Time is the great healer as the Sabres recognize Dominik Hasek.

Fomer Sabres great Dominik Hasek is back into the fold in Buffalo where he belongs as tonight he will be enshrined in the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame.


Time heals all wounds. Ted Nolan
and Dominik Hasek, March 28, 2014
 

It's been a long time coming, and an incredible 180 for the Buffalo Sabres franchise as a whole.

At the beginning of this season, long-time GM Darcy Regier was still at the helm eventually concluding a 17 yr. run. Sabres interim coach Ted Nolan was coaching in Latvia at the time while Hasek was enjoying the first year of his final retirement, tooling around his native Czech Republic playing pickup games.

The front office turmoil earlier this month in Sabreland is nothing new to this franchise.

Back in 1997, Hasek was becoming legendary, Nolan was winning coach of the year and John Muckler, the GM who put together a group of Sabres that were dubbed "the hardest working team in hockey" had himself a team that won their first division title in 16 years.

Then the bottom fell out.

Still not enthralled with the Matt Moulson trade to Minnesota. On a number of levels.

Last night vs. Vancouver the Sabres were down 2-1 and had a three-on-one break.

Torrey Mitchell was on the left side and had the puck headed into the Nucks' zone. He sent a pass to Cory Conacher who was streaking up the right side.

The lone defenseman was in retreat and there was tons of space. But...

Mitchell's pass was off the mark. By a mile. Not even remotely close.

Has Ted Nolan lost his fire?

On the table, for Ted Nolan's review, is a contract extension given to him from Sabres GM Tim Murray.

The extension has been out there since before the 2014 trade deadline, but Nolan hasn't signed yet.

At first Nolan had mentioned that he would wait until the dust clears from the resignation of his good friend, Pat LaFontaine. LaFontaine, the man who hired Nolan to help turn things around, left the club rather abruptly after 109 days on the job to rejoin the NHL.

It's still unclear why LaFontaine and the Sabres parted ways.

Nolan now says that his attorney's are looking over the offer from Buffalo, and it would seem as if he's in no hurry to sign.

Big Market teams like George McPhee's Capitals need to STFU when in comes to NHL equality

Washington GM George McPhee really needs to stick a sock in it.

Perhaps he was speaking for the likes of the Phoenix's, Florida's, Edmonton's and Nashville's of the league when he brought up the subject of a team like the Buffalo Sabres having an unfair advantage hosting their own scouting combine.

The League has their own which is held in Toronto in late May before the June draft.

According to McPhee, "We originally came up with a combine to streamline that and have all the players go to one place, work out and you get the results. We've improved the combine over the years to make sure we're getting the results we need."

Teams like the Sabres have run their own combines to get a closer look at prospects.

Said Buffalo GM Tim Murray (via TSN,) "I come from a scouting background, I don't want to criticize the combine we have but I want to be able to supplement that with what I want to do. I'm looking for athletes and there are certain tests (that we feel are important) versus strength tests."

Murray adds depth on the wing. A look at his three new forward additions

The Buffalo Sabres acquired three big wingers leading up to and at the 2014 trade deadline--William Carrier, Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers.

All three are power forwards at least 6' tall and weigh in at about 200 lbs. or more.

Hockey's future slots Carrier and Deslauriers as the Nos. 2 and 3 LW behind 5'10" 180 lb. Daniel Catenacci (2011, #77.)

Fasching, the youngest of the three, has the most upside. He's #4 on the right side behind Joel Armia (2011, #16,) who just came over from Finland and has been with Rochester this season, Justin Bailey (2013, #52) and Nicolas Baptiste (2013, #69.)

When all's said and done, this is what the Sabres ended up receiving for Regier's core

(edited 5-19-14 after a report from WGR saying the Blues will not re-sign Ryan Miller)
(edited--NY Islanders GM Garth Snow keeps pick No. 5 in 2014 electing to send the Buffalo Sabres their 2015 1st round pick as part of the Thomas Vanek trade)

La Core is no more.

Over the course of two years and through two GM's that "vaunted" group of Rochester Guys drafted and developed by former GM Darcy Regier has been completely dismantled.

Five core players and eight trades involving either them or a return for them has brought us to a bottom line as to what they were finally worth.

But before the bottom line, we'll take go through all the trades involved.

News and notes as the time change throws us all off

Spring ahead.

I hate losing an hour, but so be it.

And even as the Sabres continue their grasp on the last place spot in the league, they're moving forward.

With all the turmoil, I still find myself locked in, hoping for a victory.