Thanks, Marty

I'm not gonna lie, I've been very down on hockey the past few weeks. I have flashes where I enjoy watching the Sabres but they're brief. I really don't have that much affection for the roster as is and that's been killing hockey for me. I've thought more than once that if the playoffs started tomorrow, I wouldn't watch a single second. I don't have it in me. I am seriously burned out this season.

So thank god for Marty Brodeur. I tuned out of the Sabres game tonight (big sacrifice) so I could watch the end of the Devils game and boy, I am really, really glad I did. I don't know if Martin Broduer is better than Patrick Roy. I don't know if Martin Brodeur is partly a product of the defensive system the Devils played for much of his career. I don't care. I do know that he is an amazingly gifted goalie and a lot of fun to watch. I do know that he's played every single game of his NHL career in one sweater even though he could have gotten more money and more attention elsewhere. I love that. I loved how his teammates seemed really fired up to get the win from the second the puck dropped. I loved that the game ended with him making a save, the puck in his glove right where it belonged. I loved his teammates circling around him and tapping their sticks, one of my very favorite things in hockey. I loved Marty deciding he was cutting off the whole dang net and I loved him trying to do it with a pair of scissors like I have in my desk at school, the kind that barely cuts through a few pieces of paper without getting all messed up. I loved a fanbase that's rightfully been criticized for not being visible coming out in force and sounding like they were having a joyous time all night. I loved New Jersey, of all teams, reminding me that I don't hate hockey, I just hate the Sabres version of it. I'm a little relieved to realize that.

There will be time - plenty of time, I think - to discuss the Sabres, what went wrong last night and this season, who's to blame and how things should be fixed. For tonight I just want to bask in loving hockey again.

Eff It

I've been working for literally HOURS on a post about Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier and the sudden rash of stories about whether they will be/should be fired if the Sabres miss the playoffs. I started, erased and started again at least five times. I looked at the pros and cons of firing both of them, keeping both of them and keeping one and firing of the other but nothing was coming out right. It was long, it was meandering and it didn't actually say anything. All I can tell you is that I don't want Lindy OR Darcy to be fired. So there. Maybe someday I'll actually tell you why. For now, I'm going to bed because hockey is giving me a headache.

:::siiiiiiigh:::

Okay, so I never got around to that "more later." But it's not my fault! I was in the middle of a nice post about how I enjoy going to hockey games even when the Sabres aren't very good and then they went out last night and tried to challenge that idea. (Well done, fellas.) And then I was writing a post about how we're complete toast and while that might be true in some ways - it's never a good sign when a team in the basement looks like it wants to win more than a team scrapping for a playoff spot - it's not technically true. We're only two points out of eighth and only three points behind the Hurricanes and they've played two more games than us. This is absurd. How can a team that plays so badly so often still be in the playoff hunt? I mean, it's not that I'm not grateful but I'm kind of ready for them to be either in or out. This on the fence thing where I have to care about what feels like EVERY OTHER GAME IN THE CONFERENCE is killing me.

So anyway, I got nothing right now. I am, however, the Sunday Conversation this week over at First Time, Long Time. If you need a Heather B. fix in the form of long, meandering thoughts on the Buffalo News, how to fix the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball books and what I'll do with my blog banner when Hank leaves, head on over there and hopefully I'll have something up here tomorrow evening.

Hee!

Hank totally tripped over the blue line. That was adorable, wasn't it?

(More later this evening.)

Let's Talk About Not Hockey

I never listen to the radio in the car. That's what God invented iPod car adapters for. But a few weeks ago I did start listening to Jerry Sullivan's appearances on Howard Simon and Schopp and the Bulldog from WGR's audio vault at some point during the week. I've gotten to the point where I really enjoy his cranky pessimism. (Shut up.)

Wow, today that was a HUGE mistake. Sully's most recent appearance on Schopp could've been entitled "Why It Really, Really Sucks to be a Buffalo Sports Fan." It was brutal. By the time it was over I wanted to leap from the roof of HSBC into oncoming traffic on the Skyway. Awful. Thanks for nothing, Sully. (For the record, pretty much everything that was said was true. Just super depressing.)

