Has Darcy Redeemed Himself
by David Oleksy on Aug 13, 2009 9:51 PM EDT
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PrintWhen last season finished the Sabres had just missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Tensions were high amongst the fans and fingers were pointed. Some fingers were pointed at the head coach Lindy Ruff, some fingers pointed at the players (mostly for being too soft), some fingers pointed towards injuries and some fingers pointed at Darcy Regier and Sabres management.
By the time the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup it seemed that all fingers pointed directly at Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn. After-all they were the guys that broke up our championship team. They let Jay McKee, J.P. Dumont, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere leave via free agency and they traded away Brian Campbell. There was nobody else to blame, it was all their fault.
Things were so bad in Sabres camp that Larry Quinn stated publicly that they were going to hold meetings to decide the future of head coach Lindy Ruff and General Manager Darcy Regier. The meetings were probably more of a PR move than anything else and both guys kept their jobs as expected. After the meetings there was a promise of change within the organization. At the time we had no idea what that meant but now it's clear they meant a complete overall of the teams philosophy.
Regier has made plenty of moves this off-season and he still has over a month to make even more moves. We can't grade the entire off-season but enough has been done for us to recap the past month and a half.
Key Losses
Spacek was the Sabres best defenseman last year but he was too much money for the Sabres to even consider re-signing him. The Sabres have plenty of defensive depth in the organization and it was obvious that Spacek was not going to fit in their long term plans. He was eventually overpaid by the Montreal Canadiens and the rest is history.
By all indications Numminen is a great guy and he was once a great hockey player. Unfortunately age and injuries had finally caught up to him and made him half the player he once was. It was probably a tough decision but Numminen eventually decided to end his career and officially retire from the NHL.
Tellqvist was looking to be a starting goalie and that wasn't going to happen in the NHL. Tellqvist decided that there was no better time than now to head back over to Europe and join the KHL. He was solid in his short time with the Sabres but did not fit into the Sabres plans with Lalime still under contract.
It's probably safe to add Dominic Moore, Maxim Afinogenov and Andrew Peters to this list but none of them have signed elsewhere yet, leaving the possibility that they could still return.
Key Additions
Montador was the one player that the Sabres targeted from the outset of free agency. Nobody expected the Sabres to sign anyone on July 1 but they surprised us all by signing Montador. Montador is a solid stay at home defenseman that brings some toughness to the lineup. He isn't going to be the toughest player on the ice in most cases but he gives the Sabres some sandpaper on the blue line.
There is no doubt that Dipenta was brought to Buffalo to add some veteran depth to a group of young defensemen that will start the season in Portland. He is another player that won't shy away from physical play and he has won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. This was purely a depth move.
McCormick was signed for one reason and one reason only. He is 6'3" and 215 pounds. In addition he won't back down from anyone. His stat line isn't impressive but his 92 penalty minutes in only 55 games jump right off the page. He also had 115 hits last season which isn't listed above. McCormick is likely to bounce back and forth between Buffalo and Portland and play a physical game at both levels.
This is the Sabres most publicized signing of the off-season because he has a history with the Sabres. Grier brings even more toughness to the Sabres lineup and he can contribute offensively as well. He is the perfect fit as a third line right winger and will eat up minutes on the penalty kill. It was obvious that Lindy Ruff liked Grier in is first stint with the Sabres and he will probably lean heavily on his talents again this season.
There is still a month before training camp starts and just under two months till the season begins for the Buffalo Sabres. If the team didn't make another move how would you rate Darcy Regier this off-season. What would you have done differently? What was his best move? What was the worst
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This isn’t on the list but keeping guys like Clark in the fold ranks pretty high on my list of things done well this offseason by Darcy. Let’s hope I can add Stafford to that list soon too.
"We want to win immediately. To say you're building is an incomplete sentence. ... You're building for a future coach and general manager."
-Marv Levy
Exactly
I wanted to keep the post short enough that it was readable and therefore I left the players that re-signed off the list. I agree that C-Mac could be a key part of this offense next season. I just hope they get Stafford signed.
D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere
by David Oleksy on Aug 13, 2009 10:16 PM EDT up reply actions
I think it's way too soon to tell
If he fails to sign Stafford, this off season is disasterous. Personally, I’m not sure if Stafford should be treated as a key player, but it’s clear that the organization sees him as one, so to lose him would be an indicative of a major miscalculation on their part.
