Where is Darcy Regier?

[Thwomp!]

Darcy was miserly with trades and assets.  I think if we had him, or a GM like him, during the initial rebuild instead of Gamblin' Timmy, we'd have been much more successful. 

[Kristian]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

No it wasn’t. It was a trade of now for next year.  Connolly had 2 full NHL seasons under him and was a proven 40pt center that was still moving up.  And Bernier had half an NHL season under him.  You could equate Pyatt to Tage Thompson but Connolly was a known quantity.

It seemed like a bad trade because Peca was a fan favorite, not because we got back unproven commodities.

That doesn't it mean it was a good trade.

Connolly was known as a one-dimensional player, with huge potential upside on the offensive side of things, but nobody had any illusions as to his defensive game.

Peca was a great no. 2 centerman who could play in every situation. Yes he was a fan favorite, but don't let that take away from the fact that he had few, if any, weak spots in his game. It wasn't his fault that the Sabres didn't have a no. 1 center.

Fast forward 18 months, it's a different story completely, I agree. But nobody knew that, at the time.

[Kristian]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Who doesn't? Especially when he was in that job so long. Darcy's sin was being too familiar. Like being married to someone and you start seeing every wart and thinking you can do better.

I don't know, who doesn't? I'm merely pointing out that pretty much all of us spent years complaining about Regier, and now that our uber-clueless owners have us in way deeper misery than anyone ever thought possible, we suddenly miss the guy?

The guy had his moments, but there's a reason he was fired. That's all I'm saying.

Just cause you miss your ex-wife from time to time, it doesn't mean you shouldn't have been divorced, to use your analogy.

I don't think we disagree, was trying to refresh some memories is all.

[Kristian]

4 hours ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said:

2 things really hurt Timmy C

1) The Sabre's medical staff misdiagnosis of his neck injury that kept him off the ice and prolonged his recovery during his prime - once corrected he looked like a superstar until getting injured again

2) Never learning how to take a hit - everyone from Kasparaitis to Giroux blew him up

 

That one was inexcusable.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Thwomp! said:

Darcy was miserly with trades and assets.  I think if we had him, or a GM like him, during the initial rebuild instead of Gamblin' Timmy, we'd have been much more successful. 

When he said there will be pain, he knew what he was talking about.  He'd been keeping things together pretty well but the Sabres slipped into draft position hell and didn't have a team that was quite good enough.  To break the cycle the team needed to step back from the mediocre present to get to a contending future.  He could have done it, but no one wanted to hear his prediction about the coming pain so they fired him (and I agreed at the time).  I think if they keep him they would have been competitive much, much more quickly.

[Eleven]

Regier could trade--even under pressure like the Peca deal.  He won almost every deal, if not all of them.  His problem, as others have pointed out, was while he could acquire assets in trades really, really well, he couldn't necessarily assemble them into a team.

Also, his drafting wasn't stellar.

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Regier could trade--even under pressure like the Peca deal.  He won almost every deal, if not all of them.  His problem, as others have pointed out, was while he could acquire assets in trades really, really well, he couldn't necessarily assemble them into a team.

Also, his drafting wasn't stellar.

To be clear, his drafting wasn't stellar after they switched to video scouting and started trading 2nds for rentals.

From 98-06 he was money

In nine years, he drafted 26 NHL players, 19 of them regulars:

• Core players: Vanek, Pominville, Miller,
• NHL regulars: Kalinin, Ballard, Paille, Stafford, Roy, Weber, Enroth, MacArthur Sekera, Hejda, Butler, Gerbe, Kotalik, Kaleta, Gaustad and Wideman
• And depth guys: Novotny, Peters, Thorburn, Janik, Zigomanis, Biega and Paetsch

That's pretty outstanding, especially considering he had only 1 top-10 pick, and 7 in the top 20.

 

 

[Stoner]

[PromoTheRobot]

42 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Regier could trade--even under pressure like the Peca deal.  He won almost every deal, if not all of them.  His problem, as others have pointed out, was while he could acquire assets in trades really, really well, he couldn't necessarily assemble them into a team.

Also, his drafting wasn't stellar.

Except he assembled the last Sabres team that was a cup contender.

[Eleven]

33 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Except he assembled the last Sabres team that was a cup contender.

He absolutely did.  Some here claim it was fortunate that the NHL changed its rules to favor the Sabres' style of play at the time; I'm not so sure.

[nfreeman]

8 hours ago, Derrico said:

This exactly.  Unfortunately I was there live in Ottawa tor Game 2 when Tim got wrecked.  Game 1 of that series is still my favourite sabres game of all time.  Connolly was nothing short of wizardry in Game 1 and many games leading up to that point.  Losing all the D the next year hurt but losing Connolly was the biggest blow IMO.

