Buffalo Saber's future

[PalmTree]

The NHL's salary cap is 44 Million a year and if the Saber's only
make 32 or 33 Million a year, How long can they compete with the larger market teams ? I believe the Saber's payroll was around 28 million last year,
All these people protesting the Saber's new Logo should be greatful they
got a major league team in Buffalo for now ! Soon as Ralph dies, or sooner the Bills are gone too!

[BigGuy]

What's a Saber?

[300miles]

What's a Saber?

PalmTree is just another Troll, so don't take the bait. (probably Jennifer under a new username.)

She's posting negative comments on all the WNY boards to piss people off.

[BigGuy]

OK, but I still can't believe anyone from WNY who takes the time to post about a team can't spell its' name.

So what's a Saber?

[300miles]

yeah I know... but pathetic misspellings are her trademark.

We think she's really a 17 year old highschool dropout in Cheektowaga somewhere, pretending to be livin-large someplace warm...

She always posts some link to a local news site and pretends to be "shocked" about the "depressing news". Half the time she doesn't even read the article she links to and it turns out to be something entirely different.

she does the same thing on other WNY sites...

[Dino330]

The financial and competitive future of the Buffalo Sabres is quite healthy and will be for a long time.

The NHL's salary cap is 44 Million a year and if the Saber's only
make 32 or 33 Million a year, How long can they compete with the larger market teams ?

Well, Darcy Regier doesn't throw money away at overpriced free agents. He picks and chooses who to sign. As sad as I was to see Jay McKee go, he is not worth $4 million a year. McKee was replaced by Yaroslav Spacek, an offensive defenseman. They already have their top defensive pair of Tallinder and Lydman.

And since it slipped your mind, the Sabres seemed pretty competitive with the Big Market teams last year, since they were twenty minutes away from the Stanley Cup finals.

The Sabres aren't going anywhere besides all the way to a Cup championship.

[crlachepinochet]

Yes, the playing field isn't perfectly equal just because of the salary cap, but it's a pretty fair fight. Keep in mind that before the salary cap, the Rangers were pushing $70M and were getting beat by $20-$25M teams. Money isn't everything.

[Trolls_r_us]

I like the Sabres future outlook

the team has createda buzz which should lead to much more revenue earlier on in the season this year (meaning more total revenues)

not to mention the merchandise sales when people rush out to OWN their very own mullet jersey!

seriously though, when they started to win it was impossible to get a ticket... as long as they win or or at least competitive, the next generation of fans will be getting hooked and going to games

that means a LOT to the future

[DR_GONZO]

The price to pay for an NHL team will go up every year. Fans want the Sabres to stay competitive but are the fans willing pay more for tickets to stay competitive? It's great to have a salary cap but if you can't afford that salary cap, business won't be so great. Two choices can be made. Foot the bill or the team seeks profit elsewhere. Professional sports, you either love them or hate them.

[WNYresident]

I dont think it's always about profits. I mean you can't lose your pants every year either though.. If I had enough money to own the sabres I wouldn't base where the team play soley on the maximum amount I could make. It would be ran to be profitable but not to the point of moving the team to be "more" profitable. Greed when in moderation is a good thing.. Anything in moderation is fine.

Oh and if I owned the team they would have it would be the original blue/gold logo not that barney rubble hairdo look type logo.

[ChevyRag]

I think the future looks GOOD - and I admit I was the first one ready to crucify D'Arcy last off-season...but watching the "new NHL" we're ahead of most of the league

and I'm even happy they never signed Dumont for that arbitration dough...he stood out like a sore thumb last playoffs (and I don't care about his 2nd assist stats) - he was brutal...sure we lost him for nothing - but he was a throw in on the Gilmour deal

damn - D'arcy was in on that too

[averagejoe]

Hats off to Darcy for the development of young talent to the new game...Compare his work to a team like Pittsburgh who went and signed big name "Old" NHL guys who you could see were going to have difficulty making the transition.
The arbitration rulings and minor loss of personnel will be easily overlooked with a strong team game that was developed and glorified with the interchangable Rochester players that popped in and out unnoticably.
As far as losing money...paper losses, don't lose sleep over a possible shrinkage in Big Tom's wallet...he is doing okay.

[DR_GONZO]

I'm not sold on Darcy yet. Although the lockout created uncertainty regarding future spending on players, I thought for sure the Sabres were in the process of building a fast, young, team before the actual non-season. While contractual issues were of concern for the 'new NHL'(today's NHL), I thought he would lockup several players, that year before the lockout, that are no longer with the team. At the time he gambled future contracts on the post-lockout and we'll see how it ends up this coming season. Remember these players were barely on the radar screen to other teams before the non-season.(Most clubs were set on signing the 'big name' players in an all out bidding war, which led to the financial stress the NHL choked on) That never happened(signing before the non-season) and somehow the league forgot to tell the arbitrators, after this past season, this was supposed to be a new era, minus the overblown rewarded contracts.

Another issue that leaves me scratching my head, is what this team did to it's scouting department. They pretty much ripped it apart to save money. This is the same group of talented scouting gurus who built this team up to almost a championship club. Why would you destroy that?

All in all, we shall see what the future holds for this new Sabres' era.

[Dino330]

DUMONT SIGNS WITH PREDATORS

One of few remaining big-name free agents has found a new home.

Despite reports of interest from the Detroit Red Wings, unrestricted free-agent winger J.P. Dumont signed with the Nashville Predators, the team announced Tuesday.

The two sides agreed to a two-year contract that will pay Dumont $2 million this season and $2.5 million over the following campaign.

Dumont hit the open market in early August after the Buffalo Sabres passed on an arbitration ruling that awarded him a one-year contract worth $2.9 million.

In four of the past five NHL seasons with the Sabres, Dumont, 28, scored at least 20 goals. He had 20 goals and 20 assists in 54 games last season. He missed 10 weeks of the 2005-06 season after undergoing sports hernia surgery.

Adios JP

[averagejoe]

JP Dumont is a class guy who will be missed on and off the rink. Most impressed with his committment to the community. Even after the realization that he would not be signed by Buffalo, JP kept several charity appearances and obligations. Having worked with several organizations for years throughout WNY, it has not been unlikely for pro athletes to abandon their good PR as soon as there is nothing in it for them. JP is a man with class and character and will be missed.