Yeah, it's unfortunate, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news....MORE bad news, I should say....Tomas Vanek may be gone to, he's a restricted free agent and The Sabres would have the option to match any offer given to him, but the kind of dollars he may get thrown at him...considering his age, the fact that he's a 40-goal scorer, and the amout of money Buffalo has to spend(under the cap) in relation to what other teams are willing to spend....I wouldn't be surprised if a team in a big market, with alot of room under the cap, puts an offer on the table that Buffalo has no chance of matching. I'm not sure what kind of draft pick compensation Buffalo would receive(if any) if they lost Vanek, but don't expect the losses to end at your two Co-Captians. Sorry Mule.

They probably named him Darcy beacuse Alice or Marion sounded to "rough".

I tend to think that Vanek's situation was part of the plan. Him, they HAVE to keep because of his upside and age. At whatever cost. If he had another year on his current contract, I think they would have been able to keep at least one of the others. Right NOW, Drury and Briere are "better" players, but down the line Vanek should be.... and keeping him is a must. At least that's the way I see it...

No, your not wrong at all, but if they're gonna make a move, they better do it in a hurry, kinda-like what San Jose has done with Thorton and what The Panthers did with Weiss, Horton, and with Bouwmeester very soon. I believe that they must receive draft pick compensation if they were to not match an offer sheet that was given to him(Vanek) by another team, and the compensation would depend upon the size of the contract signed....which would most likely be significant, considering the amount of 40-goal scorers skating around under the age of 25.

I wouldn't worry too much about The Sabres next year, they're an EXTREMELY deep team, considering the fact that they had NUMEROUS man-games lost to injury, but STILL finished with the top-seed in The Eastern Conference, the proof of they're depth was there. The main problem will be the depth THIS coming year, those same players who stepped-up when the regulars went down will NOW be called upon to log alot of ice-time...and produce...but if THOSE guys happen to fall prey to the same injury-bug that ravaged The Sabres last year, there won't be as much depth to handle the losses of those players for any significant amount of time, Reiger will have to be a bit more creative to fill thoase gaps this coming year.

IMO, next year, The Sabres will only go as far as Ryan Miller takes them.

So the lockout for year was for.......ummmm......to get the GM's to work together to keep the salaries down, because it was getting out of control and the only solution was restraint and a cap!!!!???????
What the hell is all this now.
These contracts, like the two the rangers are paying for gomez and drury,(sorry mule, that was a blow to buffalo, although i agree with your post, they're deep and young and still we be something to deal with next season), just fly in the face of why we missed hockey for a year!!!!
i mean is it just me who finds this free agency giant contract frenzy a sign of bad things to come again?????

anyways, sens have lost Preissing to L.A.
too bad, i liked him on the point, he worked well this year for ottawa.
here in town the debate is about letting both redden and emery go, but no news yet.

and yeah, onyx, the panthers allready look better, should be a stronger team.
and i don't think briere will make a huge diff in phili, i think they'll still struggle to get to the playoffs.
and radek bonk gets another chance, with nashville i think??? that move always perplexes me, this guy should've been running a third rate hockey school in gdansk, long ago.

The Wings lost Schneider and Bertuzzi...to the Ducks.

Naw, I think the lockout served it's purpose. The GM's DID need saving from themselves. They can give out huge contracts, but only to a certain amount. Back when Detroit gave Federov 75 million, that was more than a team like the Sabres were WORTH at the time. Like the Penguins had to GIVE the team to Lemieux cause they couldn't afford to pay him. I like the cap. Reguardless of what the Sabres did. The killer was that they could have locked them both up cheaper, sooner. Drury proved that NOBODY wants to win more than he did. The guy broke his jaw in that last game against Ottowa. Lesser players wouldn't have bothered coming back, but he knew the only chance they had was for him to continue on. It's a tough loss. And they DO have alot of depth.

It would cost about 4 first rounders for a team signing Vanek. The Sabres will match whatever's offered. If they don't they won't have anyone in the stands. If Connolly can stay healthy, he's a tremendous talent. When Gaustad came back they benched Drew Stafford. This kid was working his ass off, and he's got skills to boot. Vanek will get better still. I'm bummed we lost Zubris. He impressed me with his strength and skill. They will be OK for next season, that I don't doubt.

