Taro T

Might have some tix available. Grabbed some for the kids, but doesn't look like they can go. Will know Monday for sure.

Seeing these guys getting so excited at landing these kids can kind of be infectious. (Realize that's the point, to hype the future while the present finally gets here; but they've been genuinely excited to land them. And they seem to have been right on guys they've drafted in the past like Power, Quinn, and Peterka.) @Brawndo & @Huckleberry 🍻

100%. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll stick around.

The '05-'06 season WAS after the lockout. But your next statement seems to be indicating that your memory seems to be fading. It wasn't a popular sentiment, but there were some that were expecting the Sabres to make the playoffs that year. In no small part due to the way the team had finished the '03-'04 season and because they jettisoned team cancer Satan. (Which opened up room to be the point of focus on the top powerplay for a certain cocaptain that had been quite the PP specialist in his previous stop.) Two major reasons to like the Sabres chances. There also was the fact that the Sabres had been moving towards an entertaining team prior to the lockout and when the league decided to actually do away with D "waterskiing" off attacking forwards and implementing other items to open the game up from the clutch & grab dead puck era it positioned the Sabres very well to take advantage of the new rules. Not sure if that was by design or by luck, but either way for once the Sabres were "in the right place at the right time." (Have argued it was in large part by design but it very well might have simply been luck.) As to your last question, yes, some who were following the (pretty much legal only news about the NHL because there was no hockey to follow) NHL during the lockout knew about that lawsuit.

A 110+ point season, yes, nobody expected that. A 100+ point season and being back in the playoffs, some saw that. Would be really cool if it happens again. But doubt it does this season. (Doesn't mean it CAN'T, just that it likely won't.) The East is a lot stronger and deeper today than it was that magical season nearly 20 years ago.

Hope the rest of your B-day gifts weren't as lame as the one the Bills gave you, oh Fearless Leader.

Pretty sure he didn't have Lidstrom in Anaheim.

And honestly believe that it is.

OR the bridge deal makes his 2nd "real" contract more problematic as he's now signing it in his early 30's rather than his late 20's.

Well, expect there'll be 2-3 more guys in this category by the end of the month, but currently they have exactly 6 contracts that extend more than the next 2 seasons and 2 of those expire after 3 years. Doubt that is out of line with the rest of the league. Other than Skinner's deal, which of those 6 would you like to see end w/in the next 2 years?

Again, IMHO, the goal needs to be legit contender. They may not be good enough to be one. But they can't be satisfied being in the mix for the 2 WCs. They need to be shooting for top 3 in the division and feel the urgency if they aren't in that mix. Or else, they very well could be on to year 13.

The goal needs to be Stanley Cup contender. Not simply playoffs. Believe internally it is. Would believe much more strongly that the goal can be reached this year if the goaltending was more certain and the D went NHL caliber beyond only #7. (He's not a great NHLer, but Stillman is an NHLer. Won't go that far at this time on anyone below him on the depth chart though at least 2 and likely 3 guys below him will see NHL action.)

Nah, he'll never give up the Bisons. 😉

Whatevs. It's either Olofsson or that guy that stole the Winter Soldier's activation codebook.

He and Clague both are reasonable 8's. But 4 weeks ago, they were both excellent 9's.

If that front one ISN'T Olofsson, it's his doppelganger. Expect he hopped over the rail to get everybody into the picture.

Personally, am expecting all 3 contracts to get signed when the players report (give or take 2 days). The "plan" has always been to build from within and reward those that earn it. Pegula dropped serious Pegulabucks on this team prior to the shutdown. Fully expect him to be willing to drop them again if it fits in with the plan. The piece that needs to be part of the plan that isn't as sure is how much will Adams be willing to spend (in $'s and assets) to fill in the final holes should it becomes obvious that they aren't all going to get filled via the build from within method.

Really believe that he'll fit in very well with Power. His flaws are ones that Power should be able to cover most of the time and Clifton won't be jumping into the rush before Owen gets a chance to like Jokiharju tended to want to do. While landing Pesce or Hannifan in addition to Clifton and Johnson would've been nice, prior to them giving Lyubushkin away, it wasn't necessary for this unit to be significantly improved from last year as they had 1 legit top 6 D-man (Lyubushkin) backing them all up and Stillman can handle 3rd pairing usage. Now, for this unit to be significantly improved they need to keep to just having 1 D-man out injured for any extended periods. But, am comfortable with saying this D when healthy is significantly better than last year's version and Clifton being the 4 is a big part of that. (Granato can't love him enough Jokiharju to bump him higher in the lineup than Connor, right?)

They could have gentlemen's agreements w/ 1 or both. But nothing is signed as the team has to send all contracts to the league office once they're signed for approval that the contracts meet all the terms of the CBA and that the team remains cap compliant.

w/ Olofsson taking the selfie. Not sure who the kid behind Victor is. Maybe Levi?

Sorry, don't have those #'s. But judging from how many seats are available for single games, would say there's probably 12-14k in ST equivalents between full seasons, 1/2 seasons, 1/4 seasons, & build your own minipacks. It was down around 4k 2 seasons ago.

He did that all of last season too. For whatever reason, the league just doesn't give a flying #### about him doing that.

Ah, ok, those 3 items are "member only" but the whole event runs from 11AM - 6:30PM. Not sure what else will be going on. In the past there were a lot of autograph sessions and games around the rink too. Edit: the announcement says that "fans can take part in hockey skills activations (whatever the f that means), kid zone activities, and watch Sabres players participate in on-stage programming throughout the day." So, guess no autograph sessions.

Not sure if it's just for STHers or if it will be open to others after the STHers have had a chance to sign up for it, but next Saturday the Sabres are bringing Fan Fest back. This iteration will have a Kids Q&A session at 12PM, Sabres Trivia at 2PM, and then a B&G Insights with players apparently to be named later. (Those apparently are STH only events; though STHers can get up to 4 tickets. But there are other activities going on that day. See next post for details on those.) Personally am planning on attending. It should be fun.

White Goatheads were Reverse Retros. Those unis are 1 and dones.