Daily Links for Saturday, January 7

by Andy Boron on Jan 7, 2012 1:22 PM EST in Daily Links

An impossibly good metaphor for the uphill battle that the Sabres now face.

Has an NHL team ever gone the entire season without winning two games in a row? What if the Sabres go all of 2012 without a single winning "streak"? Ed Note: I love that "winning streak" in Buffalo now means winning two games in a row - it's like showing up for work two days in a row and feeling proud for not getting fired.

Jets seek out first win of 2012 as they visit Sabres - NHL.com
Your game preview for tonight's tilt against Winnipeg.

Canes Won't Be Winless In 2012: Hurricanes 4, Sabres 2 - Canes Country
The Canes earn their first regulation win at home against Buffalo since 2007, beating the Sabres 4-2 on Friday night.

Regier says no shake-up imminent as struggles intensify - The Buffalo News
In an interview with The Buffalo News following Friday's 4-2 loss to Carolina, General Manager Darcy Regier said no big changes are imminent.

Leopold: Sabres’ unsung hero - Tonawanda News
Yes, Jordan Leopold said, he’s received big ice time before, about eight years ago as a youngster. Skating 25 minutes or more some nights is nothing new for the Sabres defenseman.

More Sabres News:

Pominville travels long road to 500 - The Buffalo News
Tonight, when the Sabres host Winnipeg, Jason Pominville will become the 27th player to play 500 games with the Sabres.

The Sabres should trade #29 (Not really, but why not?) - Buffalo Wins
The same old problems that plagued the Sabres have once again reared their ugly heads. They can't score, they can't get decent goaltending, they are kind of soft, and they just aren't really good at anything.

5,000-plus fans watch game on scoreboard TV - The Buffalo News
More than 5,000 die-hard fans of the Buffalo Sabres wouldn't trade Friday night's viewing party at First Niagara Center for any of the usual comforts of home.

State to intervene in cable dispute - The Buffalo News
Officials of Time Warner Cable and MSG Media will meet next week with representatives from State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office in an attempt to resolve the dispute that has left many local hockey fans unable to watch telecasts of Buffalo Sabres games.

Around the NHL:

Why the NHLPA rejected NHL’s 2012-13 realignment plan - Puck Daddy
What we didn't know about the NHL's radical realignment plan, approved by the NHL Board of Governors last month and affecting everything from conference sizes to playoff format: That the National Hockey League Players' Association would refuse to provide its consent, and kill the plan for 2012-13.

Tortorella to coach in NHL All-Star Game - New York Rangers
John Tortorella clinched a spot on one of the benches in the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game.

How NHL Coaches Utilize Their Players - On the Forecheck
Do NHL head coaches focus on matching their players up against particular opponents, or deploying specialists based on where the next faceoff is taking place?

A Sobering & Inspirational Moment For Hockey Fans - SBNation.com
Ruslan Salei, who played most of his career with the Anaheim Ducks, was one of the 44 that passed away in the tragic Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plan crash this past September. Last night, Salei's son stood on the ice wearing his father's number and received a rousing two-minute ovation from the home crowd.

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BEST NEWS EVER

That the realignment plan was rejected. THANK YOU NHLPA!
I may be in a minority of sorts, but that realignment plan was so unnecessarily radical. Why not just swap a few teams around and keep the same structure for playoffs/divisions?? Bettman and co. are making this so much more political than it needs to be.

Just swap Winnipeg to Noethwest, Vancouver to Pacific, Dallas to Central, and Nashville to Southeast. This plan would help with time-zone and travel concerns (Dallas and Winnipeg, especially) while preserving balanced divisions and standing rivalries, and equality of playoffs.

by lassathrax on Jan 7, 2012 5:22 PM EST reply actions

When you have so many teams wanting to move east (Detroit, Columbus, Nashville), there isn't really an easy solution.

And if you ask me, Fehr is the one making it needlessly political.

Some would say that the divisions were poorly set up from the get go and they were trying to fix the root problem – dividing 30 non-evenly distributed teams into 2 neat conferences.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place

by Ogre39666 on Jan 8, 2012 12:13 AM EST up reply actions

Fehr isn't making it political.

The players were not included in the realignment discussions, and they had concerns about the proposal, and the league did not address the players’ concerns, so the NHLPA rejected the proposal, and the NHL came out with a slanderous and ridiculous press release making claims that the NHLPA was being unreasonable and rejecting a well-received proposal for CBA bargaining purposes, which is a completely unsubstantiated and irresponsible claim.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-jets-realignment

In the article linked above, Ron Hainsey of the Jets and Paul Gaustad of the Sabres shed some light on what actually happened.

by lassathrax on Jan 8, 2012 1:54 AM EST up reply actions

I see your article and raise you

this.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place

by Ogre39666 on Jan 8, 2012 3:11 PM EST up reply actions

That article completely ignores the real major problem with the proposal – unequal chances to make playoffs between uneven divisions. My interpretation from the quotes I have read was that the travel concerns were secondary to the playoff format/uneven conference concerns.

by lassathrax on Jan 8, 2012 6:09 PM EST up reply actions

That would resolve itself when Phoenix moves.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place

by Ogre39666 on Jan 8, 2012 10:23 PM EST up reply actions

How? There would still be 30 teams divided into four conferences…

by lassathrax on Jan 9, 2012 11:58 AM EST up reply actions

You're right, I'm thinking divisions not conferences.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place

by Ogre39666 on Jan 9, 2012 2:02 PM EST up reply actions

I'm surprised that a proposal as radical as it was got through with such little resistance

Any plan should be unanimously approved by the majority of GMs, the league offices, and the majority of the NHLPA. If any of the three parties fails to approve by a 2/3 majority, then they draft a new plan to address the concerns. Instead of doing that, the league wants to just serve its financial interests and sweep the most important issues – playoff format and playoff fairness – under the rug. The proposal came out and didn’t even provide a full plan for how inter-conference playoff match-ups would be determined, and the issue of smaller division teams having better chances of making the playoffs was completely brushed aside by the league. Scheduling concerns and all that are obviously secondary (to me, anyway). I think the fairest way to align the playoffs with the current number of teams is to continue with the two-conference/six-division format, which they have been using with much success. I understand the need for realignment, I just think it can and should happen without affecting the playoff format. If they move Winnipeg to NW, Vancouver to PAC, Dallas to CEN, and Nashville to SE, it would all make sense. No division would span 3 time zones (as PAC and SE do currently), the divisions will remain geographically-sensible (i.e. Montreal and Florida aren’t in the same division), and, most importantly, it keeps the two sides even. The only logical reason they are no doing this is because they know Phoenix is going to move, and if they had to realign for that it would be much more devastating (i.e. Phoenix to NE, Boston to ATL, Pittsburgh to SE, Nashville to CEN, Chicago to NW, and Colorado to PAC, or something like that). Maybe the best possible plan is to find buyers for two new teams so they can have 32 teams in 4 conferences.

by lassathrax on Jan 9, 2012 3:56 PM EST up reply actions