Here are five things that have absolutely nothing to do with hockey:

1. I'm finally about to start season 4 of The Wire. It is an amazing show. Really and truly one of the best things I've ever seen on TV. (And I'm not really a lover of HBO - I hate Sex in the City and The Sopranos - so I'm not biased in that regard.) It's pretty brutal sometimes though. Pookie and Schnookie got me started on it and at one point early in the first season I emailed them to tell them a certain character reminded me of one of my former students. "I love this kid!" I could practically hear the long pause via email because well, let's just say that kid did not meet the happiest of endings. I sobbed for days over this character and that's the kind of show it is. The Ookies warned me that season 4 might be a tough one because the main storyline involves a school but I think I'm prepared for it now. We'll see.

2. This weekend we ended up spending time with some of Mark's family. I hadn't seen this particular aunt in a while and when she asked me, "How's your grandmother in Pittsburgh?" I replied with, "Good, she died in October."

3. This joke has been a big hit with my kids the last week or so. I told it to them on Monday and they've told just about everyone in the building. Why is the math book so sad? Because it has so many problems. They're second and third graders, okay?

4. Here are the current top five most listened to songs in my iTunes library: Want To by Sugarland, Beautiful Day by U2, Alone by Heart, Wouldn't It Be Nice by the Beach Boys and S.O.S. by ABBA. Playing right this second is Beautiful Boy by John Lennon.

5. My puppy Marlowe is named after Rick's dog on the 80's show Simon & Simon. I clearly remember watching reruns of it with my mom and grandmother and I had a huge crush on Gerald McRaney who played Rick.

Now in Amazing High Definition!

So a couple of weeks ago we bought a brand new HD TV. We've been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to watch the Sabres in HD. First it took a few days to get the TV delivered, then the team was on the road, then we were at the game, then we were having problems with the Sabres HD channel and on and on. Finally - finally! - tonight we were able to tune in our boys in amazing high definition. The picture was beautiful and so clear that I'm pretty sure I could see shattered shards of my playoff hopes and dreams littering the ice. I hate hockey.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Saturday I blew off hockey (thank god) for a day of baseball and traveled up to Toronto for some World Baseball Classic action. I think the WBC is fairly pointless. It doesn't mean as much to us as I think it does to some of the countries involved and if my team had a player participating who was actually worth worrying about, I probably would be leery about them potentially getting hurt. But Toronto is a hop, skip and jump away, tickets were super reasonable (mine was $39 for the 200 level) and it is a rare opportunity to get to watch a bunch of Major Leaguers at one time. It worked out really well because the US/Canada game started at 2 which made it very feasible for me to drive up Saturday morning, catch the game, eat dinner and drive back home.

The drive was a little slow due to traffic (construction and an accident) and weather (lots of rain and fog). I managed to arrive safely and in plenty of time for the game. I'd never watched a game in a dome and let me tell you, it's pretty weird. My seats were slightly under an overhang so I couldn't see the roof from there but I was hyper aware of the lack of things like sun and clouds and wind. I suppose if I watched games there all the time I'd get used to it but I don't know. I really missed seeing blue sky over the field. The effect was even more noticeable since it was cold, rainy and foggy outside and then eerily perfect inside.

National anthems

I was a fan divided. I am an American so I suppose I should have been cheering for the U.S team. But Jason Bay, the only significant Pirate of the last 15 years or so - he was a legitimate All-Star and not a "well, we gotta get a Pirate in here" All-Star - is Canadian. Also, the Canadian crowd was booing all mentions of Derek Jeter along with Derek Jeter himself and I was more than happy to join in on that. Plus the US did not start Roy Oswalt who I really had my heart set on seeing. Booooooooo!

Hi, Jason! I miss you!

The video board was beautiful as were all the ribbon boards. Everything was very streamlined and simple. My only complaint would be the diamonds you see under the player in the photo above. The result of the at-bat was put up like on a scorecard but it ended up looking kind of busy and overly complicated. It's hard for me to say because I do know how to keep a scorecard but does the average fan know the difference between a K and a backwards K or what something like 3U means?

The other thing that's kind of weird about the stadium is that you're locked into your level. Your ticket tells you what gates to enter the stadium through and then you can't go anywhere else. So there was no wandering down to field level for me.

Sorry, Lee. This is as close as I could get to Your Boy.

I didn't really follow the last WBC so I wasn't sure what kind of crowd or atmosphere to expect but both turned out to be really pretty awesome. I'm sure it helped that the home team was involved but there were over 40,000 people there and they were really into the game. Joey Votto (of the Cincinnati Reds) is from the Toronto area and he got an especially warm welcome every time he came to bat. The crowd around me went absolutely bonkers when he hit a home run and when he drove in a run in the ninth inning.

The only bad part about the crowd was this yahoo in front of me:

There's a special level of hell for fans who use Thunderstix and an extra special level for the person who created them. Thanks for nothing, guy.

