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KA can’t buy this fan glue… Skinner is treasure

If the Russians are eventually NHL players that will be huge as landing later round picks is one of the ways teams become contenders, if not dominant franchises. Have to wait see if it's hype or reality. The looking 3 to 5 years down the road bothers me though. While all GMs do have to have long term plans and look down the road, they also have to try to win now. Any time this is discussed here people always jump to "mortgage the future" and it's an extremist and polarizing argument as a result. There is a middle ground where you make SOME moves and keep SOME future and thus start to win now AND still build for the future. Once you are a real playoff team and you have a prospect pool you don't need to keep adding to it. You do have the draft capital to make moves and you don't have to win every trade, you just have to make your team better. It's time. Get these kids a winning tradition, not an it'll be better next year one.

He was talking to fans who asked about Bryson in particular? That's pretty cool. I might buy in just to go to this thing. Thanks for sharing!

The CHL didn’t ban Russians from the import draft. There were 2 selected last year, Ivan Miroshnichenko being a ‘big name’ player picked. Teams were leery about choosing them because there are usually more.

People were asking him about Bryson, we’re not alone.

Skinner almost cracks a smile during a couple of the questions.

He shouldn’t have said this. As we know, Putin’s paying attention. He may be analyzing Kevyn’s comments right now. The good news is he’s probably a bit distracted on how to respond to the NHL’s Pride practice jersey usage.

These clips are - head-and-shoulders - the best marketing thing ever to come out of the Sabres organization. I’ve laughed out loud at every one. My wife and daughter - who barely tolerate my Sabres obsession - ask about when the next one is coming out.

He is but things happen during draft week . And with him Committed to Russia 2 to 3 years that could cause some caution for some

I’ll go with Your Thoughts on Russians with the CHL Import Draft

There is more than one way to get there. It doesn't really matter to me if we get there through development or through trades/free agency. You do probably need to start with a core though. The Bruins don't have much of a prospect base and have recently gone all in by trading their top picks, but they have an obvious core that they developed first. My concern is for the psyche of certain players who have seen little but losing over multiple seasons. I think that the organization does owe something to players like Dahlin, Thompson, Skinner, Mittelstadt, Jokiharju, Tuch, Cozens and Tuch (who has fully bought in), who have spent 2-5 years with the team and have yet to play in a playoff game. During the most recent tailspin, we started to see some frustration from Dahlin that was not present late last year and through the first months of this season. Fair or not, my sense is that this group of players is more personally invested in the organization than Eichel and Reinhart were, but there are likely limits to this. At some point I think you probably need to commit to winning being a clear expectation and priority. We clearly have many players who are ready to win now. I don't want Adams to do anything rash, but the acquisition of the right veteran player or two can certainly make a significant difference to a team as it ascends from rebuilding to contending. Of course, there are still meaningful games to play this season...

"What's it like having Santa Claus as a neighbor?" 🤣

Yes, the Sabres are knocking on a new door. He isn't saying anything differently now than when he took over the hockey operation. And what he said he was going to do is showing results at a faster pace than I thought it would take. The Sabres are still in a playoff race. Odds are that they won't make it this year. And the odds are that the Sabres will earn 10-15 pts more this year than it did last year. You don't consider that progress in a relatively short period of time? If you factor in the fact that the Sabres are one of the youngest teams in the league, I would definitely consider this season as an example of demonstrable progress. In less than 3 years, this GM has dealt the old core and significantly reshuffled the roster. Tage, Cozens, Quinn, JJ, Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Joki etc. are young players with even more upside. Next year, my expectations are that this team will be a playoff team. If they don't make it, I will be very disappointed. As far as I'm concerned, the pace of this rebuild has been steady and rather fast. In my view, the results, after KA's installation, have been better than I anticipated after. He is one year ahead of the timetable that I had in mind. There certainly are needs that need to be addressed this offseason. There is no need to restate what they are. My point is that this franchise is on track to become a serious team, and it is being done at a rather quick rate.

I was in attendance last night and I am a first time STH, who believes the writing is on the wall that the Sabres are making the same type of turnaround that the Bills have done recently. In listening to KA, I found him to be genuine, vested, and especially knowledgeable as to the strengths and weaknesses of his team. He answered every question as honest as a GM could publicly. When the topic of Bryson came up, he supported his current player, while also subtly acknowledging the deficiencies of our current defensive roster. I left there confident that he will be looking to add a top 4 defensemen. What didn't get talked about was goaltending, except for the promising future that Devin Levi has.

I assume we're talking about that locked thread. OP can be a little abrasive at times, but that one response was just petty personal insults.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpbnzWaDvhN/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I've been one since 2007. Came close to dropping them 2 years ago but stuck with them. Living 500 miles away I can only get to 3-4 games a year. The rest I share with family or sell. Is it worth it? The value I put on them is knowing I always have a game ticket (I'm also a Bills STH'er) for every weekend I visit Buffalo. You have to decide what it's worth to you.

Thanks friend hope things are well with you. I had to go to the store to pick up some milk

What makes me think he won't address them - i don't believe it yet but I worry about it, and Stillman and Greenway are more Botterill-lane moves than what the team actually needed to be shoring up their wild card spot right now. The sample size of moves geared toward finishing a real roster are still small and a little weird with Kevyn 3 years in My issues amount to- Yeah that's basically it. They're advertising tickets now, I want to buy now, I need to hear a commitment before I drive out to Buffalo from 1.5 hours away 20 times next year I think he has done a good enough job that things won't completely fall apart even if he sits out the entire summer waiting for "the right kind of player" But punch touches on some things that could be in the beginning stages of festering, and at this point I like to think I have a pretty good nose for that sort of thing. Kevyn has a flamethrower loaded up and ready to blast away the rot from the past for good, I don't want him to set it back down and look the other way for 12 more months

https://web.witcontests.com/sabres/sweepstakes/potg/the-rick-martin-memorial-award-2023 I'm torn between Dahlin and Tuch.

It was a nice hour. Free parking too. I’ve had seasons for 25 years (skipped the Covid year)

I think he’s pretty clearly talking about his salary cap situation in 3-5 years and how he is (in @Randall Flagg’s world much too) cautious about signing or acquiring contracts now that will handcuff him in keeping current players later.

He’s a top 3 / 4 talent . I’m guessing he isn’t dropping to where the Sabres will be drafting

Maybe he was saying 3 to 5 to be contender for the ultimate goal. ?