All Activity

The Tuch contract situation is not an unusual situation. All teams confront the issue of giving a long-term contract to a high yield player in his prime recognizing that the player will be less productive on the backside of the contract. There's nothing novel about that situation that happens in all pro sports. What a well-run franchise does in advance is having a plan to replace the player if it comes down to that. That's not where this stolid organization is currently at. A season-long contract issue for a core player is not going to help this struggling franchise move forward. It will be a distraction for a team that needs its full attention to compete for a playoff spot. In contract negotiations, sometimes the organization has more leverage than the player; and sometimes the player has more leverage. In my view, the player has more leverage in this case. If that's the case, then the organization has to accept that reality and be more willing to accommodate in the negotiation. The Sabres have been out of the playoffs for a generation. That's a disgrace and a tribute to its systemic ineptitude. This deal needs to get done sooner rather than later. My position is not to get too fixated about the value of the backside of the contract and be more focused on the present. A Sabre team minus Tuch is a demonstrably lesser team. When you have earned your way to be recognized as a clown organization your focus of attention should be on the now.

Common sense, and the law, wins out. Interesting to note that the three judge panel were all Biden appointees.

This game against the Patriots is absolutely huge. Big opportunity to create separation from every team in the division. The Drake Maye love in Boston seems very premature. Would be nice if the Bills d steps up and drops a soul crushing on the New England spirit.

I agree with your point... It's hard not to. The reason why Tuch is different... Is you are potentially signing him to a long-term deal that starts after he's 30 years old. All those other guys were in there early or mid-twenties.

I could see Florida taking a big step back without Barkov. Many of us truly think he's a top five player in the league. All the way back to 89? Not sure about that. Toronto is the same way. I do not think they are going to miss marner as much as many people think. As much as I don't really like Matthews, I also think he is by far and away a top five player in the league. He carries anybody on his line. With that said, any injury at all to Matthews, which happens frequently to him, and even a slight step back in their goaltending can be a big drop for them. The only thing is, it's possible those teams can drop that far, but you're relying on injuries to do that. That's pretty much the story for any team in the league.

Yeah, I know. Maybe they know something we don't.

Umm, Buffalo with 91 and BOTH FLA and TO with 89? Probably wouldn't be betting the farm on this model's output.

Apparently hockeyviz.com thinks someone will save us. If you're trying to see this on a cell phone, Buffalo is the third red-ish band from the right, indicating third in the Atlantic, with a predicted 91 points.

Old-man history mode: The WWIV dial-up BBS software was popular around Buffalo in the late-80s and early-90s. For those who never used one, someone would run a (usually) DOS program on a PC with a modem and you could dial into it from your computer. DMs and Message boards, not unlike here. One person at a time, with time-limits. Later, these were networked (by dialing each other periodically and exchanging new messages) so you all didn't have to show up serially on one system. One of the largest networks of these was IceNet, which was founded by a guy named Jim Nunn in Buffalo. For awhile, I was a SysOp on Chain Reaction BBS, which I think was an IceNet node. Thanks for the prompt to unlock some old memories. I don't specifically remember talking Bills back then, but I can't believe there weren't some boards focused on sports. That too, just not as many people outside universities had access to it at the time. FreeNet run out of UB I think had usenet, but it's been a long time, lol. I love these old "Internet" articles: https://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/archive/vol26/vol26n2/1a.txt (Thanks for indulging my ramblings, lol.

If the Sabres could now get Ullmark quality netminding for a season, the Sabres would most likely be a playoff team this year. We are now in a precarious situation with our goalie situation because of the lack of foresight by this myopic organization. Just think where this franchise would be if we retained Eichel, Reinhart and Ullmark compared to where we have been and are now? What’s obvious to all is that an unstable franchise is not an appealing place to play for or attract other players.

He might turn 40 and still be in Mom’s basement the way things are going.

Release the Bryson list...

Another loss against Belfast last night. Shots fairly even, Belfast more clinical. Good news for the Clan - Langan continues his excellent start with another multipoint game. Goal and assist for him. Poolman also grabs a goal. But alas they were all the chances that squeezed past Whistle (Belfast GT). 2-4 the score as Belfast complete the weekend sweep of the Clan. Clan return to league fixtures next weekend with a road trip - visiting Guildford Flames and Sheffield Steelers.

FTR Botterill wanted to give him a long term deal, Terry is the one who balked at doing so. That's a major reason Botts got another chance in Seattle: People in hockey know he was sandbagged by the imbecile of an owner and don't hold it against him.

Maybe it is nothing more than “he wants to be here”? 😂

I'm not paying Rosen a bag of nickels.

Thanks for the additional insight using future cap numbers. Here’s my question. If he walks away from Buffalo’s offer of $9m * 8 years (big assumption) what is his value in the open market where there is a restriction to six years max term? Is it $9m *6 ? Is it $10m * 6? Is it $11m *6? Ultimately he has to find a path to $72m right? Sure you can argue money isn’t everything in the equation. Just know that an offer like that is coming from a team with cap space and it’s not the Stanley Cup Champion's. If he manages a new deal of $60m at 6 years, he needs to sign a new deal after that one expires for ~$12m in a new contract at age 36. This year Jamie Benn signed a one year deal for $1m (plus incentives). Is Benn at age 36 a comp? If yes, what does that contract look like in 6 years? What is Ben’s value on the open market, if it’s just about the money? I get it that Alex and his camp have confidence in his abilities and are trying to maximize his value, but some of the CBA changes are countering the benefits that the Salary Cap expansion brings.

The Amerks should dominate. I’d rather see several of these — good or bad — at the NHL level than many of the players we are keeping at that level. Tired of so many of them.

Reino yes. Ullmark, meh. Still better than UPL though.

Reinhart. Ullmark. Give them both LT deals instead of 1 year deals and the whole trajectory of this team changes significantly.

Totally different situation from Tuch. Reinhardt got a short extension from Botterill. By the time Adams took over, nothing was keeping Sam here. Since Zach Bogosian, you'd have to go back to Golisano getting cheap on Drury and Briere. My point is there really isn't a history of the Sabres lowballing players and letting them get away. So acting like that is the likely outcome with Tuch is like you're rooting for that to happen. All negotiations start apart. That's why you negotiate. You have a half dozen other players in the league right now slow walking their deals because they want to cash in on the expected higher future caps.

With Allen's interception, the Bills did not break the record for most consecutive games without a turnover. They do extend their own record for consecutive games without losing the turnover battle.

KC is getting healthy and rapidly returning to form. They were downright scary today.

I stand (somewhat) corrected. From this post forward, Cleveland was 47-26, the most wins in the entire league in that span. That said, the offense scored the 3rd fewest runs in the league. The pitching staff is pretty good, though. I have 0 expectations in the playoffs, so every game is a gift from here on out.

I can't help feeling like they beat the Jets and got away with three other games so far.