Taro T

The idiot in "in game set up" or whatever the #### it's called who keeps setting the garbage cans in the 300 level out at the end of the stanchions under the seating bowl. It makes it really difficult to walk around up there. They don't always do it, but when they do it yutzes things up something fierce.

Yep. All that cap space last year and this year all evaporated on the day the regular season ended. (Still 3 weeks away this year, but that cap space can't be recouped at this point.) Even if they only got 2 extra 7th round picks and 2 extra 6th round picks, maybe those can be used to move up a couple of spots to end up with a player they don't expect will make it past those next 2 or so teams. Find ways to make marginal improvements whereever you can, and eventually they result big improvements.

To the bolded, absolutely. It really does mess up how you play because you expect any shots to become goals against so you change what you're doing ever so slightly and you end up giving up worse opportunities against as you either try to take away every opportunity against or grip the stick too tightly realizing any bad pass is going to become a goal against.

It's not a plan. (At least not a good one.) But it should be evidence banging Adams over the head that he needs a better option at #1 next year if he didn't already see that.

How much bigger / better trained do you expect 20 year old Jack Quinn or JJ Peterka to be? 19 year old Owen Power? 21 year old Peyton Krebs? Insert name of other ridiculously young guy getting key minutes here. Guys like Dahlin, Mittelstadt, and Cozens have gained a lot of strength the past couple of years. These other kids will too.

Games 13-18 of "the streak" were his. He did get out of it. By having Ullmark finally return from injury. Helllllllooooooooo Devin Levi. (Pretty sure that's the plan to get out of this funk. Hope it works.)

That was quite the poop show. Agree with @PromoTheRobot that the team is gripping the sticks way too tight. But they have to figure a way to get their heads out of their bippies. No idea why Granato pulled the goalie when he did. If they get one to make it 6-4, absolutely pull UPL. But the odds of them giving up a goal rather than scoring one were way too great at that point to pull him there with it still 6-3. Hopefully the B&R works its magic on Friday. (Would probably have a better chance of working with Levi between the pipes too.)

Don't know if he's correct or not, but Biron on Sabres Live today said he'd heard the game jerseys would still be made in the same factory that Adidas has been making them. So, if they can get the same fabric rather than the junk they usually use, it might not be as horrible as it sounds at first.

At times he will be. But not expecting him to truly come into his own until that following season.

Realized that. And don't believe that was the driving factor in taking the Otter deal. As stated, expect it was more a case of not just getting the best offer he could get but also not losing a negotiation with somebody he needs to negotiate with in the future. (Both the Sabres and LA GM's would be among those he didn't want to cave on the ask.) And since the Otter offer was comparable (presumably) or even better than the best offer the Sabres and LA were making, he went with that deal rather tan let one of the other GM's get him to walk back his ask with them this time.

Doubt the Ottawa trade was a favor to Chychrun, but maybe. Expect it simply came down to Armstrong wanted either Savoie or Kulich (maybe both?) from the Sabres and when Adams wouldn't budge on that he went with an offer that was reasonably close to what he'd get from the Sabres minus Savoie or Kulich. Armstrong said he made his decision off of the top piece being offered. The Sabres 1 and the Otters 1 at the time of the trade were essentially equivalent. Armstrong didn't want to "cave" and accept Adams offer, so he took what was essentially the same offer from someone not named Kevyn.

Such a difference between the NHL and the AHL. Pilut is serviceable at the AHL level.

Josi might be out tonight. As good a night as any to start a turnaround.

Seinfeld is the biggest name that will no longer perform on campus. He's been quite outspoken about it. Pretty sure you could find several interviews with him with a quick search. (He can state his position far more eloquently and accurately than we could.)

Boo. Not a fan of Fanatics. Have a Thompson ASG replica on order from there (long story, don't ask) which was supposed to be delivered yesterday but now is set to show up next Wednesday. Hoping that the "authentics" that they end up making are of the quality that CCM, Reebok, and Adidas have been, but not particularly hopeful.

The big issue with not having 1 more NHL caliber D-man in the lineup is when 1 guy is out, the best defenseman gets shackled to the tweener. That should NOT happen. But it does because Power had seemed to be running out of steam (so he keeps Jokiharju as his partner) and neither Lyubushkin nor Stillman can lug Bryson nor Clague around with him without having the F's completely change their game and Granato is loathe to make the F's change the style. Which leaves the team's best D-man carrying a tweener. Heck, if they could get away with Dahlin playing with either Bousch or Stillman that might help him tremendously as both are actual NHLers. Guess the jury is still out on whether Stillman truly is an NHLer or another tweener, but so far he's looked better than the tweeners or Fitzgerald. Carrying a boat anchor even for only 12 minutes per game gets old quickly. Especially when you have to do it against the other team's top line.

Considering there was roughly 1/4 of the season left in the year and the maximum retention on a contract is 50%, retaining salary would cost in actual real $'s about 1/8 of what the player was due to earn this season in a worst case. If they had a signing bonus, it could be significantly less than that (the O'Reilly example just brought up being a great example). It was a missed opportunity. Can understand reasons for missing that opportunity, but it still was a missed opportunity.

So we are an administrative clerk's performing their job from a 4 headed goalie monster. Can't recall ever seeing one of those before. (Yes, teams have gone through 4 or more goalies in a season; but don't ever recall a team having 4 that could literally be given any given night's start before.)

Would like them to sit him the next 2 games to actully watch how the rest of the F's play. There aren't a lot of teams that play the Sabres style (and Minny definitely ain't one of them) so watching live could help with the acclimation process. After that, would play whichever of he, Jost, and Olofsson the coaches feel bring what the team needs against that particular opponent. Let that guy be the 3rd piece on a Mittelstadt Hinostroza line and if one of them plays particularly well one night, consider bumping Hinostroza the next game (if they won, keep him in) if they lost, bump him and go with 2 of those other 3. Lather rinse repeat these last 14 games.

They have one. Do you mean a better checking line or a scoring line that can also consistently check. They don't have the latter.

Now this is the sort of stuff was hoping to see when starting this thread. How many games do we need to see his longest pointless streak be while still being able to get to the dance? Would say 3. More, less?

Would agree that this is what Granato needs to do this coming season.

Yes, the goal is the playoffs. But without a plan and goals that work towards that it isn't saying much. Agree that fixing the home record is going to be paramount to getting into the playoffs. They likely won't improve the road record much if at all and even if the team is better next year they might not have as good of a road record.

Do we need a different defensive coach next year or merely the increase in emphasis on that portion of the game? Teams are exploiting the D's tendency to overplay the puck below the goal line (often getting both D below the goalline along with the puck carrier) so that when the puck bounces back out (either to the point or the slot) there is an opening in the low slot for the opponent and the low F is slow in reacting to that and the D are too deep to recover. They also leave the backside open, but that is better than leaving the slot open. Had seen games where they were better at covering those but recently they've been as bad as that as they have been all year. Hoping that additional top 4 D man coming in and Power being a year more experienced helps them get back to taking that sort of play away. That alone might drop the GA by at least 20 and possibly 30.

Agree that these are the sort of things that Adams needs to be doing. But what are the goals that the rest of the crew needs to make doing well in the playoffs a reality? Would agree that a little introspection (and at the maangement level, a lot) will be beneficial across the board. But what are some more tangible subgoals which will be necessary to make the big goal a reality?