On Realism and the Fickle Fan Base

I'm hearing a lot of "Hockey Heaven is a lie," "Terry Pegula was scared off by the Rangers, what the hell!?" and "I was going to come back to watching hockey, but now I'm not because they gave up on Richards" from fans on WGR550.com and in other places.

It is not the defeatist in me talking when I say this; The Sabres weren't going to get Brad Richards. I know we wanted him and that anything seemed possible. And it still is. But not every player wants to come to Buffalo. Some people want a big city. Some people really want to play with their favorite coach or want a ridiculous amount of money that is going to make it impossible to make the rest of the team function without gutting it.

And that's okay. If Richards doesn't want to be here and wants a ton more money than is realistic, Toronto, Los Angeles, Calgary and (the team I bet he will end up with) New York can have him. And if you have any concerns about us second guessing ourselves and whether he is going to be overpaid, wait until you see the contract that Tim Connolly will get signed to not long after the Richards deal is official.

But that is all okay. If we go to war with this team (lines below) we're much better than we were last season if we can bring it together at all. We should have beaten Philadelphia last year and we could have beaten Washington. Now we've greatly upgraded our defense and traded out Connolly for Ville Leino.Despite what Darcy Regier has said about being done, I don't believe it. I think it's a smoke screen so that we don't overpay for another center.

And if it's not, well, it's year one of a three year plan. I'm not settling. I'm looking at what's been done and think that we have a team that's a Cup contender (though not necessarily a Cup favorite yet, need to see what what the team looks like on the ice before I go that far). I believe, as I did during the time leading up to the Regehr trade, that defense was far and away the best place to put our money (rather than focus on an overpriced center). We have one of the top goaltenders in the league and we've made our defense better by an order of magnitude. We'll be fine.

No wonder Ryan Miller goes into hiding in the off season. After all the good stuff we said about our town in the lead up and the wooing of Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff, we've become hyper-negative. So everyone, take a breath, and quit your bitching. We've improved the team a lot, and if you think failing to overpay Brad Richards means that the team isn't doing all they said, you're barking mad.

But, if you want to get off the bandwagon now, just remember that we're not going to let you back on just because Darcy made a move, and we sure as hell don't want you at the Party in the Plaza or the eventual parade where we ask which gawky white guy is going to rap about winning the Stanley Cup.

What A Long, Strange Trade It's Been

Fweh. It sounds like we're all set, and I could wake up in the morning and find it all reversed, but, let's go with what we're looking at now.

According to his agent, Robyn Regehr has waved his No Movement Clause to come to Buffalo. TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that the deal hasn't been processed by the league (and still may not, see Ryan Smyth's various deals that haven't happened yet) but confirms the trade details originally broken by Joe Pinzone at Buffalo Wins is as follows:

Buffalo Receives: Regehr and Ales Kotalik
Calgary Receives: Chris Butler, Paul Byron and the 2012 2nd Round Pick  

If the trade holds up, this seems like an absolute steal for the Sabres.

• I love getting Regehr. Calgary fans are distraught over how much they're going to miss the man called "The Tunnel of Death" (Best Nickname for a Sabres player at least since "The Cookie Monster" but certainly since "Alexander the Great"). This is the kind of lockdown defenseman that we need and will be a great guy to help improve our guys defensively and will help brutalize top lines with Tyler Myers. Also, putting a veteran in that spot who is going to play that physical game will free up Myers offensively. 
• Kotalik's contract is there for Flames cap relief and the Sabres can easily move that down to Rochester, or with more difficulty (per Terry Pegula's focus on players first) either send him to the Czech Republic or buy him out and take a million dollar shot. And, who knows. There's a what if factor; what if he comes back here, gets a talk from Lindy and decides to tell all his doubters to back off by making a place for himself on this team
• Butler hurts a little, but not as much as (realistically) any of our other D-men. Going in, Myers was the only guy I wasn't willing to trade. Sekera has the most promise (did you see him in the Olympics outplaying the Chara?) but doesn't always show it. Gragnani blew us away in the playoffs. Butler or Weber going is something I would have been fine with... especially for Regehr. While they play different games, I see them as a coin-flip value wise. 
• Byron is a prospect with eight careers NHL games and is put together with the 2nd rounder. He's not Luke Adam. He's... just a prospect, and not the top prospect (just like Butler isn't the top prospect or the top D prospect). In exchange we get a guy like Regehr? I'm on board.

Now.... like I said, I could wake up tomorrow and this could be blown up, but as of right now, I'm going to go to sleep pleased with what's probably going to happen here. And we'll see you in the morning!

<> Sports Man's Afterthoughts <>

• While I really like the idea of Drew Stafford being on hand to talk to new players, having him interview our new Finish forward Joel Armia who can't quite speak English was almost painful to watch.
• I understand that there were legal issues with using the Jets logo on day one. I'm really hoping it's fixed for tomorrow. The silver and black NHL sweater is atrocious. #missestheblackandorange
• Holy crap there were lots of other trades today. More on them tomorrow but I find the original Soupy Campbell going to Florida interesting and wonder how long that team is for South Florida.

TSN Reports Flames D Robyn Regehr asked to waive no-move clause to come to Buffalo

Original Article

So. Robyn Regehr.

Regehr is a solid defender. His numbers the last two years are almost identical; 2G 15A 17P +2 (the only difference is that he played 81 games in 09/10 and 79 last season). He feels like a better version of Shaone Morrisonn. To me he feels like a good anchor defenseman, a strong, tough player who's numbers (if not his style) are very comparable to former Sabre Henrik Tallinder.

I am going to be a very happy fan/armchair analyst if this is true. Kevin Bieksa is going to be the big fish this year when it comes to defensemen, and his cost will likely be well north of the 4.05 Million that we'd be playing Regehr for the next two years. It's also worth noting, looking at the numbers, that Bieksa and Regehr's playoff numbers are almost identical in the cup years. Now, it's fair to say that Regehr isn't the guy he was in 2004, offensively speaking. But, I'm excited about the possibility of a Myers/Regehr top, lockdown defensive pairing.

The only questions are, will he waive his no-move clause and what's the cost? If it's Boyes, I'm happy. If it's a prospect and a pick I'm probably still happy, but I really want to know who that prospect is first.

We certainly will see.