Wait, what just happened??!

So yesterday, I guess the Sabres organization, or parts of it, decided it was time to shake it up. I don't know if anyone did any actual dancing (I would say negative on that), but things did get shaken up. All shook up. (K)


So if you have been a fan of the Sabres for anything more than, I dunno, 2 weeks, you probably know Pat LaFontaine. Hell, a hockey fan in general for more than 2 weeks. Great player, great man, just all around great. My dad was setting the stage for a love of Pat LaFontaine early for me and my sisters, so we have known of him since we were really little. If I could not name any other player at a young age, I for sure could name him. So when this news came about that he was going to be a part of the Sabres organization, I pretty much saw the tears forming in his eyes. But wait, they let Darcy go too??! Might as well have told my father santa came already because this was like Christmas for this man. He has hated Darcy since forever (I guess pretty much the whole time he was here?), and it seems a lot of other people had too, or if they didn't before, this year they were starting to. Whatever your thoughts may have been on him, it was time for a change. The job was just not getting done (obviously), and Rolston getting let go too, well yeah, a no brainer really.

Ted Nolan coming back is something I can not say yay or nay to as I don't remember when he was here the first time (I was a child, sorry), but I do know the story my dad has told me dozens of times. He was coach of the year, then fired sometime after. Yikes. Also, google gives you a little note of something when you search his name:

"ted nolan blackballed"

ok then

So I would like to say that I guess he deserves another shot at this coaching thing. Hell, I would have let my 90 year old grandmother try to coach them at this rate. Nothing at this point can hurt now can it? Probably not.

So we now have Patty Lalalalalafontaine as director of hockey operations or some jazz, and a new (old??) coach to shake things up. Now we know this will take time, of course it will. Starting from scratch always does. I am just glad Terry Pegula actually figured that out and now we can put things in motion. Franchises have let go of coaches after courses of single digit losses, but he wanted to take his time. Hell if Darcy can have 16 YEARS, why not give Rolston more than a couple months to see how things turn out hmmm? (Granted the 16 Darcy years are not all on the back of Pegula, but you get my drift). Mr. Pegula had said that he does not give up on people, he wants to work with them, and have everyone work together to see what can get done, but sometimes things just need to change. He is just lucky he bought a team in a city not only known for good neighbors, but also, as it seems, boat loads of patience. Ahh yes.

So, here we are standing on the verge of something new and exciting. Hell I am even going to the game tomorrow, my first one since early 2011 I think? I am just ready to see someone new behind the bench (new, old, new). I am just hoping this can put a spark back into these guys, make them feel like good things are to come. At least I hope they will. At this point, hope is all we really have now isn't it? Oh and if you have a LaFontaine jersey, make sure you wear it with much pride, because that man sure as hell deserves it.

Welcome to Buffalo John Scott!

I am one of those people who is really big on letting a player actually play here and prove themselves before I form a valid opinion, previous play being kind of void. I know everyone has their stats and reps, but we'll see what he can do for us. John Scott is big man (I mean BIGG), and he fights. He didn't play a lot of games for the Rangers when he was there, but eh, I guess we will find out in the fall what he will actually do for the Sabres and how much he will play.

When it comes time to sign guys or not sign guys or trade or whatever the case may be, there is just not a lot to be said with the Sabres. It's always just eh signings, and then the people seem to either leave (by the way, good luck on the Islanders Brad Boyes, that kinda sucks), or they don't produce, or something pretty unfavorable happens. I am just unimpressed. I know we are not going to get Zach Parise or Rick Nash, or Bobby Ryan for that matter, but it just gets to a point where you just give up on anything even remotely good happening, and treat this like any other time of the year. You keep hoping your team will get their heads out of their asses and play like you know they can, and that is the sentiment around here...a lot.

So whatever else may happen, I will probably just stay forever eh on all situations, because I know full well there will be no reason to get up and dance and cheer about anything. Philadelphia seems to want to sign any and everyone and it's weird. Does there GM just like to take risks? (I think) or is he just crazy? (I don't know), but hey, maybe it will work for them. Goaltending needs work, but hey, this isn't about them...

Ok, that's it for now.

Oh and day 2 of "I still can't believe Paul Gaustad is never coming back to Buffalo" still in effect, and it still sucks. I bought the last jersey Dave and Adam's had of his at their huge tent sale today, and I am glad I did. I will wear it and I don't care. Got it for a good price too. -huge sigh-

More trade stuffs.

So we now have Robyn Regehr as a Sabre and Ales Kotalik BACK as a Sabre. Weirdness ok, just weird to me. We lost Chris Butler (darn??) and Paul Byron (double darn??)to Calgary and yeah, that was it for now. This doesn't really excite me much, was it supposed to? Same old trade junk as with any other trade time. We take some ehhh player and give up some ehh player and see if that will shake things up and sometimes it does a little and sometimes it does nothing, and in the long run it really does nothing. Woooot. I'm forever the optimist, this I know.