When I was taking in the stadium I noticed the image below and immediately wondered who the heck Tom Cheek was and why he wore number 4306. I took the picture partly so I would remember to look it up when I got home.


Tom Cheek was the Blue Jays' radio broadcaster from 1977 to 2004 and is probably most famous for his call of Joe Carter's World Series winning home run in 1993: "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" I've heard the call before many times but never knew who it was. Anyway, Cheek called 4,306 consecutive regular season games and when he was placed on the Blue Jays' Level of Excellence that number was used in lieu of a jersey number. I was just reading something the other day about Dave Zinkoff of the Philadelphia 76ers having a banner in the Wachovia Center. I think it's a very cool idea to honor long-time announcers and I hope the Sabres will consider something like that when Rick Jeanneret retires.

It turned out to be a really fun game to watch. It definitely had the feel of an exhibition game at first but as it went on the players seemed to buckle down and the crowd really got into it. The US led for most of the last few innings but the Canadians had a chance to tie it up and/or take the lead in the ninth and I admit, when Jason Bay stepped to the plate with Canada down by two with a runner on, I was totally pulling for him to be the hero. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and the US won.

On a total side note, you guys, when did Chipper Jones get so old? He was a snot-nosed rookie during the prime baseball years of my youth and suddenly he's an almost 37-year-old veteran? Does not compute.

Anyway, after the game was over I waited for the crowd to clear out a little and then walked down to the front of my section so I could get a good look at the roof. Totally bizarre to see a full field under a roof. When you watch games on TV, I think you kind of forget they're taking place inside.

Oooooooooooooh!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

A very kind bystander noticed me staring at the roof and took a few minutes to explain to me how it all worked. He pointed out where the roof separates and described how all the different sections open. He also described how the stadium opens for football games and where the 50 yard line and end zones are. It was really interesting and considering the stadium is almost 20 years old now - again, where does the time go? - all the technology involved is pretty amazing. If that guy happens to stumble across this, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. It made my day.

After the game I took a little jaunt around the city. As hard as it may be to believe, I'd never been to Toronto before Saturday and it is amazing. I knew it was a big city but it's totally different actually seeing it in person. It's like a smaller, cleaner, safer New York City. I didn't take any pictures because it was getting dark and the weather still wasn't very cooperative but I came home with a wad of brochures and immediately told Mark we were going back ASAP. I can't wait to explore things more fully.

I ended my trip with dinner at Richtree Market, a place that came highly recommended by a friend. Richtree is designed to mimic a European food market with different stations set up throughout the restaurant - pasta, seafood, grill, salad, and lots of crazy mouth-watering desserts just to name a few.

Click on the photos if you want a closer look.

I stole these from the internet and have no idea who took them. Sorry, unnamed photographer!

When you come in, they give you a swipe card, you grab a tray and at each station they just add what you ordered to your card and you pay for everything when you leave. It's much more convenient than having to pay at each station but it does make it pretty easy to lose track of how much you've spent. Happily, the food was really good. I had a sirloin (medium, as all meat should be), made to order in front of me along with sauteed mushrooms and absolutely amazing mashed potatoes. They were extremely lumpy and full of skin (as all mashed potatoes should be). I finished the meal off with a strawberry crepe, topped with chocolate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream although I was extremely tempted by the belgian waffles. It was awesome and the whole atmosphere of the restaurant is very busy and charming. Don't sit on the patio. I don't think you get the full effect out there.

The drive home was a bit of a disaster. It was pouring from Toronto to Buffalo and that made for a very slow drive especially since I can barely see in the dark to begin with. But I made it home in one piece, pretty pleased with my day and anxious to get the real baseball season started.

A couple of notes for the baseball fans among you:

First of all, don't forget to check out my brother Lee's blog, New York Mets Online, for all your Mets needs. He co-writes it with some friends and it's pretty good stuff. Lee, I'll think of you when I'm watching all those Mets games in HD this summer. Heh heh.

Second of all, Lee is starting up a fantasy baseball keeper league. If you're interested in joining in and want more information, email me at the address at the top right hand of this here blog and I'll pass along more info to you.

I Hate Football

I leave Buffalo for less than 24 hours and when I get back, Terrell Owens is a Buffalo Bill. As one of the few people in the city who doesn't particularly care about football, I can't even tell you how tired I am of this already. This is going to be unpleasant.

More this evening about what I was doing this weekend.