Darcy is not redeemed. He’s just…..Darcy. He’s really conservative and, in my opinion, waaaay too cautious. I’ll give him a lot of credit for Grier, but other than that, i think he’s been fairly unimaginative.
We’ll see!
Rating Regier's "moves"
I give Regier a D. His best move was acquiring Montador and his worst move was acquiring Grier. His next worst move is not signing Stafford. Grier is too slow for the NHL and has drifted from team to team for that reason.
He is right about one thing, though, his work is not done. He needs to make some trades to dump some salary. There is too much dead wood on the team. Guys like Tallinder, Pommiville and Hecht are not playing well enough to warrant the salaries they are collecting.
Pominville
Pominville is a great playmaker!? Overpaid…yes but he is def a good fit for Buffalo and he was one of our most consistant forwards the second half of the season. I agree on the Hecht, Tallinder though. Its time for them to go. I gave Darcy a B because i really like the new concept of physical play no that we seem to be heading back to the old nhl. I wonder if part of it is Golisano because he got the Sabres real cheap and really never had an interest in buying a sports team. Golisano as a person worked his ass off for everything he has so though its big money is needed to keep and sign some players he wont spend that much because he doesnt believe in it. This year will be a defining year for the team and managment!!
Got some work to do before being a playoff team let alone a contender again!
by thenewhockeytown on Aug 14, 2009 7:49 AM EDT up reply actions
Pomiville
His production has actually declined for the past two years and he not an leader. I think last year was the defining year when management found out that their “core” players are not up to the task of bringing a Cup to Buffalo. The problem for management is that they have committed millions of dollars and multi-year contracts to players who can not – I emphasize, can not – play at the level that is expected of them. Management just made bad decisions in bring players up through their farm system who can not and will not be competitive at the highest levels in the NHL. I think management realizes that they have made mistakes, but will not admit it. Case in point: Vanek, here is a player who should be a 50-goal scorer, but he does not play every game at the level he should be playing. He got the big contract and now he can take it easy. Lindy has no control over him for that reason. If I were management, I trade him for a couple of 25-goal scorers who come to play every day. The only players that would be safe if I were GM would be Miller and Roy. These are the two players to build the team around.
i hardly see it that way, its hard to play you heart out when all you hear for the past 2 years is this team isnt going anywhere because Danny Chris and blah blah blah left the team. Vanek would of been a 50 goal scorer if he played the whole season. What happens is you see a key player like Miller go down or loose a team mate or someone on the team that is upset says something to bring morale down and everyone takes a hit. Nobody can play 82 games perfectly at their highest level that is unreal expectations to think that. Just like Vanek had an offseason after his signing i believe Pomminville will rebound. Oh and how has is production declined for the past two seasons? He went from 68 points to 80 points to 66.
by mitch400214 on Aug 14, 2009 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions
its hard to play you heart out when all you hear for the past 2 years ….
That’s just making excuses for him. When the press and fans are on you, that’s exactly the time you need to step up and be a leader, and he hasn’t done that at all…
its hardly an excuse its realistic to think that people dont believe in you as much as they should and it can effect your game play and ability
by mitch400214 on Aug 15, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m afraid that doesn’t make any sense. As mitch has pointed out 68 to 80 is actually an increase, not decline. But more importantly you don’t trade a 50 goal scorer for two 25 goal scorers because then you need two roster spots to get the same production you could get out of one. There is room for 12 forwards on a team and you want to get the most production possible out of each of them, even if it’s in a specialized role – checking, etc. I’d rather have Vanek PLUS another player (even if that player only scores a couple goals, so long as he fills a role) then two players trying to accomplish what Vanek does on his own. It isn’t a coincidence that cup winners almost always have a superstar talent who scores 40+ goals and/or 100+ points (05-06 Staal 45-55-100, 06-07 Selanne 48-46-94, 07-08 Zetterberg 43-49-92, Malkin and Crosby last year, etc.). Vanek is a superstar talent – you don’t trade that away for mediocre or even good players. Without Vanek our top goal scorer would have had 28 and we wouldn’t have been able to carry a player like Ellis or Kaleta because we would be using two roster spots in place of one. We should be looking to get more production from each roster spot – not less.
"We want to win immediately. To say you're building is an incomplete sentence. ... You're building for a future coach and general manager."
-Marv Levy
by TEMSON on Aug 15, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
How can you say Grier is too slow for the NHL when he had 23 points in only 62 games? I’ll take a grit guy who can put up 30 points in a full season AND play on the PK any day.
Also, he hasn’t “not signed Stafford” yet – all indications point toward this happening before the start of the season.
