Brendan, I was at the 14-2 game against Washington-I stood for the game in standing room, which was at the top of the balcony in the old Aud.

You only have to go back to Punch Imlach, if you wonder why Toronto and Buffalo don’t get along. The Leafs fired Punch after he lead the Leafs to a bunch of Stanley Cups. Punch came to Buffalo and built the Sabres using some old Leafs like Dick Duff, Donny Marshall and later, Tim Horton. A few weeks into their first season , the Sabres went into Toronto and beat the Leafs 7-3. Duff and Marshall both scored goals, Punch was pretty happy. He rubbed it right back in Stanford Smythe’s face. The LEafs haven’t smelled the Cup since.

Old time hockey

Pondscum, Smitty, and World Be Free, I definitely think that if the Thrashers make any moves in free agency, it will be the Tier II variety. If a Tier I player is added, my guess is … it will be via trade. But unfortunately, it’ll probably be some salary dump by the trading team. Which makes me nervous. The other team grabs a prospect, like sayyy, PAVELEC, and we get a “Briere/Gomez/Redden” type. I’d rather keep Pavelec, even if his agent is “whiny.”

Truthfully, I’d be far happier if the Thrashers just “handled its business” with the personnel they’ve got. Proactively, they can approach Bryan Little and Ondrej Pavelec, on the RFA side. On the proactive UFA side, there’s obviously Kovalchuk, but there’s also Kozlov. A one-year proactive deal with Kozzie might not be bad. Then there’s the other pending RFA’s, like Slater, Armstrong, Lehtonen and Valabik. And category VI guys, too, like Crabb and Oysterick.

Question: If you were a team looking to make a salary dump to Atlanta, what prospect would you ask for? My guesses are Pavelec, Oysterick, B. Sterling and Valabik. Keep in mind, the other team’s goal is primarily just to shed salary. They’re not going to especially be picky about the return. In this regard, could someone like Valabik be part of a package? I know all the speculation is Pavelec or Lehtonen, just b/c Waddell hinted that a goalie might be traded. But Valabik is a former 1st rounder. In theory, that’s supposed to bring a higher caliber “salary dump” player to Atlanta. For example, which of these overpaid players would you want more: Briere, Gomez, B. Richards, S. Horcoff, C. Drury, B. Campbell, W. Redden, D. Penner, J. Finger? Isn’t there a bit of a pecking order there, in terms of just how badly overpaid the player might be?

My fear, previously dodged successfully, was that Atlanta would go chase Wade Redden and pay him $6.5 million or more. Instead, we wound up with Ron Hainsey. Well, that nightmare returns if Redden winds up here, while Valabik goes elsewhere. See what I mean?

Unfortunately, “stupid is as stupid does.” I’ve always said it, “in an era of salary cap, decision-making is magnified. It’s difficult to overcome bad decisions.”

Happy Father’s Day!

Very good points Brendan! But you know some will say when Kovy resigns that we gave him to much. Oh well.

And I’d LOVE to see Scuderi in a Thrashers uniform,very underrated defender who’d look good beside Bogo.

I look past tier 1 free agents to tier 2, guys like Antropov, Gill and Scuderi.

ESPN has us announcing Dudley’s addition tomorrow.

Hokie-Sabres and Rochester were together since 1979. The Sabres actually owned the Americans for several season. They sold the Amerks to a Rochester-based group a few years ago. From there, the team went downhill financially, so bad that when Sabres ownership looked to buy the team back 2 years ago they had to walk away. So the decision to break the Buffalo/Rochester’ relationship was actually Rochester’s. They decided to bring in Florida a few years ago, to Buffalo’s disappointment.

I am glad to have Cunneyworth with the Thrashers. We have a very underrated coaching staff.