Tim Connolly is Good at Hockey

-- You guys, I'm not sure what to make of the team we've seen the last two games. Granted, Phoenix is not exactly a powerhouse but wow, we look completely different than we did in the few games before the deadline. Much more confident and much feistier. Definitely makes you wonder if there is something to the theory that players get tense and stressed around trade deadline time. When we talk about trading players here and there I think it is easy to forget that for them it's not as easy as getting on a plane and flying to a new city. In some cases they're leaving cities and teammates they really love, there's a ton of logistics to think about and it's even more complicated for players with families. Does the family come with you? Do they stay put until the end of the season? If they stay behind how do you help the kids deal with not seeing Dad very much for a while? During one of the intermissions tonight Kevin Sylvester mentioned Shane Doan talking about how hard it was to tell his little boy that his best friend's dad, Derek Morris, had been traded. That kind of thing would never cross my mind but it probably does weigh heavy on the players' minds. Now that that's officially behind them, all the guys who were surrounded by rumors can just relax and play hockey.

-- Tim Connolly was a-mazing tonight. When MSG showed the replay of Andrej Sekera's goal and zeroed in on Timmy looking back at Sekera before the face-off, setting him up in a certain spot and then pulling the puck back to that exact spot? I might have swooned. I'm sure somewhere in the world Bucky Gleason was telling someone that well, sure, ANYONE can score 4 points against PHOENIX. Because he's a doof.

-- Speaking of swooning, most people who have read this blog for any length of time know that there's nothing I love more than good penalty killing and tonight was full of it. I have to admit I really didn't know much about Dominic Moore but quality penalty killers? Are a-okay with me.

-- It'll probably be pretty quiet around her until Monday. I have a busy weekend lined up, some of which I'll probably blog about later. I'll almost surely be missing the Ottawa game tomorrow but hopefully we keep our momentum going and actually beat them. Please?

Further Thoughts on the Trade Deadline...

Just a few thoughts about Bucky Gleason's column today which, shockingly, did not include a single reference to James Wisniewski. (You'll be happy to know he more than made up for it in his chat.) Again, I won't argue too hard with the opinion that re-signing Tim Connolly at his price was a bad move. I can't certainly understand feeling that way. But I do have a few smallish things to address.

In the days leading into the deadline, talk around the league was that Connolly wasn’t interested in returning to the Sabres.

I have to admit to being very curious about this and who exactly was talking. Connolly has never struck me as the kind of guy who would go out of his way to say nice things just to say them. Let's face it. He comes across as a major prick sometimes. But he said a number of times in the past few weeks that he really wanted to stay in Buffalo and he sounded very sincere which is something else he does not exactly specialize in. Yesterday he also sounded genuinely pleased that it worked out here. Granted, he had just signed a nine million dollar contract. I just think it's intersting that the league was evidently talking about this and yet the only place I heard anything like this was from Bucky. In no way am I accusing Bucky of making something up. I'm sure he does have his sources. And lord knows pro athletes occasionally say things they don't actually mean. I just think it's interesting.

Nobody would deny Connolly’s talent, but Roy is a better center and will make $1.5 million less in the next two years.

I've seen Bucky use Roy's contract as a measuring stick a few times now and I think that's a little deceiving. One, Roy's contract was signed two years ago now. The cap has gone up every year since then and when the cap goes up, salaries go up. I think a rising cap makes it very hard to compare salaries from year to year. I'd say that Roy is more talented than Jason Pominville too and Pominville is making more as well, partly because his deal was signed a year later. And two, Roy's contract is an amazing bargain and has been pretty much from day one. He's underpaid and that makes it a little bit of a cheat to use his price as a comparison, I think.

Signing him was their big move on a day in which their rivals in the Eastern Conference playoff race made stronger attempts to get better. The only team that didn’t make a key trade before the deadline was Florida, which kept defenseman Jay Bouwmeester with the idea it was better with him than without him.

I think this is overstating things a lot. All the other teams made moves but I don't know that most of them were particularly strong. Most of them were smallish moves made by teams that are in a good position and just need some tweaking. I don't know that there's a huge difference between Pittsburgh addressing a need for tough wingers by getting Bill Guerin and the Sabres addressing the need for some depth in the middle by getting Dominic Moore.

Essentially, the Sabres traded away a rental free agent who should have been gone two years ago in Ales Kotalik for a rental free agent who will be gone after this season in Dominic Moore.

