Okay, well. I just listened to the entire press conference and here are my thoughts on the matter.

1. While playing on NHL ice, nobody cares where you grew up. I know how it feels, because I am a Ryan Malone fan from Pittsburgh. But look at the team on the ice for what it is. Calm your emotions and just pretend everybody on the team is from your back yard. Not your city, but literally your back yard. Or if you don't have a yard, the nearest patch of grass (10'x10') will do. Then, base your opinion of the team as a whole without Kennedy on it. With all due respect to him, he is not blessed with the physical attributes needed to thrive as a checking line winger in the NHL and his skill level is half that of an Ennis. I love his heart and feistiness, I really do. And I wish he was on the team with that 2-way contract that was offered him. But he's not, and I wish him well.

2. The team has a self proposed cap. Not a hard cap mind you, but for whatever reasons MGMT are NOT spending to the NHL cap ceiling this summer. Could be that there isn't anybody worth spending that kind of money on this summer. Could be that they need to cut back a little now, so they can spend more later. Could be that they are preparing for Myers gigantic contract extension next year or the year after. Could be that they are bracing for a trade at the deadline. Speculate away.

3. Regier did right by the team. He sacrificed from a position of abundance, and lets face it the Sabres have a lot of REALLY good wingers of all ages on the team. So that he could strengthen a weakness on the team. A defense man that will protect the teams most important asset, pick up a great deal of the slack left behind from Lydman, and continue to provide the team with better size for those long grueling playoffs runs that we all want to happen VERY soon. And he's only 27, probably a better catch then Sutton due to his discipline and durability. And he's not a douche either, I don't like Sutton.


Finally, I think Sabres MGMT once again conducted themselves in a professional, compassionate manner and DR in particular has said all the right things once again.

Okay, well. I just listened to the entire press conference and here are my thoughts on the matter.

1. While playing on NHL ice, nobody cares where you grew up. I know how it feels, because I am a Ryan Malone fan from Pittsburgh. But look at the team on the ice for what it is. Calm your emotions and just pretend everybody on the team is from your back yard. Not your city, but literally your back yard. Or if you don't have a yard, the nearest patch of grass (10'x10') will do. Then, base your opinion of the team as a whole without Kennedy on it. With all due respect to him, he is not blessed with the physical attributes needed to thrive as a checking line winger in the NHL and his skill level is half that of an Ennis. I love his heart and feistiness, I really do. And I wish he was on the team with that 2-way contract that was offered him. But he's not, and I wish him well.

2. The team has a self proposed cap. Not a hard cap mind you, but for whatever reasons MGMT are NOT spending to the NHL cap ceiling this summer. Could be that there isn't anybody worth spending that kind of money on this summer. Could be that they need to cut back a little now, so they can spend more later. Could be that they are preparing for Myers gigantic contract extension next year or the year after. Could be that they are bracing for a trade at the deadline. Speculate away.

3. Regier did right by the team. He sacrificed from a position of abundance, and lets face it the Sabres have a lot of REALLY good wingers of all ages on the team. So that he could strengthen a weakness on the team. A defense man that will protect the teams most important asset, pick up a great deal of the slack left behind from Lydman, and continue to provide the team with better size for those long grueling playoffs runs that we all want to happen VERY soon. And he's only 27, probably a better catch then Sutton due to his discipline and durability. And he's not a douche either, I don't like Sutton.


Finally, I think Sabres MGMT once again conducted themselves in a professional, compassionate manner and DR in particular has said all the right things once again.

Very good points but I must respectfully disagree with some of your thoughts. When was the last time the Sabres spend a crap load on any player (oh yeah, we do have a 50 million dollar man who is WELL WORTH that kind of money ), let alone make a big trade. Really good wingers???? Seriously??? Who are these "really good wingers," and where were they last season.

Yes, we have a pretty solid defense now but how about some scoring? You need to be able to score in order to win and I don't see it. Unless someone lights a fire under these forwards asses, you can keep dreaming about a championship.


Again, sorry about the rant.....just trying to vent a little.

Kevin Lowe wrote Vanek's contract, not Regier. Would you have been happy if they let Drury, Brier, and a newly-minted 43-goal scorer walk in the same off-season for those 4 picks? You would be now, of course, because revisionist hindsight is 20-20.

Okay, well. I just listened to the entire press conference and here are my thoughts on the matter.

1. While playing on NHL ice, nobody cares where you grew up. I know how it feels, because I am a Ryan Malone fan from Pittsburgh. But look at the team on the ice for what it is. Calm your emotions and just pretend everybody on the team is from your back yard. Not your city, but literally your back yard. Or if you don't have a yard, the nearest patch of grass (10'x10') will do. Then, base your opinion of the team as a whole without Kennedy on it. With all due respect to him, he is not blessed with the physical attributes needed to thrive as a checking line winger in the NHL and his skill level is half that of an Ennis. I love his heart and feistiness, I really do. And I wish he was on the team with that 2-way contract that was offered him. But he's not, and I wish him well.

