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Wish their was a penalty for Doctors offices that overbook appt's with long waits. Refunds come to mind.

Your conservative friend is a moron.

Ottinger, Wolf, Gustavsson, Woll, Dostal, were all 26 or younger this past year and were better than UPL. Hell, Soderblom in Chicago has a better sv% than UPL and that team is bad. He's 52 in sv% while being 16th in TOI, every single goalie with higher TOI has better numbers and only 1 has a sub .900 sv%. You gotta get to the 25th goalie in TOI to find someone with a worst sv%. UPL has a lot to prove this year and I do not believe that his awful 2024 season was solely a result of the defensive effort his team gave. Dude was a sieve for large stretches.

Trump being involved or not, you don't pardon a monster like Ghislaine Maxwell. You also don't quietly remove her to a minimum security white collar prison. She's an evil person, truly heinous in what she has done. Special treatment reeks of one thing only, cover up. Conservative friend tried the stunt I expect here, "What if Bill Clinton or Biden were involved in the Epstein files! What then!" Well, you put them in prison and let them rot for the rest of their natural lives because the crime is so disgusting there is no redemption. This isn't a Republican v Democrat issue. It is a common decency and morality issue and sadly it won't play out that way. There's plenty of evidence that the political elite in the US are not beholden to the rule of law.

Wasn’t last season the only season where UPL wasn’t trying to win a job or playing for a contract? It seems the sample size you are relying on for this conclusion that UPL got lazy and unfocused, is pretty small. I would argue that, as goalies go, UPL was/is, still pretty young. He had a lot of pressure on him last year to be the undisputed starter on a team with a playoff drought longer than a decade. The year prior, when he played really well, there wasn’t the same level of pressure. Levi had been anointed the 1 goalie and was given the label of “Special” by the GM. It was only when Levi, AND Comrie, faltered in 2023-24, that they fully turned to UPL. By then, he had become a bit of an afterthought. For a young player, I suspect that expectations are a big factor in the pressure you feel to perform well. UPL’s setback last year is, contextually, perhaps not much different than what we saw from Cozens, Quinn, Samuelsson, or Power. None were ready for what was being asked of them. When Ryan Miller was UPL’s age and going into his age 26 season, he had started 66 NHL games. The year prior he became a full time NHL player and started 48 games, on one of the league’s best teams. UPL is going into his age 26 year and has already started 155 games, all on a well below average NHL team by any defensive metric. I’m going to be a little more patient with UPL.

I tend to agree. By my eye test last year: Good defensively: Greenway, McLeod Tuch, Benson, Dahlin Bad: Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Lafferty, Power, Clifton, Samuelsson, Bryson Fine: Krebs and Zucker Adequate: Thompson, Kulich, Jokiharju, Malenstyn and Byram By reputation Doan is good, Timmins Kesselring, Norris and Danforth are fine. We shall see if that survives the Sabres, and if Power, Quinn and Samuelsson- who were all better under Granato - can bounce back.

LCD Soundsystem tonight. Always liked their first iteration as an updated version of a Talking Heads-type group.

When you buy a new tube of ointment, why is the little pull tab on the foil seal so damn small? I just had to stab the foil on my new thing of neosporin because the tab ripped off. And toothpaste uses the same exact tube technology. Why don't they have the little foil seal? Thank you toothpaste industry for not using that.

The 2 bad Zucker stats don't pass the eye test. Kind of surprising.

Makes sense. But in the post-COVID MOU, the players specifically requested the NMCs move with the player. (Previous to that, a single move voided the NMC unless the new team specifically went along with honoring it.) Really doubt that goes away.

1. yes it works like +\-, all 5 get get blame 2. Not according to 2 of these stats, he was fine in the 3rd.

The only thing Maxwell did was confirm that Trump is indeed just like Epstein. Support for Trump is supporting disgusting human being. Give me an eyeroll if you support Epstein.

I think you should be limited in the number of NMCs and NTCs you can have on your team. I also think if a player waives it to be traded, they no longer should have it on their new team.

