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But IF this team stays together, they have Dahlin, Thompson, Tuch as true 1st liners/pairing players. And they have Byram, Power, and Kesselring as possible 1st pairing and at least 2nd pairing guys along with Norris should he actually finally become healthy. They also have Benson and Kulich who by the time the prospects are coming up should be top 6 as well. Quinn and Doan might become top 6 guys as well. They have plenty of D prospects to be rounding out the 3rd pairing in the near future and at least one of Helenius or Östlund should be top 6 as well. So rounding out the rest with 3rd and 4th liners, while not ideal, isn't horrible. Provided, they finally figure out who's capable of being a stud in net and find a crew that can actually coach the whole bunch, am actually pretty high on where they can be 2 years from now. The fear is that this season goes sideways so thoroughly, that they don't have all 3 of those top end guys when all is said and done.

I agree with you. It puzzles me that so many people are so adamant are adamant about removing Trump by any means necessary, making Vance president. I think just as devious as Trump, but smarter. Careful what you wish for...

I'm not a Canadian, but I live right near the border (less than 5 minutes from the River), and we have some Canadian friends that we got to know over the years from visiting for a day or weekend at the cottage. This is strictly my experience and certainaly anecdotal, but I agree with your comments above. No serious conversations specifically about this topic, but over the last 6 months or so having a casual call or message with them, I didn't hear any stories about any of them having a problem crossing the border. What they have said, however, is they don't like/appreciate the way Canada is talked about by the USA now and they just don't care to come across the border and 'support' the US businesses like they did before this started. If there is a specific reason to cross the border, I get the impression they will, but the casual trips, the vacations, I think those have been put on hold by most of them. (again, I'm talking about only a handful of couples/familes from Canada that I am friends with)

Officer on primary determines whether someone should be referred for further questions.

I have read that more then a few Canadians haven’t been allowed to enter the US with having anti trump comments on the social media accounts, plus another wasn’t allowed in with anti Israel comments specifically of the Israel prime minister

And apparently the 17th spot will be filled as well. (Never heard of the guy making the tweet, but apparently he's ESPN's Washington Commies beat reporter, so take it for what it's worth. It's likely legit.)

Based on how the team fared in its own end this past season with Granato's chosen D coach leading the efforts there, have no reason to believe the results would have been any better last season had Donny been retained. And Cozens and Quinn would've still been making the same idiotic clearing passes from just above the opponent's goal line to neither point man in particular had Donny been running the show as well.

Granato had an openly stated development plan of teaching offence first defence second. I think with the offence in place, he made clear progress on improving the defence in his 3rd full year but took a modest step back overall in the process and was not given a chance to see his plan through. I think there were a lot of players firmly on board with Granato who struggled transitioning to Ruff (Cozens, Power, Quinn, Peterka, Samuelsson, Clifton). I’ve seen little to suggest that either coach is/was on the right track.

After reading your intriguing observation, a question can be asked whether the Sabres would have had a better record with Granato than with Ruff taking over? With both Granato and Ruff, the bigger problem related to the composition of the roster than with the coaching. It just seems that there were roster and structural deficiencies that hindered each coach.

Thanks for the correction, it was Christmas.

Practice squad https://www.buffalobills.com/news/bills-sign-16-players-to-practice-squad

Who decides that? Then explain the drop when the Sabres aren't playing?

True. I just meant that on mid-week work nights folks would not want to risk ANY delay due to an over-zealous border grunt.

Jfresh modeling the Sabres for the playoffs is almost more hope than I can bear. I respect the guy's processes. And his modeling has been good in years past. Good Christ -- may it be true.

Well, they lost 1-0, one of the best games they'd played all season, at home against the Wild for either the 1st or 2nd loss of that stretch. And Dahlin broke in the 3rd period of the Avs game they were up 4-1 at the time he left the game and when he was lost for the next 9 games they flat out collapsed without him available. BUT the statement had been they were dead BY Thanksgiving. That was not true. They were very much alive and had they not come up on a hot goalie and then had by far their best player miss 1/8th of the season (right on the back of having had their best F out for an extended stint as well), the wheels might've stayed on a while longer.

Theres probably open source information on the phone question. In depth might not be appropriate for this site. I dunno.

I know you werent asking me, but here is how I got here... 2021 was really low... ultimately it was the beginning of the 4th tank... (Reinhard, Eichel, Dahlin) to get to Power... hard to take... why is this worse... well, I fear we are on our way to the 5th tank ... I see no prospects coming to save us... the fact we cannot trade for players due to NMCs and can only attract bottom 6 FA feels like we are trapped... 5 years of more of the same old dysfunction leaves you in a place that you are even more convinced that abject stupidity and incompetence wasnt a phase, its an ingrained reflex that cannot even be controlled... another lackluster year in Free agency and I dont see where the improvement is coming from net net... unless it is in the dynamic in the locker room, attitude etc... now the spector of not just Eichel looking to get traded for health reasons (a trade we would not likely been able to make now because of NMCs unless we found a WNY kid that wanted to come home and skip winning a cup) but rumblings from some of your core stars like Dahlin and Thompson about wanting to be in the dance... and of course Tuch not getting extended or locked up because... well why would we... that a tough place to be in when you are expecting a less than stellar year... and if you have another non playoff season you can reasonably expect at least one of those 3 players to either leave or try to force their way out if not more... and the only thing you can really get in return is picks... or defective injury prone NHLers that dont have Buffalo on their NMC list... and you begin tank number 5... and start aaalll over again...

That holiday break is when their physical and mental stamina crashed and never recovered. That has been the excuse and somewhat believable.

Overall, agree with this. BUT they were NOT dead by US Thanksgiving this past season. While they were out of a playoff spot by points, they were in one by points percentage. That the wheels fell off starting over that holiday break is also true. That's when 0-10-3 began. Which meant they were toast by Christmas.

It does make me wonder about how many people actually have had the uncomfortable experiences vs. how many have heard a story of one. People do have a way of magically making those stories their own.

I wonder if there will be a drop of Canadians going to Bills games? I wouldn’t be surprised if the stressed inter- country relations had little effect due to the better product on the field.

Exactly. On a related note, what exactly consists of a “phone search” at the border? PS More than likely, if the number of Canadians at Sabres games are down(only the Sabres have that info), it is because the team continues to be terrible, and the exchange rate equally terrible.

Ha, I had the same exact response all ready to go.