"Short term pain"

[Jim Bob]

http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2002/1031/1453877.html

Comissioner Gary Bettman sounded like a man ready for a long, drawn-out war Thursday as he discussed the looming labor negotiations in 2004 with the NHL Players' Association.


Unlike major league baseball, which avoided a work stoppage with a new collective bargaining agreement, the NHL is ready to suffer until it gets what it wants.


"If the choice is short-term pain versus bleeding to death over time, then we're going to take the short-term pain because we have to fix it,'' Bettman said. "We owe it to our fans to fix it. If there's any guarantee that you want me to give fans, it's that we're going to fix it.


"We simply don't have a choice.''

With the 2003 NHL Entry Draft being touted as one of the deepest drafts in a long time, the impending 2004 CBA War, and a team that is going nowhere fast, perhaps a complete rebuilding of the club is in order.

Trading away Satan, Zhitnik, Gratton, Barnes, Brown, McKee, Varada, and Woolley for draft picks and the right prospects at the trade deadline could set things up for the post 2004 CBA War NHL.

Next season for the Sabres would be similiar to last season for the Bills with the club having a roster of young, inexperienced, but cheap players. They would likely end up with a top 5 or 8 pick in the 2004 Draft. And would be set to make moves to add an impact player or two after the new CBA is in place.

If the new CBA has a salary cap, then the Sabres would have lots of "cap room" to make moves. If the new CBA is somewhat like the current deal, the Sabres would still have budget space to make some moves as well.

It's the theory that you have to be really bad before you can be really good. And what better time than now for the Sabres to be really bad? It's not like they have a shot at really competing this year or next year anyway.

[Papaduke]

With a deep draft I think it is unlikely for teams to deal many picks.

[BuffaloSoljer]

I would not do a total hose cleaning. I would hang on to "value" players like Satan. At $3.4 M, is numbers were better than Guerin's, and he's getting 3 times that.

I would really only move Barnes, Zhitnik, Woolley and Varada for younger players or good DC's. If somebody knocked my socks off, I would move anyone for the right price.

Outside of the 4 players mentioned, I still think this is a good young club - THAT JUST NEEDS THE RIGHT COACH!!!!

There, I said it again.

[sabres081]

satan is are best player its time to pass the C stu

[Jim Bob]

Originally posted by BuffaloSoljer
I would not do a total hose cleaning. I would hang on to "value" players like Satan. At $3.4 M, is numbers were better than Guerin's, and he's getting 3 times that.

I would really only move Barnes, Zhitnik, Woolley and Varada for younger players or good DC's. If somebody knocked my socks off, I would move anyone for the right price.

Outside of the 4 players mentioned, I still think this is a good young club - THAT JUST NEEDS THE RIGHT COACH!!!!

There, I said it again.

I have two questions for you:

A) Who is the right coach for the Sabres?

B) How would the Sabres get the right coach in here when they can't offer a contract beyond this season?

[LALAFONTAINE]

Originally posted by Jim Bob
Trading away Satan, Zhitnik, Gratton, Barnes, Brown, McKee, Varada, and Woolley for draft picks and the right prospects at the trade deadline could set things up for the post 2004 CBA War NHL.

Next season for the Sabres would be similiar to last season for the Bills with the club having a roster of young, inexperienced, but cheap players. They would likely end up with a top 5 or 8 pick in the 2004 Draft. And would be set to make moves to add an impact player or two after the new CBA is in place.

If the new CBA has a salary cap, then the Sabres would have lots of "cap room" to make moves. If the new CBA is somewhat like the current deal, the Sabres would still have budget space to make some moves as well.

Yes. But why deal Varada? You will not get fair value for him. And he always shows up.

I would also look to deal Biron. It makes sense to take a calculated risk on Noronen immediately and Miller in the near future.

I would keep Noronen and Askey as the goaltenders for the rest of the season.

On defense, let's see what Kalinin, Tallinder and Campbell can do in roles they are comfortable in. Warrener and Patrick provide solace from the right side. The one place I would not necessarily mind getting a NHL player would be at RD. From a bargain basement perspective, spending more money on your top 4 defensemen and 1 goalie is pretty much half your team.

We should be setting everything up for 2004-5. Should all the young kids mature into viable NHLers, this team still needs a ton of changes, because they bring too much of the same thing - we will not be tough enough on defense or on forward. But it will be much easier with a ton of prospects from trade or the 2003 draft.

[Jim Bob]

The reason I included Varada is simply because I believe guys like Milley and Bartovic could step in and be solid replacements for Varada.

Plus, I think Varada would get a little better return than you think. He's one of those guys that teams hate to play against and are hard for teams to find.

[LALAFONTAINE]

Originally posted by Jim Bob
The reason I included Varada is simply because I believe guys like Milley and Bartovic could step in and be solid replacements for Varada.

Plus, I think Varada would get a little better return than you think. He's one of those guys that teams hate to play against and are hard for teams to find.

