LongLiveRalph Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Boy I almost forgot how depressing it can be to watch this team at times. The two-week hiatus gave us some incredible hockey, which was understandibly exciting, considering the Olympic stage, the pride of nations, and the extreme talent on the ice. I almost forgot what it was like to watch the Sabres play their "system" and attempt to suck the life out of every game. I'm not a bandwagon jumper by any means, just looking at the situation realistically. I will watch every game until there aren't any more. But man, they have a serious collection of stiffs. Other than Miller and Myers, there is not a player on their roster who I would be sad to see leave via trade. There just aren't any game changers there (not that they'd pick one up by trading some of our junk for other teams' junk...But sometimes a "change of scenery" move can give a stale locker room some life.) However, I'm sure Darcy will continue the "internal improvement" model which has us waiting for Stafford to become Ovechkin, and Clarke MacArthur to become a 35-goal scorer. By the way, Jason Pominville, a "#1" winger who is on the ice in seemingly every critical situation that the Sabres need a goal, has produced 24 even-strength goals in his last 151 games. Just saying. They were a good team and a potential division champ when Ryan Miller was the NHL MVP and had numbers better than 97-98 Dominik Hasek. In recent weeks he's just been "normal", i.e. 3 or 4 goals allowed. The Sabres have proven unable to win those games lately. The score-by-committee model that results in 12 players scoring between 10-18 goals for the season, is a blessing and a curse. Without a dynamic player, the goals are harder to come by when the season is on the line, the checking is tighter, and the points are crucial. I'm not sure what the move is. It can be looked at as a slumping team who needs a boost, and a trade could benefit a stale roster who might be able to ride their goalie on a playoff run. Or, it can be looked at as a team still competing for a division title, and leave them intact and let them finish what they've started. How do you view the current Sabres roster, and what do you expect before the 3pm trade deadline? (By the way, sweet ovation for Miller from the pro-USA Pittsburgh crowd last night) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTS Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 How do you view the current Sabres roster, and what do you expect before the 3pm trade deadline? In the NHL you need stars if you want to win (See Sabres 2005-2007). Buffalo needs to get two studs up top and the rest will fall into place. Bottom line is it all goes back to losing Briere and Drury. You KEEP your studs and you REPLACE the support players. Regier did the opposite. Miller, Myers and Kaleta stay. Everyone else is trade bait. Darcy's "core" has had ample opportunity to get the job done. If it hasn't happen yet, it won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDinRTP Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Love NHL trade deadline day! No trades for the Sabres as of yet. Really believe they need a few additions if they are to make a run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaJoe Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 It's the usual story with Darcy. While teams the Sabres will need to contend with in the playoffs, like New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Ottawa, make moves for the playoff run, Darcy says he doesn't want to sacrifice the future for the present. WTF? Miller is in his prime, now is the time to be bold and make moves to contend in the playoffs. The Sabres aren't serious about trying to win the Cup, they would rather have a team that is good enough to generate enough interest to sell regular season tickets from year to year. So we end up with a perpetual pretender and not a legitimate contender. That's why Hasek got frustrated and left. Imagine if we still had Drury, Briere, and Campbell on the roster in place of Kennedy, MacArthur, and Lydman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 Imagine if we still had Drury, Briere, and Campbell on the roster We'd have about $22 million tied up in those three, then. I realize those are all good players, but from a "bang-for-your-buck" standpoint, those are three of the worst contracts in NHL right now. I would love to have Drury at about $4 mil per and Campbell at around the same. Those numbers would've been achievable with some proactive negotiation from the Sabres. I think they need a Marian Hossa-type scorer and playmaker, not another Steve Bernier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Every time I watch this team I always think that they really need a good, big guy to dominate down low. Getzlaf and Thorton style come to mind. Someone to compliment their Roy, Connollys and so on. Hard to find that those i'm afraid. I was reading the other day that Columbus may be looking to move Raffi Torres. That guy is a pain in the ass to play against. Maybe a little spark up front for Buffalo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 They probably would have won with Miller in net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPR4444 Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 It's the usual story with Darcy. While teams the Sabres will need to contend with in the playoffs, like New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Ottawa, make moves for the playoff run, Darcy says he doesn't want to sacrifice the future for the present. WTF? Miller is in his prime, now is the time to be bold and make moves to contend in the playoffs. The Sabres aren't serious about trying to win the Cup, they would rather have a team that is good enough to generate enough interest to sell regular season tickets from year to year. So we end up with a perpetual pretender and not a legitimate contender. That's why Hasek got frustrated and left. Imagine if we still had Drury, Briere, and Campbell on the roster in place of Kennedy, MacArthur, and Lydman. the current roster is filled with soft, mediocre, small players -- pominville, stafford, macarthur, even derek roy. They are a reflection of their GM, who is apparently in love with the roster. Regier is timid, cautious and content with mediocrity, and the team's play reflects