Is Darcy a Weasel?

[darksabre]

Hindsight is 20/20.. During that time, the team owners were dying/died, Hasek had given up on the coach, coach either slept with hasek's wife and/or muckler's wife, coach was a drunk, new GM entered a situation where it was either the award winning coach or all time goalie to leave, etc. There truly WAS a lot of crap going on back then. The reality is that Muckler should have never been fired and Nolan should have been more mature. Either way, this team has been washed anew. I'm more concerned about whats next than what's in the past. With that said, you really missed some fun, tumultuous times as a fan back in the mid to late 90's!

 

I was a fan in the late 90s for sure, but I was just a kid. I remember staying up listening to games on my headphones in bed as early as 96. I was 13 in 99 when we made our Cup run and that really solidified things for me.

 

I remember coming back from Florida in 1998, my family had taken a vacation to Disney. We were in the Philadelphia airport when I saw the newspapers that said we had beaten the Flyers in OT to win the series. I remember (being a kid at the time) shouting Go Sabres Flyers stink! in the airport and having my parents tell me to be quiet. :P

[Corp000085]

I was a fan in the late 90s for sure, but I was just a kid. I remember staying up listening to games on my headphones in bed as early as 96. I was 13 in 99 when we made our Cup run and that really solidified things for me.

 

I remember coming back from Florida in 1998, my family had taken a vacation to Disney. We were in the Philadelphia airport when I saw the newspapers that said we had beaten the Flyers in OT to win the series. I remember (being a kid at the time) shouting Go Sabres Flyers stink! in the airport and having my parents tell me to be quiet. :P

 

I was a freshman in college.

[darksabre]

I was a freshman in college.

 

So you're what, like 32? You're not even old!

[...]

 

 

...coach either slept with hasek's wife and/or muckler's wife, coach was a drunk, new GM entered a situation where it was either the award winning coach or all time goalie to leave, ...

 

Really...really? And what evidence is there that substantiates this claim? You're crapping on someone's rep and family life by just casually throwing that out there without evidence. Where is the evidence?

[SwampD]

Really...really? And what evidence is there that substantiates this claim? You're crapping on someone's rep and family life by just casually throwing that out there without evidence. Where is the evidence?

I didn't believe this rumor back then and believe it even less now.

[IKnowPhysics]

It's annoying that we have to rehash this, but let's get it right, and then let it go under the bridge.

 

The rumors have never been substantiated. And there's two sides to them:

 

1) Rumor: Nolan was a philanderer and a drunk that messed around with Hasek's wife and would show up to practice drunk. Refute: Nolan said that these were racist stereotypes.

 

2) Rumor: Hasek expected "star" treatment but was angry at Nolan for treating him equally with other players. Refute: Hasek said that he didn't respect Nolan as a coach.

 

Disregarding whatever might have been true or false about those rumors, there was a real, documented feud between Nolan and Hasek. Sabres GM John Muckler sided with Hasek (either because he valued him more than Nolan or because some element of the rumors were justified, who knows). Sabres ownership sided with Nolan (Jean Knox later attended a rally in support of Nolan during the contract dispute). The whole front office and locker room was a complete shitshow the entire '96-'97 playoffs and 1997 off season.

 

Ownership fired Muckler (after he had just won Executive of the Year), which branded Nolan as GM killer. Ownership then hired former Islanders interim GM Darcy Regier, and threw him into the shitshow. Regier had to solve the dispute or he (and the franchise) would eat itself alive. He decided to offer Nolan a one year deal to see if things would settle down. Nolan (after he had just won the Jack Adams) took this as an insult and rejected the offer. Both players and fans were livid that Nolan wasn't resigned and many blamed Hasek. Matthew Barnaby publicly stated he'd run Hasek on the first day of training camp for his role in getting Nolan "fired."

 

Darcy hired Florida Panthers Assistant Coach and longtime-Sabre Lindy Ruff as Head Coach. For many weeks into that next season, fans booed so loudly at Hasek, that the arena staff had to play tapes of the crowd cheering over the PA to drown them out. Hasek would eventually win them back with stellar play (he earned six of his thirteen shutouts that season in December, an all-time record in one month) and went on to win his second consecutive trifecta of the Vezina, Pearson, and Hart trophies. Lindy Ruff and Dominik Hasek would immediately lead the Sabres to the ECF, and a year later, game six of the SCF.

 

I don't know if anyone knows what really started the Nolan-Hasek feud. But as horrible of a decision as it was to make at the time for new-GM Darcy to let go of his universally-celebrated Jack Adams winner, he ended up being right. Hasek played all-world and all-time, and Ruff would mostly succeed for the next 16 years. It was a truly ###### situation, and Regier not only stopped the Sabres ship from sinking, he probably sailed it better than any GM in franchise history.

