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You pick the offer sheet part of my statement and you conveniently missed the salary cap part. Combine the two situation and you might understand my point - he is a step behind. He does not spend to the cap, even though he says its not Terry that is holding him back. Despite this, he is dumping salary to defend against an offer sheet for his 2nd best defenseman. Why? Because he created the situation he was defending against - just look at Power's contract and Samuelsson's contract - they are the work of a GM that had no business running an NHL team. To me he appears to be operating without a plan. In my opinion he was done a poor job and is over his head. But since I am married to this team I am willing to follow them and see if Lindy can make something out of this roster.

Two minutes in the penalty box. I break the name down into two small bits: By Ram, Byram. If they keep him or trade him for a comparable D with maybe a different skill set, fine. They still need to add a top 6 to the offense. If they trade for offensive help, they need to trade futures for a top 4 D. Either way, I think they need to add somewhere to more plausibly field a team that could break the endless playoff drought.

You’ll have to watch this space. I’ll keep an edit. Don’t know if I’ll be able to fine an exact quote but there will be a lot of funny stuff - - - “We have to embrace expectations,” general manager Kevyn Adams said Wednesday as the Sabres opened training camp. “I look at pressure as a privilege.” This was Adams saying they needed to embrace the expectations of making the playoffs, *2 years ago* pReSsUrE iS a PrIvAlEdGe 😂 “When I think about playoffs, our expectation of course is there but, honestly, our expectation is to win the Stanley Cup,” Adams said. “I think our window’s open right now and our goal is to be giving ourselves a chance every single year.” - - - Thought this quote from Friedman provided by dudacek is pretty interesting as it’s not just marek spitballing and Elliot is usually pretty reliable “They’ve talked a lot about this internally, if they don’t go to the playoffs this year, there could be big consequences. Everyone understands there are no excuses this season. ”You’re looking at a lot of other players and you’re saying guys, it’s not good enough to talk about it.”

Yeah but sounds like Utah isnt efficient, effective and economic, so who's the real winning organisation

Bryan is looking out for his own interests. There is nothing wrong about that. On the other hand he is currently contractually bound to the Sabres who have to act within their best interests. It’s simply part of the business.

It’s a poor argument in general. Whether Adams believes the team “can possibly” make the playoffs is far less salient than the question of whether he did everything in his power to ensure the result was as likely as possible if someone wants to argue we don’t deserve the later, the Crest would be ashamed of you I can find it, but I hate that you’ve put me to work

We have over $8M in cap space. It makes too much sense that the reason it's there is to match the offer sheet. Samuelsson is finally on the 3rd pair where he belongs. You trade Byram and you just created a hole in your top 4.

I don't think Danforth will be much different. Doan though has some skills that I don't think the players mentioned did. There's a real drive to improve with him and he's got the pedigree and maturity to do it. I also think that when you look at his underlying numbers, there's some good things in there. You should see a Dr about that...

The goal is to field a team that has the possibility of making it after seeing to financial concerns, first. It’s entirely possible for them to believe the team has a chance with them also being fully aware they haven’t maximized the chances of it: that’s the equation

FOMO

Unproven but NHL ready. For once, they didn’t add another 18-20 year old.

I'm just saying with the age of Rust and Rackell it might a one year playoff run and done. I didn't realize this plan including and Neighbors. It's more desirable then.

I’m sorry but trading Krebs and Östlund isn’t exactly blowing up the young core of this team. This team hasn’t made the Playoffs in 14 years. I want them in this year. Neigbors-Norris-Thompson Rust-Kulich-Tuch Benson-McLeod-Quinn Zucker-Rakell-Greenway Dahlin-Acquired D Man Power-Kesserling Timmins-Samuelsson That lineup feels like a Playoff lineup to me. Krebs isn’t a major piece to a Cup contender 3-5 years from now and with Helenius looking good I can part with Östlund.

This is what will help the deal go from magic beans to a hockey trade that tilts in Buffalo’s favour. All three players have upside, with Doan being the most unproven at the NHL level. If Doan becomes a power forward who scores near 20 goals and is a physical forechecking beast, then his value will not be far below JJP’s current worth. JJP at 30 goals but a defensive black hole is not worth much more than Doan at 20 plus intangibles. If JJP goes off and becomes a perennial 35-40 goal man then Kesselring will have to hit his ceiling to make this deal a good one.

At least with Doan there’s the age factor. He’s just coming out of his ELC and is 4-9 years younger than anyone else on that list. The rest are what they are, but he’s still developing.

Just been keeping an eye on things. With the dust perhaps settling, the following from Mike Rose of the Batavia Daily News seems like the best summary I've seen. The Sabres seem to be stuck in Meh Mode. But let's see what the fall brings. "The Sabres did make several additions that appear to be positives. Michael Kesselring and Connor Timmins should help shore up the right side of the defense pairings, and Josh Doan and Justin Danforth should be quality depth contributors for the forward group. In addition, Alex Lyon provides a solid goaltender to add to the mix. The problem is that most of those moves are along the margins of the roster. With the departure of JJ Peterka in the deal that brought in Doan and Kesselring, Buffalo needed more than that to elevate to a team that can be feared in the Atlantic Division." https://www.thedailynewsonline.com/sports/rose-with-sabres-seemingly-done-making-moves-the-same-philosophical-issues-remain/article_1b8de285-3b92-464c-a5d9-5e585d75faca.html

I think this is exactly what Byram wants but he won’t get the opportunity here with Dahlin and Power. He wants / needs to be “the guy” on PP1 to put up some numbers that get him in the $9M discussion. His career has been second fiddle to Makar and Dahlin so you can’t blame him for looking for opportunity. I think it has nothing to do with the city and culture.

This will take some time to digest. But I did receive a wonderfully long and positively reinforced message from the SSA this morning telling me how great the bill will be for those collecting social security. So it must be a great bill. I mean, it's in the name and the SSA is telling me it is. 🙂 It likely sucks, like most legislation. Like the "Affordable" care act..

Same vacation schedule here. My plan includes lots of time paddling, a little time with some small chores, and at least 1 bottle of Tequila Ocho.

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, I understand. I was just saying in the context of whether or not the Sabres are "paralyzed," i.e., unable to pursue a big ticket free agent, all those fellas are signed with someone, so there is no urgency of that sort.

Advice you should take.

I guess it all depends on how you want to view “promising”. Helenius seems to be developing as hoped. I think Östlund is maybe Savoie level, which isnt a given for an NHL future. Rosen is what he is at this point, which is probably a minor star in a European league. Wahlberg, harder to say. I suspect he may have more runway as a potential role player.

Have a happy Independence Day!!! PS- How are the fireworks in the Buffalo / Niagara area? Anything worth crossing the border for? I'm not a huge firework guy, but we were in Lake George on the 4th many years ago and were taken back by the quality of the show. Being in a mountain valley though really intensified the sound.