On the way home from Buffalo today, I was listening to the Sharpshooters (Kelley, Simon, and Robitaille) on WNSA and the subject of Ted Nolan came up. Apparantly, the idea to offer him that one-year deal came from Northrup Knox himself..NOT Darcy Regier. After the feud between Muckler and Nolan, he decided that both of them had to go. Firing Muckler was simple but, since Nolan's deal was up anyway, and simply not offering him anything would have created an uproar (larger than the one caused by what happened), he decided that low-balling Nolan and hoping he'd be insulted enough not to take the deal was the easiest way to rid the Sabres organization of a popular coach.