As for Canada and the NFL, I don't see that happening in the near future. Toronto should have a team someday, but it may result in a fight with the Canadian government, who blocked Memphis of the old WFL from moving there back in the 70's. I think the status quo is OK. Canada has the best of both worlds with their own game, and still having access to the NFL via television. The CFL is good for the players. It's good for the NFL that guys go up there and play. They don't compete with each other really. It's a good situation. It would suck if Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver became NFL teams at the cost of the CFL going out of business. I think Toronto could support a team in both leagues if it were to come down to it. I don't know about the other cities. Vancouver would probably be the best bet IMHO. But I'm guessing that a good percentage of Seattle fans come from Canada, same as Bills fans.

Schneider is damn near 40 and Bertuzzi has to PROVE he's still a force to be reckoned with, which will be difficult with a lingering back problem and an inability to stay in the line-up. I wouldn't be too concerned about losing either of them, Frogfish, the signing of Rafalski MORE than makes-up for what you lose in Schneider, and The Red Wings diddn't have Bertuzzi for the entire year and STILL finished with 113 pts.(tied with Buffalo for the most in the NHL). All they did was get younger with the addition of Rafalski and the subtraction of Schneider and Bertuzzi....they'll be juuuuuuuuuuust fine.....all that being said, they damn well better resign Hasek.

Sabres keep Vanek

http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/114138.html

Hell yeah dude, I was listening to the radio. Matched Edmunton for a 7 yr, $50 mil contract

About time they did SOMETHING right....(sorta)

umm....of course, calling a news conference to say they WILL match the offer sheet, and actually completing the deal without missing a deadline or encountering a plugged up fax maching are two different things....

^See how quickly Edmonton stepped-up and tried to nab Vanek? That exactly what I was talking about, lol. Buffalo did the right thing matching that offer, in a couple of years $50 mil over 7 years will be a bargain for a 40-goal scorer, especially one with the "upside" of Vanek.

Well, Guerin and Comrie sign with The Islanders, that sorta torques me off, considering that I wanted The Panthers to make a run at Comrie, I thought he would make a nice second-line center, he's a good playmaker.

The Cats say they're DONE making moves....DONE!!! That upsets me, Souray is STILL out there to be had, I still don't think anybody knows for sure what Peter Forsberg or Teemu Selanne is gonna do, there are still good players available, but what kind of money will the "second and third tier" type of players demand?

Upon reflection....the sabres screwed up BIGTIME with Vanek. His salary THIS year will be 10 mill. No player can earn more than 20 percent of the team's salary, meaning they HAVE to spend 50 million, leaving a mere 300 grand in case of injuries etc. To get to 50 mill, they're going to have to OVERPAY someone else, money they could have given Drury, Zubris, or Briere.....

STOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!

Unless the cap figure is the AVERAGE of per year total, but I don't think it is. Even so, that would make them HAVE to spend 45 mill....they still coulda kept at least Drury...BONEHEADS!!!!!!!!

Here's an interesting article about why Gary Bettman is the worst commisioner ever and should be fired.
Bettman seems to be ruining the NHL a little more very year, and if a Canadian team ever won the cup again, he knows he'd get booed like crazy when he made his little PR speach before hading over the cup.
A good example was that playoff game between Buffalo and Ottawa, not sure which game it was, the one that went to overtime, the one that he rescheduled for the afternoon, so NBC would show it, and when it goes to overtime, NBC cuts to go to 40 mins of pre-race coverage for the Kentucky Derby, I mean that was just unbelievable, and had Bettmans fingerprints all over it.
Worst commish ever!!!

http://sports.sympatico.msn.ca/Does+Gary+B...ct=&abc=abc

If they, or anyone else in the NHL, wanted to get a head start on understanding and making the salary-cap work for you rather than against you, should look at some of the NFL teams who do well every year managing the cap. When your dealing with a salary cap that's in it's infancy, you HAVE to almost be able to see into the future and then adjust for the "year to year" happenings as well as you can(injuries, retirements, trades, etc..)

If I were to tell you 5 years ago that Alexi Yashin, Peter Forsberg, and Teemu Selanne will be free-agents that nobody seems to want, you would say I was a fruit-loop, but it's happening.

ha! that is something onyx, i'll bet yashins girlfriend, alt, is not going to have such a great time hangin out in russia over the winter, compared to the new york lifestyle she was used to.
yashin is a pain.
forsberg was one of the best.
and out of all three i'd say selanne still has something left after watching him in the playoffs.

meanwhile, the sens have lost comrie, and preissing. i hope brian murray can get things figured out, including picking either emery or gerber to go the whole season.

