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I’m a little concerned Jiri might be the next in line for pitchforks because the fanbase has put unrealistic (1st-line centre) expectations on his shoulders that he’s just not ready for. Hes a good player who is still finding his way. I think he’s more conscientious than Quinn or Peterka and safer than Cozens, but he’s the least talented of the 4 and IMO peaks as a 2nd-liner 2 or 3 years from now. Theres an opportunity here to feed him middle six minutes with solid wingers where 20ish goals and 40ish points is possible this year and that’s the path I hope they take.

Very few sporting events have achieved that level of zen for me. The feeling before/as Drury got the puck was that I knew he was going to score

I thought he played well for a 20 year old. Being deployed at centre is not easy for rookies, a lot of good young centres begin on W and transition to C when they are stronger and more experienced. IMO he could take JJPs wing spot and put up 20+ goals but it looks like he is penciled in to a C role. If TNT had Lindy’s trust at C and Norris was healthy, Kulich could play top 6 wing and thrive. Even a 3rd line role with McLeod could work. I think he will end up more valuable than JJP because of his shot and ability to play C.

The only linchpin missing is a goaltender. The other three wheels are secure even if Kulich falters.

That was, by far, the stupidest thing I have ever seen. The PR department keeps getting worse.

I would imagine after this off-season, the response was something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmPhaG1ud38

Think he was just young and having to earn his stripes on a team full of samesies

Of course. And for all the documentation and awareness those corporate abusers have documented and shared there is little to no change in the behavior of the general public. The sci-fi trend of the intergalactic being run by corporations didn't just start when Trump became President. This has been the trend for a long, long time. The people just sit back and allow it. This is what prompts fiction writers to envision those dystopian futures. Hell, the other day I saw someone on LinkedIN refer to themselves as having a career in Human Capital Management. While people are resources, it really negates the humanity of it when you begin to refer to them as the same as a fleet of vehicles, etc.

To be honest.. I'm not so much questioning Kadri (I wouldn't get him).. I was legitimately curious. How many years of continued playoff misses would people be willing to give up if they could be assured the Sabres made it this year? It's not really an attempt to insult the fan base but more a measure of where people's heads are at. I would say that naturally its unlikely they would miss the playoffs for 14 years after making it once... but I would have thought missing the playoffs for 14 years was highly improbable until the Sabres did it. It probably it still highly improbable, assuming the statistical norm of hockey decision making is made regarding how to build a team, etc. The Sabres are the perfect storm, for failure.

Re: DC movies... Just too many remakes of the same characters over and over. Superman, just not doing it for me. I was at least intrigued with the Bale/Batman. But that's because all others up to that point were pretty lame. They had a chance to keep it going with Robin, but that died. Then we got.. Ben Affleck. Hell no. I just can't bring myself to care about vampire Batman or this new Superman.

OMG. Pegula in a helmet. Is there no one there to inform the Sabres how bad this is? I can honestly see Adams thinking this was amazing. Next time Adams talks he will bring this up to say how awesome and dedicated Terry is. All this just for naming rights when there is no answer in the lease on the building. Sabres gonna Sabres

LTS is right. I am coming from an armchair GM perspective. Would you give up assets to sign Kadri for 7MM to age 38 if given the chance? It’s a bad contract and I was just calling it that.

You know, there are a few words that we're not allowed to use on this site, and that should be one of them.

While this may be true for many it's not a cookie cutter plan. Which veterans does he need to outperform in camp? Zach Benson puts pressure on the quality NHL players, now. As near as I can tell he's not let the NHL "pressure" him at all. As for the lack of veteran presence, that's because they don't want to come here.

It's fair. But if I told you I could guarantee the Sabres make the playoffs this year but then would miss the playoffs again for another 14 years would you take the deal?

I have not been following this closely and so am confused. The County's out? The County's in? The County is in some state of limbo? Poloncarz was there. And he has some post-press conference Tweets.

Your point about the city having less resources than the county is why I asked about it. We should soon find out what the implications will be from the announced change. Your reservations about the change go to the crux of the issue.

I believe, like BCA in Rochester, they will need to sign a new lease agreement with whoever takes over the arena.

Jiri Kulich had a decent rookie year at the age of 20. With 62games, 15g, and 9a, that's fairly solid with a 0.387ppg and a 0.242gpg as a rookie. He played 352 5v5 mins with Thompson this past year and they were pretty good together. 54.76xgf% and 53.15hdcf%. Interestingly Kulich was 3rd on the team in xgf% after Benson and Thompson at 50.91xgf%. As you can see Kulich's xgf drops down away from Thompson. Part of that is that half the minutes away from Thompson were played with Quinn who was not good last year, those 161mins with Quinn are 44.36xgf%. Kulich also has the 2nd best cf% on the team (if you just want to look at shots for and against) with a 51.62cf%. Basically Kulich at worst was a neural level player in terms of his contributions and for a 20yr old rookie, that's not bad at all. There's your numbers. He's one of the top guys in xgf, hdcf, and cf on the Sabres. Part of that comes down to deployment and linemates for sure. We also should note that teams will key in on Kulich's strengths more this season since they have tape on him. He only has 63 NHL games played, which means he is very inexperienced. At 21, it is hard to gauge what we should be expecting from Kulich. Peterka went from 32pts to 50 between years. That is a 36% increase which for Kulich puts him at 33pts in 62 games or 43pts if we ramp that up to a full 82 game season. If Kulich had played 77 games like JJP, he would have had 29pts (JJP had 32 his rookie year). Would you be happy if Jiri Kulich at his age and experience managed to be a net positive level player overall with 43pts in 82games this season? That would be like 23g, 20a just to make it easier. If he manages that, is Buffalo a playoff team? Are you content with that level of progress from him?

There is only one thing that matters, and that is making the playoffs next season. Who gives AF about anything beyond that?! If you don’t think he helps in that, fine, but to say you don’t want him because of what he will make in ‘28-‘29,… really?… REALLY?!?!! It borders on ridiculous.

True... but imo, they can have those players.. I want players that hate playing golf in April and would rather win hockey games than party, and get older and more experienced...

That is when the city and county lease expires. I jut looked this up: The Sabres lease is up at the end of the 26-27 season, but the team has an option to extend 5 years to 2032.

Whether it is city or county or both, this information will be public. I really do not like the city taking it over, the city has enough problems to contend with, the county provided a higher tax base to pull from and the arena still fell into disrepair, and now the county is out. This is not a good situation.