Taro T

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How are you getting this from his posts. He LITERALLY has said the current movement is "hurting the classic tomboy and feminine "male" that exist in higher numbers." You seem to be arguing right past him.

OK. So did the Flyers swap picks with Columbus or did they get Columbus' 2nd 1st rounder (what was LA's 1st) and are keeping their own. And if they swapped picks, did they get pick 3 from Columbus or pick 22? These 2 reports are contradictory.

Not sure what it means for Lawson, but pretty sure it means the Bills don't have to try to rush Miller back week 1 but can keep him on the PUP list until week 6 letting that knee heal up as much as it is going to do so. And when Miller is back, having a line of Miller Jones Oliver and Floyd on obvious passing downs with the possibility of sending Milano in as well should be giving OC's fits with the 2ndary healthy too.

To the bolded, why yes, yes we do. He got benched because they added Greenway. Not because he's a streaky player. Greenway gave the team something they had very little of and the team had many other goal scoring wingers besides Olofsson. Had Greenway not been added, he would not have been benched (regardless of how desperately many here wanted him benched). And for the majority of the year, when all were healthy the PP1 was Dahlin, Thompson, Tuch, Skinner, and Cozens. They did go to having both snipers on the ice together some in the latter part of the season when they were in "try anything to get this working again" mode, but it was not the standard PP they used the majority of the year. Would expect that Olofsson's S% moving forward would be closer to 15%+ than sub-14% as his S% was artificially low in Granatos 1st full season as he played most of it with a messed up wrist which Granato and Victor both admitted after the season was substantially messing with his shot. Would also expect him to get more shots should he play a full season. Both of which would make your estimate artificially low.

No team is giving him 2nd line minutes? The Sabres only 3 or so years ago were giving him 1st line minutes. Never say never. Also, he got 20 goals a year ago missing 10 games with a wrist injury and never really recovering from it until there were about 3 weeks left in the season. While playing through the injury his shot was a shell of it's normal velocity and accuracy. This year, he got 28 playing 3rd line minutes the significant majority of the season and 2PP for the majority of it as well; and that's with being benched down the stretch. Had he not been benched, even with the less than ideal usage (from his perspective, not from the team's) he was only 2 goals short of that round number. It's not crazy to expect that in 2 seasons, after he's adjusted to his new linemates that 30 goals is possible for him especially if he's getting 2W & 1PP usage.

Yeah, getting 2nd line usage 5v5 and 1PP usage is "the very most perfect season." 🙄 Should he get that, he has a very legit chance of getting to 30. If not, yeah, it likely would take a minor miracle for him to get there.

That's that other S country. The one Larry is actually from, not the one he's moving to.

Hopefully the players agree to no full NMC's. Even leaving a 10 team group that a player would be willing to be traded to would leave an awful lot of flexibility should Adams need to retool on the fly. Very much agree with the latter sentiment as well and as stated above, Adams has that luxury at this point for a little while longer. And expect he'll use that time unless a deal that simply knocks his socks off becomes available.

All of this. PLUS the Sabres COULD fill all 4 legit roster holes they have (1A/1B goalie, #3/4D, additional #5/6D, and 4C/PK specialist) via free agency. IF the right trade is there (and don't forget the 28 goal man that didn't have a spot in the top 12 last year as a trade piece), sure trade away something that might hurt. But right now, Adams ISN'T in a position where he HAS to make a trade to get the team over the hump. The right trade could definitely help in that regard; but don't see him having a glut that has to be addressed until most likely next off-season and possibly the following one. At that point, there will necessarily be some good players (either prospects ready to make the jump or vets losing their jobs to younger guys) that will need to be traded away to both fill current holes and to stretch the window out. And realistically we could see as few as only 1 new body coming onto this team from the outside (really don't see any way around them bringing in a 4D and simply don't see him in the organization unless either Lybushkin or Jokiharju make a substantial jump) but really hope Adams brings in at least 2 if not 3 of those pieces. All 4 would be great, but just not seeing it actually happening. And getting back to the thought on trades, yes, some of these pieces won't max out their potential, but am expecting more of them will be making a jump from last year to this upcoming one than will be stalling out and that will make whomever is (are) the guy(s) without a chair when the music stops all that much more valuable to a trade partner. Will use a guy this kid really likes as an example, Peterka has decent trade value today as a rookie 12 goal scorer; but he'll have serious value if he becomes a 24 goal scorer next year. And if the usual 2nd line stays together next year, he could very well make that jump. Would hate to see him traded away, but he (or Krebs or ______) might be the key piece to bring in one of those few pieces the team is still missing next year or the year after. As long as the team keeps improving &/or they aren't regressing but the window is getting wider am ok with just about any move Adams makes. Though there will start to be trades that do hurt initially. Since the Eichel deal, there hasn't been anything of note that went out the door; we're likely into the last year of that being the case.

