Pegula is not building new rinks downtown, the truth is he is building a replica of the old Aud. 
Living in the past is the only thing people know how to do around WNY.
Maybe he can convince the French Connection to get back together too.
^That may be a problem
We just need a voodoo priestess.
Iāll be here all day folks.
For not being a Sabres fan, you sure do post in here alotā¦
Hockey is my biggest hobby. I watch 15 games a week and spend 80 hours a week reading/blogging. I like the Sabres, I just think they are garbage. They are on the short list of teams that I would like to see win the cup.
This makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing.
Heās the man for the job. Someone new, young and with a fresh perspective about todayās NHL. AKA Not Rick Dudley.
Iām confident that Pat Lafontaine will see the light.
We can all hope.
We can also hope that heās willing to accept the job.
I feel like any young executive is looking to make his mark. Maybe from an ego, my dick is this big standpoint, the opportunity to build a franchise and potentially a city would be intriguing for them.
Heās interested. If he wasnāt, the Penguins wouldnāt have given them permission. Youāre not going to allow an NHL club to court your assistant GM without checking with him first.
Showing interest and interviewing <> heās going to take the job if offered.
I imagine the connection with Black and Sawyer would probably help.
Even if itās not Botterill, I hope they go with an up and comer, opposed to some form of re-tread.
Yeah, apparently Botterill is considered an āexpertā with the Salary cap as well. Iām all for bringing in a younger guy who knows how the league is shaping up, and the players that are needed for a winning team. Having no ties (in a matter of speaking) to the Sabres also helps. You cut personal connection with the players and donāt over-value players like Darcy was accused of doing.
That being said Iāve always been echoing what Beck said. Darcy was a good GM. How many other teams did he hustle in trades? How many times did he win tradesā¦a lot. He knew what he was doing. I did hear however there were a number of teams that wouldnāt trade or talk with Darcy because they knew theyād probably get the short end of the stick.
The Sabres are probably his best chance of staying in America (relatively close to Pittsburgh) and having the ability to work with an owner that is willing to make changes.
Out of the four teams that need a GM change, heās certainly not holding out for Edmonton and Calgary. Perhaps Florida? I love Dale Tallon and his contribution to the Blackhawks, but Versteeg (and half his salary) for two non-NHL caliber players? Weird.
Trades < Draft Picks Look at his early round Draft Historyā¦Andrew Peters with a 34th overall is reason enough to fire him
149 Draft Picks and 4 All Star appearances from those picks.
And Ryan Miller @ 138 completely makes your point invalid.
You do realize that the Sabres have one of the deepest/best prospect pools in the league, likeā¦top 5, right?
Aside from the top 3 picks (which that isnāt ever a āsure thingā.) The reality that a draft pick is going to be serviceable, let alone an all-star is about 1%.
Datsyuk was 171st overall. Should we consider the other 29 GMās to be incompetent because they missed him? What about Pekka Rinne @ 258th? Zetterberg @ 210th? Drafts are hit or miss.
When you can trade Gaustad for a first, that is sorcery.
Its not magic when he was a faceoff master and thats pretty important in the playoffs.
Everyone gets lucky and finds talent deep in the draftā¦its not finding it in the top often enough that it turns into solid nhl ability that wad my problem with him. He was here too long and therefore has a wide scale of good and bad moves and picks but guys that build teams and win cups have come and gone while this guy had had marginal success in a much longer window
The fact that he couldnāt skate, shoot or make plays should be ignored?
He is below average, on an expiring contract and we donāt have the cap space to sign him regardless. Youāre complaining about not being successful in the draft, wouldnāt another top 20 pick, help our chances? What about other than the cap space implications? Specifically, the log jam at center. Canāt get our recently drafted picks playing time, when you have a guy like Gaustad playing third lineā¦making $3m +
Everyone in the NHL had their minds blown when Darcy pulled that off, except for Sabres fans. Because he was a fan favorite and part of the good olā boys club. Where did that get Ruff?
The Sabres and the Panthers are pretty much the only teams in the NHL without an untouchable/you wouldnāt think about getting rid of him player. (maybe Huberdeau, on a long stretch)