Pominville to Minnesota Wild UPDATE: offered extension.

[X. Benedict]

So, wait, Darcy got rid of Pominville because people on this board wanted him gone?

 

Darcy got rid of Pommer because any support the guy was going to get in the top 6 is not mature yet or not on the team.

 

Darcy tried to build a team from the outside in and it failed. He even went against his own philosophy.

Most of the money spent on this team was wrapped up in the wings.

 

You won't have a winner here until he addresses the center position.

 

Hodgson was the first piece.

 

The rest we'll see.

[plenzmd1]

IMO, he has been underrated here for a long time. The team hasn't done well under his captaincy, but look at the team. And even if he were the worst NHL captain ever (he isn't), he's still one good hockey player.

 

Wasn't there a goalie a few years back who said that he was nervous every time Pommer had the puck?

 

That said, I do understand that the Sabres can't rebuild without making moves.

 

I agree here, one hell of a hockey player. Damn, its weird but I remember where i was when i heard about his extension.

 

That being said, some players need to go if you wanted to change the dynamic/culture of the team. Leo's comments yesterday, while some thought were bad, i think are pretty indicitive that change needed to happen.Swapping out Stafford for a 2 not going to bring a culture change in my mind,

 

That being said,I often wonder about this season and what went wrong. There are times in games I look at one play and wonder if that play turned out different, does the game change?

 

I look at the Pommer play in the first Pittsburgh game...if he clears that puck, do the Sabres win that game..and then actually beat Winnipeg in a better effort? Lindy still here maybe? Would be adding instead of looking at a selloff and rebuild?

 

I know one play, just wondering is all.

[K-9]

Regardless of the return, moving Pominville had to be done. While this team has had it's share of flat out bad plays that helped it lose games, the most glaring problem on this team is maturity. Nothing else explains their uncanny ability to look and play so well against better teams and then completely out to lunch against lesser opponnents. Fairly or not, the captain of your team is a symbol of it's heart or lack thereof. While I will miss Pommer as a player, I won't miss for a second his role as captain. While he wasn't the problem, he certainly wasn't the solution. They need to get rid of Stafford for the same reason. When you have so many young players trying to establish their niches, you can't afford to have such glaring lackadaisical play from an appointed leader. And while I would keep Vanek, he needs to be stripped of his A so he can go through his constant on-ice agonies in a non-leadership position.

 

It's amazing that the "core" never took cues from Drury et al back in the day. I say blow it up, let all the new kids have at it, establish their Lord of the Flies hierarchies, and let new leadership emerge. I only hope it's the kind of leadership that knows something about paying the price on and off the ice, game in and game out. Season in and season out.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[LGR4GM]

Do you think the trade return for Richards was better than that for Pommer? If yes,why do you think that is?

 

If the Kings had offered Richards for Pommer yesterday, do you think DR would have accepted? How about most other GMs?

1) I think as of this moment in time Richards returned more proven talent than the Pominville trade. Schenn and Simmonds are better than Larsson/Hackett currently speaking.

 

2) If yesterday the LA Kings offered Mike Richards for Jason Pominville straight up, I would hope Darcy would say no. As for other GM's it would depend on their organizational needs but I would think that no, most would not take Richards straight up over Jason Pominville.

[TrueBlueGED]

Regardless of the return, moving Pominville had to be done. While this team has had it's share of flat out bad plays that helped it lose games, the most glaring problem on this team is maturity. Nothing else explains their uncanny ability to look and play so well against better teams and then completely out to lunch against lesser opponnents. Fairly or not, the captain of your team is a symbol of it's heart or lack thereof. While I will miss Pommer as a player, I won't miss for a second his role as captain. While he wasn't the problem, he certainly wasn't the solution. They need to get rid of Stafford for the same reason. When you have so many young players trying to establish their niches, you can't afford to have such glaring lackadaisical play from an appointed leader. And while I would keep Vanek, he needs to be stripped of his A so he can go through his constant on-ice agonies in a non-leadership position.

 

It's amazing that the "core" never took cues from Drury et al back in the day. I say blow it up, let all the new kids have at it, establish their Lord of the Flies hierarchies, and let new leadership emerge. I only hope it's the kind of leadership that knows something about paying the price on and off the ice, game in and game out. Season in and season out.

 

GO SABRES!!!

 

I completely disagree with this. The most glaring problem is talent. Maturity as demonstrated by playing to the competition? First, every single team in the league does this. Second, this team is so bad that it's not that we play up to the likes of Pittsburgh and Boston, but rather, those teams play down to us. We're officially the team that the contenders play down to, and when we lose to bad teams it's not because we played down to them, it's because we lost to an equal. This team sucks.

[...]

