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Haven't seen any of them officially put in place yet. Not saying they haven't been, but haven't seen any reports of them actually getting enacted on an expedited schedule. And, you seriously believe the N-H-friggin'-L can't change a rule interpretation mid-year? We did mention we're talking the NHL, right? This is the same league that put out a "clarification" memo on how to enforce the in the crease rule about a month before the RS ended and THEN completely ignored that guidance when it was expedient. (Note to people in the Keystone State, not taking your bait from anyone when you respond to this post.) This league also decided in late '06 that it wouldn't let players play in the playoffs if they had been on IR all year; a position the league has since done a 180 on. But, teams have been told that it's very likely the new rules will be in place for the playoffs this year. As long as they're up front about it and everybody gets the same info at the same time; of course they can change the rules. You can argue all day as to whether they should or shouldn't; but it's not a should/shouldn't thing. It's a will they won't they one; and they absolutely can so they likely will.

If Mrtka goes back to Seattle, I could be seeing him Nov 7. They play Penticton and my buddy got tix for it already.

I feel like they’d have to know by now if they were going to do the playoff thing and we would have heard it. You can’t change an accounting thing mid-season. If a team makes a move thinking it will be counted one way, changing that on them suddenly doesn’t go well. Which ones have they actually said are in place now? I can’t remember and the only things I see with a lazy google search are non-CBA rule changes.

And he’s been waived before.

AND 1. it is ENTIRELY self induced by ownership and management; and, 2. It won't go away until at a minimum they've either won a playoff series or made the playoffs 2 years in a row. That'll be necessary to not be viewed as being an afterhought, though it won't necessarily be sufficient.

I think a large portion of the hockey media spent exactly this amount of time on the Sabres. 1. Pretty bad last year. 2. Long history of being bad. 3. Didn't do much except trade one of their most exciting young players for two guys I don't know much about. 4 Next team please. Doesn't mean they're wrong: many of us have come to a similar conclusion knowing the entire roster inside and out. But they didn't do the work.

I did hear some of the guys on the NHL station in XM last week, ones who I would say are particularly harsh on the Sabres, picking Thompson as one of 4-5 players who will hit 50 goals this year. It caught my attention because one was saying Matthews won’t get there because he’ll get hurt. I would expect the same to be said of Thompson. Let’s face it, he typically misses a decent stretch of games, or hits a slow patch because he’s fighting through something.

After reading your post (same sentiment expressed by many), what I find most aggravating is the lack of urgency to make additional moves to improve. It's not to say that the deal to bring in Kesserling and Doan wasn't a good deal that improves the roster. It's just that there weren't other consequential deals. It seems to me that if KA could have added another second line player (not necessarily a star caliber player), the response/perception would have been much more positive about the roster and season prospects. I needed to see more urgency in action rather than this casual pace to upgrade the roster.

I certainly do not believe that the Sabres are a better team now than if they would have remained.

All three players that I mentioned that left have thrived in their new locations. And with respect to Jack, I have not heard of a scintilla of problems with him in Vegas. There are no "what if" games being played here. The Sabre organization under Pegula are recognized as a poorly managed franchise by everyone in the business.

Yep, there’s been a notable difference between what the models are saying and what the traditional hockey media is saying. I think that may be exactly at the heart of what I’m talking about. For example above podcast posed the question: Dahlin/Thompson, Seider/Raymond or Sanderson/Tkachuk? Nobody even considered the Sabres, despite the fact that by the Athletic’s own rankings Dahlin is a full tier above the rest. Instead they talked about Sanderson breaking through. Even Dahlin is an afterthought. People acknowledge he's good, as in almost certainly top 10 good. They don't realize that he's good as in surefire top 5 good, despite what all the counting and analytic measurables say. I still read people talking about how he needs to improve defensively, or hear broadcasters say things like "out-of-character for Dahlin" when he crosschecks somebody or sticks a glove in their face. They don't pay enough attention to know who and what he actually is because the Sabres aren't interesting enough to force them to pay attention. The Sabres stink is a real thing.

Imagine wasting most of Drake Mayes QB life b.c he is stuck in a division with Josh Allen.

No, unless new locker room leadership emerged first. Eichel, for all his skill, was a terrible leader and contributed to the mess this team became. The Sabres fate was sealed when they drafted him because he was "the guy" and the Sabres had to do everything to make Jack happy. If you want to play "what if?" imagine if we got McDavid.

Now that's a leap. Jack didn't understand anything other than he hated Buffalo. I'd argue Jack along with Evander was the source of the bad locker room vibes that derailed this franchise.

To paraphrase: "If Muel attempts to exude any actual effort, his body disintegrates into a fine powder. Once they scoop up the powder and recombine it into a human form, he will be week to week."

There's a 0% chance any nhl team is claiming a 5'9" defender of his skill level.

I would love to have Johnson beat him out. Lindy might push to have this happen even though KA would balk at having his prize #7 Dman waived.

True, but aren't even those still seeing them in only the low 90's? If that's where they are they're still putting a huge portion of their destiny on others failing rather than them succeeding. (And yes, in the East, it's been that way for at least 3 years, so it makes sense for it to happen again. But it's just so frustrating to see them once again not step up in the off-season and put themselves in a position where it would take some serious bad luck for them to miss rather than needing some serious good luck to make it.)

Several analytics models like the Sabres to make the playoffs.

Technically it kicks in next year. There have been credible reports the league and PA are looking into implementing some provisions of the new MOU (due to take effect in September '26) as early as during this season. No data on exactly what will get implemented and what will slide to September.

The hypocrisy

Athletic hockey podcast had an interesting and largely worthwhile breakdown of our division. Fairburn was good as usual with some of his usual stuff, but it was notable how non-invested the hosts were in the Sabres compared to the rest of the division. I mean it’s pretty clear that underlying the professionalism there was a strong undercurrent of “this team doesn’t really matter.” I think it’s reflective of the general tone of the national media toward Buffalo this off-season: we’re the awkward cousin that they slide over because they have to while waiting to get to the more interesting people at the wedding. As far as I’m concerned the team is reaping what it’s sown, but I’m not putting a lot of stock in what the national media is saying, rightly or wrongly because I don’t think they’re paying much attention.

They had a bit on after the whistle about what to do with mrtka today. Rivet said to send him to rochester because he is physically ready and peters said send him to junior bc he's just a kid. Imo, the decision should be made based on what skills you want him to improve. If you want to improve with the puck, send him to junior... he will have more time with it on his stick than in the ahl. Plus he can run the pp, which he probably wouldn't be doing in his first year in rottenchester. If you want him to begin learning how to properly defend against full grown men within a sabres like system then send him to the ahl.

Uh, define "lose seats." One of the proposals they seemed VERY interested in back a few years was replacing a lot of the seats down along center ice in the 100's with tables that 3 or 4 could sit and and watch the game getting a full concierge experience. Think the seats over by the bar on the 200 level behind / near the goal line that the Sabres defend twice. Hoping they don't decide to do that, because that would result in a full reshuffling of where everybody that's put up with this team for the past 15 or so years (with many being there for much longer than that) ends up having their tix.

The buyout went from 700k per season before this season to 1.4 if bought out next off-season. As usually, another great decision by GM Howdy Doody.