JohnC

You haven't been reading my posts very carefully. For a long time I have been a supporter of Whaley. In general he has done a very good job. In my calculations his hits very much out balance his misses. The issue of who recruited Roman is inconsequential and immaterial to me. You judge a player or coach on their overall performances. Rex brought in Roman. It was a good hire. Overall he handled the players he had to work with very intelligently. He smartly handled TT. In my view Rex did the opposite. He mishandled the talent he had to work with. Especially with the DL he accentuated their weaknesses and minimized their strengths. As I have often stated the Rex hire was a peculiar hire. Roman would have been a more reasonable coaching candidate than the blathering Rex.

Injuries are an inevitable part of hockey. All teams are subjected to them. Granted sometimes the number of injuries are so great that they are debilitating to the point that you can't compensate for the losses. That is why I would prefer not getting involved with the Stamkos auction and use that type of dedicated money to get at least two very good players for that cap amount. My preference is to bolster the roster in general so that when the injuries predictably occur the team is in a better position to absorb the losses. Side note: In the Islander game I thought Ullmark looked really good. Very composed play. Never got the sense even after he was scored on that it affected his play. Rodriques can skate! If Moulson would have had his scoring touch around the net that he has exhibited in the last few games the Sabres could have won two to three more games.

I see the GM coming up with a top six forward (as you noted) such as Hall from Edmonton or even a young forward from Colorado. Maybe he might deal for a player such as the immature Drouin who has a lot of offensive potential. What will we give up in exchange? Maybe one of our young defensemen such as Pysk or McCabe, both of which I like. I still see Ennis as being on one of the top two lines. As far as I am concerned he is a bonus pick for us. There is no doubt that he is going to be motivated to have a good offseason to get ready for the upcoming season. I echo your optimism on the team. If the Sabres don't make the playoffs next year I will be very disappointed.

Good coaches in all sports are flexible and adaptable to the talent they are working with. Being wedded to a system regardless of the players strengths and weaknesses is an archaic approach in a sport where the opposition coaches are constantly adjusting to what you are doing. All teams have core systems on offense and defense. That is not what I am criticizing Rex for. It was the gross mismatch of utilizing the talents of some of his players on the DL that negatively impacted the backside of the defense, mostly the LBing corps. There is no one way to being effective. Pettine's scheme certainly was different from Schwartz's scheme. Yet they both were good defenses. What Rex did was by trying to address a weakness in the run game on defense (as you noted) he created a bigger weakness in the lack of pressure on the offense. What Rex did was take his best pass rusher in Mario and render him useless. To a lesser extent he took Dareus, one of the best interior pass rushers in the game, and he flattened out his penetrating game. The argument that some people make against my criticisms of Rex is that this was Rex's first year with the team. That is a nonsense position to take. The organization made a conscience effort to hire a coach with head coaching experience. This was not supposed to be a learning curve year for the new coach or the team. In addition, Rex was coming to a team in his division so he was familiar with its personnel before he even parachuted in to western NY. This team had enough talent to be a playoff team (wildcard). It was held back by a limited coach who in his attempt to outsmart others ended up out smarting himself. Now the organization is going through the process of adjusting the the HC when the right approach was for the HC to adjust to the talent he had on hand. When Rex got fired from the Jets his team won 4 games. The new coach who lacked the animated personality of the coach he replaced won ten games in his first season. The same fired HC goes to Buffalo and takes over a team that was upgraded (mostly on offense) from when the previous dour disciplinarian coached.. Although Marrone certainly was unlikable (insufferable arsehole) no one can fairly say that he didn't do more with less than the loquacious head coach who followed him.

When Rex was hired I felt that it was a weird hiring. They hired someone who finished his tenure with the Jets with a four win season. They hired someone who after six or seven years had a losing record. What was the appeal? But regardless of his previous record you hope that he will help the team that was moving forward continue to move in the right direction. The GM focused his attention in the offseason addreassing the offense with the expectation that the highly ranked defense (with flaws) would play near its standard of the previous year. Last year the Bills were talented enough to be a wildcard team. Whaley accomplished what he wanted to do with the defense. What sabotaged the team was the performance of the defense. I blame the Head Coach for that failure. The defense that performed very well under two different DCs didn't play to the level of its talent. The defense was in a state of disarray. I blame Rex for that because that was the focus of his coaching. There were other alternative candidate coaches. Hue Jackson would have been a good hire. Not a sexy hire but a good hire. I would have preferred Schwartz over the bombastic Rex. I would have preferred Roman over the loquacious Rex. If you want to consider the job that Rex did last year as a being good that is your judgment. In my view he was a failure. If you are satisfied with Rex then that is fine. I simply have a different standard.