Darcy Regier danced around the question about the team's plans for Moore beyond this season but I think it's natural to assume part of the reason they made the deal is because they like him and want to get a closer look at him. I'm not saying that means he'll definitely be back here next year. I have no idea how he'll work out and what kind of contract demands he's making. But Bucky doesn't know those things either. His assumption that Moore definitely will not be back next season bugs me.

Henrik Tallinder, who acknowledged a few weeks ago he needed a change in scenery, is still here.

This bugs me too. The only exchange I've seen any record of regarding needing a change of scenery is Jerry Sullivan's column last weekend. In that column, Sully said he asked Hank if a change of scenery can be good for a player and Hank responded with, "Oh, yeah." Sully was interpreting that as him suggesting he could use a change of scenery and I'm okay with that interpretation especially since Sully made it clear that it was his interpretation. But that is decidedly not the same thing as Hank saying, "I need a change of scenery," which is what Bucky is implying here. Unless he's talking about a different conversation, he's veering awfully close to putting words in someone's mouth.

That aside, hello, Hank is still here because Darcy didn't like anything that was offered for him. Pretty simple. I can understand dumping Max for nothing - although I think the alternative of trying to get something out of him first is better if there really were no offers - but Hank is more valuable than that. He's one of the teams best trade assets and if getting good value for him means waiting until the off-season than I think that's what you have to do. We're already looking at a very young defensive corp next season with Chris Butler, Andrej Sekera and Mike Weber. Pull out Teppo Numminen and maybe Jaroslav Spacek and that's even more experience gone. I would feel much more comfortable having another veteran d-man in place before we deal Hank. I mean, really. I think in this area I'll trust the judgment of the people who actually know what all the offers were rather than someone who's listening to rumors.

Tellqvist didn’t cost more than the change in your ashtray. The Sabres didn’t give up any extra draft picks or any warm bodies under the age of 25.

But that's... good, right?

I guess part of my problem with this column is that I'm just not sure what Bucky really wanted the Sabres to do. He's been saying for months that the Sabres aren't good enough to make any kind of playoff run this season and they should focus on being better for the next couple of years. Outside of re-signing Connolly, I don't really see why what they did at the deadline flies in the face of that enough for Bucky to be such a pompous grouch the last couple of days. Is his complaint that they didn't do enough to get better for this season? Or that they didn't do enough to get better for the future? Because if it's the latter, the trade deadline is not the only time you can work on building your team. I would actually argue that it's probably not a very good time to do that if you're not either selling everything off or close enough to winning that you can do some tweaking. Half the teams in the league are still in the playoff hunt right now. There were very few big, future impact deals made. It's during the off-season, once the playoffs are over, that teams are really going to be examining their rosters and deciding what to do with various assets. I would think the off-season is also better suited to someone as deliberate as Darcy. I just don't get the level of outrage and disgust he's shown the last few days in his writing and in his chats.

But again, what do I know? I'm just a blogger.

Happy Day! (Edited)

Happy Henrik Tallinder Is Still a Sabre (For Now) So Heather B. Doesn't Have to Change the Banner on Her Blog (Yet) Day, everybody!

:::throws dimpled confetti:::

Hank's happy for me too.

Well, clearly the Sabres are as relieved as I am that Hank wasn't traded. Take that load of stress off their shoulders and look what happens. Easy wins. I suspect the "Hank is still a Sabre" bump will carry them all the way now.

Okay, seriously... let's discuss some things.

Obviously the big move today was re-signing Tim Connolly. I'm not completely sold on this move - I was perfectly fine with letting him walk at the end of the season - and when I got the text with details my initial reaction was horror. That's... a lot of money for a guy who hasn't played much in the last few years. Even in retrospect I'm okay with the first contract. I think the Sabres had to take a chance on Connolly. He was too dominant in that postseason to not hope he'd put the concussion troubles behind him. But to take that chance again? That seemed excessive.

But you know... I might have come around a little bit at least. Darcy Regier made the point in his press conference that there aren't a lot of short-term contracts in the league any more and he's right about that. Two years is really not that much of a commitment. If it doesn't work out, it's not something that's going to bury the team for the next 5-7 years the way some of the contracts signed by other teams over the last couple of years are going to. And there's no doubt Connolly is super talented. If he does stay reasonably healthy, 4.5 is going to be a bargain. I've seen other people make this point around the internet but where are you going to find another point per game player for that price? You're not going to. It's pretty hard to wrap your brain around the idea of someone who hasn't played that much getting a raise but you know, pro sports don't work the same way as the real world. They never have and they never will. Guys are always getting paid for potential and always getting more than they should. Tim Connolly is hardly a first.

