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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2005 12:06:54 GMT -5
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 27, 2005 14:20:26 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed that. Kind of surprised they offered to Gonchar though. Nothing against him, he's a great defenseman, but the whole reason they sign him in the first place ahead of some others was because of the one-year contract. We shall see. I like the early moves though. But they have to sign Raycroft. Boston is really pumped about the quality of goaltenders they have in their system, but none of them are ready yet. Andrew needs to come back, he's far more important than Sergei Gonchar. I notice your owner is mighty happy about the state of things: www.nhl.com/news/2005/07/230936.htmlI won't embarrass you by asking you to name - in front of everyone else here - what city your grand new benefactor hails from. ;D Anyway, at least we won't have to waste any time to get into it: SHOWDOWN, Oct. 7, HSBC Arena! SHOWDOWN, PT. II, Oct. 20, the arena in Boston that I will NOT call the Garden! Yes, unbalanced schedules will be a LOT of fun!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2005 14:31:00 GMT -5
Tommy G. does hail from Crochester, I'll give you that Not only am I getting Center Ice, I just got off the phone with some buddies and we're all in for all four Sabre games in Boston (and it looks like I'll be in Buffalo for 4 or 5 games, as well... HUGE homestand over X-Mas-New Years holiday).
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 27, 2005 15:17:31 GMT -5
hey, buffalo. First of all, the Sabres site, is a pain in the ass.
Secondly, have you seen the new Buffalo sweaters yet? I wanted to take a look at them, but I couldn't find them. I was discouraged to see the old black and red logo, so I wasn't sure if they're available yet
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2005 15:37:46 GMT -5
I meant to PM you about that - apparently the NHL (and I'm assuming most leagues) has a rule where if you want to change your colors and/or logos you need to put in a year's notice. I'm guessing that's so the NHL and its partners can purge their inventories of the old stuff. According to the Buffalo News and my sister's friend who is Larry Quinn's personal caddy, they are currently in talks with Reebok (the new NHL sweater provider) on designs and styles for the blue and golds. Which leads me to believe the 06-07 season will see a return to the rightful Sabre colors. Doesn't matter to me, I've got my retro home white blue and gold sweater, #11, Captain's "C" Gilbert Perreault ready to go as soon as the season starts up As for the site, its a lot better than it used to be. They should take a page from the Bills handbook, as their site was rated top 5 in all of sports within the last couple years.
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Post by younghoya32 on Jul 27, 2005 22:25:15 GMT -5
well i'm pretty pumped I'll get to see Syd Crosby in his first NHL game...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2005 22:28:13 GMT -5
The NHL has Crosby playing in Buffalo on a Saturday night in December... only problem is the Bills play Denver on that same Saturday night. Somebody better move that Sabre game to Sunday, that way I can see both when I'm home that weekend.
