who are attached at the hip aren't going anywhere. And to me it looks like Buffalo isn't going anywhere either.

 

I must admit, last summer I was ecstatic with all the free agents. Now I'm wiser and a bit sadder too. As George W. Bush once said: "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...don't get fooled again."