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ok so the weeping and gnashing of teeth is in full swing. as you contemplate how you plan to kill yourself consider the following:
* for some reason we seem to have forgotten what usually happens to teams that rush into free agency and make the huge signings - they usually dont get the value they should out of those deals. sure it works once in a while but the percentages are poor, teams usually pay in the future for contracts that turn out to be too big for a player that peaked at the right time. we see it all the time in the nfl and mlb, so much so that those leagues have pulled back some on the free agent feeding frenzies they used to go through. the nhl doesnt seem to have learned that lesson yet but they will
* i love danny for what he brings and hes a great guy but he just didnt get it done when it really mattered - the playoffs. the team suffered a sophomoric meltdown when the pressure cooker was turned up to full boil and were manhandled by the senators. as co-captain it is his responsibility to make sure the team was ready and they werent. he also was a key cog on a pp that ground to a halt - a sure fire losing formula in the playoffs. if im the sabres gm i simply dont want to pay him the 6.5m because its not enough value. thanks a ton danny but for that dough buh bye
* chris drury is the man and i wish they could have kept him. but it appears obvious now that he wanted the sabres to mortgage the farm to keep both him and danny and that was simply not feasible. he brings a ton to the table but lets be realistic, he had his best season ever, is a terrific leader, has an incredible knack for scoring huge goals, but his offensive numbers arent exactly staggering. and he also deserves some of the blame for the team wilting in front of the senators. is he really worth all that money? possibly but thats an awful lot of cap space for one dude and only time will tell if hes going to earn it
* lets not forget we still have the franchise in miller. now heres a guy to flip the **** out over if they dont keep him. he just gets better and better and is still a relative baby. hes the guy you have to focus on and the team will change their style to leverage his presence. i expect to see a much more controlled style next year with the sabres moving toward a more defensive type of approach. the sabres have a ton of young talent but they are short on the quality physical defensemen needed to better control the area inside their own faceoff circles. theyve got a ton of money to work with now and i fully expect them to use it to address the backline. its a lot easier to win in the playoffs with that style and its clear to me the sabres are going to make that change
* lets not forget we still have lindy ruff. if this guy isnt the best coach in the league hes in the top three. he gets maximum out of his players and is especially good at managing a grind it out kind of team. i think he was a bit out of his element with this up tempo full court pressure style we saw this year but he knew what he had and went with it. if the sabres do as expected and bolster the defense in front of miller the team will be less exciting but could be even better in the long run than they were this year
conclusion: so while im disappointed the mega exciting team we saw make the conference finals two years in a row is now history im not at all convinced the team is inevitably going to fade back into obscurity. the team is loaded with young talent all over the roster and still should have quite a bit of firepower. theyve got an all-world goalie who just didnt get enough help last year and that had to change regardless of what happened anywhere else on the team
they need to replace the veteran leadership theyve lost but that shouldnt be too hard. its unrealistic to expect this team to compete for the megabuck stars and we probably shouldnt even want them to. they will wait until the frenzy dies down and address their needs with players not so much in the immediate spotlight
they still have a very solid core to work from. if they make the right signings i see no reason why they cant challenge for the division and conference again. expecting another magical season like last year isnt realistic but who cares. they should still roll easily into the playoffs and the combination of battle hardened young guys and a more defensive style could make them even tougher than they were a month ago
we now return you to your regularly scheduled self mutilation
* for some reason we seem to have forgotten what usually happens to teams that rush into free agency and make the huge signings - they usually dont get the value they should out of those deals. sure it works once in a while but the percentages are poor, teams usually pay in the future for contracts that turn out to be too big for a player that peaked at the right time. we see it all the time in the nfl and mlb, so much so that those leagues have pulled back some on the free agent feeding frenzies they used to go through. the nhl doesnt seem to have learned that lesson yet but they will
* i love danny for what he brings and hes a great guy but he just didnt get it done when it really mattered - the playoffs. the team suffered a sophomoric meltdown when the pressure cooker was turned up to full boil and were manhandled by the senators. as co-captain it is his responsibility to make sure the team was ready and they werent. he also was a key cog on a pp that ground to a halt - a sure fire losing formula in the playoffs. if im the sabres gm i simply dont want to pay him the 6.5m because its not enough value. thanks a ton danny but for that dough buh bye
* chris drury is the man and i wish they could have kept him. but it appears obvious now that he wanted the sabres to mortgage the farm to keep both him and danny and that was simply not feasible. he brings a ton to the table but lets be realistic, he had his best season ever, is a terrific leader, has an incredible knack for scoring huge goals, but his offensive numbers arent exactly staggering. and he also deserves some of the blame for the team wilting in front of the senators. is he really worth all that money? possibly but thats an awful lot of cap space for one dude and only time will tell if hes going to earn it
* lets not forget we still have the franchise in miller. now heres a guy to flip the **** out over if they dont keep him. he just gets better and better and is still a relative baby. hes the guy you have to focus on and the team will change their style to leverage his presence. i expect to see a much more controlled style next year with the sabres moving toward a more defensive type of approach. the sabres have a ton of young talent but they are short on the quality physical defensemen needed to better control the area inside their own faceoff circles. theyve got a ton of money to work with now and i fully expect them to use it to address the backline. its a lot easier to win in the playoffs with that style and its clear to me the sabres are going to make that change
* lets not forget we still have lindy ruff. if this guy isnt the best coach in the league hes in the top three. he gets maximum out of his players and is especially good at managing a grind it out kind of team. i think he was a bit out of his element with this up tempo full court pressure style we saw this year but he knew what he had and went with it. if the sabres do as expected and bolster the defense in front of miller the team will be less exciting but could be even better in the long run than they were this year
conclusion: so while im disappointed the mega exciting team we saw make the conference finals two years in a row is now history im not at all convinced the team is inevitably going to fade back into obscurity. the team is loaded with young talent all over the roster and still should have quite a bit of firepower. theyve got an all-world goalie who just didnt get enough help last year and that had to change regardless of what happened anywhere else on the team
they need to replace the veteran leadership theyve lost but that shouldnt be too hard. its unrealistic to expect this team to compete for the megabuck stars and we probably shouldnt even want them to. they will wait until the frenzy dies down and address their needs with players not so much in the immediate spotlight
they still have a very solid core to work from. if they make the right signings i see no reason why they cant challenge for the division and conference again. expecting another magical season like last year isnt realistic but who cares. they should still roll easily into the playoffs and the combination of battle hardened young guys and a more defensive style could make them even tougher than they were a month ago
we now return you to your regularly scheduled self mutilation
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