Hahahaha, well Carol, there's always ice-fishing . I still think that Yashin could have helped somebody this year, but he seems to have developed an inflated view of himself, considering his production the past couple of years...or lackthereof.

Four to five years ago, Forsberg was arguably the best player in The NHL, but he just can't seem to stay on the ice, and if your not on the ice, what good are you(see Eric Lindros)? I agree about Selanne, I think if he comes back at all, It'll be with The Ducks.

IMO, it's a no-brainer, you go with the guy who got you to The Finals, at least until he shows you that he can't do the job, he's owed that much.

check it out, the ducks decline to match the offer of the oilers, and penner is gone.
what a bump in salry for him too, from 400,000 a year to 4.25 million, not bad for your second year in the NHL.
and nothing makes me happier than to see Burke all pissed off, haha.
he should be able to help the oilers after ryan smiths departure.

http://www.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/columnists/...me=fantasy_news

I dunno, I think he was a "product of the system", kinda like Sergei Brylin in New Jersey, but only time will tell. All I know is this, Kevin Lowe isn't making any lifelong friends among the ranks of the G.M.'s in the NHL, especially in Anaheim and Buffalo, LOL.

Hey Jeceris, did you happen to see the remarks made by John Vanbiesbrouck when he was in town for an alumni game with the '96 Panthers Stanley Cup Finals team? He made some pretty rough remarks about Olli Jokinen's leadership abilities and Thomas Vokoun's confidence.

no onyx, i didn't hear any of that, the beezer dissin olli!! did jaques have anything to say about it?

and you might be right about penner, he may not be as good on a different line, but what does he care, he's making loads of dosh now.

Yep, unfortunately he did say some "questionable" things about Olli and Vokoun, here's a link to the article..Link

Penner was a reach, not a bad hockey player, and is especially effective around the net, but I just can't see how you can justify spending THAT kinda money on a kid THAT unproven, at least the offer-sheet they attempted to sign Vanek to was warranted by his production coupled with his young age and upside.

i read the article, beezer just maybe should stay away from florida all together, not helpful for the the club,and olli at all.
the guy actually sounds a little bitter, just the take i got from his comments.

Yeah, I got the same impression, kinda like he was just talking to hear himself talk, not like The Beezer I remember at all. He wasn't really considered "outspoken" at all when he was here, kinda just a quiet leader, usually it was Screwie(Brian Skrudland) who did all the talking. Hey, look, I'm all for constructive criticism, but if there's one person I CAN'T blame for the mediocrity that The Panthers are mired in, it's Olli, and while I may get frustrated with him at times, he's not exactly "dogging" it out there, and the numbers reflect that. As for Vokoun, he's VERY respected in hockey circles, both in N. America and internationally, and WIDELY considered a top 5 or 10 goaltender in The NHL, he deserves the benefit of the doubt, IMO.

allright, the details are confirmed.
this sunday, from 2-4 pm, at the civitan hall in town here, you can get your picture taken with the stanley cup, and kent huskins, defencemen of the ducks(although local rumour has him leaving the ducks, but i don't know to where, and neidermeyer is definately retiring)
so this sunday i will get in line for a chance to have the picture taken and if so, hopefully post it here. My son is away on a camping trip that weekend and is pretty bummed about not being there, he asked me to get an autograph for him.
so if you want to see the stanley cup, and feel like driving to almonte, I'll see you in line.

Crap, I gotta get up to Canada sometime soon, I've always wanted to visit but can't quite coordinate with my father(who actually used to work undercover with The Canadian Police for a time)....I suck. Just make sure that you get alot of pics of Lord Stanley's Cup, it's not everyday that you can get "up-close and personal" with the real deal, I hope you have a great time, Jeceris

well i went, stood in line for an hour, got to the cup and mr huskins, handed my camera over to a volunteer to take a picture, and after i find she hit the video button on my dig, so i didn't get a photo per say, but a 20 second video of me and kent and the cup, i'll try to download it.
fortunately, my brother was there, and actually knows huskins, and took another picture of me and kent and the cup with his camera, so if i can't download now, i'll forward the picture he took.
nice kid, down to earth, and pretty darn cool. (not the day, i was baking out there)

crap the video was too much, so here's a photo i took just before i got there. the real thing to follow.
it won't let me upload that either, more than 250k i guess.
i'll try to figure it out and post again.

Can't wait to see it, I'm glad you got to get close to Lord Stanley's Cup!!!

OK here it is, I'm the one not wearing the ducks jersey.
I had a Manitoba Moose t-shirt and he signed that, as he used to play there a couple of years ago.

