fire bucky gleason, 2011 edition

I know it's been a while, and maybe it's because the Sabres lost in pretty spectacularly awful style tonight and I needed something to lighten the mood, but I figure we were long overdue to demonstrate, once again, why Bucky Gleason needs to be fired.

A lot's happened in the last many months where we've gone dormant. But, much like death and taxes, if there is one thing that can be reliably counted on it's Bucky Gleason belaboring the same damn tired narrative. Over and over.

Last week, it was Tim Kennedy's turn. Again.

Some important facts to keep in mind: the Sabres offered Tim Kennedy a one-year deal worth between $800,000-$900,000. Questions remain as to whether it was one-way or two-way. Kennedy went to arbitration, and the arbitrator awarded Kennedy a million dollar deal. The Sabres deemed that too much money and bought him out. As a result, the Sabres took a $333,333.33 cap hit this year, and paid Kennedy $166,666.67 both this year and next. Kennedy signed with the Rangers for $550,000 (a/k/a "the league minimum") and promptly failed to make it out of training camp. Now, he and his agent again insisted on a one-way deal, meaning he'd have to go through re-entry waivers. Instead, the Rangers ultimately traded Kennedy to the Panthers. Or, more accurately, the Hartford AHL team traded Kennedy to Rochester. Now, I think we all know who gets the blame...

Tim Kennedy made his season debut last week, returning to the NHL with the Florida Panthers after a seven-month exile that included five teams, three organizations and an equipment bag full of heartache. Yes, hockey can be a cold, unsentimental business riddled with cruel and unusual punishment.

That's right. It wasn't until March that Tim Kennedy finally made it back to the NHL. For the Panthers. Who are playing out the string. Because they really stink. I mean really.

Key word: business.

I'll give you one guess, and only one guess, as to who in this "business" is allowed to act like businesspersons.

The South Buffalo native earned a Ph.D in hockey business -- and monkey business -- plaschke-nanigans tag, and it's only the second full paragraph after being thrown on his keister by the Sabres last summer. He woke up from the nightmare in the AHL, where he became a prisoner of his ability, his $550,000 contract with the Rangers and the NHL's waiver rules.

Not really a prisoner of his ability. If his ability warranted it, Kennedy would never have left the NHL.

"I could be doing something else with less stress," Kennedy joked last week by telephone from South Florida. "I get paid to do something I love. I've wanted this for my whole life. If you can work through the adversity, you'll be so much better for it. Things could be much worse. There are people out there who are having a hard time getting jobs. I'm playing hockey. For people like me to [complain] is just stupid."

Pretty sensible approach if you ask me. Especially because, as it turns out, he's not particularly good at the game of hockey. So, getting paid to do it is a pretty sweet deal for him.

To review, Kennedy had 10 goals and 26 points last season with the Sabres, he played in 78 games, a stat curiously left out evolved into a dependable two-way player "two-way player" is code for "not really good at playing hockey, but still pretty good at getting in the way of other players who are" and was among their better forwards in the first round of the postseason against Boston. I would also like to point out, thanks in part to Kennedy's stellar "two-way" play, the Sabres blew leads in three of the four playoff games they lost, more than once blowing a two goal lead He was awarded $1 million in arbitration last summer after negotiations broke down. Rather than accept the contract, the Sabres became the first team in history to buy out a player and waive him after arbitration.

"Negotiations broke down" here is code for "a player and his agent figured they had their negotiating counterpart cornered because everybody knew Kennedy would get a mil in arbitration so they insisted on things like a one-way deal."

Kennedy, 24, could have, and perhaps should have, accepted less money and avoided arbitration. But I'll go to my grave -- don't get any ideas -- believing the move by the former regime was about politics and power, not hockey, and played a role in the Sabres' slow start this season. Forget about his hometown roots. They lost a good player who could have helped this season and beyond.

Prove this. Kennedy may have been a developing player with some potential, but 26 points in 78 games does not qualify as "good." Some rumors indicated that Kennedy was waived to make room for Nathan Gerbe. Who, skating on the same crappy checking line Kennedy drew, in 54 games has 11 goals and 24 points. Gerbe's deal is also cheap. Or perhaps Kennedy was waived to make room for Tyler Ennis. Who has 19 goals and 45 points in 72 games. Either way, this move by the "former regime" seems to be pretty smart as it relates to, you know, "hockey."

It was precisely the kind of decision that would not be made under new owner Terry Pegula.

Prove this.

The buyout ultimately will cost the Sabres more money, too. They're paying Kennedy $166,666 this season and next, plus the salary of the player who replaced him on the roster. No matter how it's sliced, it will exceed $1 million per season.

