Taro T

Yes. Appert and Ruff are in charge of it now. So, expect Peterka opposite Thompson and Quinn to get the 1st crack at the bumper slot.

He definitely had room to improve upon when facing odd man rushes. The rest of his game was pretty decent (against AHL competition).

So Nashville acquiesced to Askarov's ask to get traded rather than sent back to the A once again. Wonder what they get back in return. Figure a 1st has to be a significant portion of that package, right?

This. But, realistically, somebody will miss significant time due to injury and Kulich (especially without another top 6F being brought in before the season starts) is the most likely recipient of the newly opened ice time. Would have Johnson next up on the list, but expect the real big guy they brought in will likely slide in as the 6 (if he isn't already rotating into there depending upon opponent) should 1 D-man go down.

Said this back at the end of June and am sticking by it. Am expecting them to score between 260 & 270. (264 as the EV) Peterka - Thompson - Tuch - 85 (28-35-22) Benson-Cozens-Quinn - 75 (18-22-35) Zucker-McLeod-Greenway -40 (16-12-12) Malinstyn(sp?)-Fogarty-Lafferty-Aubel-Kube - 24 (8-8-8) Defense - 40 (Dahlin 18. The other 5 - 22) Yes, some won't get there & some will be injured. But that doesn't include ANY goals from those not in the top 18. They should pot another 10-20 which'll offset some overly optimistic predictions. And with reasonable health, Tuch & Cozens at a minimum could pot quite a few more. So, yeah, they have enough offense. AND they still might bring in a W that drops Benson out of the top 6. If they do that, it makes it all that much more likely that this is realistic. Plus a healthy Thompson could easily score 10 more than predicted more than a month and a half ago.

Amazing how effective the threat of litigation is if a potential hazard can go kaca. Significantly unrelated, but had a fairly new car that's speedometer starting going wild. It would randomly peg itself or drop down to below 0 or go ANYWHERE inbetween. There was 0 correlation between what it displayed and how fast the car was going. So, the only way to figure out if you were close to the right speed was to keep with traffic. Called the dealer to get them to fix that under warranty. Their initial response was that yours truly should stop speeding. 🤬 Explained to them that even when going well below the posted speed limit this was occurring, so they said they could get me an appointment but since that was a specialty part it would take about 1-1/2 months to get it in for service. Said, that's fine. Just realize that if yours truly gets any speeding tickets or into any accidents that the dealership will be expected to pay those and any associated increases in the cost of the insurance as they know about the problem, it is a safety hazard, and they don't seem to care about remedying it. Their tune changed pretty quickly after that. Car was in the dealership the next AM and it was back running properly about 4 days after that. And all w/ a courtesy loaner.

Haven't looked closely at the PS schedule, but somebody had pointed out that the Sabres play at least 1 preseaon game (maybe 2) after the squad will have played a PS game in Germany. That indicates that the team will have bifurcated into a Sabres plus a handful and Amerks by the midpoint of the preseason at the latest. Which is a much better way of working things than still seeing if guys like Rousek or Kulich can be 1st liners in a pinch in the last tune up game. Them not being desperate for their usual quick start to the season while their opponents didn't fully have their game legs and were overlooking the Sabres pretty well doomed the season. They'll be desperate this year; but unfortunately their 1st 2 games are with another desperate team that will be trying to kick the snot out of their old head coach's new team. Absolutely HATE that they're starting the year in Europe. The disruption to the start of the season could seriously gum up the whole works. Yeah, it could help them bond and have a solid October which starts the whole thing off on the right foot; but expect with the new coach and the renewed sense of desperation, they were going to get that with a normal start to the year. More likely the disruption gets them off to a 1-4-1 start than the bonding gets them off to an 8-1-1 start.

You could always TS Garp the kid. (And end up with a similar result too unfortunately.)

The shingles vaccine sucks. Worst "flu" in at least 7 years and that includes having had Covid. (Though that lasted 3-1/2 days rather than just 2-1/2.) Am SOOOOO looking forward to round 2.

We talkin' about Vancouver last year? 😉 Somebody is going to get into the playoffs in the east that isn't expected to do so. It could be the Sabres. They need a couple of things to break their way, but it's possible. (And no, am not happy that it's merely possible rather than probable. Still am hoping for 1 more piece to get brought in some time in September to move it a little closer to probable.)

Wasn't talking about the 6th rounder that actually made the show that the Loafs took. Was referring to the 7th rounder that ended up washing out that the Sabres took after they literally couldn't give the pick away.

And at least per Duff and Biron, that "material breach of contract" is likely that Johansen is pursuing a treatment plan that the Phlyers aren't on board with. (Consider how the Sabres would've treated it if Eichel had scheduled the neck surgery that they didn't approve for him.) It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out because according to the CBA the team chooses the course of treatment for injuries but the player chooses the specialist (surgeon, therapist, etc.) to perform it. Expecting that to be the major item the players want modified when they negotiate a new CBA in a couple of years.

It was the incident/item that was the most representative of the Sabres of that era. It summed them up perfectly.

That's actually plausible. But that has to be a kick in the nuts to be the guy taken simply because the team couldn't GIVE the pick away and (presumably) according to the CBA had to use the pick or face fines/sanctions. Hey, an NHL team wants ME!!!!!! No, no, they really don't.