Unforgettable.

 

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

To be clear, his drafting wasn't stellar after they switched to video scouting and started trading 2nds for rentals.

From 98-06 he was money

In nine years, he drafted 26 NHL players, 19 of them regulars:

• Core players: Vanek, Pominville, Miller,
• NHL regulars: Kalinin, Ballard, Paille, Stafford, Roy, Weber, Enroth, MacArthur Sekera, Hejda, Butler, Gerbe, Kotalik, Kaleta, Gaustad and Wideman
• And depth guys: Novotny, Peters, Thorburn, Janik, Zigomanis, Biega and Paetsch

That's pretty outstanding, especially considering he had only 1 top-10 pick, and 7 in the top 20.

 

 

Not so fast there pardner.  Darcy's 1st- and 2nd-round picks during that period:

1998 -- 1 - Kalinin; 2- Petey, Norm Milley and Jaroslav Kristek

1999 -- 1 - Barrett Heisten; 2 -- Milan Bartovic, Doug Janik and Michael Zigomanis

2000 -- 1 - Artem Kryukov; 2 -- Gerard Dicaire

2001 -- 1 - Jiri Novotny; 2 -- Derek Roy, Chris Thorburn and Pommer

2002 -- 1 - Keith Ballard and Paille; 2 -- none

2003 -- 1 - Vanek; 2 -- Branislav Fabry

2004 -- 1 - Stafford; 2 -- Michael Funk

2005 -- 1 - Marek Zagrapan; 2-- Philipp Gogulla

2006 -- 1 - Dennis Persson; 2 -- Enroth and Weber

 

That is ONE good NHL forward out of 7 drafted in the first round (and there were a bunch of guys drafted after Vanek who were better than he was), plus a decent player in Stafford and a fringe guy in Paille, and 4 total washouts.

I also think that if we're evaluating 1st- and 2nd-rounders, the video scouting period counts too, because those guys would've been scouted in person.  In the 2007 - 2013 drafts, the best forwards he drafted in the first 2 rounds (in 16 picks total) were Ennis, Kassian, Armia and Zemgus -- not a top-sixer to be found.

Darcy IMHO was good at drafting players who could play in the NHL, but terrible at drafting forwards.

 

[matter2003]

17 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Oh, Darcy was the poster child for everything wrong with the Sabres. Couldn't wait to get rid of him. The last GM to build a cup contender in Buffalo, during bankruptcy no less. "Do better!" And on the topic of 1st round picks? Darcy got one from Nashville for... Paul Gaustad! 😂

Darcy was able to fleece teams on trades in almost unbelievable ways

[The Jokeman]

3 hours ago, Kristian said:

That doesn't it mean it was a good trade.

Connolly was known as a one-dimensional player, with huge potential upside on the offensive side of things, but nobody had any illusions as to his defensive game.

Peca was a great no. 2 centerman who could play in every situation. Yes he was a fan favorite, but don't let that take away from the fact that he had few, if any, weak spots in his game. It wasn't his fault that the Sabres didn't have a no. 1 center.

Fast forward 18 months, it's a different story completely, I agree. But nobody knew that, at the time.

Peca was a 3rd liner/short handed specialist. His agent Gerry Meehan called him more and that's what lead to the whole hold out fiasco to begin with. I hated it as a Peca fan (I still own his goat head jersey) but I sided with the Sabres in that dispute. Connolly was a better scorer than Peca yet Peca was a better leader, grinder etc. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by The Jokeman

[The Jokeman]

2 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Darcy was able to fleece teams on trades in almost unbelievable ways

JP Dumont and Doug Gilmore for Michael Grosek, Daniel Briere for Chris Gratton, Begin and Drury for ultimately was Keith Ballard were amazing adds. As were Juneau for Barnarby,, Grier for Klesis. I'm sure there are other moves too http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Darcy_Regier/68/1

[Kristian]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

Peca was a 3rd liner/short handed specialist. His agent Gerry Meehan called him more and that's what lead to the whole hold out fiasco to begin with. I hated it as a Peca fan (I still own his goat head jersey) but I sided with the Sabres in that dispute. Connolly was a better scorer than Peca yet Peca was a better leader, grinder etc. 

He was used in that role yes, played on a shutdown line most of the time.

That doesn’t mean that was the only facet of his game though, he was a solid all-rounder all the way.

He had four consecutive 40+ point seasons in Buffalo, three of them 20+ goal seasons.