that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Every time I watch this team I always think that they really need a good, big guy to dominate down low. Getzlaf and Thorton style come to mind. Someone to compliment their Roy, Connollys and so on. Hard to find that those i'm afraid. I was reading the other day that Columbus may be looking to move Raffi Torres. That guy is a pain in the ass to play against. Maybe a little spark up front for Buffalo? I'd rather give up the farm and picks and end up with Nash, who just looked like a monster at the Olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duey Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I'd rather give up the farm and picks and end up with Nash, who just looked like a monster at the Olympics. No joke...that dude was amazing! Two hours to go and not even a whisper of any movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 Every time I watch this team I always think that they really need a good, big guy to dominate down low. Getzlaf and Thorton style come to mind. Someone to compliment their Roy, Connollys and so on. Hard to find that those i'm afraid. I was reading the other day that Columbus may be looking to move Raffi Torres. That guy is a pain in the ass to play against. Maybe a little spark up front for Buffalo? Getzlaf would be ideal, I've thought that many, many times. Talented, hard-nosed, leader. He was drafted at #19 in the 2003 draft when Vanek went #5 overall to Buffalo. Other notables that year: Jeff Carter at #11 and Zach Parise at #17. Ryan Kesler really impressed me during the Olympics, I didn't know much about him before that. I love his game, he seems like a real menace. He went #23 in that draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Shameless plug: our favorite Canuckistani sportswriter is talking trade-deadline stuff on WGR with Nick Mendola right now ... http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/.../player/?id=WGR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Shameless plug: our favorite Canuckistani sportswriter is talking trade-deadline stuff on WGR with Nick Mendola right now ... http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/.../player/?id=WGR They just called wawrow "colorful".....heh, heh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooderson Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Boy I almost forgot how depressing it can be to watch this team at times. The two-week hiatus gave us some incredible hockey, which was understandibly exciting, considering the Olympic stage, the pride of nations, and the extreme talent on the ice. I almost forgot what it was like to watch the Sabres play their "system" and attempt to suck the life out of every game. I'm not a bandwagon jumper by any means, just looking at the situation realistically. I will watch every game until there aren't any more. But man, they have a serious collection of stiffs. Other than Miller and Myers, there is not a player on their roster who I would be sad to see leave via trade. There just aren't any game changers there (not that they'd pick one up by trading some of our junk for other teams' junk...But sometimes a "change of scenery" move can give a stale locker room some life.) However, I'm sure Darcy will continue the "internal improvement" model which has us waiting for Stafford to become Ovechkin, and Clarke MacArthur to become a 35-goal scorer. By the way, Jason Pominville, a "#1" winger who is on the ice in seemingly every critical situation that the Sabres need a goal, has produced 24 even-strength goals in his last 151 games. Just saying. They were a good team and a potential division champ when Ryan Miller was the NHL MVP and had numbers better than 97-98 Dominik Hasek. In recent weeks he's just been "normal", i.e. 3 or 4 goals allowed. The Sabres have proven unable to win those games lately. The score-by-committee model that results in 12 players scoring between 10-18 goals for the season, is a blessing and a curse. Without a dynamic player, the goals are harder to come by when the season is on the line, the checking is tighter, and the points are crucial. I'm not sure what the move is. It can be looked at as a slumping team who needs a boost, and a trade could benefit a stale roster who might be able to ride their goalie on a playoff run. Or, it can be looked at as a team still competing for a division title, and leave them intact and let them finish what they've started. How do you view the current Sabres roster, and what do you expect before the 3pm trade deadline? (By the way, sweet ovation for Miller from the pro-USA Pittsburgh crowd last night) I agree on many of your points, but I will disagree saying that I've liked the way Connelly had been playing up until the Olympic break. He was a point machine before the break and as long as he keeps staying healthy I'm glad to have him on the team. Vanek on the other hand, I WISH there was a team that wanted to take his ridiculous contract...he's invisible 99% of the time out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDinRTP Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Sabres get Raffi Torres! Good call previous post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Sabres get Raffi Torres! Good call previous post! 19 goals 12 assists, good size, 6'0 223. Should be a nice role player. now they have an extra forward to deal for a defensemen, Stafford may be next, hopefully for Corvo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Just hear Macarthor gone too Atlanta. No details yet Edit: Gone for a 3rd and 4th round draft choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Now get Kaberle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Now get Kaberle! They could move the draft picks they just got from Thrashers with something else to get Kaberle. Burke must be hungry for draft spots since he traded them all away the last year or so. Problem with Kaberle is that he still has a no trade clause. If he doesn't want to go too Buffalo its no deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Just hear Macarthor gone too Atlanta. No details yet Edit: Gone for a 3rd and 4th round draft choice yep, that makes room for Raffi. I still believe the Sabres need a physical defenseman... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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