These post-mortems can get ridiculous. It seems that usually, at some point, the fans are to blame in some way when a popular player/personality is shipped out.

 

So why, all of sudden, do we here not know how good Pominville is? "I wonder how many people realize how good Pommer is." "IMO, he has been underrated here for a long time." Really?

 

What makes you think Buffalo fans didn't value Pominville? That he got shipped out? That some people are glad to see him go, for whatever reason?

[X. Benedict]

These post-mortems can get ridiculous. It seems that usually, at some point, the fans are to blame in some way when a popular player/personality is shipped out.

 

So why, all of sudden, do we here not know how good Pominville is? "I wonder how many people realize how good Pommer is." "IMO, he has been underrated here for a long time." Really?

 

What makes you think Buffalo fans didn't value Pominville? That he got shipped out? That some people are glad to see him go, for whatever reason?

 

Eh? I can't wonder? That's what I was wondering.

 

I'm not blaming you or anyone.

 

It is just my feeling that he was not appreciated all that much around town for whatever reasons, I've got ears..........not a great captain, not a great skater (which was crap, the guy is a great skater), he was never flashy, and never a fighter.

 

He was more Craig Ramsay than Gil Pearrault...but he was damn good.

 

Just open conjecture.

[Eleven]

These post-mortems can get ridiculous. It seems that usually, at some point, the fans are to blame in some way when a popular player/personality is shipped out.

 

So why, all of sudden, do we here not know how good Pominville is? "I wonder how many people realize how good Pommer is." "IMO, he has been underrated here for a long time." Really?

 

What makes you think Buffalo fans didn't value Pominville? That he got shipped out? That some people are glad to see him go, for whatever reason?

Eh? I can't wonder? That's what I was wondering.

 

I'm not blaming you or anyone.

 

It is just my feeling that he was not appreciated all that much around town for whatever reasons, I've got ears..........not a great captain, not a great skater (which was crap, the guy is a great skater), he was never flashy, and never a fighter.

 

He was more Craig Ramsay than Gil Pearrault...but he was damn good.

 

Just open conjecture.

 

Same response.

[SDS]

 

He was more Craig Ramsay than Gil Pearrault...but he was damn good.

 

Just open conjecture.

 

and that's the problem. We need elite players here before we get damn good ones. We hitched our wagon to Miller/Pominville/Vanek for many years and the experiment is over. It didn't work and hasn't been working for years.

[...]

Okay, but those comments are mostly true:

 

He wasn't a "great captain", he isn't particularly flashy, and he doesn't fight. He rarely hits. He's been having a down year.

 

He's a fine skater as far as I can tell.

 

The people around here (not just the board, but Sabres fans in general) are so wound up over this team, they want red meat. Pominville is the opposite of a red-meat player and you all should know this.

 

Perhaps, if you're interested in the big picture, that you stop ask these people who you're eavesdropping, ask them to name some positives about Pominville - do you think they could quickly provide a list of positives? I'm willing to bet they can.

 

This team has been pretty boring to watch for several seasons now. Obviously there have been outliers. But the context of the comments you're "hearing" are in the context of a flawed team that has been flawed for years, where, arguably, the most popular Sabres personality has been recently fired, that have been painted against extremely high expectations - which came from the organization itself, not just the fans. F*ck, man, give people some slack.

[PromoTheRobot]

These post-mortems can get ridiculous. It seems that usually, at some point, the fans are to blame in some way when a popular player/personality is shipped out.

 

So why, all of sudden, do we here not know how good Pominville is? "I wonder how many people realize how good Pommer is." "IMO, he has been underrated here for a long time." Really?

 

What makes you think Buffalo fans didn't value Pominville? That he got shipped out? That some people are glad to see him go, for whatever reason?

 

Bi-polar disorder?

 

PTR

[LGR4GM]

Not sure this has been mentioned but we are going to lose a lot more shootouts now.

[Claude_Verret]

Not sure this has been mentioned but we are going to lose a lot more shootouts now.

 

I disagree. We'll be losing more in regulation with the rebuild, shootout losses (and wins) will be few and far between.

[Derrico]

Minn just got a top RW in a trade. They are going to be good going into the playoffs and I think they have a very legitimate chance of making out of the first round.

 

Yes they did get a nice RW in the trade. But if everything ended today they'd be up against LA who has a ton of firepower. Other possible matchups include Anehiem, Vancouver and San Jose. I don't know who I'd bet my money on in a 7 games series with those opponents. It's far from a lock that they win a round. As a Sabres fan I'm hoping for a first round exit and end up with a pick around 20.

[Weave]

Eh? I can't wonder? That's what I was wondering.

 

I'm not blaming you or anyone.