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Post by younghoya32 on Jul 27, 2005 22:41:52 GMT -5
If that were me and the Giants and Devils were playing at the same time (will never happen; both play at medowlands), I'd be a the giants game before you could say "Hockey is Boring"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2005 6:13:24 GMT -5
That's the point... 78,000 people will be at the Bills game, the rest of the city will be watching it. A down-the-stretch NFL game versus a first third of the season NHL game? C'mon, schedule makers... do the right thing here, move it to Sunday so I can see both games.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2005 11:22:30 GMT -5
GOODENOW IS OUT!! sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2118641I think we all saw this one coming. Now if the NHL is to truly build a partnership between management and labor, Bettman should step down as well. That will obviously never happen as the owners have his back 110%, but a guy can dream can't he? You'd be surprised how much the players hate this guy - I've met a few in my day and they all say the same thing: he's a business man who doesn't know one thing about hockey, nor does he care to learn.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2005 14:16:01 GMT -5
[/i][/td][td] TYPE OF RELEASE[/i][/td][td] OLD TEAM[/i][/td][td] 03-04 SALARY[/i][/td][td] NEW TEAM[/i][/td][td] NEW SALARY[/i][/td][/tr] [tr][td] Amonte, Tony [/td][td] Buy-Out [/td][td] Philadelphia Flyers [/td][td] $5.85 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Hatcher, Derian [/td][td] Waived [/td][td] Detroit Red Wings [/td][td] $5 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Holik, Bobby [/td][td] Buy-Out [/td][td] New York Rangers [/td][td] $8 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] LeClair, John [/td][td] Buy-Out [/td][td] Philadelphia Flyers [/td][td] $9 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] McCarty, Darren [/td][td] Waived [/td][td] Detroit Red Wings [/td][td] $3 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Nieuwendyk, Joe [/td][td] Free Agent [/td][td] Toronto Maple Leafs [/td][td] $2 million [/td][td] Florida Panthers [/td][td] 2 years, $2.25 million [/td][/tr] [tr][td] O'Neill, Jeff [/td][td] Traded [/td][td] Carolina Hurricanes [/td][td] $3.7 million [/td][td] Toronto Maple Leafs [/td][td] 2 years, $3 million [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Roberts, Gary [/td][td] Free Agent [/td][td] Toronto Maple Leafs [/td][td] $4.25 million [/td][td] Florida Panthers [/td][td] 2 years, $2.25 million [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Satan, Miro [/td][td] Not Tendered [/td][td] Buffalo Sabres [/td][td] $4 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Turgeon, Pierre [/td][td] Waived [/td][td] Dallas Stars [/td][td] $7.5 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [tr][td] Whitney, Ray [/td][td] Waived [/td][td] Detroit Red Wings [/td][td] $2.25 million [/td][td] ? [/td][td] ? [/td][/tr] [/table]
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2005 14:19:19 GMT -5
Looks like the FLORIDA PANTHERS!! are setting the free agent market with their acquisitions of Nieuwendyk and Roberts (I don't count the O'Neill deal - he gave those jerks up in Toronto a hometown discount).
I actually kinda like these moves. The new CBA is starting to work already. Plus there's talk of guys like Chellios, Domi and a few other big name vets joining Super Mario in Pittsburgh to help out with the Sydney Crosby Experiment. And if Fleury doesn't work out in net, can you say CuJo? Love it...
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 1, 2005 14:50:09 GMT -5
It's a sad day in Buffalo when Satan is let go.
Of course, my dad would say that Satan left the city of Buffalo when Joe Ferguson retired, but that's another story.
Name jokes aside, he's high quality, an excellent all-around player. Looking forward to seeing who picks him up.
I didn't hear those rumors about Pittsburgh. Intriguing. And here I thought they would never make a sequel to Space Cowboys...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2005 15:05:33 GMT -5
Woah, woah, woah, Boz. Never EVER put the name "Miroslav Satan" in the same sentence as "all-around player." There's more defense in an NBA all-star game than Satan has played his whole career. Satan should get back into the 40-goal range a season with the new rules... but he is simply not the kind of guy that can ever succeed or be popular in places like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Boston... teams with traditionally blue-collar attitudes. Plus, he's going to get ask for about $2 mil a year, and he's not worth that much of a $30 million payroll. Plus, the Sabres are going to better spend that money on some defensemen to put in front of Ryan Miller, as they've got a GLUT of forwards right now (Briere, Dumont, Hecht, Drury, Connolly, Vanek, Peters, Mair).
Yeah, the thing about the guys going to Pitt was in ESPN Insider. Apparently you can add Kovalev to that list, as well as the fact the Pens are as close as ever to getting Malkin under contract for a while.
Not looking too good for the B's, Boz. The qualifying offers haven't been picked up by the big names up there in Boston. Also, O'Connell is saying he's working on a "huge" trade (via Boston Herald) - could that be Thornton out, Pronger in?
Also of note, over at ESPN.com they have moved the NHL link out of the "More Sports" category and back where it belongs alongside the NBA, motor sports, college football, etc. (the one at the top of the page on any page you're at, not the one along the left hand side of the main page).
