Northeast Sports Discussion

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by bjfan82

well it was nice being the favorite to win the stanley cup for 2 years...back to middle of the pack

It won't hurt them this year considering the whole season is essentially sold out - but it's going to be a very rude awakening in 08-09. I probably speak for many when I say that if they're not going to summon the commitment to icing a decent team, I'm not going to commit my hard-earned cash which I could easily spend on something else; something else that likely lasts far longer than 3 hours.

What the Sabres have accomplished is rather incredible, really. It’s not easy for a Presidents’ Trophy winner to alienate a large portion of their fan base in six weeks, but the Sabres have. Lately, it’s been difficult walking 10 feet without someone begging for answers. Here you go, in four words: The Sabres blew it.

Not showing up in the Senators series is like the miraculous come-from-behind victory over the Leafs compared to how badly the FO blew this one. I still think they have a good team and excellent coaching capable of making the playoffs consistently, but you can't just sell the heart of the team like that. Shame on you, Regier, Quinn, and if you're implicated, Golisano. I suppose this is the way to get to the 2nd round in order to be profitable?

But besides this, I've about had it anyways. I've been detaching myself from pro sports for several years now - I don't watch football anymore (just a few years ago, when the Bills were even worse, I watched it religiously), baseball is becoming a bore - hockey is really the only thing I'll still watch. But it just doesn't really do anything for me anymore; almost as if it's becoming a chore.

[xzmattzx]

Can we use him as a reliever? Or would he be better as a starter? The Phils have problems with both pitching positions.

[Sabretooth]

Oh, my. And you do know, this would only happen in the NHL.

Tough to equate him to a baseball position. First of all, he's French-Canadian (nonexistant demographic in MLB). Let's see - he can be tough and he plays like a rat (imagine Matthew Barnaby - only with talent). Then again, he's a bit fragile at the same time and that's a potentially dangerously long contract. But I'd hesitate to DH him and lose the fielding abilities. Oh wait, silly me, the NL doesn't have that blasted DH rule.

Try him as a starter. If that doesn't work out, you'll have yourselves a decent middle reliever or maybe even a closer.

[Jaybird]

Well, the Sabres have now lost their two best players to free agency. Is the team THAT broke, or is the fact they have too many players to sign for the upcoming seasons? I mean the cap is now over $50 million, and they should have been able to accomodate one or both Briere and/or Drury with that. What the hell was Darcy Regier thinking?

[Sabretooth]

They still say they're going to pay more than last year...now I'm wondering, on who? You didn't do anything yesterday!

John Buccigross says the Rangers made a good (but not quite great) deal and that the Flyers grossly overpaid in the case of Briere, saying he has no chance of outperforming that contract and that he had better produce. He wasn't too great here under pressure, so...

But don't worry, we did resign Darcy Regier a few days ago!

[Spaulding97]

Ok, so who's our captain? Teppo if back probably. Let's think of it this way: Would you rather secure Miller, Vanek, Campbell, Pomer, Staffard or give it all to 2 guys that are pushing 30+? Those guys were good because of our system. They won't be as good as they were here.We made them who they are. Before they came here, they were tossed around and forgotten. I think we'll be alright. They don't deserve that crazy cash. We're a better team playing the underdog anyway.

[Spaulding97]

Today 2pm, Quinn & Regier will hold a press conference from HSBC. It will be on wgr550.

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by Spaulding97

...Those guys were good because of our system. They won't be as good as they were here.We made them who they are. Before they came here, they were tossed around and forgotten. I think we'll be alright. They don't deserve that crazy cash. We're a better team playing the underdog anyway.

Briere, maybe. Drury, no. The team inproved and developed a winning attitude because of him.

[sjerseyrez]

Ouch. Not too surprised unfortunately. Drury wants another Stanley Cup (yea, yea, money helps too). I think he felt the chance of that happening in Buffalo diminish when Briere packed up and shipped out. The domino effect.

[Sabretooth]

I think in his head, Drury was gone when he was only offered a one-year extension. The events of yesterday and for the last two months for that matter had little to nothing to do with it.

Quinn and Regier can cry all they want and try to cover their own failings by talking about how the market went up in value, they couldn't expect the cap to rise so much, we would have matched Drury, blah blah, whine whine; but at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is this should have been taken care of before last year if not sooner. Look at what SJ and CGY did yesterday. They (and the fans, at least I did) knew this was going to happen, even before 05-06 was over. It was always the dark cloud on the horizon, even before those playoffs commenced. That, is their fault and their fault only.

Then again, at least we did better yesterday than the Isles. For all practical purposes, Buffalo lost one player - everybody knew at least one of the two was gone and were, I believe, prepared for it - and there was a replacement in place. Last year was Pominville - Dumont, this year was going to be Connolly - Briere. NYI on the other hand, lost 5. Five. Yowch. So much for rebuilding. But hey, at least their goalie is still under contract!

[sjerseyrez]

Sheeesh, the Islanders lost 5 players! This is all part of the master plan for Garth Snow to lace up the skates again and lead his team to glory (on second thought, don't bother Garth...)

[Sabretooth]

Ahh yes, the Michelin Man on skates. Too bad about that lifetime contract goalie in his way, huh?

I guess all that's left is for Teddy to be fired (or not offered a contract, as it were) again for reasons unknown. Guess the only hitch in that plan was that he didn't win Coach of the Year.

[xzmattzx]

The Devils also lost some key players, which I'm happy about. They never deserved a quality team anyway. They can barely fill half of their arena even though they are Cup contenders year after year.

I would personally love to see them move altogether, but that won't happen now. It would've been nice to have them move out to Portland or Las Vegas or somewhere and have lowly Washington join the division.

[Jaybird]

Then again, maybe the departure of Briere and Drury could mean the step up for guys like Roy, Afinogenov, Kotalik, Vanek, Stafford, Pominville, and others! Despite what I said, it will be interesting to see how well the Sabres play with great ADVERSITY! Remember in 2005-06, the guys were all no-namers and they proved themselves great contenders and enjoyed a great success. Maybe they can do the same this season. Heck, maybe Michael Ryan, Clarke MacArthur, and others that were called from Rochester could do some damage.

[Sabretooth]

Damn you're bipolar when it comes to sports!

[shovel_ready]

Originally Posted by Jaybird

Then again, maybe the departure of Briere and Drury could mean the step up for guys like Roy, Afinogenov, Kotalik, Vanek, Stafford, Pominville, and others! Despite what I said, it will be interesting to see how well the Sabres play with great ADVERSITY! Remember in 2005-06, the guys were all no-namers and they proved themselves great contenders and enjoyed a great success. Maybe they can do the same this season. Heck, maybe Michael Ryan, Clarke MacArthur, and others that were called from Rochester could do some damage.

A Cyburbia-style response:

Yeah! Buffalo is a REAL hockey team. We have REAL authentic homegrown talent, we don't need none of them stinkin' overpaid, over-hyped superstar players! All those other teams signing bigtime free agent deals are all fake and full of shallow players who will fold within two years of starting their bloated contracts, you just watch!

Why overspend on the bloated open market when we can just wean some REAL players from our Rochester farm squad?

[Spaulding97]

Well, I hope that's the case in the future since we got rid of our scouts last year. The same scouts that put us here today.

I think we'll be fine. I'm actually looking forward to us to pick up where we left off last year. To shut up all those who think we're gonna suck, and to beat the hell out of Chris and Danny.

[xzmattzx]

Todd Bertuzzi signed with Anaheim for 2 years, $8 million.

[Spaulding97]

Plus, think about how easier it will be to get tickets!

[Spaulding97]

Zubrus signed with the Devils for 6 years.