Giddy up....

I will be super disappointed if this doesn't mean we've made a deal for someone. A press conference to announce the release of a third line grinder would be hugely disappointing

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

I'll be listening

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mechaphil

I'll be at work...

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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

I as well with no access to radio or speakers for internet radio. Can someone keep this thread updated with whats goin on for this presser?

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

I got yer backs.

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mechaphil

Holla! Thanks fella

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

my staff meeting better be over by 10am PST......

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Mine starts at 1pm, EST. Fuck.

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It's not just to talk about letting go of Kennedy. It's to introduce our new defenseman!

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Wheelhouse

Nobody will give two craps about that today. (Which is sad,because I think Morrisonn is a very solid pickup.)

Everyone will want to know why they dicked over TK over a couple hundred grand when they're $7M under the cap.

Maybe they're announcing something BIG............

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That's pretty easy in my eyes. It's because Kennedy isn't very good.

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Wheelhouse

But over 200K when they have 7M in cap space? That's a douche move if there ever was one.

This feels more and more like Squanto said - don't go to arbitration, or you'll suffer.

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mechaphil

Don't go to arbitration when you haven't proven you're worth much.

Kennedy went in without much of a leg to stand on; we love him, he's the embodiment of Buffalo. From a purely hockey standpoint though...

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He's certainly not terrible, and that's a terrible argument.

If he wasn't that good, they wouldn't have qualified him.

If he wasn't that good, they wouldn't have bothered to debate at the arbitration hearing. They could have easily done what Atlanta did and not put up any kind of defense at the hearing, allowing the arbitrator to hand out an award that exceeded the walk-away line, and done it that way.

Instead, they're going to pay him not to play here. When they slot in another player to take his spot on the roster, the combined salary of that player + TK's buyout will either match or exceed that $1M they could have just paid him to be here.

They could have moved TK for a bottom end conditional pick. They could have just let him ride the string out this year and not bother qualifying him next year. Taking on dead cap money just to have him gone makes ZERO sense with how this team does business.

From what I've heard, they were only going to give him a 10% raise and wouldn't budge, so Kennedy's camp took them to arbitration because he wanted $1.2M. The Sabres countered with 800K right before arbitration but wouldn't go 35K higher when Kennedy's camp said they'd settle for 835K. Now the Sabres have to swallow a PR disaster because they waived a guy who got 200K more than they were willing to offer.

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mechaphil

Unless something is announced today.

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Wheelhouse

Arbitration is a tool that the players are allowed to use in the CBA. If the owners don't like it, they should negotiate it out of the next one.

If they were so willing to pay him $800k-ish before arbitration, why are they balking at an additional $200k and kicking him to the curb? Makes no sense except for spite.

What can they announce today (relating to TK) that could make this a worthwhile exercise?