Actually, Kennedy's waiver means Cody McCormick, who was also "one of Buffalo's better forwards in the playoff series against Boston," is playing full-time in the NHL this year. His contract is listed on capgeek as $500,000. So, you know, his deal and Kennedy's payment is $666,666 and costs only $833,333 on the salary cap. That's less than a million. It's worth mentioning that McCormick is 8-11-19 this year in 71 games, which is not far off Kennedy's pace (.27 PPG to .33, respectively). Is he the specific player who replaced Kennedy? No. No one is. But it looks like the Sabres picked three guys out of four for the their roster. Instead of paying $2.725 million on Kennedy/Ennis/Gerbe, the Sabres are paying less than $2.4 million for Ennis/Gerbe/McCormick/Kennedy buy-out. Fun with math! Also, I wonder if not blowing a full million in guaranteed money to a borderline NHL player played any part in the team's decision to trade for actual surefire NHL player Brad Boyes at the deadline.

"Hockey isn't given; you have to earn it," Kennedy said. "Last year, it was almost a perfect year. I made my hometown team, had a pretty good year, we had a good team, I play in the world championships, come home and have a good summer. Everything was going good. And then, everything just went bad overnight."

This may have actually been said by Kennedy. Or made up by Bucky. Both are equally likely.

Kennedy signed with the Rangers and likely would have spent the season in New York if an injury to Chris Drury occurred one day earlier.

Completely unsubstantiated. And this does not change the fact that Tim Kennedy was still not one of the twenty best skaters at Rangers camp. This includes Chris Drury, who in 23 games this year netted a total of four points. Tim Kennedy was deemed worse than that.

Instead, with teams having their rosters set after training camp, he had cleared waivers. Which also means nobody else wanted to pick his hockey ability as a good player for the LEAGUE MINIMUM. He needed a few weeks to get his head straight, but he rediscovered his game and regained his confidence in AHL Hartford.

He had 12 goals and 42 points in 53 games with Hartford, respectable numbers considering he played through a groin injury. The Rangers feared he would have been claimed on re-entry waivers at half price if they tried to bring him back when injuries piled up during the season. Instead, they promoted players with two-way contracts.

So, let me get this straight. If Tim Kennedy had sucked it up and taken a two-way deal, he would've played in the NHL sooner than March? So, maybe he and his agent blew it by insisting with not one, but two teams that he get a one-way deal? Maybe?

Kennedy was caught in a perfect storm.

"I was just stuck," he said. "It's tough because the Rangers had a lot of guys get hurt this year, and people are asking, 'How come you're not going up?'

Correct answer: "Because I got lousy advice from my agent, gambled on a one-way contract, and lost."

"...It gets old and it gets frustrating. I know what's going on, but [other] people don't know. It's hard to explain to people that I wasn't even an option because of my contract."

Fortunately for Kennedy, the Rangers needed a defenseman near the trade deadline and sent him and a third-round pick to Florida for Bryan McCabe. Kennedy played three games in Rochester and was recalled last week. Any team could have grabbed him for half price, about $50,000, of his prorated contract.

The Rangers decided they needed a rental defenseman more than they needed a superfluous forward with a bad contract. Keep in mind that Kennedy is a restricted free agent. So, the Rangers would've still held a significant advantage in terms of negotiating this offseason with such a talented hockey player that can help this season and beyond.

This time, the rules worked to his advantage. Kennedy would not have been able to play for another team this season because it was past the deadline for freezing rosters. He passed through re-entry waivers and played 14 1/2 minutes in the Panthers' 3-2 win over his neighbor, Patrick Kane, and the Blackhawks last week.

This lovely little love letter was published on March 13. That means as of its publication, Tim Kennedy had played three games. In his first, he got 14:30 of ice time, recorded no points and no shots on goal. In his second, he got 10:56 of ice time, again recorded no points and no shots on goal, and this time was actually -1 for the game. His third (and, what turned out to be his final) game for Florida, he got 4:58 of ice time in a game which feature 4:44 of overtime. Again, no points but at least he was credited with a shot on goal. So, in sum, Kennedy's talent at the game of hockey is so misunderstood that he was constantly losing ice time on team with absolutely no playoff aspirations.

Kennedy will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Panthers have only five forwards under contract going into next season. He's intent on showing the Panthers they made the right decision when they acquired him. If it doesn't work out, there's no sense complaining. Nobody will listen.

From the sounds of it, it would seem that if Kennedy wants to sign an NHL contract this summer, he should possibly consider a two-way deal. I doubt an arbitrator is going to look favorably on 30:24 of total NHL ice time resulting in one solitary shot on goal.

"Hockey isn't all about teams being happy to have you," Kennedy said. "It's all about the business. It's about the money. If you're not in a team's plans, you're not in a team's plans. They're not going to do anything to help you. Last year, everything was so good, but you see the other side of it real quick. I saw it almost the whole year."

Tear.

Look, I don't really have anything against Tim Kennedy. He did alright last year, and then misplayed his hand. The Sabres were forced with the options of buying him out, or paying him a $1 million, one-way deal that nobody else in the league wanted. Not even Glen Sather, and Glen Sather gives everybody money. So, maybe we should stop slamming the "former regime" for making a "political" decision to not waste resources on a player that happens to be only OK at hockey simply because, I don't know, he's from South Buffalo.