"We want to win immediately. To say you're building is an incomplete sentence. ... You're building for a future coach and general manager."
-Marv Levy
How can you say Pommiville is dead wood? He has one bad season and you give up on him that almost spells out in bright red lettering bandwagon fan and i hate using that. It frustrates me to see people giving up on players because of one bad season no player has 20 amazing seasons in and out there all bound to have an off one. Do we forget that the year before Pommy when was captain had the best second half season in the league he is far from dead weight
by mitch400214 on Aug 14, 2009 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Darcy has done a pretty good job this offseason, at least attempting to fill the holes in the Sabres roster and managing to get Grier and Montador who a both decent. Also, McCormick is fine at his role and Dipenta adds experience and could help younger players, but most likely wont be in the NHL much if at all this season That being said it will take a hell of a lot more than those players to make up for the elite crew Darcy let go. Better offseason than most for him though.
Ok moves but need better moves
Steve montador is a good player i would have like the sabres to see them pick up Koivu that would have been a good pick up for a solid second line guy with hecth and pominville. Also should have been in the talks for the heatley trade only for 1 reason draft picks and cap space.Finally I Graded a C so far because the signing and resignings I would have graded a B if they resign Staffford to a 3 year deal for 3.5mil
GO BUFFALO
You’d want Koivu for our second line with Hecht and Pominville? Who’s getting relegated to the third line, Tim Connolly? One of our top three talents. I don’t think that makes much sense.
Also, I don’t understand what you mean by signing Stafford to a 3 year 3.5 million deal. 3.5 total or each year? Either way I don’t see how that will ever happen – 3.5 each year is more then Stafford deserves at this point and 3.5 total (1.17 per year) is absurdly low for him.
"We want to win immediately. To say you're building is an incomplete sentence. ... You're building for a future coach and general manager."
-Marv Levy
Incomplete
Until we see what trades Regier makes, he has an incomplete at best. I don’t see how signing Montador and Grier gets him anything but a C+ at this point. Getting some of the dead wood out of town and maybe bringing back something useful in return could bump this to a B- or B.
We’ll see what happens w/ Stafford.
by bluecollarbuffalo on Aug 15, 2009 3:40 PM EDT reply actions
tough situation
With all the RFA’s getting pay increases you knew Darcy couldn’t spend. We needed to get tougher and I think he did a good job considering the constraints.
If we have Montador, Grier, McCormick, Weber and Myers on the ice this year our biggest weakness could become a strength.
GRADE F
How can this be anything more than an F? While teams in the division made themselves much better by the off season moves all Buffalo did was sign players that nobody else wants. Steve Montador? Another stay at home defenseman. How many offensive defensive do the Sabres have? Spacek is gone so that leaves…Let me see….NOBODY!!! Mike Greer? all the posts I read are stating what a great pick up. “When we had him before he was great” People that was 2 years ago. He’s 2 years older and 2 years slower. Sure in his day he was a very good player. Now? Hes just MIKE GREER!!! Cody McCormick? Nice going Darcy you just added a Steve Avery to the team. Good luck with that. Joe DiPenta? Whatever. Makes it very hard to be a Sabres fan anymore. Darcy has made some great moves since being the General Manager but I think he too is getting old and slow.
Sometimes I get the impression that people were expecting Regier to go out and sign Crosby and trade Hecht for Ovechkin. Bad news on that one guys…
I don’t see how you can give an F, it’s not like overpaying for Spacek would have been a good move and it’s also not as if there was an abundance of affordable FA that would have greatly improved our team. Regier did a pretty decent job with the cap room and assets he had. Probably not an A but certainly not an F.
"We want to win immediately. To say you're building is an incomplete sentence. ... You're building for a future coach and general manager."
-Marv Levy
by TEMSON on Aug 16, 2009 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I have nothing to add
very good comment…it’s been rec’d
D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere
by David Oleksy on Aug 16, 2009 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions
First of all SEAN Avery. Second Steve Montador is a good addition and adds experience…Sekerja isnt terrible on offense and Myers might be able to add some offense if he makes it or Brennan, who was drafted to be like Campbell. Mike Grier again brings experience and leadership and protection for some other people. McCormick is basically a replacement for Peters and does a better job than Peters at fighting. Joe Dipenta can at least be used to mentor younger guys and he has a cup ring with the Ducks/ Overall they added experience leadership and grit with these players, all something the Sabres lacked last year…deservses more than an F
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