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He seems to be playing in a lot of different situations with different linemates.

Dude's being asked to do too much. It feels like a familiar story from the Sabres over the past ~15+ years. Third liners being asked to be second or even first liners, third pairing or 7-D being asked to be a second pairing guy.

Every team faces issues with players who for a number of reasons prefer moving on. And every organization faces issues regarding makeup of roster and players fitting into their team concept. The reality is that when a franchise has been flailing for as long as they Sabres have, it is going to happen with greater frequency. JJP was in a contract situation that could give him additional leverage. So he used it. Good for him. On the other side of the equation, I believe that the Sabres got a fair return on the trade. It's all part of the business.

Given the recent history of the franchise I struggle with the breakdown that only leaves room for beneficial outcomes If I had to guess it more so looks like a case where we will lose a player we want unless we make the playoffs

Big difference is Tuch doesn't have some weird obsession with playing for the Rangers

Goes both ways. The other side of this coin is the claim JJ had “no interest in improving” and that he was “anti-culture” and that’s why we dealt him. Don’t really see the need to call into question the mindset of a player retroactively but we’ve been here many times before so it’s hardly worth relitigating. As mentioned it’s a both sides dynamic. Probably best to simply judge based on the macro results.

https://www.instagram.com/gatewaygolf_northbayon/reel/DPvLHc3DWMQ/ Sabres prospect David Bedkowski, playing for the Owen Sound Attack, lets his club fly out of his hands at the team night at a local golf simulator.

I saw Lyon make several unbelievable saves, including one against Boston.

I agree. It’s why a lot of teams send out their muckers to stir things up a bit, rattle the boards, and get the crowd going. These are layups for an organization yet thus one acts like they’ve never been to a hockey barn.

They’ve lost 3 of 4 games scoring 2 goals in the first 3. Have a positive +/- in that circumstance would be noteworthy.

It didn't cost them the game, but that 4th goal last night was entirely on Lyon. Felt the 1st MacKinnon goal the other night was on him too, but hard to fault a goalie too much when he has to move across the net and the shooter is MacKinnon. Other than those 2, not much he could've done on any of the others. He got the 2nd one covered last night and the ref's hands went up as if he'd blown his whistle and then they decided on replay that he didn't have it covered long enough. Not faulting him on that one.

Shades of Chris Drury. Though doubt the problem with this one was Pegula leaving an agreed to contract sitting on his desk for a few weeks before getting around to ok-ing it.

The best thing that Tuch can do to move the negotiation needle closer to his side is to have a good year, and better yet a good start of the season.

No reason not to wait. Either someone develops into a Tuch replacement and we can trade him, or he has such a good season that it's a no-brainer to extend him.

Sample Size. Stats are deceptive at best after 1 week. That being said, Kulich has been off and needs to wake up.

You are making a claim that he wasn't signed due to the owner's reluctance to pay him in his next contract is based on what? Your assumption based on your disdain for the owner? There is no one in this forum who has more antipathy toward this fool owner than I do. I would conjecture that you and I are in the same contempt strata directed toward this stubborn and incompetent owner. So let's be fair here. That doesn't mean that money was the reason why he was dealt. The evidence based on many reports is that he didn't want to remain for a number of reasons. One of them had to do with his relationship with the coach and I'm sure that he didn't want to be stuck in this third-rate organization that has little chance under the current organizational scheme to be a serious franchise. (As you and many others have frequently noted.) The GM wanted to sign him to a new deal. And he publicly stated so on a number of occasions. JJP had no interest to sign a deal. So he was dealt for what I consider to be a fair-trade deal where the return was Kesserling and Doan. With respect to Doan, he's giving us what we hoped he would do so. Kesserling has been injured so that is a TBD issue.

Charlie Finley and the Gund brothers were the owners; both sets were horrible hockey owners. (Their 1st owner was bad too. His name escapes at the moment.) There was a bumper sticker in Minnesota in the 90's. People don't kill hockey, Gunds kill hockey. They failed in Oakland, Cleveland, AND Minneapolis of all places, before going back to the bay area and eventually selling. (Htf do you get run out of Minnesota when running a hockey team? Well, they figured out a way.) And, yeah, this is about the best time to have to play the Swamp Cats. Hopefully they can pull it off.

Who's JJ Peterka?

Effectively both sides would be happy to make a deal but will wait for now.

Kulich has been awful I honestly have no problem with him going down to find his game again

Net PK, they're tied for 2nd at 100%. 1 PPG against and 1 SHG for. Only the Rags, who have 0 PPG's against and 1 SHG for are better. The PK has looked good. Having a goalie that can make a save tends to help there. 😉

It's hilarious how fast Sabres twitter has gone over positive with one game. Sabres did this last year and before as well. Remember when they bombed Toronto. If you give them open ice they soar. Ottawa played open (as they seem to fall into every time we play them) and thus got bombed. Most teams won't play that way. Best tweet I saw was "looks like Sabres are playing against the Sabres tonight" because yes, Ottawa played that style.

The ironic thing is, after Tuch hit the post and they were carrying play that next shift, the crowd really got loud for the 1st time that game and then the Otters immediately went down the ice, controlled play for all of about 10 seconds and evened it up at 1 apiece. So, the team got us into it, and the building was loud for the 1st time in 3 games, and then it got very quiet for a bit. Building got loud again in the 2nd. It was a fun one to be at.