Bingo.

And the way this team plays with a chip in their shoulder, I think they could be very difficult to play in a 7 games series.

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Wheelhouse

Fair enough statements, but then, why are people for "winning" no matter how it gets done but yet when the idea of adding a player or 2 to potentially increase scoring, thereby potentially increasing the chance to win voicing a concern to these opinions?

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

I have no problem with that, and I never said I was against that.

I don't want a drastic shake up in chemistry, but I'm sure there's a move that can be made to help this club out.

Any and every team has room for improvement.

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Wheelhouse

Well let me put it like this Slesh, who is going to be attainable at the deadline that has a scoring touch, and is more responsible defensively than anyone on this current roster?

The only guy I can remotely think of is Sharp, and 28 other teams, besides the Sabres are going to be trying to get him.

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

Squanto 7/27/2010

They are consistantly winning.. No other consistancies matter when were winning.. They are just there for the negative people to bitch about..

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Miller, Myers and Greir are sick, but not Jesus Christ..

KILL OTTAWA

Well jvaccaro6, who says a trade for an NHL roster player need be done. We've discussed Kovalchuck, Sharp and others, what about Gerbe, Ennis or another teams farm team talent?

There are "other" alternatives to a blockbuster trade. But just because these type of trades seem unlikely isn't necessarilly a reason for not discussing them. I am of the mind that all options should be explored by fans in the search to better the team, including keeping the current squad intact and allowing them to grow and develope together. My opinion may be different then others, but I do see where all of us as fans only want the team to be successful both short and long term.
We can agree to disagree about the details and still be fanatically Buffalo Sabres fans, correct?

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

I think making a judgment of the team by one game might be a bit silly. I know you love to be the eternal optimist(well, when the team is doing well anyways), but I'm pretty sure you be clamoring for Lalime to be gone again soon enough.

Im an optimist myself, but i do think Miller is the whole team.. Though I think we could go all the way because of him.. Lalime played out of his ass last night and it wasn't because of the Defense.. I mean they gave up a lot of shots and a lot of scoring opportunities.. I wish Lalime was always this non-rusty..

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Miller, Myers and Greir are sick, but not Jesus Christ..

KILL OTTAWA

Huh?

No Daz, my point was that this roster is capable of winning in front of Lalime.

But for the record, I'm still not sold on patty as a viable back up. But if he's been working hard with Corsi in practice, it showed last night.

I'm rooting for him, because I'm sure he's a nice guy.

But ultimately, Patty had nothing to do with my post. I was just trying to say that while Miller is important to this team, you have to give the guys playing in front of him a lot of credit for winning hockey games.

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Wheelhouse

People wanted a legitimate "superstar" on this team. We now have 1.5: Miller and Myers. Now that we have them, complaints are that the rest are not on their level.

?

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

Darcy's philosophy of building from within, and gradually bringing in more grit, has definitely paid off. We were fooled a bit right after the lock out when our skill players dazzled with offense, but the league quickly turned to clogging the lanes and relying on grit goals from in the crease area, so we were forced to adapt on the fly.

I like where we are going.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

Our team completely controlled much of the play in the Chicago game, sure enough they gave up 38 shots on net, but how many were from bad angles, how many were from the blue line or how many were in terrible scoring lanes?

Except the first 8 minutes of that game, they had very few scoring chances on Lalime, because the TEAM of SABRES controlled offensive pressure and the play throughout the game.

This Sabres team is a good team. We are 6-0 against the West, we have beaten the playoff teams of last year and the powerhouses of this year also, and in an 82 game season you are not expected to win every game because it is impossible to win every game.

And if you get into the playoffs everything goes out the window, you might have had the highest goal total, the lowest against, the best PP or the best PK. It all means squat in the postseason. They may be 7 game series but how many times do you see the two number one seeds of each conference in the Stanley Cup Finals? How many times does the President Trophy winner actually take home the Stanley Cup? Anything can happen in the playoffs if you make them.

If the regular season meant that much, the Stanley Cup would be given out to the President Trophy winner, and not after 4 lengthy series. make the playoffs and anything can happen in them.

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The playoffs are uncharted territory for this team. We can post all week about how smart Darcy is and how great our system is, but at the end of the day, the playoffs begin, and we are all at square one. No one(including our most dedicated posters) are going to know how this team is going to hold up in the playoffs. If we go deep into them, then I will start believing in the system, management, and their plan. As the playoffs unfold, it is usually obvious to even the casual fan what it is that seperates the good teams from bad. Sometimes it's size; sometimes it's system; sometimes it's veteran leadership, or whatever. The one thing even the most optimistic fan forgets is that we are here for only ONE reason. That reason is not to cheer in our living room on saturday night to help us forget we are alone, it's not so we can post snarky comments to fellow posters who were skeptical, but it is TO WIN THAT FUCKING CUP. That's it period. So to sum this up, we won't ever need to speculate whether Darcy was right or not. When his name is on that cup, we will know it for certain. Until then, you can hand out all the crow sandwiches you want, but none will be eaten.

Darcy's not flashy. He's a pretty conservative general manager. But I think he has the right idea, and I like the guy.

