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AI Rick 1.0 would already be better. What I'm intrigued by is AI Rick 5.0, when the inflections, the rhythms, the pauses, the vocabulary, the creativity are perfected.

The toughest game he had was on Wednesday against Pittsburgh’s AHL Squad. He was paired with Bryson, who should be in the AHL, and it was a disaster. An 18yo defenseman, who does not have the pedigree of a Dahlin or Makar, should probably return to his previous team. He is going to be a good one, but let him develop properly My ideal path for him is WHL-play in the WJCs, then report to the Amerks if they are still playing at the end of his year. 2026-27 Season Amerks and WJCs 2027-28 Amerks and the first call up to the Sabres.

I'm fairly certain it will be no worse than what we currently get

It occurred to me that it won't be long before an AI Rick could call Sabres games and be a reasonable facsimile if not indistinguishable from the real deal. Would you want to have an AI Rick?

I asked you this because I wonder what you base your opinion on how “older people” feel about their savings. You could be a financial planner that studies how people feel about managing finances and risk?

@gilbert11 has not been online in the last week or so. Draft will begin at 645PM today unless it gets changed.

I understand, but imo he needs to learn hockey against superior competition more than being a leader at 18. His leadership will develop as his maturity and game develop, anyway. And it’s gonna be a while before he’s “the man” in the pros, regardless. Being a leader in juniors, while nice, still means he has to earn it at the next level as well.

Keep him as far away from Buffalo for at least two more seasons.

Ideally he's a 2C but on this squad he gets top billing as nobody else good enough unless keep Thompson there.

Twas inevitable.

IF Norris can stay healthy the Sabres win the trade running away. Norris has all the tools Cozens did but he has a brain to utilize the tools effectively. He was the player that impressed me most in the preseason.

Him being here prevents Cozens from being here and actually hurting the team. Any production above and beyond that is just great. As others have said, the key is to stay healthy. Its going to be hard for me to have any concrete opinion at all with hjm, or the team for that matter, until minimum 10 games are played.

I thought his speed and connection with Tage were good. I worry about them being able to dig pucks out of corners. Norris seems to have better effort than a bunch of our players which feels like the difference between most franchises and ours. His shooting and faceoffs are nice. You also don't have to panic like Cozens in the defensive end. He's an effective top 6 center.

Rick didn't. At least he didn't say it the way Dom said it. Should that be the determining factor? One of Schopp's dumber takes was that pronouncing names phonetically is acceptable vs. player preference. It's HAWsheck, btw.

I think if Greenway is in the lineup, its not on the 4th line. If Geersten is, it is on the 4th line. Big difference in minutes played. Any 'greenway' replacement for usage will be someone else.

"Starting today" was a lie?

If only he can stay healthy. To me, he was our best player in pre-season. On both ends.

Yea but it's kinda fake math. We replaced a top 6 forward with a top 9 forward. We replaced a bottom pair defender with a top 4 and bottom pair defender. We moved out a couple 4th liners for different 4th liners. It's like putting new rims and tires on you dodge neon and calling it a Ferrari. Sure, we changed out stuff but the engine, suspension, and pit crew are all the same.

Haven't watched a lick of pre season, decent stats on paper. The question is and will remain.... Can he stay healthy enough for those numbers to matter. Time will tell.

Mrtka's preseason stats with the Sabres: Games: 4 Goals: 1 Assists: 1 Hits: 11 Shots blocked: 3 Penalties: 0 Penalties drawn: 2 SAF%: 40.51 GF%: 60 xGF%: 44.5 ATOI: 17:45

Mrtka is minimum 2 years from playing on the Sabres and 5 to 7 years from getting meaningful power play time with the Sabres. There are a lot of chances to kill penalties in the AHL. I think the Sabres would rather keep him close by. Better to play 16-20 harder minutes and work your way up the ladder.

Curious what people's impressions are so far of the man tapped to be our 1C this year. His pre-season stat line in 4 games played: 3/4/7/+2, averaging more than 19 minutes a game TOI 1 giveaway, 2 takeaways, 3 hits, 4 shot blocks 1 minor penalty taken, 3 penalties drawn 55.91 SAF%, 71.43 GF%, 51.59 xGF% 59.68% on faceoffs

Korpisalo was the first that came to my mind. There might be other and better options. However, he has looked good lately and seems to be healthy. I would definitely take him over Luukkonen in current situation, but we would still need to pay Luukkonen if we get another goalie, I can't see anyone take that contract.

Never heard that term before. Love it.

I like this line of thought when it comes to Helenius types - players who have been the stars of their teams all through their formative years. That’s not Mrtka. He’s a late-blooming poor kid, with not a lot of history as the bell cow. He needs time being leaned on as “the guy” if we want him to develop into “the guy”.