I agree here.. I tried not to be jaded when I thought of this... I mean when you are the one sitting out at the kids table while the rest of the league is eating dinner of course you are like hey this is unfair... but look, you are at the kids table for a reason... and using excuses like palm trees and taxes is just loser talk... like why should we change the rules for you because you are grossly incompetent and have been for decades... So, I land NMCs really do tilt the playing field of fair competition in my opinion especially when you see a bunch of teams that no one wants to go to... this is why we have a draft with reverse order and teams just cant go out and sign whom ever they want in a free for all... we have free agency as an outlet that gives players a 100% choice ... So to me the NMCs can stay splitting the difference... Once you become a certain age with a certain amount of vested years you earn that right to have one... So say 32 and 5 years just for arguments sake... this would at least give those veteran players some say... but would not preclude all those teams on the no trade list from access to younger top players via trade...

Is it Ruff who wants to keep this coach on or is it the organization mandating it? There were reports that there were overtures to some coaches who simply didn't want to come here. That's a commentary onto itself about how this franchise is perceived.

If a team wants to hand out a number of maximum deals, then what is the problem. If teams are too eager to hand them out to less than elite players, then they will eventually be encumbered by those foolish contracts. By giving out too many of those rich contracts it won't take long before those contracts limit their options in pursuing other players. The Sabres are limited in the players who want to come here not because of the large number of players with NMCs but because it is a widely acknowledged dysfunctional franchise. What player wants to be stuck in a ghetto franchise where post-season play in a fantasy? The NMC contracts have teams listed on them. Well run teams and serious franchises are usually not on that list. There is a simple solution: Run a competent and serious franchise where winning is a priority. Buffalo is in an ideal location for Canadian players who live in the Toronto and southern Canadian area. It should be an appealing destination for many players. It's not because few people desire to be stuck in such a chaotic system. I'm confident that if this franchise turns it around that this clause issue will not be much of a factor in our pursuit of players. The Sabres should be more worried about their top players wanting out than top players not wanting to come here. The solution is to start acting more competently and win more. shiiiiiit teams and organizations have never been an enticing place to play for players with the special clauses and without them. This oddly run franchise is its own worst enemy. Note: I'm not an irredeemable pessimist. I see this leaky ship floating better. In general, our offseason has been solid. But it's still not good enough. More urgency demonstrated by action should have been shown. That's why I'm still disappointed how this offseason has transpired. If our placid GM should come up with a second-line caliber of forward before the season starts, I will be more upbeat.

Related to my post yesterday in the Random thread….. The pooch my son and daughter-in-law just took in as a foster is a bit of a genetic mess it would seem. Spinal issues, front leg issues, rear leg and hip issues, jaw and teeth issues. This poor dog has badly inbred written all over it. The rescue group will be setting up and paying for a vet evaluation. The kids are expecting the worst. I suspect the kids are giving this guy a comfortable send off. Sad. And anger inducing at the same time.

We tend to look at our own ineptitude concerning players coming here and it's completely warranted, but if we zoom out to the NHL as a whole I think we see less movement (go figure) which dilutes a lot of excitement. And naturally, the teams at the bottom do not get that dose of hope that comes with a blockbuster deal.

Chopped the flow off, I like it now, but I miss the sus Jesus look 😂

Bump

A lot of stats are contextual so they don't translate directly. That said, if a guy on Buffalo is bad and you swap him for a guy from a different team that's got better stats, hoping the new guy is better makes sense. For example Doan was basically Utahs Benson (high in xgf% and hdcf%) so there's a better chance he's going to be decent defensively in Buffalo than if we got Utah middle of the road guy in the stats. Will he be? Idk. Idk if Benson will breakout. Idk if Thompson will score 40g or Dahlin 60pts. Stats predict but don't guarantee a future outcome. Oh and I'm not comparing Doan to Peterka here. I'm comparing Doan more so to Lafferty.

How do they measure high danger shots against when there are 5 guys on the ice? Aren't all 5 responsible? Also, I thought the stats said Zucker was one of our good defenders?

Well ya, they simply aren't committed to winning. There are some teams that set a high bar and will do whatever they can to try to win and win now. They don't always get it right and only 1 wins it all but they are usually in the hunt and have some sort of playoffs. Then there are teams like the Sabres, and I don't really know what their real aim is as doing whatever you can to win now doesn't seem to be it.

The only addition by subtraction I want right now is Adams and the entire coaching staff to get fired.