 

It is just my feeling that he was not appreciated all that much around town for whatever reasons, I've got ears..........not a great captain, not a great skater (which was crap, the guy is a great skater), he was never flashy, and never a fighter.

 

He was more Craig Ramsay than Gil Pearrault...but he was damn good.

 

Just open conjecture.

 

People are/were bitching about the return they got for him. I think that is a pretty good indicator that they understand Pominville's value. They expected a good, solid return for him.

[K-9]

I completely disagree with this. The most glaring problem is talent. Maturity as demonstrated by playing to the competition? First, every single team in the league does this. Second, this team is so bad that it's not that we play up to the likes of Pittsburgh and Boston, but rather, those teams play down to us. We're officially the team that the contenders play down to, and when we lose to bad teams it's not because we played down to them, it's because we lost to an equal. This team sucks.

 

I didn't mean to imply we were an overly talented bunch. Far from it. And you're right, that IS the biggest issue. But I can forgive lack of talent if it's accompanied by consistent effort, especially in the face of adversity. We don't have a lot of character and I point to that because it IS the one thing a player has control over at all times. When I see a player of Stafford's obvious ability continually pack it in while wearing that A it just magnifies the issue.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[Stoner]

Darcy got rid of Pommer because any support the guy was going to get in the top 6 is not mature yet or not on the team.

 

Darcy tried to build a team from the outside in and it failed. He even went against his own philosophy.

Most of the money spent on this team was wrapped up in the wings.

 

You won't have a winner here until he addresses the center position.

 

Hodgson was the first piece.

 

The rest we'll see.

 

Interesting. What convinced him to go against his philosophy? Why is Leino a Sabre?

[LGR4GM]

I disagree. We'll be losing more in regulation with the rebuild, shootout losses (and wins) will be few and far between.

...okay I will F#####G rephrase... the shootouts we are in, we are now more likely to lose.

[X. Benedict]

Interesting. What convinced him to go against his philosophy? Why is Leino a Sabre?

 

One weakness in Darcy - he believes in the hybrid wing/center.

 

Hecht, Leino, Kotalik, MacArthur........

 

Leino at center was a gamble.

[shrader]

Darcy got rid of Pommer because any support the guy was going to get in the top 6 is not mature yet or not on the team.

 

Darcy tried to build a team from the outside in and it failed. He even went against his own philosophy.

Most of the money spent on this team was wrapped up in the wings.

 

You won't have a winner here until he addresses the center position.

 

Hodgson was the first piece.

 

The rest we'll see.

 

A lot of people like to say that there is no plan in place and they are just bringing in random pieces. It has become blatantly obvious that they are trying to build up their centers. Trading for Hodgson and Larsson. The draft. They are clearly trying to build up the middle. There's no guarantee with any of them, but I don't know how else you attempt that build at this point. With the way the league is valuing centers at this point, you're not going to pick up any more than a 3rd or 4th line depth center through free agency. You need to build it through youth.

 

Fans don't want to hear it, but that's where things are right now.

 

 

edit: And I just saw the comment about hybrid centers. I wonder whether or not Larsson is another one of those.

[LastPommerFan]

A lot of people like to say that there is no plan in place and they are just bringing in random pieces. It has become blatantly obvious that they are trying to build up their centers. Trading for Hodgson and Larsson. The draft. They are clearly trying to build up the middle. There's no guarantee with any of them, but I don't know how else you attempt that build at this point. With the way the league is valuing centers at this point, you're not going to pick up any more than a 3rd or 4th line depth center through free agency. You need to build it through youth.

 

Fans don't want to hear it, but that's where things are right now.

 

 

edit: And I just saw the comment about hybrid centers. I wonder whether or not Larsson is another one of those.

 

I think it's a 3 year rebuild. 2015-2016 season is the target. Pommer would have been 33, a decline point for forwards. Miller will be 35, but goalies last a little longer. Vanek will only be 31. I think you can still move those pieces for the right return, but they could still fit in the plan. I don't think Pommer did.

[LGR4GM]

I think it's a 3 year rebuild. 2015-2016 season is the target. Pommer would have been 33, a decline point for forwards. Miller will be 35, but goalies last a little longer. Vanek will only be 31. I think you can still move those pieces for the right return, but they could still fit in the plan. I don't think Pommer did.

2017 I could see Buffalo make a legitimate run at the cup depending how we draft in 2013/2014 specifically.

[shrader]

 

I just love that I immediately knew it was you when I saw the new username.

[spndnchz]

Vanek gave Pominville a ride to the airport. :cry:

[Trettioåtta]

Vanek gave Pominville a ride to the airport. :cry:

 

This is like when Joey moved out of Chandler and joey's flat :(