Taro T

Eh, pretty sure the Sabres have already had way too many JAGs just through poor luck &/or scouting. No need to waste a draft pick grabbing one intentionally. 😉

Carrot Top?

They did: Sam Reinhart. 😉 But the wrong brother goes back decades: Dryden, Primeau, Gretzky just to name 3 ottomh.

To further your points regarding the hockey department moves, the development staff also was expanded. And Adams would like to add 1 more scout & 1 more development coach to what they currently have. (The analytics department is fully staffed.) And the different groups now apparently interact more. They worked in silos for the most part under the previous regime. There's a lot to like about the way Adams has been enacting his plan (it pushing relevancy out a couple of additional years not withstanding 😉 ) but he's taken care of the easier parts of the plan; the tougher part - choosing the right guys to keep as they become more expensive and bringing in the right replacements will be trickier. And, for whatever reasons, and in large part they can be things that were beyond his control, he has failed at fixing the goaltending 2 years in a row and even his 3 lottery tickets for the future plan is looking like there may be 2 busts out of the 3. He HAS to fix the goaltending to have any realistic chance and not just a 'well it could work if every single item falls their way' sort of way. In fairness to him, this is only his 3rd year and the previous 9 aren't on him. But WE'RE entering year 12 - one 1 /2 of a generation of irrelevancy and just about the entirety of the 2nd longest ownership tenure this franchise has ever had. Good on him that he's sticking to the plan, but he can still stick to the plan while throwing ridiculous $'s (though not ridiculous term) at a goalie or 2. Like the movie slogan said, if he builds it they will come. The fans are still willing to come back, he needs to make this happen & sooner rather than Levi. 😉

Which is what spurred the hypothetical. Usually it's getting the wrong brother that plagues the Sabres. This one seems a case of the right goalie (well, jury's out on Lehner 😉 ) but at FAR from the right time.

That doesn't "sound" pleasant. Good luck w/ it.

Lehner and Bishop were both in the Otters system. Bishop was deemed expendable when Tampa came looking for a goalie because Murray, who was AGM of the Otters at the time LOVED Lehner. And he loved Lehner so much that the 1st thing he did when the draft rolled around and teams actually started making trades for the new season that he grabbed Lehner even before he grabbed O'Reilly. The ####ing hypothetical is how much different would things have worked out had Murray loved Bishop instead. At no point was it suggested that Murray would trade Lehner for Bishop. HE traded away Bishop. In the hypothetical, he trades away Lehner. At no point while he's w/ the Otters does he have to get Lehner from another team to get Bishop. And at no point is it presumed that he'd have any interest in Lehner w/ the Sabres. And again, while this shouldn't have to be restated but it will be, at no point did Murray love Bishop rather than Lehner. The hypothetical to consider is WHAT IF Murray did prefer Bishop to Lehner.

You missed the point. If Murray loved Bishop instead of Lehner, then Lehner becomes expendable & might have gone to Tampa. (Bishop was expendable because Murray loved Lehner & his raw skills & didn't care about any of the emotional/mental/interpersonal side of things. But if Bishop were the one TM couldn't get enough of instead then Bishop doesn't go to Tampa.) The Otters would've still had the same need to either lockup Bishop or trade him later on when Anderson held onto the starter reins. Presuming the Sabres were still GM'd by the guy that now loved Bishop rather than Lehner, THAT is who that Sabres would've gotten from the Otters rather than Mr. PTSD. How much different would that have worked out?

How much bigger before you break out the Homer Muumuu? 😉 Seems like you've run through all the locals trying to get the diagnosis. Any out of town specialists that might be able to nail it down?

How much different could the last 7 years have gone had Bishop been the guy Murray fell in love w/ while an assistant for the Otters rather than Lehner? Bishop might've been the guy they initially kept & then the one made available for 21st overall when they couldn't keep both him & Anderson.

That didn't take long. Definitely glad the Sabres got Vegas' 1st this year & not next.

All ELCs are 2 way deals. If he is in Ra-cha-cha his salary will not count against the cap. (Even if it were a 1 way deal, his AAV is below the threshold to have any portion of it count against the cap.) The only realistic way his salary will count against the cap this year is if he is injured in camp & doesn't get sent down until he recovers.