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hoyaboy1
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Post by hoyaboy1 on Aug 1, 2005 15:23:31 GMT -5
Flyers will break Philly's championship draught this year.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 1, 2005 15:28:25 GMT -5
Hmm, well we can disagree on Satan, but I'll admit that I should have said all-around "offensive" player. Defense is another story, but I do think he is an excellent scoring threat, with his shot and his passing. And he is - to borrow a discussion from another thread - not too bad as a clutch scorer either.
I thought he WAS pretty popular in Buffalo though. That's news to me if he's not liked up there. Not EVERYONE can be Cam Neely, you know?
If he doesn't fit into the budget that's one thing (and I guess an important thing for Sabres management). That consideration aside, I think he'll be a very valuable addition wherever he ends up.
Bs have been making noise about Pronger and Modano, as I'm sure you've heard already. Got to say, I'd love to see Modano in a Boston uniform (Pronger too, if for no other reason than my St. Louis friends would HATE it), but with 10 years extra on Mikey's shoulders, he can't come close to making up for losing Thornton.
I'm not too surprised that nothing has happened yet on the qualifying offers in Boston. I do think they'll end up keeping the majority of those players, but I am starting to force myself to get used to the fact that Thornton might not be one of them. I'm sure some players - or their agents anyway - are watching that situation carefully before acting on the offers.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2005 15:30:59 GMT -5
C'mon, hoyaboy... how 'bout a little analysis! Talk 'em up! Have a take... and don't suck (or something).
For argument's sake, I disagree. While I think the Flyers will likely have a very good team (those two first rounders from last year they just signed are going to be stellar in a few years), I'm not sold on their D and the Burke/Esche/Niittymaki monster in net. Of course, with the wild free agent period just underway, they could radically transform that roster in a matter of days... as could any number of teams. For chrissakes we could be on the verge of hearing Gary Bettman announce next spring "the 2005-2006 Stanley Cup Champion, Nashville Predators!!"
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 1, 2005 15:33:22 GMT -5
Also, O'Connell is saying he's working on a "huge" trade (via Boston Herald) - could that be Thornton out, Pronger in? You mean picking up Brad Isbister wasn't the huge deal?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2005 15:37:35 GMT -5
Satan is kinda liked, but he's not embraced. He's a flake like Hasek was, and that keeps people in B-Lo from embracing them as superstars (compare to guys like Flutie, Jim Kelly, Peca when he was on the Sabres, Mike Ramsay, Schonny, etc). Remember, he was benched numerous times the past two seasons for lackadasical play... lord knows that don't fly in a place like Buffalo.
As for being clutch, here's the problem with Miro. He'll score like 7 goals in three games, he gets way more ice time than anyone else, plays the point on the PP, always as 2 or 3 empty netters in a year... point being his stats in my opinion are overblown. Not to mention, if you watch a good number of Sabre games, there are no joke dozens of times a year when someone sets him up SO FREAKIN' PRETTY and he doesn't connect. He's a goal scoring sniper, alright, but well below the rung occupied by guys like Hull, St. Louis, etc. He's always a "minus" in the +/- category (last year something like -22)... not worth the money, and not the prolific goal scorer he's made out to be. In my opinion, he'll make a good second or third line forward somewhere.
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hoyaboy1
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Post by hoyaboy1 on Aug 1, 2005 16:59:58 GMT -5
Flyers have fantastic depth at forward, and are the best in the NHL at center. They also might very well have the best core group of young players in the league. I don't think Carter and Richards will be good soon - I think they'll be good right now.
D is still a question - I'd like to add a top guy, and I am pretty sure the flyers will add one of the best guys out there - maybe Foote, Hatcher, or Rathje.
I think a sniper, like Satan, will also probably be signed.
Assuming something like the above happens, they are a top 3 team for sure IMO. If just 1 is added top 5.
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