It's already there. Pretty sure he was actually hoping for an improvement to something more along the lines of a groin pull. 😉

In fairness to Botterill, a trade with almost ANY team at that time would be for a lower pick when they're both in the same round. (What were the odds that the team they'd traded with would finish dead last in 2019? Pretty slim at best.) But, yeah, it was a head scratcher why he wanted a worse pick a year later if it wasn't simply for the fact there was literally not 1 single player left on their board at that point that he felt was worthy of getting drafted. But then they used their 7th round pick; so they did believe there were players (or more accurately A player worth drafting). So, was the guy that thought Worge-Kreu was worthy of drafting, off taking a dump or grabbing a hot dog when it was the Sabres turn in the 6th? Or was he given a solid MID-6th round grade but was viewed as a reach at the top of the 6th?

Yep. And Edmonton got Armstrong to take a few levels of FA compensation off the table in '27 by taking his 3rd round pick in '28.

Why? If the 2 GM's want to trade a pick 4 years from now or even 10 years from now, why shouldn't they be allowed to do so? Going by the old rule of thumb that a draft pick loses 1 round of value for each year further in the future it'll be made. Makes this essentially a 6th in next year's draft which has almost no realisitic value. Whereas, Edmonton at least knocks a couple of potential offer sheets out of the Blues '27 quiver with this trade.

Who isn't?

And, btw, stated this earlier, but to clarify. Personally do believe there's a chance that Andreessen makes the 53 man roster especially with all the injuries they end up with at LB. But if he DOESN'T make the Bills, who knew him better than any other pro team did because he grew up and played college ball in their own back yard, and who have a tendency to have LBs resemble Spinal Tap's drummer roster, and also have seen him every single day in camp; then WHY would we expect another team to steal him from the Bills and keep him off the Bills PS? MAYBE Pittsburgh grabs him for their 53 man roster because they saw him for a full week and have most of a full game of film against them and maybe because of history Shoen and Daboll decide they want to pop him onto their roster essentially sight unseen. But why would anybody else do that for an UDFA out of a middling school that plays in the MAC who will have all of 3 NFL preseason games under his belt when they have to choose to grab him over any of the 1,200+ players that will become available in the next 2 weeks? Because he has 1 really good game's worth of film in the very 1st game he ever got to truly live his dream and be a starter on his childhood's favorite team? It's like every single year that we worry about guys the Sabres are sending down to Ra-cha-cha that won't clear waivers because they're so good, but we forget that those guys weren't good enough to make the roster for a team that just suffered its 13th consecutive playoff less season and that there are roughly 650 other players that just got waived at the same time that personnel departments have to sift through. (And, with all that said, watch him get grabbed by the Cowboys 2 weeks from now. 😱 D'oh!)

Personally, am expecting the Bills to make the playoffs. Until they aren't, they are the 4 time defending AFCE Champs. That counts for something IMHO. (And the rest of the division is starting to make the AFCE look like the AFCW. 1 real team, 1 meh team, and a couple that people ask "how do we get the divisions realigned to have THEM in OUR division." 😉 )

He MIGHT make the Bills 53 man roster because as you say, they've already got injury issues at the position. But, would be quite surprised if anyone other than the Stillers (reasonable chance they'd try to grab him depending on how well he looked in practice last week) or Jints (just because of their ties to the Bills) put him on their 53 man roster should the Bills try to PS him. And the post was in response to people that were concerned somebody other than the Bills will put him on their 53 man roster. So, whether he makes the Bills or not, wasn't really the point of the post. It was set up on the basis of the Bills deciding to try to stash him on the PS.

There's a long line of players that looked great in a single preseason game and were never heard from again. The kid was starting for the very 1st time for the childhood team he dreamed of playing for someday. Adrenaline MIGHT have been flowing that game. 😉 Expecting what caused him to go undrafted weighs heavier in the minds of other teams' personnel departments than a single preseason game does, especially one against a team that has "2 starting QB's". (And the old adage still holds true unless you're the serious exception like the Niners with both Montana and Young: if you have 2 starters, you don't have even 1 starter.) Again, IF he was also impressive in practice reps last week, could possibly see the Stillers decide to make a claim on him. MAYBE the Jints due to their knowledge of how the Bills scout and what sort of players they go after but not really expecting that.

If Price stays BF-LTIR, they'll still have a ton of space both years regardless what other moves they make. And doubt they expect to be actually good either year. Better, yes. Good, probably not.

Skinner being off the PP is a net positive. Only scoring 8 goals the entire year when he's the net front guy is attrocious. There's a reason no coach other than Granato has ever had Skinner regularly on the 1st PP unit. His passing is subpar. He doesn't tend to win puck battles. He doesn't set a screen well. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the 2nd unit goes to 2 D-men because Dahlin and most of the rest of the PP1 unit will be getting ~1:30-1:40 to start the PP. They can have Thompson and Peterka at the 1/2 wall with Tuch in the net front role leaving any of Cozens, Quinn, or Benson for the bumper role. The 2 that don't end up on unit 1 will be on unit 2 along with Zucker and likely Power and Byram. Could go off the board with Greenway as net front on either unit and McLeod &/or Kulich when he finally becomes an injury call up are also options on unit 2. Fully expect this team to be top 10 on the PP and even if they don't gel & Thompson has injury issues again they'll absolutely be top 15. We watched arguably the worst PP this team ever iced in over 50 years of play. The dead puck era PP was better than last year's abomination. Only Rolston's crew gives last year's one a run for its money. When the talent level gets factored in, nobody compares to last year's unit.