Perhaps. I think Varada, Brown and Hecht will not get fair value IMO. Plus, if we get rid of the following, we still have plenty of room for Varada:
Biron, Brown, Zhitnik, Satan, Barnes, Gratton, McKee, Woolley, that leaves us with (before any NHL players come back):

Pyatt Connolly Afinogenov
Dumont Hecht Varada
Bartovic Hamel Milley
Boulton Mair Ray

Tallinder Warrener
Kalinin ???????
Campbell Patrick

Noronen
Askey

In terms of rebuilding the Sabres, I would get two big RD defensemen - Komisarek, as you know, would be my #1 choice. Koltsov and Jillson would be nice too. Once we have that, get a sniper like Frolov, a playmaker like Lundmark and then fill the rest of the roster with big, speedy wingers like Torres. Plus, given these trades, we have a pretty good shot at #1 in a good draft year.

[Jim Bob]

I wouldn't want Koltsov and Komisarek and Frolov are likely untouchables.

From the Sabres standpoint, I wouldn't move Hecht as he has some upside that is just coming out. I'd rise it and move him when he levels out like Dumont and Brown have done.

But I definitely agree on the right side of the defense corps needing upgrades.

[The REAL Sabres]

Here's my idea:

Let's trade Varada, Barnes, Boulton, Dumont, Hecht and Pyatt to the Pens for Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev.

Then we trade Gratton, Zhitnik, Woolley, Afinogenov, Noronen, and Connolly to the Wings for Sergei Fedorov, Niklas Lidstrom and Brendan Shanahan.

After that, we trade Tallinder, Satan, Brown, Mair, Patrick, Biron and Miller to the Avalanche for Patrick Roy, Rob Blake, Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic.

Now here are my lines:
Kovalev, Lemieux, Sakic
Shanahan, Forsberg, Kotalik
Hamel, Fedorov, Ray
Milley, Novotny, Bartovic

Lidstrom and Blake
McKee and Warrener
Kalinin and Campbell

Roy
Askey

The new Buffalo Sabres!!!!!

[Thumper]

Hahahaaa...That was good. I like the line of Hamel - Federov - Ray.

LALA - I have also thought of the idea of trading Biron. There has to be teams drooling over a young stud goaltender who has proven that he is a top 10 NHL goaltender, as he was last year on a team that didn't even make the playoffs. But what scares me is a team that actually has fire power, and a young goalie like Biron playing in the nets. Can you imagine a team like the Flyers with Biron?? I can't even believe I said the word 'Flyers' and 'Biron' in the same sentence. But that would be a scary situation. Obviosuly, I don't think we'd trade Biron to a team we seem to meet in the playoffs every year...We'd probably trade him out West.

But with two young stud goaltenders, one on the bench here in Buffalo, and one fine tuning his game in Rochester, it's a believable scenario with the state this team is in.

[LALAFONTAINE]

Originally posted by Jim Bob
I wouldn't want Koltsov and Komisarek and Frolov are likely untouchables.

From the Sabres standpoint, I wouldn't move Hecht as he has some upside that is just coming out. I'd rise it and move him when he levels out like Dumont and Brown have done.

But I definitely agree on the right side of the defense corps needing upgrades.

Anyone is available to be dealt in the right deal, but...

I would be hesitant to move Dumont simply because he is 22. 22 year olds mature and I still say he has the softest hands on the Sabres.

Brown could be dealt, sure, but he did score 20 goals last year while trying to shut down the top line and kill penalties. I say we wait until he recovers in the second half (as he always does), then deal him.

Hecht? He's 25, so his upside isn't that great. He's scored 19 or 20 before, so he's probably capable of 30. That isn't much if you compare with Dumont, who I think can score 40. Still, of the players to deal, Hecht would be low on the list.

[Jim Bob]

I would be hesitant to move Dumont simply because he is 22. 22 year olds mature and I still say he has the softest hands on the Sabres.

Dumont's 24

And I wouldn't be hesitant to move JP because I think he's going down the route that Jason Dawe followed.


Hecht? He's 25, so his upside isn't that great. He's scored 19 or 20 before, so he's probably capable of 30. That isn't much if you compare with Dumont, who I think can score 40. Still, of the players to deal, Hecht would be low on the list.

I see a lot better work ethic with Hecht than I do with Dumont. Perhaps it's just because Hecht hasn't been here that long, but I've grone tired of Dumont's 10 to 15 game goalless streaks and his invisibility for long stretches.

[LALAFONTAINE]

Originally posted by Jim Bob
Dumont's 24

And I wouldn't be hesitant to move JP because I think he's going down the route that Jason Dawe followed.

I see a lot better work ethic with Hecht than I do with Dumont. Perhaps it's just because Hecht hasn't been here that long, but I've grone tired of Dumont's 10 to 15 game goalless streaks and his invisibility for long stretches.

My bad. Dumont is 24, and that does change my mind about him. Deal him, but preferably wait until he gets into one of those hot streaks. The Dawe comparison is a good one, I think. I wonder where the hell I picked up that Dumont was 22?

From Oiler fan friends of mine, they caution about getting too excited over Hecht, because he disappeared at times too. I tell you what, he has played well and shown up since he's been here.