In other news, Brian Campbell went to the Panthers (oh come ONN, I just bought his Blackhawks shirt not that long ago dammit!) and one of my favorite other Hawks, Troy Brouwer, went to the Capitals. That makes me sad because I love the Hawks as a big happy family, and I really like those guys. Granted, Campbell's salary is beyond nutty and Chicago is probably having a fun time with cap space again this year, but blahh. That's how it has to work out though. I would have gladly taken Brouwer as a Sabre :)

Development camp starts on July 5th, and I really want to attend this year again like I did last year. It's cool to see what guys will be up and coming in the system and all that, and I just like to keep up with Sabres stuff in the summer seeing as there are no games and that sucks...haha. A few of the guys were at the draft party last night and it's cool to see who could be on the team in the future and see what they're all about. I watched Kev Slyvester interview Marcus Foligno, and I really want him to be on the team like now, right now...haha. I can't wait until he can actually play here, it will be awesome. I'm pretty sure they interviewed Corey Tropp as well.

I also liked the draft picks Buffalo got, Joel Armia has an awesome Finnish mullet (haha yeahhh) and Daniel Catenacci is handsome, and everyone seems excited to be part of the Sabres and everything feels new and fun! Woooo! :D

I don't want to talk about it.

Ok, maybe a little.

I'm sure one day we will win again, but at this moment it seems like it's far off in the distance, or maybe everyone on the team lost their mind, thought it was opposite day, and thought it was really cool to just lose and look really bad while doing so.

I don't even want to go into it about Darcy Regier, because my dad tells me an ear full everyday about how he feels, and I'm starting to agree with him about a lot of things regarding him. Blah.

It is still early yeah, but a lot of teams would believe that there is no good reason to lose a game ever, regardless of if it's game 1 or game 63, you just have to go out there and give it your all, and I really believe more than half the team is just NOT at this point. I don't really think a lot of the movement done over the summer was to any great advantage, but only time will tell if all that clicks eventually. It seems the defense was quite shaken, and now just seems really...off. Some people who should have been traded away weren't, some that should have stayed left, and now it's just taking longer for it all to click it seems.

We have a couple of away games coming up, but it doesn't really matter because we seem to being sucking majorly at home, so staying on the road isn't really too bad right now. Back in Atlanta tomorrow, and hopefully that will be just as easy to win as last time. I just could not believe the crappy attendance in Atlanta, it seems really sad. I know they wouldn't be classified as a "hockey town" by any means, but geez, there were almost whole sections that looked more than half empty. Just need to fill it with more Sabres fans I guess. haha.

Now come on guys, someone give a pep talk, someone give an ass kicking, DO SOMETHING! SOMEONE GET YOU GUYS IN GEAR, YOU'RE KILLIN' US! PLEASE? Thank you.

This doesn't seem too good.

I agree with Bucky Gleason's latest Buffalo News column. Oh boy. Yeah I don't see how all this adds up, but I do know that we lost a pretty hard worker in Tim Kennedy. He is young, he hasn't had that much time in the NHL, but it seems like it really didn't matter about his skills (or lack thereof, or whatever) it was over a minuscule amount of money in NHL standards. They get rid of TK and turn around and get this Shaone Morrisonn guy (ok, there are WAY too many unnecessary letters in his name) that I have never heard of. That's the thing though, the Sabres always want to spend money on these guys that you are like "huh, who?" or who are kind of washed up already. They also let go of anyone with any promise, and hold on to guys who are just dragging the team down.

I could go on and on about the Tim Connolly's and Drew Stafford's and all that, but I seriously don't know what to think at this point with this management team. Maybe Tim Kennedy wasn't the player you wanted to hang on to the very most, but was there really a BIG reason to get rid of him? Just let him sit there and not play? You guys are making no sense with this one. It's just business until we all turn around and see Tim Connolly or Derek Roy signed until the end of time (which I think will be the case because, maybe sounds childish, but some of the big guys play favorites it seems). If you tell me that Tim Connolly will be gone after his contract is up, and that maybe you will think about letting some of these other guys explore greener pastures before they are too old to do so, then maybe I will cut you some slack. The thing is, I doubt that will happen. Will we have the same "core" forever and just tread water for the next 10 years? I don't want to say yes, but I feel that is correct. The management makes these little crappy moves like this will help us, but will it? Will saving $200,000 on Kennedy help us bring in someone to turn the whole team around? Of course not. Is this just some silly little thing because they are pissed off Timmy wanted a little more money? Probably. Don't get so defensive dudes, it is afterall "business" like you said.

I don't want to be not even in Sept. yet and feeling like the upcoming season is a bust, so I will just hang out and see what happens. We do have some new guys that could help out, could change the dynamics a little bit, hopefully for the better. I just get very frustrated by the dumb moves that are made here sometimes. I really wonder sometimes if anyone in this organization wants a stanley cup. They need to start looking at the bigger picture here, or it will be a long off season, again.

Sooo...yeah.