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I agree with you for the most part. Dahlin, not this year but for most of the past 3 years he plays like a top 10 defenseman in the league. And if he had a better team around him, a forward group that put the puck into the net and made him look better on the back end... Where he had more assists and possibly took pressure off him where he had more goals, with his talent and how well he does play, not counting this year so far, hed be considered one of the best elite defenseman in the league. Norris trophy finalist if not eventual winner. As for Power, he was the number one pick in a pretty weak draft.. not only that, but one of the drafts coming out of covid where you didn't have a ton of scouting. I would think Power in most drafts would be a guy picked between number 3 and number 6. And if that was the case there probably would be a little bit more leeway for him, less pressure to perform, less heat from the fan base. Not everyone, but a lot of guys picked three to five picks lower than him are given a few years to grow into what they're supposed to be with slightly lower expectations.

Fire everyone now and there will be a surge of optimism throughout the team. I know competent replacements will need to be hired but there should be a bump up in production. Dahlin could come back with a renewed drive and play like the Norris candidate that he can be. Bottom line, I don’t think they can do it this year but cleaning house can send a jolt and set the table for the future.

Yes, the injuries (other than Kincaid's, and that's a kinda big one, and Palmer's) are on the defensive side of the ball. Both of the fumbles came from trying to get extra yardage when the play was essentially over. Might Cook and Allen have been trying to put the team on their back because after Jackson went down the D could not stop the Fish until the game was well into the 3rd Q? (Not counting the 1 "drive" the Fish had when the cloudburst was happening.) They weren't going 20-0. Nobody in the AFC has fewer than 2 losses and the Cheats aren't as good as their record indicates. Beat the Bucs then worry about the next one. Get into the playoffs and hopefully have a relatively healthy squad by then. And yeah, the offensive playcalling needs to be better and the execution needs to be better, both were in KC. They CAN do it; they just actually have to do it.

Thorny is so freaking good at the subtle art of sarcasm and/or satire ... I just don't know if he is serious. Kinda seems like trading Norris would be like changing a flat tire on a burning car. Sure it helps, I guess ... but not really.

Stop. Rasmus Dahlin is excellent and has been for awhile. Hyperbole is unhinged. Power should never have been a 1st overall pick and somewhere there is an entire thread where I argue that and get yelled at because "He's the concensus 1st overall" What's your alternative to rebuild? Keep those guys until they figure it out? Trade a couple of them to bring in guys the same age with roughly the same talent? What do we do?

Didn't say 1 minute. Said 1st opportunity with less than 100 seconds left. You have your best scorers out there for an extended shift, but you have your best out there when the pressure is the greatest. When they know they MUST score on THAT shift or they're leaving the building with another L. You have a true urgency. And when there's an urgency, you stop trying to be pretty. But when you pull the goalie with 3 or so to go, you lose that urgency. And without urgency, you turn the puck over and end up pulling the puck out of your own net.

Also yesterday: Other than a couple of passes to Kincaid, all his passes were short. If he's not stretching out the field, the safeties can clamp down. It was stupid how blanketed the receivers were.

I'm starting to get the sense that we've already seen peak Josh Allen.

How many time are we going to go down this road? Just perpetually rebuild until our teenagers make a difference. That was supposed to be Dahlin & Power. The two worst first overall picks since Yakapov.

I was kind of optimistic before the STL game, but with the last two losses and Dahlin going back to Sweden, it feels grim. I'm not sure sneaking into the playoffs is possible.

Decisiveness and Adams in the same sentence, why I never

Is he a therapist?

It depends on what you mean by sneaking into the playoffs? Is it one of the worst years or should I say.. that that easiest years to get into the playoffs where somebody can do it with 88 points? I might have to think about that. But if sneaking in... Still requires 95 or 96 points... Then to me... If this team can get to 95 or 96 points this year... They're a pretty good team for the rest of the year. If this team were to get to that level... It means that they are showing some growth and I'd want to actually see that happen before I'd make the decision. Because honestly, if they were to get to that level from where they are now.... It probably means the new additions are playing pretty well, and some of the young guys are developing and playing pretty well. I agree with this almost 100%. If they are going to make changes... The change in Terry pegula's mentality has to be part of that. I don't know how you can force that or mandate that though, which is part of the reason for the feeling of hopelessness with this franchise at the moment.