Anyway, my point is moot - He got is knee blown out, Connolly had too many head injuries, and neither had the careers they should’ve had.

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

JP Dumont and Doug Gilmore for Michael Grosek, Daniel Briere for Chris Gratton, Begin and Drury for ultimately was Keith Ballard were amazing adds. As were Juneau for Barnarby,, Grier for Klesis. I'm sure there are other moves too http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Darcy_Regier/68/1

It was Stu Barnes for Barnaby, but that doesn’t make it any less a great deal.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Unforgettable.

 

Not so fast there pardner.  Darcy's 1st- and 2nd-round picks during that period:

1998 -- 1 - Kalinin; 2- Petey, Norm Milley and Jaroslav Kristek

1999 -- 1 - Barrett Heisten; 2 -- Milan Bartovic, Doug Janik and Michael Zigomanis

2000 -- 1 - Artem Kryukov; 2 -- Gerard Dicaire

2001 -- 1 - Jiri Novotny; 2 -- Derek Roy, Chris Thorburn and Pommer

2002 -- 1 - Keith Ballard and Paille; 2 -- none

2003 -- 1 - Vanek; 2 -- Branislav Fabry

2004 -- 1 - Stafford; 2 -- Michael Funk

2005 -- 1 - Marek Zagrapan; 2-- Philipp Gogulla

2006 -- 1 - Dennis Persson; 2 -- Enroth and Weber

 

That is ONE good NHL forward out of 7 drafted in the first round (and there were a bunch of guys drafted after Vanek who were better than he was), plus a decent player in Stafford and a fringe guy in Paille, and 4 total washouts.

I also think that if we're evaluating 1st- and 2nd-rounders, the video scouting period counts too, because those guys would've been scouted in person.  In the 2007 - 2013 drafts, the best forwards he drafted in the first 2 rounds (in 16 picks total) were Ennis, Kassian, Armia and Zemgus -- not a top-sixer to be found.

Darcy IMHO was good at drafting players who could play in the NHL, but terrible at drafting forwards.

 

That’s not exactly true.  Vanek and Pommers were stars. Roy and Stafford were high quality players.  Thorburn and Paille had long solid careers.  That’s 6 solid quality forwards from just the 1st and 2nd rounds.  He also found quality in later rounds like Kotalik, Max, and Gaustad. Where he failed us was at drafting top 6 centers.  Roy is arguably the only one during his entire tenure.  He also failed for a few years after the Cup runs at get virtually anyone in the draft for a few years until he got a real scouting department back.  He then found 7 NHL players in his last two drafts.  

[Andrew Amerk]

Back to my original post - does anyone know what Darcy has been up to the last 5 years?

Any thoughts that he might return to the NHL in some capacity someday?

[Zamboni]

26 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Back to my original post - does anyone know what Darcy has been up to the last 5 years?

Any thoughts that he might return to the NHL in some capacity someday?

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=where+is+Darcy+Regier+today

 

😂

Edited April 15, 2021 by Zamboni

[Taro T]

Regier was the ultimate company man.  He did exactly what his bosses asked him to do.  That wasn't always a good thing.  It caused him to take a very hard line in negotiations and the Sabres prior to Peca's season long holdout often had somebody holding out the 1st few days of the season.

It also caused him to turn down an offer of Iginla for Peca in the 2000-01 season which would've put the Sabres over the top.  (Can't prove that offer was on the table, but the rumor was very credible & came from multiple sources.)  Turning down that deal directly led to Hasek wanting out.  And that all was caused by the criminals being undercapitalized as their illegal schemes were starting to fall apart.

Personally have always believed that the Sabres never (ok, rarely) hit on early picks back then was because in a capless world with under capitalized owners they couldn't go for the big scorers, they'd be priced out of affording them by their 2nd contract.  Far safer to go for 2 way forwards or D that didn't get the big deals.  Them hitting on later picks added credence IMHO.

Also, believe the reshaping of the team to a faster, more fun to watch squad heading towards the lockout was a calculated gamble.  The league had to fix the economics or the smaller markets couldn't survive.  In a capped world, the Sabres would be able to afford top scorers that they couldn't before because the haves like the Wings couldn't spend 2.5x what they themselves spent.

Always thought he got a bum rap (mainly courtesy of the Coach on GR & his tendency to wait until the absolute last minute to make a move & only make a move if he'd win it) and thought he did a good job though not one of the absolute top guys.

But when he said there'd be suffering & he tore the team down, it was time to go.

To answer Andrew's Q: no data.  

Edited April 15, 2021 by Taro T