Last year, Pierre Lebrun asked people to email them who they thought were the top GM's in the league, and I sent in a pitch for Darcy.

He selected my email and posted it in his article agreeing with me, saying that Darcy is probably the most underrated GM in the league.

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Wheelhouse

I've always been a surporter of Darcy. Although you can't disagree that some moves were questionable he is definitely a lot better than some fans give him credit for. If you read these boards you would've thought Darcy was as bad as Sather. He made simple and effective moves. I dont know if you'll remember PSP but on the old boards I posted a topic after D-Day about how Darcy made the right move letting the oldies walk and just keeping his core. I said that we would go through a mini rebuild but that we would sooner rather than later be a contender again. This year has shown me that we are on our way again.

Although that doesnt excuse him from signing Hecht to an absurd contract. I still believe in Pomms because he is a good two-way player with a good shot. A lot of people say ahh well he isnt that good offensively and that is was Briere making him look good. Yet he had his best season statistically the season after Briere left. Then you can say he was just playing for a contract. That could be but,then we got a glimpse of the player he can be. Now its up to Ruff to bring that player out. Obviously like other GMs Darcy gave a little extra money to players who didnt really deserve it NOW. At the time people were talking about the how the cap was gonna hit 60mill so fast and we didnt really foresee the economic downfall. We thought the cap had nowhere to go but up so the players who's contracts were expiring in those off-seasons really reaped the benefits of a bad CBA.

Even with the bloated contracts of Hecht, Pomms and Vanek(I know Darcy didnt make the offer) he was still able to sign Miller, Roy, Connolly, and Gaustad to good fair contracts. No one can argue how valuable Connolly is to this team when healthy and 4.5 for a top center is a great cap hit to work around. Roy is Roy. If he quit the fancy shit and just played gritty, smart hockey he'd be making Team Canada. Unfortunately he thinks otherwise and makes the occassional blunder. But still Derek Roy for 4 mill is a steal when looking at some players making the same or more. Goose is our heart and soul and the future captain and he is locked up at a mere(mear)(sp?) 2.3 mill. For our top 3 centreman we pay 10.8 mill. Thats almost as much as OV makes. For 3 players. Thats a good GM right there. Imagine if Lowe hadn't made that ridic offer, how much cap space would we have right now? What would Vanek's contract have looked like. I think Darcy would have been smart enough to sign him to a 3 year contract to a cap hit around 4.5 and 5. Similar to Carter's deal in Philly. And then obviously Miller's contract was right. Seemed like too much at the time to some but I think he has proven he was worth every penny so far.

In the end I've always looked at it as Darcy is a great GM with maybe the worst Ownership/President duo controlling him. Lately we've seen him be a little less conservative as some would say. I think its just Larry and Tommy are loosening the chains a little a bit. I would still love to see Darcy get full Autonomy like Burke. Unfortunately that will never happen until the team gets sold to one owner.

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Driver of the Tyler Ennis Bandwagon, Ridin' shotgun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon, chillin' on the Luke Adam Bandwagon


Eh

Definitely, man. He won't make the big splash because eventually, he knows he won't have to. The guy is a really smart hockey guy, and he does the best with what he is given. He may have a knock against him for sticking with in-house talent for a little too long (Afinogenov, Kalinin, probably Mancari).

What I've always liked about Darcy is that he always took a page out of the Red Wings book that if you're going to develop talent, you've got to develop it right. Miller, a 5th rounder, spent years in the AHL before he was finally brought up. Who cared about Pominville in his 3.5 years with Rochester? Paul Gaustad was also up in the AHL for 3 years before getting his spot with the big club. Darcy brings up talent when he thinks its ready. Tyler Myers seems to be the only exception to this rule, but I'm pretty sure Darcy felt like he'd get his ass handed to him if that happened.

That being said, I admire Darcy's downright refusal to listen to fans and bring in a superstar. The guy knows what he's doing. On the old boards, I'm pretty sure I saw a post or two from Mach saying that it would take a few years to get these guys back on their feet. People, it's been two years out of the playoffs, and it looks like we finally have a decent team on our hands.

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

Show.

Me.

The.

Cup.

...please, no more talk about being "competitive" - Y'all are starting to sound like management.

Hehehe, you may be correct acrossthelines.
I wouldn't mind 1 bit if the rest of the roster would step up and play like these 2 .
But, I am coming around, of all people, it was Kaleta who convinced me this team has a shot at the cup. For someone like him to step up and step in and win a game has me questioning my assesment of the scoring despairity on the team. All I know is, I was smiling ear to ear after that break away goal he put in and I found myself wondering if these younger guys are atarting to show the core scorers that they are there and ready to take it to the next level, will they join them.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

We have a shot at it this year.

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Wheelhouse

Hey as much as we all want it, you and I both know, the best teams in the league don't always win the Cup. Making it to the playoffs is only 1/5th of the battle, you have to survive 4 rounds of grueling games, stay healthy, and overcome any injuries that will occur.

Putting a competitive team out there for now is fine, gotta make it to the dance, before you can be the prom queen.

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

Squanto 7/27/2010