That's a REALLY good pic, and The Cup looks great, were you able to read any of the names engraved into it?

No Onyx, it was all rush rush rush, but i did get a good look at it in the hockey hall of fame a few years agao in toronto.

and Onyx how's this for a rumor, ottawa is apparently trying to sign forseberg!!!
I'll believe it when it's done.

Well, if it is true, I think it's worth the gamble, it all depends on how much money The Sens want to gamble on him staying healthy. A healthy Forsberg puts The Sens over the top in the east, IMO.

Vancouver re-signs Trevor Linden, that made me smile, now that Stevie Y is gone, he's the one who I'd like to see hoist The Cup the most, he's earned it.

CANUCK REVELATIONS





-- i like them, they stand out. George Vancouver named this place after himself because of the orcas he saw in what is now Vancouver harbour. The blue and green represents the westcoast pacific and the abunance of trees. I like the Vancouver on it, FINALLY I LOVE IT!!!!


CANUCKS UNVIEL NEW LOGO
PLAYERS OPINIONS

The pre-season games are set to start.....Soon, very soon, we will be BACK!!!

nice!!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2007...r-contract.html

Good to see you, Jeceris. Ah, yes indeed it's FUN time.

Sami Salo breaks his wrist before the season even starts, just bad damn luck, sorry Kak. I hope he gets back soon for The Canucks, they need him.

ok the hit on mcammond by the philly rookie, **** off what an ass****
i hope mccammond can come back and they ban the little rookie for life.

Naw, that would be WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to easy, I hope he gets suspended juuuuust long enough for The Sens to be back on the schedule, then he'll get what's coming to him.

Someone needs to take these rookies aside on these clubs and remind them that, even though they're trying to make the team, and even though this is what they've dreamed about since they were just little kids, you can't justify trying to make your career by potentially ending someone elses....that's also no way to earn respect.

*Edit: It just came down, 20 games, I think he should be suspended for as long as McAmmond is outta the lineup and when McAmmond returns, THEN he should serve the 20-game suspension, IMO.

absolutley onyx.
and i guess the 20 games is pretty steep, but yeah, make the team without ending someone else's carreer, although i'm guessing bobby clark liked what he saw.

and hey, did any of our english friends get down to the O2 stadium in london to watch the season opener between LA and Anaheim, watched some of the game and LA took care of the ducks. I know it's the first gmae and all, but the ducks didn't look like they did in the stanley cup final.

Cannot wait for the regular season to start, and see the starting lineups!

Good luck this year boy.



*lights one up*

Hey Kak!!! Waaaaaa Gwooooooooon?

Looks like The Cats drew the short straw and got The Blue Shirts first on Oct 4th in NY, I guees if your gonna get 'em, it's better to get 'em early.

SAME THING A GWAN!!!!



The opener in Europe was funny, Pronger didn't seem like he enjoyed it too much!! LOL. I heard one fan say "It's a real sport, not like footy we have out here where they fall over when they are brushed, it's a mans sport, like rugby on skates!.

*Looks like Nucks are gonna use both Mason Raymond and Ryan Shannon from the pre-season (good with Sedins) !!!

Yeah, it's almost unfair that I have to wait until the 4th to get some real hockey, but I have tickets to the home opener against New Jersey.

well there you go.
sens beat the leafs in the season opener. 4-3 in overtime!!
everything as it should be, god is in his heaven and all is right in the world.

and they play again tomorrow here in ottawa, looking for the two game sweep.

Agreed, all is right with the hockey world, Toronto loses, The Sens win, The Hurricanes lose(to The Habs), and The Red Wings win in OT over The Ducks...........now all that left, is The Cats to take-down The Blue-Shirts!!

I have high hopes for The Panthers taking The Southeast Division this year, and they are picked to win it by a couple of "experts" at CNNsi and ESPN, so the rest of the hockey world seems to think that the changes and additions made in the offseason will translate into success on the ice, we'll see.

This season should be a gooder that's for sure.

As much as I want to root for my fellow Canadian teams more specifically Calgary (who blew it big time last year) I have to cheer for Jersey cause my cousin plays for them.

I've always had great respect for The Flames, a good hard-working team that always seems to be in the hunt.

The Panthers play The Devils in their home-opener, I'm anxious to see The Cats play, but I may be equally anxious to see how The Devils play after the losses of Rafalski, Gomez, and some of the other role-players they lost in the offseason.....even though Brodeur OWNS The Panthers, sheeeesh.