Any word on whether that would be for 7 or the full 8 years? Thought he MIGHT settle for $10.5-11 per on a 7 year deal (and that the full 8 years would cost the full $96MM) but if they could get him locked up for 8 years at $10/year that would really help them keep the mid-tier guys or an extra one of the kids when they're ready for a big boy deal. Kevyn's talk of guys wanting to be here might have seen him actually finding guys that really DO want to be here and want to be here with a really strong core of other good players around them. Mr. Adams, please let this be true and keep locking these guys up before their skills force the bank to be broken wide open.

Perhaps he won't. But, had he not been healthy scratched several games this year &/or had he gotten more PP1 usage, he very likely would've done it this past season. Depends on where he's at and who he's playing with. If he's getting top 6 usage and more importantly PP1 on a decent team wouldn't bet against it ever happening. (And, no, wouldn't bet on it happening either. That's kind of the point of using the word COULD; it's a possibility but far from a certainty.)

Don't overlook Olofsson. 28 goal scorers don't just grow on trees and if he goes to a team that'll put him on the top PP he could hit 30.

Was hoping he'd become a Ra-cha-cha fixture, but the money in Switzerland is better than the A IIRC, and him leaving isn't a loss to Buffalo. He'd've been somewhere between 10 - 12 on the Sabres depth chart by the time October rolls around.

You have to avoid at least 2 weeks of games - 1 to set up and one for the actual hockey game. And then you can't do anything on that field until late in the next week. It's a grass field; if there are ANY issues with keeping the surface in good condition, you could have a serious mess in that next football game played right after the Ice Bowl. The league won't go for that. And the NHL won't go for less than 6 days to get the ice set up. (NYD '28 falls on a Saturday.) The Bills aren't going to be good with not having access to their field for 2+ weeks in the stretch to the playoffs. They are no longer being run by Russ (if it makes money it's a good thing whether it will help with wins or not and whether it ticks fans off or not) Brandon. No way does Pegula go along with a Winter Classic in the new Mausoleum. A Stadium Series game, quite possibly; but would the league go for an outdoor game near the shores of Lake Erie in February? The possibility of a nasty storm rolling through is probably higher than the league would want to go for. Still not sure why the Sabres have never been the visitor in one of these games. A ton of Sabres fans would show up for one.

Thing is, though the Bills "only have $2 MM in cap space" there are still probably 6 contracts that could get reworked today to free up at least $15 MM right now IF the right player were sitting there ready to get picked up. And they'll be able to open up literally 4 times that if necessary in any future year where the rosters aren't close to being set yet. And, don't have a problem with having 1 DT under team control for 5 more years (this year and the following 4 years that the new contract covers) especially when he was a top 10 selection and IIRC only 21 when he was drafted. Haven't seen the details of Oliver's contract but heard it only averages out to ~$11MM/year which shouldn't cause any problems over the life of it and also expect right now that final year can get punted with no/almost no dead money. (Again, haven't seen the particulars yet, maybe that take isn't a good one, but that's the expectation.) Oliver's shown flashes, but Frazier's bend don't break base nickel package asked the line to think contain 1st and then penetrating to the QB. Expect that McDermott will be letting him actually wreak some havoc when he explodes through the line. Hoping Jones and Ford can stay healthy, because rotating those 2 big boys in at the 1T will really let Oliver attack. Edit: The $11MM/year is the guaranteed amount. It averages out to $15.7MM/year which will still be cheap by the time the contract is done IMHO.

Isn't he the lead singer in REO Speedwagon? Or maybe that's his grandfather.