Edited November 20, 2013 by IKnowPhysics

[Assquatch]

Steve Cichon's take:

Somehow, it’s believed by many that Ted Nolan had sex with Dominik Hasek’s wife. Can I prove that didn’t happen? No, but if you watched the rumor evolve like I did, you wouldn’t believe it either.

This rumor is so old, look how crappy the photo is?

 

This particular rumor started with phone calls alleging, very specifically, that “Ted Nolan was caught having sex with Hasek’s wife in the showers at the arena, and that’s why Ted and Dom don’t get along.”

It becomes even less credible when you know that this was the last in a long line of these variety of calls. There’d been others about Nolan and other players’ wives along the lines of, “This guy was cut because Ted got caught having sex with the guy’s wife in the dressing room shower.”

There were also a few that involved Ted getting caught getting it on with players in the locker room showers. “John Muckler cut this guy was cut because he was caught having sex with the coach in the dressing room showers.”

Edited November 20, 2013 by Assquatch

[bunomatic]

Steve Cichon's take:

 

Imo its so beyond warped that this unsubstantiated crap is even out there. I was a fan when this all went down and I never heard this and rightfully so. Heard the stuff about players wives and didn't believe those ones but this coach/player shite is enquirer fodder that should never have seen the light of day. Does Steve Cichon have any credibility. I wouldn't read anything of his after reading this.

[darksabre]

 

 

Imo its so beyond warped that this unsubstantiated crap is even out there. I was a fan when this all went down and I never heard this and rightfully so. Heard the stuff about players wives and didn't believe those ones but this coach/player shite is enquirer fodder that should never have seen the light of day. Does Steve Cichon have any credibility. I wouldn't read anything of his after reading this.

 

Did you even read the article?

[Lanny]

Imo its so beyond warped that this unsubstantiated crap is even out there. I was a fan when this all went down and I never heard this and rightfully so. Heard the stuff about players wives and didn't believe those ones but this coach/player shite is enquirer fodder that should never have seen the light of day. Does Steve Cichon have any credibility. I wouldn't read anything of his after reading this.

Cichon is saying these are the types of crazy things they used to hear, and therefore the Hasek rumor should not be given any credibility.

[Assquatch]

The misunderstanding is probably my fault. Re-reading only the part I quoted in my post, I could see based on the last sentence how it would be misunderstood.

[bunomatic]

The misunderstanding is probably my fault. Re-reading only the part I quoted in my post, I could see based on the last sentence how it would be misunderstood.

 

I suppose I should have looked into it further. The fault lies with me but honestly I'd seen enough at that point.

[beerme1]

As to the title question, look at the mess we're in after all this time with Darcy in charge. He most certainly is a weasel.

[papazoid]

a weasel ?....no

 

a bad GM ?...YES !!

 

darcy likes big guys with hands of stones and skilled little guys with no stones.

 

you need big skilled guys in one body, not one or the other.

[bunomatic]

a weasel ?....no

 

a bad GM ?...YES !!

 

darcy likes big guys with hands of stones and skilled little guys with no stones.

 

you need big skilled guys in one body, not one or the other.

 

Nolan basically admitted this after the Flyers game. He said we have skilled guys with no toughness and tough guys with no skill but no skilled guys with toughness.

[nfreeman]

As to the title question, look at the mess we're in after all this time with Darcy in charge. He most certainly is a weasel.

 

I think the mess is the results of incompetence, not weasel-ness.

[BuffalOhio]

Nolan basically admitted this after the Flyers game. He said we have skilled guys with no toughness and tough guys with no skill but no skilled guys with toughness.

 

I think Gergensons is the first of this new breed; hopefully we can get more. He's got skill, and he's plenty tough. He's shown a lot of heart, too, especially on back checks (which are no fun, by the way).

[beerme1]

I think the mess is the results of incompetence, not weasel-ness.

 

It seems to me that with Cody signing he was trying to repeat the past ala Derek Roy menaing this train would end up the same train wreck as the last one he built.

Do you think he is now at home in a dark room watching the tire fire and giggling? Weasel.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

..............

[WildCard]

Speaking of which, you know who's a solid player, that Kassian fella.

[Claude_Verret]

You can blame what is happening now on Darcy, but it doesn't help the case in your attempt to label him a weasel. He outright told everyone that this was going to happen.

[inkman]

Speaking of which, you know who's a solid player, that Kassian fella.

He's a solid 3rd - 4th liner if that's what you mean.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

A more relevant question now is ...

 

Is Ted Black a weasel?

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

A more relevant question now is ...

 

Is Ted Black a weasel?

 

Ted is more of a ferret. You can domesticate him and he'll snuggle with you as you feed him fine cheeses......

[bunomatic]

I missed this thread :wub: