Rather jealous of Buffalo (never thought I'd say that)

[The Bob Essensa Xperience]

To have an owner who has had season tickets for 35 years before buying the team, cried when introduced to your teams' legends, and approaches it as "not about making money - if I want to make money, I'll go drill another well. We're about winning the Stanley Cup." - and THEN said 28 years ago "If I ever have more than two nickels to my name, I'm going to buy the Buffalo Sabres one day." - wow.

Dave Westphal of Buffalo said, "I'm trying to think of what we did to deserve this. ... Maybe it's all the suffering [we've gone through]."

"From today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win the Stanley Cup."
Buffalo is losing their minds over Terry Pegula, and rightfully so:

[youtube][/youtube]

Crying when talking about Gilbert Perrault:
[youtube][/youtube]

Article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6147411

[cprice12]

It all sounds great for them...and it's cool a long term, die hard, real fan had the opportunity to buy his team.
I heard him on XM radio and he said there will not be a salary cap on operating expenditures such as scouting and player development. That's awesome. We'll see what they do at the deadline and in the offseason. They'll be fun to watch develop.

However...
In the past, lots of teams threw all kinds of money into their team and they didn't win the cup.
Money isn't always the key to the problem.
You need money, but you also need the right players, and quite often, the "right players" are hard to come by, mainly because you don't know who the right players are until they are actually on your team. Oh yeah you also need a lot of luck to win a cup. You gotta stay relatively healthy and you have to get a lot of good bounces in the playoffs. Almost every 7 game series could have went the other way with a little luck for the losing team. Hell, if just a sliver of luck was on our side in '97, the Wings wouldn't have beat us in 2OT and we'd have went to the Conf. Finals instead. A little luck sees Corson's shot go in instead of hitting the post in OT and we're moving on instead of them.

But yeah, I too am jealous of Buffalo's fans now.

If I had money to burn on a professional team, yeah, I'd buy the Blues and money wouldn't be an object. Hell, they are up for sale every 5 years so I wouldn't have to wait long to buy them.

[ohio BLUES]

Checketts doesn't have the history with the Blues, of course, but he said the same stuff after he got the team from Bill Laurie. We made the playoffs once and were swept, are currently quite near the cap floor with the 4th cheapest payroll, are currently playoff longshots and can't spend any more salary because his major investor has seen enough. Um, yay!

[thedoc]

We won't be a cup contender until Diamond Dave is gone. It's like me buying dmiles wife implants and then not getting to play with them. People with enough money to buy a hockey team don't want to let someone else play with it.

[theohall]

We won't be a cup contender until Diamond Dave is gone. It's like me buying dmiles wife implants and then not getting to play with them. People with enough money to buy a hockey team don't want to let someone else play with it.

That's like saying the Blues would never be within 1 goal of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals under Harry Ornest's ownership.

[ohio BLUES]

We won't be a cup contender until Diamond Dave is gone. It's like me buying dmiles wife implants and then not getting to play with them. People with enough money to buy a hockey team don't want to let someone else play with it.

That's like saying the Blues would never be within 1 goal of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals under Harry Ornest's ownership.

Which... would be true. We were within 1 goal of a Game 7 overtime, however.

[theohall]

We won't be a cup contender until Diamond Dave is gone. It's like me buying dmiles wife implants and then not getting to play with them. People with enough money to buy a hockey team don't want to let someone else play with it.

That's like saying the Blues would never be within 1 goal of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals under Harry Ornest's ownership.

Which... would be true. We were within 1 goal of a Game 7 overtime, however.

nitpicking. I'm using the Tennessee Titans would have won the Super Bowl argument without "The Tackle."

(Actually - point taken)

[cprice12]

Checketts doesn't have the history with the Blues, of course, but he said the same stuff after he got the team from Bill Laurie. We made the playoffs once and were swept, are currently quite near the cap floor with the 4th cheapest payroll, are currently playoff longshots and can't spend any more salary because his major investor has seen enough. Um, yay!

Checketts said his goal was to win a cup (duh)...but he never said anything about spending whatever it takes to win and not caring if the team makes a profit or not.