We don't know for sure. That is my point! If the team falters because of the "Rex effect" his job status will also be affected whether he wanted Rex or not. Was Whaley strenuous in his objections to a Rex hire? I doubt it. That is not to say that he favored the hire or preferred him over other candidates. If a GM makes it clear to a new owner that a particular candidate is not suited for the position I doubt that the owner would have so quickly made the hire. Acquiescing to this hire, whether he was happy with the selection or not, still affected him as to how he performs at his job.

What's the point? You are not competing against oneself. You are competing against other teams with strong organizations. Getting better in relationship to what?This is a bottom-line business where your team can be getting better but are they getting better at a more rapid rate that are teams are also getting better? Overall I like Whaley. He has taken an enlightened approach in running an organization. But how can any organization be taken seriously that would hire a Rex Ryan as a coach? Due diligence wasn't too difficult to do in this situation. Rex Ryan was a known quantity from a record and stylistic standpoint. The hiring of Rex was an organizational failure. I don't know how much influence DW had in the hiring. But whether he was the main factor in this peculiar hire (I doubt it) he should have been more strenuous in objecting to this selection. Ultimately he may be a casualty from that decision.

Maybe the best approach to take on Ennis is that he is a bonus player for us next year. He has demonstrated in his career that he can score and that he can make plays. Does he fit in with this current team? I believe so. But even if the GM doesn't believe that he is a good fit he has performed in this league where he has some trade value. This team has been adding big bodies to its roster where it can compete physically with most teams. What this team needs to do is add some scorers and finishers to make this a more complete roster. My preference is to keep Ennis and hope that he can regain his scoring touch. That is what this team needs.

I'm surprised Denver hasn't made an offer for Glennon. The Broncos are a defensive oriented team so they are mostly asking their qb to play smart and not force plays. Considering what their cap situation is this would be a reasonable move. If Tampa is asking for a second I suspect he could be had for a third round pick.

You should have gone to a bar or restaurant where the ambiance would have been more stimulating. But at least at the hockey game it was quiet enough to reminisce about the good old days without interruption. The organ music might be irritating but I'm sure you can tune it out just as easily as this game was tuned out.

The Devils are in a rebuilding mode. When your team lacks talent your team then lacks the ability to make plays. The only way that you can compete in that type of circumstance is play a very tight and limited type of game. We went through the same grueling process over the last two years. So I am sympathetic to their plight.

It was excruciating and grusome to watch. The Devils more than any other team play a brand of hockey that suffocates the game. There is no flow to the game and few serious scoring opportunities materialized. Not only is it joyless to watch on TV it also sedates the fans in the arena creating a very sterile environment.

Societal attitudes toward drinking and (domestic abuse) have dramatically changed since the period of time of the Horton crash forty years ago. Your point out that there was never a time where drinking drunk was acceptable. That isn't an accurate reflection of the time. During that Horton era people did drink and drive but had the false perception that they weren't drunk when in reality they were impaired.i.e. in the category of being drunk. Someone gave the example of the Russerts loading a case of beer into their car before taking a trip to Cleveland for a baseball game. They thought nothing of it. I guarantee you that if the driver would have been stopped by the police on the way back home (guarantee it they were drinking going to the game, at the game and back from the game) the driver would have been deemed driving drunk. The simple point that many are making against your strict standard towards Horton and his accident is that the general standard of what was acceptable or not with respect to driving and drinking was different at that time. No one is saying that what Horton did was right or wrong or smart.

This link is today's WGR's podcast of Hockey Hotline for the first hour. It is the first hour with Kevin Sylvester and Danny Gare sitting in for Peters. There was a discussion about O'Reilly and an assessment of this year's season. They also discussed the possible pursuit of Stamkos. Very enjoyable hockey talk. This segment was 42 minutes. If someone else posted this link I apologize for the duplication. http://media.wgr550.com/a/114468134/04-04-hockey-hotline-hr-1.htm

How appealing do you think a perennially losing team is to free agents? Do you think that a player of the caliber of Kessler who had a no-trade clause in his contract with Toronto and waived it to go to the Penguins last year would have done it for a team such as Buffalo that had little chance to be a contender? The Sabres have been going through a planned tank job for two consecutive years where in reality they were putting a mediocre AHL type team on the ice. There comes a point where you have to take the next step forward and move up the ranks and win some games. Our GM made a trade with Colorado for O'Reilly. Do you think he would have signed a long term deal with the Sabres if he didn't believe that they were on the verge of being a serious team? Edmonton has had a lot of top of the draft selections for the past number of years. They are again in a good position to get one of the top two picks. Where has it gotten them? The Sabres are probably going to be in the draft position range of 8-12. They should be able to select a good prospect who will take some time to develop. That is the usual way of developing your own players. I have no problem with that. In addition, there are players on the team who are trying to earn and solidify their position on the roster. I don't think they have an interest in being involved in another contrived fade. This team is not going to make the playoffs this year yet it is finishing strong. I'm all for it!