Well, here IS an original. Kim, please get well.

But has his agent told the team that? 😉

Have only seen her in the American Pie role. From that limited data set, yes.

Thanks for posting that. His coach is a friend of mine. And will be seeing him on Zoom this evening. Now won't just be going "huh, J-Mac, no, what happened to him" when people start asking him about it. Hard to believe that game was 16 years ago.

And it also is the annoying thing about message boards. One types something brief such as "not sure how that works" as a shorthand for "that goes against everything that we've heard of how the new SHL/NHL Transfer agreement works because we've been told he has a contract w/ a top tier SHL squad for the upcoming season, wonder how they got Djursgarden to buy into that option or if they even need to buy in" and then somebody who hasn't been around since COVID hits reads that shorthand post & tries to tell you what you already knew thinking you were referring to something different than you were. 😉 Welcome back. 🍺

Don't believe the bolded is quite correct. Players on 1 way contracts that get sent down only have ~$1MM cleared from the cap (league minimum plus $375k) to let the team bring another cheap player up to take his roster spot. The league & PA don't want guys getting sent down just to bury their cap hits. Consider it the Wade Redden Rule.

Am really interested in seeing how they develop Peca. Due to his personal circumstances (waaaaay too small to play the way he did) he had to really understand the game AND work his arse off to hone his craft and was so effective at it he was the clear choice to be captain of that o erachieving team he led (and was backstopped by the greatest goalie to ever play). So, based on his knowledge & his leadership skills, he could become a very effective coach at the NHL level w/ some seasoning. Wonder if the brass sees that for him as well.

His point was that teams always get to the 13 young skaters & worrying about not being able to dress 18 skaters isn't particularly useful. As all teams get there except in very rare unusual circumstances. His other point was that AHL teams can have as many vets on the roster as they want but they can only have 5 skaters that are full on by the definition AHL vets.

Of course. Nobody disagrees w/ that. But that is going to happen and it was pretty much a given it was going to happen 2 weeks ago when there were concerns voiced over whether the Amerks would have enough young guys. It's like the handwringing over Bishop. It may be part of a plan to cheap out like Arizona or it makes no difference in the grand scheme should Adams be able to land most of his Plan A guys in a month when FAs are actually available as right now just about everybody is a pending FA and almost no real hockey trades happen during the playoffs. Expect it makes no difference as it is an insurance policy to keep options open mid-season & to help ensure Plan B doesn't end up going to desperation if Plan A fails to come to fruition.

And what you wrote is what we had expected - that his contract w/ Djurgardens was controlling, so he couldn't come to the Amerks. BBecause there was nothing in it for them to let him come over. But the Lysowski tweet said he was coming over. Thus the "not sure how that works (meaning is possible) but cool (happy it works that way). Except that's not the case apparently. Apparently Djurgardens was relegated, so all their players contracts became voidable. Which is how playing for the Amerks becomes a decision of the Sabres & not Djurgardens. The new deal (and former one as well) between the NHL & SHL isn't putting Djurgardens in the driver's seat because they apparently no longer hold an enforceable contract for Cedarquist's services. And the comment was in reference to last week's handwringing by some that the Amerks might have problems icing a full lineup due to not having enough young players available to them.

Nothing.

Not sure how that works, but, cool. Fairly certain the fears that there wouldn't be enough "development" players to stock Ra-cha-cha are appearing unfounded. As expected. (Not saying you were one that WAS worrying about that.)

And to cover for injuries, they really need to be at at least 14 & 8 heading into the season. (And Bjork shouldn't be one of those 14. Perfectly fine w/ him starting the year at 15 - the 2nd injury callup who hopefully will get supplanted by a guy like Biro or Murray.) Adams may agree w/ those of you who don't want to see any veterans that could beat Peterka out for a spot (or Quinn, or Asplund, or whomever) but really expect that's shortsighted unless a rather substantial part of Adams secretly longs to be in the mix for Berard in any but an extreme longshot way.