Taro T

Darth nailed it. If Crosby is only going to play 1/2 of the preseason games, they aren't going to waste him on the road only to have people that actually showed up to the game a day or 2 later in the 'Burgh to be griping about not seeing their star. Same with the Sabres and Thompson and Dahlin. They aren't playing in C-Bus. Right or wrong, it's reality. And teams do tend to have their better checking line going on the road, so the home team's top guys aren't primarily skating against AHLers usually.

If he doesn't play in at least 10 NHL games, the contract can slide in his 18 yo and 19 yo seasons regardless of where else he plays. In a player's 20 yo season, the contract no longer slides.

Well, it's your fault the argument started. You said explicitly and clearly that every single prospect the Sabres have ever had in the Pegula era has been rushed to the big team. Wait, that's NOT what you said? Well, gosh durn it, we'll still have to run with that being what you said because otherwise this might get silly. 😜

It's kinda hilarious that the "Mrtka must go to Seattle" crowd is the same as "Novikov is gonna get the sads and run back to Russia if he isn't in the lineup against the Rags" crowd. 😉 See how silly hyperbolizing peoples positions come off? "(y)ou all think we rush EVERYBODY." (emphasis added) No, nobody has said that. And it's disingenuous to make that claim. To the bolded, the people that aren't overly concerned that Novikov isn't getting his chance NOW have the EXACT SAME POSITION you have on this issue. He should get a look this year. And, he WILL get a look this year. Likely an extended look as his game is exactly what the guy that seemingly is always broken for ~40 games per year is supposed to be. When he's in his prime, he slots perfectly into the concept of Samuelsson or what Muel is supposed to be.

14 years in the desert and 4 or so "non-blocking" years have skewed our perspectives. (The Peterka kerfuffle doesn't help matters either.) He'll be fine starting in Ra-cha-cha and will get a legit look before this season is over. His playing the same side and role Samuelsson is supposed to play will almost guarantee it. We're really close to seeing only 1-2 rookies starting the year in Buffalo As they finally have a full lineup of NHL caliber players with only 1-2 teens on the roster, they don't have to rush players up. Though w/ 3 D injured, Mrtka might still end up being rushed up. Hopefully he's the last of the guys rushed up.

Yes. They wore silver & blue that 1st season. But, IMHO, that ice jersey evokes Dallas' threads more than Detroit's. (Thus calling them Lions/Cowboys.)

1 thing to remember is, if they send him back to Ra-cha-cha rather than Juniors before his 9 games is up, he can still get brought up again and also if he cumulatively doesn't get a 10th game this year won't burn a year of his ELC. This is unlike loaning him back to Seattle which if they do that, he could only be brought back on an emergency basis or after their season is done. So, if he's Ra-cha-cha bound, he might be the 1st guy sent down when somebody gets healthy enough to play after the season starts to save some of those 9 games for later in the year. If he's Seattle bound, expect him to get all 9 games before going back.

Jones over Bryson. Heck, there's people that would prefer Metsa over Bryson. 😉

That's not a ####ing goat, you hoser. 😉

FTFY. 😉

I L Well, if the crowd at the Fishies game was any indication, they've already sold a #### ton of the Lions/Cowboys Bills jerseys.

And why presume, if they don't pay Tuch, that they'll pay ANYBODY the money that he would've been getting? Wouldn't have minded the Peterka trade as much had they been sitting at $1MM in cap space now rather than $5.1MM. Trading Tuch (because he'll be the best player in the trade going either way) or letting him walk is the proverbial "canary in the coal mine." Still have time to sign him; but have little faith that Adams will be able to adjust capably to the Kaprisov signing and what it implies for new contracts moving forward.

The proposal was SPECIFICALLY for setting up that full concierge service between the blue lines at ice level. Know this one for a fact.

They probably did. And if they did, it would be because they're dumb. The players collectively get exactly 50% of HRR. Not a penny more or a penny less. If Crosby on paper is getting $12MM / rather than $8.7MM/ then the denominator that everyones salary gets parsed by is $3.3MM larger. Wgaf what you earn on paper when what matters is what you actually have in your pocket at the end of the day. This ISN'T Gordie Howe artificially lowering everybody's salary by accepting a $1k raise each year and a new varsity jacket. (As the legend goes.) Crosby is actually RAISING everybody else's salary by a few bucks by taking the deal that makes him happy.

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.

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.

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.)

Technically it kicks in next year. There have been credible reports the league and PA are looking into implementing some provisions of the new MOU (due to take effect in September '26) as early as during this season. No data on exactly what will get implemented and what will slide to September.

Uh, define "lose seats." One of the proposals they seemed VERY interested in back a few years was replacing a lot of the seats down along center ice in the 100's with tables that 3 or 4 could sit and and watch the game getting a full concierge experience. Think the seats over by the bar on the 200 level behind / near the goal line that the Sabres defend twice. Hoping they don't decide to do that, because that would result in a full reshuffling of where everybody that's put up with this team for the past 15 or so years (with many being there for much longer than that) ends up having their tix.

That "big and opaque bug" is actually the ribbon board below the jumbotron (or whatever the monstrously big TV is officially called) that has the stats shown in rink. Would have money on it that isn't the MSG "score bug" we'll see when they start broadcasting the RS games.

He was recalled when Jones was sent down. D'oh! Meant to type Komorov.

And that's 8 healthy/available D for practice with Novikov. Komorov. 🍺

Yes, he's still waiver exempt. So, they aren't "sneaking" him down or up.

Kind of surprisng that Komorov is getting brought back up. There was no need to waive him the other day if they were considering keeping him up. Is there another injury to the D that we don't know about? Because with Samuelsson injured, that would give them 9 healthy D on the big roster.

Could definitely see FLA missing the playoffs if they get just 1 or 2 more LT injuries to KEY players. Until the Loafs miss the playoffs, won't expect it. Though they MAY take a step back to upper 90s, very low 100's with their latest moves and Tavares being even 1 more year older. But BOTH of them dropping all the way to sub-90? NFW.