Call your dog boner. When your dog runs away you can cry out where did my boner go. Or in your search for your lost dog you can ask your neighbor when was the last time he saw your boner.

Success is not only predicated on talent it has to be combined with the right mixture of talent in all phases of the game. With Edmonton they have a large collection of quality young forwards but fall short on defense and at the goalie position. Getting that mix to the right balance is an important ingredient to success. Also, when you have a large group of high end young talent it is important to surround them with a blend of high character veteran players to show then how to prepare, play and be accountable. For the Sabres veteran players such as Gionta, Georges and Weber (traded) their impact is less associated with stats and more more due to their influence as role models for the younger players.

I have a different model for you: the Boston Bruins. They had four good lines when they won the cup. The advantage of having a more well rounded roster is that when the inevitable injury factor comes into play the team will be in a better position to absorb the injuries with a more well rounded roster compared to a thinner roster. The Sabres are in a good cap situation next year to handle a bountiful contract that Stamkos would call for. But that isn't the problem as I see it. He is the type of elite player who would require a seven year contract. The Sabres will not be cup challengers for the next two to three years. When we get in that position down the line Risto, Eichel and Reinhart will also be at the point where they will also require gilded contracts. Add those contracts to the O'Reilly contract then we will be in a tight cap situation where more players will have to be released than if we didn't have the burden of a Stamkos type contract. I'm not going to lament the signing of Stamkos if that materializes. If Murray wants to sign him then I trust his judgment. But my point is simply that there are a variety of ways of building a roster. There are going to be some very good young scoring forwards available through trade because of cap issues for other teams. My preference is adding two or three good players rather than one star player.

The only GM worth listening to is Tim Murray of the Sabres. He is more forthright about assessing his players and what he is actually thinking than any GM Buffalo has had in any sport. His comments about Evander Kane and what he expects of him on and off the field were revealing thoughts that you aren't going to get from most GMs in any sport. I'm not knocking Whaley because he does what all GMs do in the NFL about what they are thinking, especially about the draft. Whaley is bright and articulate but an extended conversations replete with cliches isn't worth the bother to listen to. At least Buddy Nix was entertaining to listen to even if it was unintended.

Just curious. Do many people use the Metro Rail to get to the games? In general is there much usage for the rail or is it a white elephant?

I respectfully but strenuously disagree with you on the Stamkos vs adding more players proposition. You left out Kane as a core player. He still needs to modify his game from being less individualistic to blending in better and being more cohesive with his line mates. But in my mind he is a 30 goal scorer in this league.

The diner scene was a classic scene.It was two titan actors in character facing each other and taking the measure of each other, so to speak. Al Pacino got swindled out of his money I believe by his agent. That forced him to do a lot of projects for the money. It came down to quantity over quality for fiscal reasons. It's obvious that artists are not the best money managers.

On that play the tape showed that Fasching was outside of the crease. In addition, he was pushed by the defender and barely touched the goalie. If there was no defender pushing Fasching into making incidental contact with the goalie I would consider your position somewhat valid. But because Fasching was being pushed by the Leaf defender I don't see the merit to your position. On balance I thought that this was a peculiar picayune call when there was so many other blatant mugging infractions were missed. I'm not one to whine about bad calls. Usually the calls balance out. Crybabies don't win. Play on!

I'm aware that Stamkos is one of the best players in the league. However, I'm against signing him. A player of his caliber is not only going to have a rich contract but also a lengthy contract in the 5-7 year range. During that period of time Eichel, Reinhart and Risto will be in position to command exorbitant but worthy contracts. A Stamkos contract added to an already rich O'Reilly contract (well worth the $$) will consume so much of the cap that therer will be little financial flexibility left to deal with the emerging young talent and will also hinder the team in adding more solid players to the roster. What I would rather see the organization do is use the Stamkos dedicated money and add two or three very good players to bolster the roster in general. That would enable this team to absorb the usual amount of injuries incurred during the season. This team still needs to add more talent to the roster in order to take the next step forward.

Have you heard of any interest between Buffalo and the player? Vesey was associated with Toronto and Boston. He ended up in Boston.