If the Sabres manage to make the playoffs with the start they’ve had, the number of teams they’d need to leapfrog, plus the injuries and leave of absence, the organization will have managed to do something special and unexpected. Make the ***** playoffs.

Based on current standings, the Sabres will need to play at around a .612 points % the rest of the way to get to the playoffs. Only 7 teams in the NHL have played at that level through the first month of the season, so the likelihood that the Sabres will over five months seems, well, pretty low. I guess we should always make room for competency. If the Sabres make the playoffs it will mean that between now and the end of the season they will have leapt over 8 Eastern Conference teams. That simply won’t happen by accident. It will only happen through an unexpected infusion of competence and decisiveness by Adams, that leads them out of the mess of this season (never mind the 14 prior years, this season alone is turning into the sort of embarrassment that might cause a better franchise to publicly apologize to its fanbase). Put another way, if you are concerned that Adams will have his job as GM saved by a Sabre run to the playoffs this season, you need not worry. Now, there may be reason to worry that his job is simply not in jeopardy.

Dahlin is training with Frolunda while in Sweden

I don't agree. If he gets injured or when, yea that hurts your team. You know what else hurts your team? Trading him for a 2nd rounder and looking for some other mythical center. Now if you can trade him for a legit package including a good young forward prospect and a 1st, then maybe. It's not beneficial at all to just dump him.

It is also the last year Norris lacks trade protection. I agree they need to trade him this season.

Injuries are on defense problems are all offense yes early on there were problems on defense then McDermott started making calls but there’s no equivalent savior for the offense its not a fair cover up like I’d argue it is for the Sabres

Yup. Adams needs to be fired.

Said as much when we first got him but whatever. If they are thinking this rebuild has failed and there will be a new GM, coach, etc etc. and there's a partial tear down coming, this is the perfect time to trade Power. He hasn't been in the league long enough for other GMs to think he's a bust and most will think "it's Buffalo" and they will believe they can turn him into something better (which maybe they can but who knows). That window of optimism on his ceiling will close soon.

I think you missed my meaning in my comment. The implication would be that the "change" would be cosmetic and really, it would all still be Terry and Terry's decisions and visions of how things should be. So very little if anything would change.

The attempt by my roster has left us scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger.

I imagine Adams leads his call with Pegula early this week: Despite the injuries and taxes, we're just one win shy of .500.

What I’m trying to say is there is a very, real scenario where there’s no perfect option. A very real scenario where bending on “BPA” is the best option. You can’t just adhere to the parameters blindly that aren’t getting you anywhere. It would be delusional to think the perfect trade exists and in the same vein foolish to rule out the idea we may need to squint at the margins a bit to ensure we draft a high potential F yes, maybe the guy you take is a 88/100 on your board and you have a dman at 90/100 but the handcuff your self impose by prioritizing the extra 2/100 would in fact be more detrimental the sabres are GOING to take a hit in the trade, if they can even make one. You can’t pie in the sky the reality if you actually care about the results. Would absolutely make sense to consider you may lose less value simply by “reaching” for a F. You can’t pretend all else is equal in terms of being able to recoup the value later if you naively adhered to hardline drafting rules. BPA works in theory. The theory doesn’t amount to anything if you allow the randomness of the system to supersede your ability to build a team. It’s no good allowing randomness and luck in combination with your self imposed rigidity to result in a scenario where you simply don’t ever come away with the F. It would be more beneficial to relax on some of the rigidity and take your chances with a forward: the scenario where you continually take a D and “worry about the rest later” doesn’t maximize the assets either: that’s the myth