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The answer is in the room, gentlemen. In. The. Room.

Hmmm, another bad choice and contract, should I be surprised PASabreFan ? You have been beating this drum longer than any others here and I just want to say that I believe you have been right. While I probably should just comment on UPL discussion to stay on topic, this really has been the story of the whole Pegula saga, Poor decisions, contracts. handling Just a few snippets that predate current GM and his coaches, Christian Erhoff - Buyout Ville Leino -Buyout Evander Kane Ryan O'Reilly -Traded Kyle Okposo - Kept Jeff Skinner - Buyout (Not sure if this is Ka's start but he is responsible for below) Cozens - Showed the $$$ again, traded Samuelson, Power, $$$ Maybe UPL - The what to do,, The bad trades of the good players now on other teams.... The only constant through all of these poor decisions is you Terry Pegula, please just give up either decisions or ownership for the Hockey Hell you've managed to create.

Will the NHL implement a mercy rule?

You know what they say about assuming. There could be career-related reasons on top of his concern for her, for example. Maybe he understandably has some mental health issue. Maybe one of the 'rents is sick. No one knows what's in his head. The group think is on here, as usual. Don't be that nail that sticks up.

There is no reason for Adams to overthink this. Of course, it would be nice if we were working with a larger sample size for Ellis. Has an NHL GM ever done more contorting to keep a goalie who his coach, evidently, doesn't have enough confidence in to play? If Adams ever gets himself to a point where he can make an actual decision, and if that decision is that UPL can't be in the NHL any longer, then just waive UPL (assuming there are no trade options). Just tell UPL he is being waived and if he clears he can find a nice place to live in Rochester until he is needed in the NHL; he wouldn't be the first grossly overpaid AHL goalie. - Lyon and Ellis in the NHL - Levi backed up by UPL in the AHL - Georgiev told to go home and find himself a team in Europe that the Sabres can loan him to - Ratzlaff and Leinonen in the ECHL

The glass shattered on the floor and we're all bleeding out from stepping on the shards.

Ah, thought you were going for something Sabre related for the assumption. Yes, we have all "assumed" he decided to go back to Sweden to be with his fiance while she recovers from about as major a form of surgery as exists. We've certainly gone out on a limb on that one.

What else would he be doing?

I assumed everyone knew. That he's going back to be with her.

So, what is that "major assumption being made?"

This will be the first game of the year that turns into a background game, put it on the TV and focus on other things instead of full attention on the game. Missing half the roster including Dahlin, this one will get ugly quick and is the first game of the year I’m fully expecting a brutal beatdown. I have no interest in wasting 3 hours of life solely invested in this one. Going to be an unfortunate week of hockey on the road trip. Optimistically if we can survive the week with 4 points in the 4 games, hopefully we come out on the other end with a (more) healthy lineup and still within striking distance instead of burying ourselves with a 4 game losing streak. Go Sabres

Interested to see how the lines shake out tonight. Either way, this has butt whooping written all over it

Every coach says this because it is true for most players. Unless you have a really great shot, or you and your linemates can get the goalie out of position, the goals come from the dirty areas. True.

He’s very consistent. Once in a blue moon he has a stinker like all goalies have, but he’s a steady force between the pipes. The four gosls against last night look bad at first glance, but he had zero chance on two of them and he made a bunch of key saves to keep them at four.

They are still in it Woodman. Hang in there.

This has a 5-2 type shellacking written all over it. I would be shocked if we were competitive.

If it's for public consumption, fine. But if it's all he can offer his team in private, he is failing.

Two and a Half Sabres? Quick question, hun. For how many years has Lindy preached going to the net/inside/dirty areas and scoring ugly goals? 30 years? Has any team ever bought into the cliché nonsense? Has it ever worked the other countless times a Ruff team has gone cold on OH-ffense?

I will be watching. The roster has been thinned down by injuries but you never know. A road trip can bring a team together. Lyon in the net?

So I'm guessing Lindy didn't Bag skate them and talk about "compete levels" Maybe Terry came and passed out Yoo-Hoos and Orange slices with his patented pep talks. We almost made it to Thanksgiving this year folks... Next year, let's shoot for hope into December

Good to hear she is OK. Without a specific explanation of "personal matter," which we won't get, there is a major assumption being made here. It's probably a fair assumption reading between the lines of Ruff's comments, but there also could be more at play. It's certainly a highly unusual situation.

I honestly don't think the defensemen had played poorly as a group this year. And that is with Dahlin not playing his best. There is a pretty good chance they can still play solid for a period of time without him. The team can get by, but the need to get decent goaltending, and the forward have to really step up. You can get by without Dahlin for a while if you can manage to score 3-4 goals per game.

Yup. They are both going to play more. This could be turning point for Power to step up, I can dream.

Losing Dahlin indefinitely is obviously a huge blow and would be to any team. But, this is, presumably, why Adams chose to spend $14.5 million per year on Power and Byram. It is time for them to step up. Most fans, even those excited about Ruff’s return, had some reservations about the hiring process and lack of an actual coaching search. The reasons for hiring the veteran Ruff were “structure and accountability”. Well, here we go. A smartly built NHL team that plays with structure and accountability, would manage in this situation. While I think there is already more than enough evidence to support Adams and Ruff have failed, perhaps it is a test of this magnitude that has been the missing spark behind the failure to ignite. This road trip might be the last meaningful referendum of the Adams era. I don’t expect him to be fired if the team does poorly. But if we come out of this road trip with a winning % in the .300 range, and playing to a pace of 70-75 points, then it is over. Put another way: in year 6, having not made the playoffs in the first 5, there can be no excuses.