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If you think we're a goalie away from being a playoff team, you do believe we're better than the Eichel years.

Happy to see Penticton get promoted to the big league. Good for them.

No matter how much you may dislike Tyreek Hill, it won't make you feel better about watching his leg injury against the Jets. Ouch town, population you, bro.

I think Lindy is conveniently making space for Mrtka to get his nine games.

These CBA-related rules? Yeah, they can’t just change them on the fly. The only thing you mention that was is the 2006 stuff. I don’t specifically remember what you’re saying, maybe that was the case, but I thought it was an issue where Darcy thought they’d handle it that way but was wrong. But if they’ve been told it will be in place, I’m good then. When it comes to how people are paid, it needs to be set in stone already at this point.

I hear that, but Drake Maye will never play a snap against Josh Allen.

Haven't seen any of them officially put in place yet. Not saying they haven't been, but haven't seen any reports of them actually getting enacted on an expedited schedule. And, you seriously believe the N-H-friggin'-L can't change a rule interpretation mid-year? We did mention we're talking the NHL, right? This is the same league that put out a "clarification" memo on how to enforce the in the crease rule about a month before the RS ended and THEN completely ignored that guidance when it was expedient. (Note to people in the Keystone State, not taking your bait from anyone when you respond to this post.) This league also decided in late '06 that it wouldn't let players play in the playoffs if they had been on IR all year; a position the league has since done a 180 on. But, teams have been told that it's very likely the new rules will be in place for the playoffs this year. As long as they're up front about it and everybody gets the same info at the same time; of course they can change the rules. You can argue all day as to whether they should or shouldn't; but it's not a should/shouldn't thing. It's a will they won't they one; and they absolutely can so they likely will.

If Mrtka goes back to Seattle, I could be seeing him Nov 7. They play Penticton and my buddy got tix for it already.

I feel like they’d have to know by now if they were going to do the playoff thing and we would have heard it. You can’t change an accounting thing mid-season. If a team makes a move thinking it will be counted one way, changing that on them suddenly doesn’t go well. Which ones have they actually said are in place now? I can’t remember and the only things I see with a lazy google search are non-CBA rule changes.

And he’s been waived before.

AND 1. it is ENTIRELY self induced by ownership and management; and, 2. It won't go away until at a minimum they've either won a playoff series or made the playoffs 2 years in a row. That'll be necessary to not be viewed as being an afterhought, though it won't necessarily be sufficient.

I think a large portion of the hockey media spent exactly this amount of time on the Sabres. 1. Pretty bad last year. 2. Long history of being bad. 3. Didn't do much except trade one of their most exciting young players for two guys I don't know much about. 4 Next team please. Doesn't mean they're wrong: many of us have come to a similar conclusion knowing the entire roster inside and out. But they didn't do the work.

I did hear some of the guys on the NHL station in XM last week, ones who I would say are particularly harsh on the Sabres, picking Thompson as one of 4-5 players who will hit 50 goals this year. It caught my attention because one was saying Matthews won’t get there because he’ll get hurt. I would expect the same to be said of Thompson. Let’s face it, he typically misses a decent stretch of games, or hits a slow patch because he’s fighting through something.

After reading your post (same sentiment expressed by many), what I find most aggravating is the lack of urgency to make additional moves to improve. It's not to say that the deal to bring in Kesserling and Doan wasn't a good deal that improves the roster. It's just that there weren't other consequential deals. It seems to me that if KA could have added another second line player (not necessarily a star caliber player), the response/perception would have been much more positive about the roster and season prospects. I needed to see more urgency in action rather than this casual pace to upgrade the roster.

I certainly do not believe that the Sabres are a better team now than if they would have remained.

All three players that I mentioned that left have thrived in their new locations. And with respect to Jack, I have not heard of a scintilla of problems with him in Vegas. There are no "what if" games being played here. The Sabre organization under Pegula are recognized as a poorly managed franchise by everyone in the business.

Yep, there’s been a notable difference between what the models are saying and what the traditional hockey media is saying. I think that may be exactly at the heart of what I’m talking about. For example above podcast posed the question: Dahlin/Thompson, Seider/Raymond or Sanderson/Tkachuk? Nobody even considered the Sabres, despite the fact that by the Athletic’s own rankings Dahlin is a full tier above the rest. Instead they talked about Sanderson breaking through. Even Dahlin is an afterthought. People acknowledge he's good, as in almost certainly top 10 good. They don't realize that he's good as in surefire top 5 good, despite what all the counting and analytic measurables say. I still read people talking about how he needs to improve defensively, or hear broadcasters say things like "out-of-character for Dahlin" when he crosschecks somebody or sticks a glove in their face. They don't pay enough attention to know who and what he actually is because the Sabres aren't interesting enough to force them to pay attention. The Sabres stink is a real thing.

Imagine wasting most of Drake Mayes QB life b.c he is stuck in a division with Josh Allen.

No, unless new locker room leadership emerged first. Eichel, for all his skill, was a terrible leader and contributed to the mess this team became. The Sabres fate was sealed when they drafted him because he was "the guy" and the Sabres had to do everything to make Jack happy. If you want to play "what if?" imagine if we got McDavid.

Now that's a leap. Jack didn't understand anything other than he hated Buffalo. I'd argue Jack along with Evander was the source of the bad locker room vibes that derailed this franchise.

To paraphrase: "If Muel attempts to exude any actual effort, his body disintegrates into a fine powder. Once they scoop up the powder and recombine it into a human form, he will be week to week."

There's a 0% chance any nhl team is claiming a 5'9" defender of his skill level.

I would love to have Johnson beat him out. Lindy might push to have this happen even though KA would balk at having his prize #7 Dman waived.

True, but aren't even those still seeing them in only the low 90's? If that's where they are they're still putting a huge portion of their destiny on others failing rather than them succeeding. (And yes, in the East, it's been that way for at least 3 years, so it makes sense for it to happen again. But it's just so frustrating to see them once again not step up in the off-season and put themselves in a position where it would take some serious bad luck for them to miss rather than needing some serious good luck to make it.)

Several analytics models like the Sabres to make the playoffs.