This is what sucks about ownership "groups". When you have a dozen people all as part-owners, they are businessmen whose bottom line is to turn a profit, not win a cup. When it comes time to sign big name players, everyone has to sign off on it if it raises the self-imposed salary cap (which is a joke btw...you aren't going to win a cup with a payroll at the cap floor...it's just not going to happen).

Sucks.

[STLADOGG]

We are selling out every game...this should translate into a Brad Richards or Parise right? no its another mansion for a owner.

[The Bob Essensa Xperience]

This is what sucks about ownership "groups". When you have a dozen people all as part-owners, they are businessmen whose bottom line is to turn a profit, not win a cup. When it comes time to sign big name players, everyone has to sign off on it if it raises the self-imposed salary cap (which is a joke btw...you aren't going to win a cup with a payroll at the cap floor...it's just not going to happen).

Sucks.

That's exactly it - I'm sure Checketts would like to win a cup - but he didn't cry on meeting Bernie, or Brett Hull. He didn't sit in the seats for 30 years before getting enough money to buy the team. He came in and saw a chance to purchase a team, and put together a group to make it happen.

That said, I think he, personally, is very interested in winning (though members of his group probably aren't real concerned compared to profits), and I like that he built a team of knowledgeable people like JD and Armstrong - He seems to get the philosophy of building from within, and keeping the core.

I think he is the best possible carpet-bagging profit-driven type owner - but he will always be beholden to turning a profit from external pressure, and that's where I envy teams with a true fan that also has enough money to buy the team. I think Buffalo, by virtue of their ownership, has a much clearer path to an eventual championship than others. Not that "wanting it" is enough - I'm sure Al Davis wants Lombardi each year, he's just real dumb in how he applies that. But wanting it, being smart and listening to the right people, can definitely make a difference in a team's perennial chances.

I came not to bury Checketts, but to praise Pegula. All the same, it'd be nice to have an owner who had always dreamed of owning this particular team,

[glen a richter]

I think it all boils down to some people just sucking as fans, just sayin'.

[The Bob Essensa Xperience]

I post like once a year. Usually toward playoff time. #ISUCKASAFAN

[fargoblues]

That's exactly it - I'm sure Checketts would like to win a cup - but he didn't cry on meeting Bernie

Yes, but did he buy some cabinets?

I'll bet he did, and I'll further bet Bernie sold him the extended warranty, which is why Bernie gets to be on the bench during home games.

[STLADOGG]

That's exactly it - I'm sure Checketts would like to win a cup - but he didn't cry on meeting Bernie

Yes, but did he buy some cabinets?

I'll bet he did, and I'll further bet Bernie sold him the extended warranty, which is why Bernie gets to be on the bench during home games.

Hahaha extended warranty...good shit.

[xbleed83bluex]

Yes, Buffalo has a cool new owner, but look at the brightside, Buffalo is just now starting their rebuilding process, while ours has been in the works since 2005. So in theory we're closer to winning a cup.

[ComradeT]

Oh how cool would it be if the Blues got a Russian billionaire who would throw as many oil dollars at the team as it needed... I don't think we would even object to it being called the St. Louis Army Club

[glen a richter]

Oh how cool would it be if the Blues got a Russian billionaire who would throw as many oil dollars at the team as it needed... I don't think we would even object to it being called the St. Louis Army Club

The only Russian billionaires involving themselves in American pro sports are, for some reason, more interested in shitty basketball teams.

[ComradeT]

Oh how cool would it be if the Blues got a Russian billionaire who would throw as many oil dollars at the team as it needed... I don't think we would even object to it being called the St. Louis Army Club

The only Russian billionaires involving themselves in American pro sports are, for some reason, more interested in shitty basketball teams.

Well, he is a basketball fan, so that's explainable. Not sure why he bought the Nets but them being shitty may have had something to do with an initial investment being tolerable. So far, Russians have been mostly involved in soccer worldwide. Also, their lack of interest in US hockey may be explained by KHL's relative strength as compared to NHL.

But a girl can dream...

[hullisgod]

I feel sorry for anyone who has to live in Buffalo, I cant see players WANTING to play there EVER. Guess you never know though!

With that being said, it would be cool to have an owner who seems so desperate to win.