Most Sabres fans are interested in seeing what the team is
going to do to improve on the ice through player acquisitions, but I’m also intrigued by how Darcy Regier is going build up his scouting staff again. Former personnel executives such as Terry Martin, Larry Carriere and Don Luce all left the organization under the Golisano regime, and this left a gaping hole of knowledge in the Sabres’ front office.
The more bright minds within a hockey department, the more likely a team will perform better, and I hope Regier and Terry Pegula will make some smart decisions over the summer as to who can come in and help Buffalo win a Stanley Cup.
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The Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg, and I say good riddance. The city of Atlanta has now proven twice that they can’t support an NHL team (with the Flames in the 70s being the first team) and they shouldn’t get another one again. “Hot-lanta” is a Braves and Falcons town, and not hockey territory.
Everyone says the main reason why more people didn’t support the Thrashers is because they weren’t committed to winning. I agree with this, but the other reason why is because the Thrashers did a terrible job of attracting younger fans. When you’re an expansion team in the South, the first demographic you target is the Northern transplants because of two reasons:
1.They used to be fans of other NHL teams, and 2. They will support the team from the beginning, and will be patient throughout the building process of the organization. After a while, though, the team needs to start attracting a younger crowd, and the only way to do this is by winning games and keeping star players.
The Thrashers could do neither, making the playoffs only once in their history (2007) and continually casting off stars such as Dany Heatley, Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk. No one wants to support a team who doesn’t care about winning, and this led to the demise of their franchise.
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Called it back in April, and I still see the Canucks beating Boston in six games. Boston does have the required talent, grit and goaltending to upset Vancouver, but I think their special teams will do them in. It’s flabbergasting to try to figure out why Boston can’t score with the man-advantage, especially after bringing in Tomas Kaberle at the deadline.