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@sabremike is the context. I look at the Sabres center spine vs the rest of the division. I think 92 is possible, however unlikely. They might find an opponent’s weakness and exploit it.

Wait, what? Is this the JFresh model predicting playoffs for the Sabres this year? Dammit man, give me context!

Canadian here. I know a LOT of Canadians who aren't crossing over and say they won't until Trump is out... even if the trade situation improves. Rightly or wrongly, the media here is very anti-Trump and they've done their best to paint the worst picture possible. I'm not a black or white person, and I still actively cross... though bad exchange and US inflation has reduced the frequency (I'm going to the Finger Lakes on Friday). I suspect part of the 37% are people like me. I think the border has actually gotten friendlier since the tension started. The US border guards are better than the Canadian ones! Maybe they had customer service lessons with all the poor media attention.

He’s taller.

Ninety-four? Ninety-four???

The coaches are the same. Are the players better able to execute? Will it matter if it’s Wilford? Or if Luukkonen can’t replicate his good half season? Joker was coachable. He got into Quenneville’s lineup as a rookie kid. He did just fine in Boston. He did what he was told. Which comes back to the question, is the Sabres coaching staff any good? Can the staff improve itself?

Mrtka over Benson... man, Pronman really doesn't want to admit he's wrong.

I’d bet Buffalo is on his no trade list.

Pronman at the Athletic ranked the Sabres 13th in terms of prospect pool. This includes #1 overall Power at the top of the pool. Paywall article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6493709/2025/08/27/buffalo-sabres-nhl-pipeline-rankings-2025/ Having a 1st overall in the pool and already in the NHL, but outside the top 10 seems especially disheartening. 1. Power, 2 Mrtka, 3 Benson, 4 Kulich, 5 Helenius From my POV, I wouldn’t include Power in the pool. Too old! Too old (in NHL seasons) to be in the kiddie pool.

Correct. I saw that first hand in Lewiston at Art Park in July. The show was poorly attended and the couple sitting behind us, who are Canadian, told me that Canadians were not coming over very much. On the topic of extra questions. I had Saudi stamps on an old passport. My old company did a lot of business with them. Those stamps caused me "extra questions" some of the time when entering the US. Since the work was DoD and I could not say much, that brought on more extra questions. I was happy when that passport expired.

Media spin or not, routine crossings or not, extra questions or not, Sabre fans or not, the fact remains that Canadian visits dropped by 37% in July compared to 2024. This has hurt businesses on the border that have long depended on those Canadian customers.

Thought police? Read the article and the comments. From what I can tell there is nothing unusual happening. But the media can make it sound like it is. Extra questions? I had no problems and they asked "extra questions", so what, they were harmless and for clarity. None of my friends and family have had problems, the Canadian people who actually crossed and commented in the article had no problems. Answer the questions, don't lie, if you have nothing to hide then you will not have a problem. Questions about past trips are normal when people travel to certain locations - Middle East, China, Russia, Israel, Iran, and others - those stamps in your passport will drive more questions, especially entering into the US and not just from Canada, but from any entry point. That has been happening for decades.

DOGE was a scam and a security threat https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/doge-put-social-security-numbers-data-risky-server-whistleblower-alleg-rcna227259 "Following the high court’s ruling, DOGE staffers requested to move the SSA's database, known as "Numident," to a private cloud server that only DOGE personnel could access “without any independent security or oversight mechanisms in place in violation of laws and creating enormous vulnerabilities," the complaint said"

At the borders, for federal agencies, they're trying to push them into academia and public schools. They wrote their plan down, we could all read it.

I also want to add, in all my decades following major league sports in North America, I can’t recall another example where a coach who got more wins out of a team than his successor, was blamed for the failures of his successor. It is, frankly, a bizarro theory.

What horse hockey. I've heard this awful excuse on wgr as well and it's nonsense. If Lindy Ruff, one of the most veteran coaches in the league doesn't know how to handle the mentioned issues above then why the ***** is he here? Sure, they could be better this year because there's less "new concepts" but also it's hockey, there's not some crazy magical new concept coming from Ruff. They have mediocre coaches and bad gt. They're probably talented enough but not experienced enough.

Now we have thought police at the borders?! … and we’re only 8 months in,… good lord.

New Jersey was worse that the Sabres in 23-24, had a new coach last year and had the same short camp and travel issues.

I crossed the boarder in Niagara falls twice this summer. Had no problems either way. I was questioned more coming back into the US but nothing unusual. No doubt that Canadians coming over has reduced. I would expect that for Bills and Sabres games that the Boarder Agents will expedite the process and not drill into "past trips". That seems silly unless the person crossing sets a flag. If the team is actually good (not likely) and a legitimate contender for post season then some of them will come. If they are the same as last year then they probably won't. The product on the ice will still be a determining factor.

At what point did the slow start and the travel to Europe become an excuse? They recovered and moved into a playoff position for a short time, and then they completely fell apart, lost 13 in a row (or something like that), and made no moves to stop the bleeding. They were dead by US Thanksgiving once again. They had a strong finish when the backup goalie got hot and they were playing with no pressure on them. They have the exact same coaches so they are probably not any better coached. - They might better understand what the coaches want. - They might see more young players mature and get better. - They might have a few players step up and lead better.

What in the actual -- I mean. This is an absolute screaming indictment of how the organization views the quality of its safety play right now. That dude is done like dinner.

Man when Jordan Philips was signed I joked Poyer and Hyde were next.

Well the Big Boat Guy did have enough insight to interview Zito, and he made the final two. Terry was swayed by Boterill's pedigree (NCAA champ, former Sabres, etc.) and the Pittsburgh connection. Would Terry have let Zito be who he is? Zito hired Dudley when he first got to Florida, would Terry have let that happen? Boterill had no senior advisors on his staff. Terry plays that role. Prior to Boterill, Terry had a bloated top end in his organization (Terry, LaFontaine, Murray, Black, Patrick, Batista, ...). My point is that Duds was right there in WNY and might have been a helpful asset in the FO. Moving forward, we have Lindy and Adams both in the last year of their contracts.

From Rachel Lenzi in the Buffalo News: As much as people say they’re ready for change, they’re also inherently resistant to it, or the possibility of being changed. That’s not a knock on the Sabres or their players, but something that has been studied on scientific, psychological and organizational levels. Ruff didn’t have a good chunk of time to implement his own philosophies under the proverbial and physical roofs of training camp in Buffalo. The Sabres began training camp Sept. 18, then traveled to Europe in a matter of days, to prepare to open the 2024-25 season against New Jersey in Prague. That’s a lot of logistics to juggle, from Ruff’s standpoint, from a player’s standpoint and from an organizational standpoint. Now, in NFL parlance, throw in a four-inch-thick playbook of entirely new concepts to learn, and there’s a lot to manage and absorb. I think the team looked poorly coached last year. How much of that was due to what Lenzi mentions: transition from Granato and lack of prep time? Will we see a more cohesive, together team this year as a result of those obstacles being removed?