2. The team has a self proposed cap. Not a hard cap mind you, but for whatever reasons MGMT are NOT spending to the NHL cap ceiling this summer. Could be that there isn't anybody worth spending that kind of money on this summer. Could be that they need to cut back a little now, so they can spend more later. Could be that they are preparing for Myers gigantic contract extension next year or the year after. Could be that they are bracing for a trade at the deadline. Speculate away.

3. Regier did right by the team. He sacrificed from a position of abundance, and lets face it the Sabres have a lot of REALLY good wingers of all ages on the team. So that he could strengthen a weakness on the team. A defense man that will protect the teams most important asset, pick up a great deal of the slack left behind from Lydman, and continue to provide the team with better size for those long grueling playoffs runs that we all want to happen VERY soon. And he's only 27, probably a better catch then Sutton due to his discipline and durability. And he's not a douche either, I don't like Sutton.


Finally, I think Sabres MGMT once again conducted themselves in a professional, compassionate manner and DR in particular has said all the right things once again.

Very good points but I must respectfully disagree with some of your thoughts. When was the last time the Sabres spend a crap load on any player (oh yeah, we do have a 50 million dollar man who is WELL WORTH that kind of money ), let alone make a big trade. Really good wingers???? Seriously??? Who are these "really good wingers," and where were they last season.

Yes, we have a pretty solid defense now but how about some scoring? You need to be able to score in order to win and I don't see it. Unless someone lights a fire under these forwards asses, you can keep dreaming about a championship.


Again, sorry about the rant.....just trying to vent a little.

My consternation has never, for one instant, had anything to do with Kennedy being from South Buffalo. It's completely been about the fact that they're buying out a good young player to save a couple hundred thousand bucks. With Morissonn's contract in, and Kennedy out, they have $5.4M in cap room. They could have kept Kennedy at $1M, signed Morrissonn, and STILL been $4.57M under the line. So, they basically made themselves look like a bunch of cheap bastards because LQ wouldn't authorize another $833k.

If they wouldn't spend that money on one of their own players, why should anyone expect that they would ever spend it on someone else down the line?

I whole heartedly agree that the primary need for this team after last season was a big. scoring forward. Not just BIG as in game breaking potential but physically as well and preferably a center that would replace Connolly ASAP. But where are they? There's nobody out there I would want to lock up to a long term deal and there wasn't earlier either. The only way left is to draft (Kassian is waiting in the wings-sick pun fully intended) the guy, wait until next summer, or trade. They retain the cap flexibility to trade later on and I would like to think that they have the depth, and the resources to pull off a big move down the line.

Vanek has had a bad run as of late. He has not been worth the big contract over the past couple of seasons. But he is without a doubt one of the brightest young wingers in the game of hockey. He's a 40 goal scorer, look around the league and tell me how many wingers could score 40 next season. I don't want to over hype Ennis based off of a 10 game snippet but I see no reason to doubt his ability to put up 50^ points next season as a rookie. Pominville has 70^ point talent. They have great checking line wingers, the role in which Kennedy was asked to play. And then there are a few other guys with 50 point potential including Staffard.

I wouldn't say that the Sabres have a top 5 collection of wingers (from 1-8), but top 10 for sure.

Will Kennedy's offense be missed? No. It will be improved upon, by Ennis. And they retain roster flexibility for other young forwards who may be riding an AHL hot streak while an NHL player is rather cold.

Building a Stanley Cup champion is real tough to do especially while maintaining a good team in the process. But that's what they are doing, and recent events suggest top me that they are heading the right way.

THEY'VE BEEN BUILDING FOR 40 FREAKIN' YEARS.

Well, they aren't going to send Ennis down through waivers. So who do you think was eventually going to need to get bumped down? Kennedy. If he had a ONE WAY deal they would have had to have eaten more of the contract later and looked-to your eyes-as even bigger douches then.

So by your logic, the kid with heart and a penchant for kicking the shit out of his second season (it's statistically proven) is a better candidate for removal than the talented but lazy winger who's proven for three years that he's a bust?

And he did get a one-way deal. If he got a two-way deal, they would have just demoted him to Portland.

So by your logic, the kid with heart and a penchant for kicking the shit out of his second season (it's statistically proven) is a better candidate for removal than the talented but lazy winger who's proven for three years that he's a bust?

And he did get a one-way deal. If he got a two-way deal, they would have just demoted him to Portland.

Yeah, well it aint easy. Might be another 40 years. The way I see it I have two choices. Enjoy the journey and view things with a bigger picture in mind, or freak out and become impatient anytime something is too difficult or complex to understand right away.