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Once again, the Buffalo Sabres management sends a loud and clear signal to the players in their locker room – if you try hard and put yourself in a position to earn a raise, we will find a way, even if we have to be creative, to go the cheap route and not have to pay you what you’re worth. The case of Tim Kennedy’s arbitration hearing is classic Sabres management style. Put the almighty dollar ahead of everything else including winning, and then talk about how they’re determined to build a Stanley Cup champion team here. The problem is, whoever it is that actually runs this dysfunctional franchise, whether it’s GM Darcy Regier, Larry Quinn or absentee owner Tom Golisano, knows how to talk the talk but never walks the walk. So now the loyal Buffalo fans get cheated out of watching an up-and-coming homegrown local kid, whose dream it is to play for this team. Instead they get to watch the other local kid, the other Tim – Tim Connolly – float through another season collecting a huge paycheck for doing next to nothing. The difference is Regier acquired Connolly as the centerpiece player in the trade that sent captain Mike Peca out of town, so he has to continue to justify this terrible trade by not only keeping Connolly on the roster but giving him contract extensions that put him up near the top of the team’s payroll, even though he is invisible on the ice at crunch time. Lindy Ruff is going to have his hands full this season attempting to repeat the mild success the team had last year. There is no way that the handling of Kennedy’s situation is not going to negatively affect the team’s locker room. I personally hope he signs with a team within the Northeast Division so he can haunt the Sabres management multiple times during the season. Of course, the players will continue to spew the company line that they understand it’s a business and sometimes tough decisions are made, etc. so that the fans might continue to believe the lie that the Sabres are actually doing everything within their power to win a Cup. Regier has actually been quoted as saying that he plans on carrying a 22 man roster this season instead of the allowable 23 players. It is very depressing when your local pro sports team is being run by a dull, stodgy CPA instead of an actual general manager. So Sabres fans, get ready to see an ad campaign for the upcoming season featuring lots of pictures of Ryan Miller and Tyler Myers. Yes, Regier, for the first time in 10 years actually hit on a first round draft pick with Myers, so I’m sure all the ads trying to sell tickets will be saturated with images of him. Then keep your fingers crossed that Miller will begin to live up to the hype and start to earn his huge salary by finally being a difference-maker for his team, the way Dominik Hasek was.  While you’re watching Connolly, Derek Roy, Jason Pominville and the other supposed veteran “leaders” on this team go through the motions again, remember the effort that Kennedy played with while he was here, despite being one of the team’s smallest players. Then again, if the Sabres kept a high-energy player like Kennedy around they wouldn’t be built in the image of their GM – dull and lifeless.