well those of you who dont already know my girlfriend is amazing and super hot!

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You've been over on Buffalo Range a lot since registering, haven't you?

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mechaphil

yeah, and its friggin cool as shit they have that countdown clock!

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I totally agree! In fact, I was scoping it out to add a countdown to the Sabres season to my blog

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mechaphil

too bad i hope the bills go 0-16...

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Why? What would 0-16 accomplish that 7-9 wouldn't? You know they won't draft the right players anyway.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

I don't think he's a Bills fan, he just wants to see them suffer.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

no, im apathetic towards the bills. i was half kidding, i dont care what they do.

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I am patient but I am not so patient to wait for a championship for many years like says the Cubs in MLB. Buffalo better win a cup before I die

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

The Bills look like a bunch of monkeys in uniform trying to butt fuck the ball.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

People often cite the New Jersey Devils as the de-facto example of a team using a great goalie to win a championship, but it doesn't hold water. The Sabres had a great goalie in Dom Hasek, but he never won anything outside of individual awards in the NHL. The Devils, yes with Brodeur in net, also had clutch guys like Gomez, Elias, Pandolfo, Madden, Shanahan, Stevens, and a young Scott Niedermayer doing the battling. The Sabres don't have players that compare to those front-line and back-line troops, so leaning on Miller for everything will only 1)wear him out and 2)waste his prime.

If the Sabres can trade Miller for a superstar stud defenseman or a game-changing forward and sign a very, very good goaltender, I think they'd be in better shape. I'm in no way advocating trading Miller this off-season, but if I were GM and a quality trade offer came my way, I wouldn't flick it off my desk with a disapproving grunt like most fans would.

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mechaphil

The only way I'd even consider trading Miller would have to be a package like; Chara, Thomas, Savard; or Zetterberg, Howard, Kronwall, Eaves...and even those two trades I still feel like we're losing out.

Look at SJ, great team, pound for pound possibly the most talented roster in the league; but no goalie = no cups.

Another prime example of that, Philly. Now I fell in love with Mike Leighton late in the year, but lets face it, had they had a Ryan Miller in net, Pat Kane would be back in Buffalo beating on cabbies, and not on the tonight show.

Goaltending certainly doesn't win your a Stanley Cup, but it can sure lose you one.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

But without any troops to back-up the goaltender, you won't even get a sniff of the conference finals. I'm saying a great goalie with great troops in front (let's face it, Leighton is GOOD, but not GREAT) is a far better recipe for success than an all-world goalie with mediocre troops in front. Just ask Ryan Miller.

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mechaphil

Nabokov isn't a good goalie? I think he is. Close to Miller.

And, I'm pretty sure Zetterburg, Howard, Kronwall, and Eaves for Miller is a BETTER deal for Buffalo.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Yeah, but it's a building process...I mean, we've never had the luxury of picking in the top 5 in recent years, (2004, Vanek)

Look at Chicago, Toews, Kane 3rd and 1st overall respectively

Pittsburgh, Crosby, Fluery, Malkin, 1st overall, 1st overall, 2nd overall

I mean, I hate to be that guy, but if you draft that early, that many years in a row, you better win a fucking cup, you're getting very ELITE players at 1-5 overall. (with the Daigle exception)

Now scouting is much better than it was in the 80s and 90s as well. Technology makes it super easy to scout the entire globe and find these blue chip guys.

It's a process of building, I think right now, we are starting to put the right pieces in place. We have our Elite 2 way defender in Myers, we have our 40 goal scorer in Vanek. We have our shut down line in Goose Grier Kennedy, we have all the right pieces starting to fall. We still lack that elite secondary scorer, and we still need that PP QB, but the pieces are coming together.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Would you move Miller is you could get back both that elite second-line scorer and the PP QB defenseman back in one package, then sign the best UFA goalie on the market?

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mechaphil

Depends on who that goalie is...Nabokov? No; a guy like Bryzgalov or Backstrum, yeah probably.

You still need an upper echelon goalie to even be in the conversation in my opinion. I mean, I hate to say it, but I dont typically fall in love with players (Vanek, Drury and Doan are my exceptions) but if I were a GM, and I had the best goalie in the world on my roster, you'd have to come to the table with a sweet offer to pry him from my grasp.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I've read the polls.

I also read Spacek's comments that said that he felt the same way before coming here.

So, you get guys like Rivet and Grier that are respected throughout the league to help sell the team.

You get Sabres alumni & ex-NHLers like Marcel Dionne who have made this area their home to help sell the team.

It makes it harder. But, it does not make it impossible.

Did you read the recent article about how the LA Kings are struggling to recruit UFAs to play there?

Locale isn't the only reason that UFAs look to sign places.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

Exactly. And that sweet offer would bolster the front ranks so that a slightly-lesser goalie is suitable enough. Bryzgalov is a UFA following this up-coming season, by the way

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mechaphil

Yeah; Bryz, and Backstrum are 2011 and 2012 respectively; both are viable options, but only for the right package. Something like a (Random 35 goal scorer on a decent contract) (Random defender who puts up 35-50 points) for Miller...I'd do it, if it were possible to land either of those two; but like I said, huge package to get the best goalie in the world. Not to mention the PR nightmare it would be trading him.

There are other factors that go into trades than just roster movement. How many people come to games because of Miller, how many do you lose on the business end of things, stuff like that. Thats why it's so hard to trade a star player, especially when he is the main draw for the media and the casual fans.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010