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If they are making bigger changes, why do nothing now? Who's not available now they would want later? I just don't buy the "they're waiting to see who's available" when if that were the case, they'd have fired Adams or moved him already. Letting him make decisions at this point would be insane if you're moving on. I'll bet Ruff picks players and Adams is supposed to acquire them. They aren't hiring external front office staff.

Would like to see the Blues win. It will be interesting to see what Hellebuyck does tonight. Can he pull it together?

I enjoy roster building conversations. Still, If I had my choice this off-season between these two scenarios: 1.) Adams and Ruff are back in their roles and they make significant roster changes; or 2.) We roll back the roster with no significant changes, but we have a new GM and new HC. I would choose option 2. After 5 years of Adams, and in particular after the last two years of failure (featuring Ruff as HC), the most impactful culture change that could be made is Adams and Ruff out and a new GM and HC in. Give me Karmamos as GM and Ott/Love/Nelson as HC with a new staff, and I will take my chances with our current roster. I would trust 2 newbies to the GM/HC role to get more out of our existing roster, than I trust Adams and Ruff to make the needed roster changes.

Ovaltine ***** rocks!

And I was thinkin' to myself, "This could be hockey heaven but instead this is hockey hell"

Well done, Ralph.

So Adams is sitting in the GM chair tomorrow night for the draft lottery. Are they doing nothing or are they making bigger changes that they need time for outsiders to become available?

Technically it’s Alternate Captain.

Sounds like Corey Perry.

FFS there's always "room". If you have a way to add someone better you find a way to ship somebody else out. It's not rocket science. You don't hold spaces for rookies and you don't sit contented with a non playoff team hoping the same team will just somehow be better. Unless you're the Sabres. (PS - If you think Zucker is a top 6 forward you have already lost)

I suspect he went to prove he should have been in 4Nations and thus get a spot on the Olympic squad. It's about time. I always admire the guys who show up for these things. They don't have to, but the national pride aspect is admirable for all of them, all countries.

Oh it's a legit penalty but it and lots more are usually let go in tied game 7s in the third period. I'm a put the whistles away type of guy unless it's a clear breakaway or assault. I'd rather they had played it out 5 on 5. Colorado imo is an overrated team. Good, but not great. McKinnon is a beast and ultra elite and Makar is absolutely elite, but the rest of that team is nothing special relative to other top teams. Dallas is, and has been for quite a while, a very highly disciplined and structured team that plays a team concept. hence they survived the absence of a couple top players and the star player they added in Rantanen came through for them in the clutch. I don't know if Dallas can score enough to win the cup but they will be a tough out.

Was Tage named an Assistant Captain? I thought I saw that today but can't confirm it.

Sovereignty, the horse that won the Derby, also has triple crown winners Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Of course, for racing fans, he also has Mr. Prospector in his line.

That is a pretty amazing fact because all in all Secretariat was not a great sire. What helped things out was that people lined up the best dam's they had to bred to him. Secretariat did not produce many stake winning horses but a number of the fillies he produced went on to foal very good horses. Storm Cat and AP Indy were some of the most influential sires in American racing. They trace back to fillies with Secretariat as a sire.

Ran the split on Martin between his first half (first 28games) and his second half (34 games including playoffs). First 28 games: 0.536gpg, 1.12ppg Final 34 games: 0.606, 1.32ppg Martin did score more points in the second half of his season but it isn't a massive upswing. It is good too see though.

As you stated in your post, there are still a lot of rosters questions to be answered. However, with the Zucker and Greenway signings there was an imperative, that still exists, whereby this young roster couldn't afford to lose experienced players from it. Will that cause complications with respect to re-signing the youngsters as their contracts run out? Yes. (As you note.) And it will probably lead to at least one of them being moved. The cap challenges that the Sabres will soon be facing is the same one that all franchises have to contend with. The problem for this franchise is that the current GM is not very adept at roster construction and cap allocation.

I agree. I see a path through something like this: Flip UPL Samuelsson, Quinn, Clifton and futures ($15Mish) for a safer RHD than Clifton, an expensive RHD from a rebuilding team who can be what Samuelsson should be, and a cheaper goalie than UPL to pair with Levi ($12Mish?) Ideally, that improves 3 roster spots while maintaining or even improving cap space. You should have space to find a vet to fill Quinn’s spot, particularly if you dump Lafferty, or go shorter term with Byram and/or Peterka. Or you can use those bigger pieces to make a splashier move if you wish, to shake things up a little more.

I do. I just think there is public pressure to do something. This shambolic organization has to at least give the appearance that they are trying to do something. (My opinion.) We shall see.

I'm fine trading, like Cozens for example, but I just don't expect it.

The funny thing is they saved up all this space to sign Peterka, Byram, Quinn and Levi this summer with the thought they were going to have broken out by now and they were going to need the room. Then they pivoted (unless I see another shoe drop, I’d say panicked) to re-signing Greenway and Zucker with a chunk of that space, meaning they have to make trades or run it back. Adams thought he was being prudent, then he kinda wasted all that prudence in 2 risky signings. Their histories say it’s unlikely Zucker and Greenway combine for the 70 middle-six points and special team success they’re being paid for. Adding the odds of Norris earning his paycheque to that mix, McLeod repeating a career year, and Benson, Quinn and/or Kulich taking a step, and that’s a lot of question marks.

My colleague went a couple years ago, and no frickin thanks. The cost of everything, hotels, Uber, the way they just set it up to rake you over the coals. He spent 20k on a 3 day weekend (mostly because his wife is super fancy) Plus... It's... Boring.

Jason Bakula from a month ago: No. 12: Brady Martin, C, 6-feet, 178 pounds, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) NHL Projection: Top six forward. Relentless competitor. Deployed in all situations. An argument can be made that Martin is the most competitive player in the entire draft class. He’s a relentless, leads-by-example forward for the Soo Greyhounds. In his most recent 10-game segment Martin produced 8G-11A while averaging over 24 minutes per game of ice time and being deployed in all situations. He finished the regular season with 33G-39A overall. Martin never cuts corners. He only weighs 178 pounds, but plays much bigger than his listed size. He finishes all of his checks, battles in the trenches, drives to the net and makes life generally miserable for opponents. sounds exactly like a former Sabres Captain

By the way, all the horses in the Derby field are descendants from this horse.

Being on the infield for the Derby is a bucket list thing. It's like sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley or being in Assembly Hall (or Rupp Arena or Cameron) for a college basketball game.