I was going to link to Bucky Gleason's "Sabres likely to trade Connolly" story here but boy, TBN dismantled it. The latter half of the column is untouched but the headline has changed and the section about the Sabres trading Connolly has been replaced with news of the extension. Eager to make us forget that Bucky was wrong, I guess. Normally I wouldn't care. It's trade deadline day. Everyone's wrong about something, usually wrong far more often than right. I do delight a little in Bucky being wrong however because he's so friggin' pompous and self-righteous about everything. I can't wait to read his story tomorrow in which I'm sure he'll mention once again that if he were in charge, the Sabres would've made a trade with Chicago for that d-man he's been obsessing over. I was going to point out that one of the criticisms he makes of Connolly is that he only has 8 assists in the last 9 games which is, by my count, still almost a point per game and about what you'd want from a playmaking center. But hey, what do I know? I'm not a columnist.

I was also disappointed in Jerry Sullivan's blog about Connolly's re-signing. I have no problem with him being down on the signing - like I said, I can definitely see why people think it's crazy - but I think he misfires by accusing Regier of re-signing Connolly in an effort to justify the original contract. That's pretty contradictory of everything we've seen of Regier over the years, I feel. If you want to accuse him of getting overly attached to players sometimes, well, guilty as charged. But I really don't think there's anything more here than him liking Connolly and believing that he's a special talent.

I also don't get Sully's fixation on Connolly's game being all finesse like that's a bad thing. Yeah, the Sabres definitely need some grit and toughness but you have to have skill too. A team full of Paul Gaustads would be hard-working and likable but also (sorry, Goose) not particularly good at hockey. I'd also hesitate a little to call Connolly soft. No, he doesn't fly around the ice smashing players into the boards but he doesn't shy away from contact and he doesn't hesitate to jump into little scrums. That's one thing I've always had to give him credit for. For a guy who's had so much trouble with injuries the last few years, he's not gun shy at all. He doesn't play like a guy afraid to get hurt. So injury prone? Certainly. Soft? Eh. I don't know.

So over the course of the day I've gone from horror and slight disgust to extremely cautious, hesitating hope. It's definitely a high risk, high reward signing.

More on other trade related things tomorrow.

I Don't Know

I emailed Kate after the Islanders game and said, "I really hate that I have a hockey blog right now." I just... I don't even know what to say right now. When I started this blog I decided I really wanted to make a concerted effort to be as optimistic as possible. That's my nature anyway but I really missed that from the Buffalo sports scene. It's not that I think people should be calling into WGR all kittens and roses and it's not that I think sports fans, Buffalo sports fans in particular, don't have plenty to whine about. But part of what I hate about the typical sports discourse is how negative it is. People make sports sound not fun at all and that bums me out sometimes.

But this is not fun at all. Looking on the bright side with this particular team is starting to feel more and more like making excuses. Yes, Thomas Vanek is out right now and that hurts the offense but come one guys, one player should not make that much of a difference. If he does, we were going to be in trouble anyway. I'm just not sure what to make of these guys at all. I totally understand why management felt like they had a great core here. I didn't have a problem with any of the contracts signed in the last year or so not even Jochen Hecht's, as brutal as it looks right now. I know problems are compounded by Hecht going down the crapper and Jason Pominville struggling almost as badly. But it's beginning to look like this is a talented group of players who mostly like each other who are just not meshing on the ice. They look like they desperately need a shake-up of some kind. I don't know.

I've been thinking a lot about the trade deadline and I've been reading everyone's opinions on what the Sabres need to do and honestly, I have no idea where I stand. Part of me wants to blow the whole thing up. Trade a core player, one of the tight-knit circle, and rock the room a little. Make some noise and let everyone know you realize this roster as is isn't going to do the trick.

But the other part of me wants them to just add a couple of nice complements and get through the season. I think Kevin's right that a lot of the bigger deals are going to go down in the off-season when teams are evaluating their financial standing for the next year or two and possibly shedding salary and in that case, teams who have been cautious are more likely to benefit because they'll have room to add salary and bodies. Even someone as optimistic as me has to admit that this team doesn't have it. It doesn't have that spark or fire that allows an underdog to fight its way through the long haul of the NHL postseason. That one big trade isn't going to turn this season around so hoping for that one big trade is probably futile. The midseason trade deadline is really more about real contenders adding a couple of weapons and real dud teams selling off everything they can to build for the future and the Sabres find themselves firmly in the middle.

I don't know. I really don't.