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Dang you for giving me a reason to drink some hopium. I’m excited about Kess and equally excited to push Muel to the third pair. Dahlin/Byram Power/Kess Mix and match the rest for 14 min a night with protected zone starts. The blue line is a legit improvement.

I can’t mentally get to the place where I actually think any part of this team will be good. I will believe it when I see it.

It's all good my friend. Sadly, this team has become a laughingstock and we have to survive it somehow. I just hope we return to relevancy sooner than later.

We could go back and forth forever on this. You say start with a capable and decorated FO and then use the Bills as an example and it's 100% not what happened to the Bills. Even if that was true, we're not getting that for the Sabres. I'm shocked we landed Jarmo TBH and it's some weird work from home role. IDK man, we had Eichel for 33.33% more than he's been gone, we sucked. Ok you want Eichel, Sam and who Montour? Then you don't have Tage, Tuch and pick someone. If you think Buffalo, as a place to live, is attractive, then you're just not paying attention. Kelly and Thurman like it because they wouldn't be adored if they lived anywhere else. Ray wouldn't sniff the job opportunities he's gotten here, elsewhere. C'mon. The population has massively declined over the last 30 years and even since the 50's. You can laugh at palm trees and taxes all you'd like, but it's absolutely a factor. It doesn't make me feel good to say that because I love Buffalo. The people are fantastic, among the best even. I feel one of the factors is because, the grind of being a Buffalonian brings out a character in them/us that can't be manufactured. It produces an amazing community of people. Plenty of athletes have bought into that vibe and have absolutely realized something different than they thought. But they thought it, because they all do.

The most intriguing player for me on the blueline is Samuelsson. It would be a terrific redemption story for a player who has received a lot of criticism, most of it deserved. He's not a banger and because of it he is targeted for scorn because he is a big fellow. He's best when he plays a simple game of getting the puck out of his zone. It would be such a bonus if he can come close to what originally expected of him which was probably too high.

There's potential. I think Kesselring will be a nice addition. Dahlin is elite. Power needs to show strides this year; I thought he took a pretty big step back last season. His injury was very unfortunate because he really needed to put in work this summer. Timmins should be serviceable. Byram is fine, good puck mover, meh defensively. I just assume Samuelsson is going to miss about 40 games and be underwhelming when he does play. All in all, I think there's a decent chance they're better as a group than last year, but who the hell knows.

Power and Muel need to really ratchet up their games before I’m sold. Really like the addition of Kesselring hope he rubs off on them. Don’t know a thing about Timmins.

If we can get some consistent goaltending the picture looks much more promising. Possible flicker of hope?

Yeah, no. You need a Rubber Man toy to stretch generational that far.

We're all hoping for that. Hope ain't a plan.

Man, last season I said I was more concerned with the forward group than the defense. They let me down. They played alot worse as a group than I expected. This season, show me, Im from Missouri.

3 of our defensemen were drafted as the top defensemen in their draft year. Dahlin 1st in 2018 Byram 4th in 2019 Power 1st in 2021 There is the potential to have a dominant defensive core. if the development can get them there.

You ever see how good he is on this tire fire? Imagine what he could do with teammates that can play this sport.

I took it wrong. I apologize. Following this franchise has taken a toll on simply talking about hockey. Talking about prospective deals and the roster is the fun part of following a team. It's sad to say that this franchise has been hollowed out by incompetence to the point where the rest of the league doesn't take this franchise seriously. What makes the situation even more agitating is that I don't see a sense of urgency in the organization. It is ambling along while everyone seems to be running hard. It's a sad situation.

See, that's the thing, IF Byram is traded (and persoanally expect that to be less likely by the day, but it is still realistically possible) really expect him to be traded for a package that returns about $6MM worth of salary. Except for McLeod, they don't make trades where they get the best player. (Want to say there was one other small one that the Sabres got the best player, but darned if it's coming to mind right now.) So, $6MM, $1.5-2MM, & $1.5-2MM of which only $0.5-1MM counts against the cap initially though as injuries hit, they'll burn that back. So, somewhere a bit above $3.5MM in space. If Byram gets an $8MM award and they keep him, they're looking at ~$2MM in cap. So, the pointless buying out of Skinner last year lets them appear to be spending to the cap on players this year. (Technically they will be close, but they'd be well over $6MM below the cap without that hit.)

We shall see but Wilford driving them into Lake Erie seems likely.

The top 4 are good to excellent D-men (or would be if given a legit system to play in now that they are all at least close to their prime if not actually in it). The 5 and 6 should be able to be good in a good system but both have been hit or miss in the past. Would be happy with this D if somebody other than Wilford was directing them. On paper it is better than they've had since Montour was a Sabre. And it COULD be significantly better than that. Expecting coaching will hold them back. Wanted improved coaching, D, F's, and GTing. Provided Byram isn't traded, this is the one unit that did actually substantially improve on paper.

I actually have no idea. My tiny brain assumed big words equals college. I'm actually just joking around and trying to promote some levity around this frustrating team

Maybe you have a better handle on it than me, but I’m kinda looking at Byram 8 Timmins 2 as a worst-case scenario. Once I read that injuries can be used as evidence in the hearing, that popped a pretty big hole in either arbitration case for me. And we’re talking guys with career highs of 39 and 15 points. Now that may change if either signs for term. Do you see that as a possibility with Byram?

How do you know I went to college?

The Sabres have one - Dahlin.

There is not a lot of things to feel good about right now as a Sabres fan. Could this be one? Power 6’6 226 Kesselring 6’5 215 Samuelsson 6’4 227 Timmins 6’3 213 Dahlin 6’3 204 Byram 6’1 205 These guys range from pretty good to elite in their skating ability. No one is small. No one is slow. Five of them had enough skill to be picked in the top 32 picks of the NHL draft, 3 were the first defencemen taken, 1 is a top 4 defenceman in the league and the best to ever wear blue and gold. All of them are young enough to say that their best hockey is ahead of them. All of them are old enough to say that they’ve been around the block a few times. They’ve got balance and flexibility in terms of where they slot, utility and skill sets. They all have reasons to be highly motivated. On paper, the pieces seem to fit. It’s been so long since we’ve had a good defence corps I probably forget what one looks like. But can this be it? Can we actually have something good? Or are Lindy Ruff and Marty Wilford going to drive these guys into Lake Erie?

I'm sorry man. I get all worked up and my word things don't come out so best. Me get mad. Big mad. When I don't understand, I assume you're coming from a place of disrespect. Thank you for indulging me as I act like a buffoon. The off-season is in the doldrums and I'm bored

I understand the difficulty of the position we are in. Long standing acrimony and failure etc.... but you start by getting a FO that is capable and decorated and you begin by drafting and retaining your stars... the Eichels and Reinhardts and Montours... A dream that will never happen.... just not true... Edmonton doesn't have palm trees but they attract players and they went thru am abyss themselves... the Bills went thru it for 20 years... but they gained a competent FO and built around their stars... people come here for less money than they would get to go elsewhere and they play outside. Green Bay would tell you the same thing... bottom line i get your lament and recognize the difficulty but this isn't about palm trees and taxes it's about culture and there is nothing wrong with Buffalo it's a great place to live for some.... LA NYC I would literally never want to live there not my style but to be sure its other peoples... different players would like different settings some love buffalo and stay ... Thomas Kelly Martin Ray Barnaby Hajt etc.. etc... others dont and leave... but to go anyplace to win and get paid well I dont think they care the city they do it in as long as they win... and if that is not their goal i dont want them