The "Cap" in the NFL is ridiculously maleable. It is nowhere close to as hard a cap at the NHL's salary cap. It will eventually catch up to teams in theory, but having a stud QB on a "reasonable" deal seems to keep it from ever catching up to those teams while that QB is there. The Bills are one of those teams. As long as the cap keeps going up, and it seems it will continue to do so, teams will be able to absorb the dead money at the very end of a guy's deal. And as long as the team can do it, there is no harm. Back when the Bills were a "cash to cap" team, the others were spending way more every season than Buffalo was spending. Now, Buffalo has actually joined the rest of the league.

Nope. The Sabres "host" the Winter Classic every 10 years whether it be 10 miles outside the city limits or 1,000 miles away. Fully expect them to be the home team for the 20th anniversary Ice Bowl.

Umm, how can it not happen? The Bills will still be using that stadium in early January. They aren't going to play the last 2 weeks of the year on the road to allow for the rink to be set up. But absolutely agree the Sabres will be the host team for that one. The only question will be which "suburb" will the game be played in. Gut feel is that one will be in a true Buffalo suburb - Boston NY MA. 🤬

With him getting to line up next to a true 1 Technique DT pretty much all the time between Jones and Ford, them having a legit outside pass rusher (hopefully) all season between Floyd and Miller (with perhaps Rousseau stepping up too) and ALSO playing a more aggressive D than Frasier ran am expecting him to have a big year. Don't forget, he played with a high ankle sprain almost all of last season. He was looking very good prior to the injury. Am really looking forward to seeing McDermott call a more aggressive defense. They have Josh Allen on the other side of the ball; play aggressive and get the ball in his hands. If you get them to go 3 & out or 5 & out, he gets a short field. If you gave up a big play, well, you have Josh Allen and he can get those points back.

No. Goober was the consolation prize that year. Babdick was the guy they wanted.

Yeah, game 2 is important (and sometimes you don't even get to game 5) but game 5 sure seems to typically be the most critical 1.

Yeah. Adler is probably 1 of the 3 best in the league and on occassion has a better game than the other 2 guys would put slightly ahead of him (Irelan and Baptiste). Winning the vast majority of faceoffs helped the Bandits work the strategy they had for this game. Rather than going primarily to a fast break game or working the ball to one of their stud shooters (primarily Byrne, Nanticoke, or Smith; secondarily Fraser, Buchanan, Cloutier, or MacKay) for a quick shot the Bandits worked the ball around a LOT and didn't take the bait of the 1st open shot which Ward was well out of his crease to shut down. The Bandits were patient on offense and worked to good shots. Even though Ward was stopping the lion's share of them in the 1st half, that plan wore the defenders and also Ward himself out. He started leaving holes open and the Bandits shooters were able to capitalize. Patience on offense had a secondary (and even a tertiary) benefit as well. The 2ndary benefit was that the D were able to stay fresh and after about Colorado's 3rd trip into the offensive zone the Bandits defenders (especially Priolo and Bomberry) were winning the majority of loose balls on the occassions where Colorado was even able to get a legit shot away. There were a lot of occassions where the fresh D were able to simply keep the Mammoth out of the scoring lanes and with their strength (the Bandits have some big boys on D and working the offensive transition) they were able to shrug off the Colorado attempts at picks. That 3rd benefit is the Bandits stayed out of the box. They had 1 PK to kill (and were unsuccessful at, Colorado has a REALLY good PP) and had 1 other coincidental penalty. That kept Colorado's PP off the floor and Colorado simply didn't have the talent to take it to the Bandits at 5v5. Went to the opening playoff game vs the Kin-ig-hit Hawks and as impressive as that win was (and the 2 wins over TO Hamilton too) this was far and away their most complete game of the season. Cudos to Tavares and the rest of the coaching staff for changing the game plan. They spent the week working on moving the ball around with their backup doing his best Ward imitation coming out high in the crease; and it was successful. Was complaining about them not changing to this last year against them and also in games 1 and 2 and wifey pointed out that the W's in game 1 of both series likely left them believing they didn't need to change their style of play until it was way too late. There's probably more than a grain of truth in that observation. And this is one more Pegula owned team that is consistently one of the best teams in its league. Should the Sabres ever get there, they should be able to keep it going for a long time. (And the Sabres seem close to getting there too.) Though it may take the Pegulas a long time to find the right people to run their teams, once they've found them they do seem to turn them loose to do their thing.

At least Mississauga is an ACTUAL suburb of TO rather than a completely distinct city about an hour away. It's a MUCH larger Orchard Park to TO's Buffalo.