Taro T

Again, the biggest complaint about him is that he can not pick up the slack when his partner makes a mistake. He also still has issues against a good cycle and has a tendency to take himself out of the play. He has gotten way better at picking his spots on when to pinch in the other end this past year. It was rare to see Dahlin caught defending a 2 on 1 when the 2 were paired back up after the Butcher experiment ended. That was something we saw nightly prior to that. He's young & improving. But Power will learn better & the team will be more successful IMHO if his partner isn't creating those difficult situations that Henri's partner is expected to cover & his partner an cover for the inevitable rookie mistakes that Power will make. And, would really rather have Power paired up with the veteran who has complemented players like Riley rather than the one who may "learn to complement" Power's game. It really is that simple. And there is an expectation that the Joker could become that player. But, would prefer to see him w/ Bryson rather than Power when camp breaks in October.

Really hoping you're mistaken unless either Lyubushkin has difficulties fitting into Granato's system or Jokiharju cleans up as many mistakes from his own end that he cleaned up at the other end. (Expecting you aren't so really hoping Henri grows as much this year as he did last.)

At the ones I've gone back for, it isn't so much that the people that were jerks don't show, some of them do, but they've aged out of it. It's more the people that are happy with where they're at are the ones who show up. And that makes the whole thing more enjoyable. MHO. YMMV.

Yeah, if Adams was done on the goalie front with Murray in the fold, expect we dodged a bullet when he nixed the deal. Am happier w/ Savoie and Comrie than Kasper and Murray.

Yep. Playing Shea's in October. Have nearly the same seats from having seen Gilmour there many years ago.

Good Q. And if Savoie is gone, do the Sabres still take Östlund or was somebody that went before him higher on their list?

Considering the rich got richer during the lockdown, NFL franchises are selling for close to double what Terry paid, & hydrocarbons are selling for twice what they were 2 years ago, it seems reasonable he's gone from ~5B to $7.7B since buying the Bills.

Umm, the Sabres thought they'd traded up to 7 (from 16). If they were hoping for Kasper and Savoie, why would they've traded with Detroit to only land 1 and lose another asset to do so?

Who does he bump out of the lineup? Dahlin - Samuelsson was the best pairing in at least 4 years & likely 14. Don't see that breaking up. Which bumps either Lyubushkin or Jokiharju out of the lineup. Bryson's the obvious guy to bump, but which of those 3 bottom 4 RHD slide to their off side to are that happen?

Found out my son is going to see Nick Mason with me. And just finished my 1st week of vacation in at least 3 years & got a ton of stuff done around the house. Fantastic Friday indeed.

Preference would be Ra-cha-cha w/ a deal worked out w/ his Czechia team that he'll be loaned there after (US) Thanksgiving if he isn't adjusting. (Doubt it'd be needed, but having a fallback of the sort it sounds like they're planning for Rosen would be a nice safety net.)

Pretty sure the answer is 'yes.' The contract is still at least $2MM/ yr too much though it isn't constraining anything & is actually beneficial in getting them to the cap floor, so though it's excessive it really doesn't matter at present. But there's no way a player putting up 4 year older Skinner style numbers will be anywhere close to earning $9MM/ year. And any player getting $9MM/yr then will be joining Jeff on that list Dom compiles annually.

Yeah, don't believe we are arguing here. Just stating/highlighting different parts of the overall picture. Yes, Skinner's contract might be constraining in 3 years. But doubt it'll be a reason that one or 2 of those guys get moved. A greater likelihood is that Savoie & Kisakov &/or somebody else is pushing for minutes and the Sabres will just not have a role for everybody at a value they've earned and a player or 2 will want to leave like Jordan Staal wanted to leave the Pens getting buried behind Crosby & Malkin or how Vancouver thought trading Hodgson for Kassian was a good move because they had other guys that brought what Cody brought but nobody that brought the concept of Kassian. The cool thing about ALL (literally, everybody that'll be here in '24-'25 w/ the exception of Skinner & possibly Lyubushkin is 25 or younger now & most everybody in that category is well younger than that) the Sabres assets being young right now is they can get good fairly cheaply with a few kids coming close to their ceilings and they can keep the pipeline stocked for a long while by converting some of their guys that are coming into their primes but don't have a lead role into prospects & picks while still actually improving should any of this highly ranked prospect pool develop and reach close to their potentials.

Too easy. 😉

It WAS relevant. It isn't at present. It will be again around the time you predict. But, by then Hodgson is off the books and so is the current Okposo contract. The cap will be going up again by then & provided the Sabres don't have any other albatross contracts it won't really prevent them from making any moves they want (with the possible exception of consumption a trade sending Skinner out of town). Nearly everybody has at least 1 bad contract / wasted money from a buyout or 2; the key is keeping it to only Skinner's bad deal. But worrying about it now seems as productive as worrying about whether Dahlin will want to pull a Tkachuk. Right now he's happy being a part of this team and he's never given indication he wants to leave. There's no reason to expect that to change at present, so no reason for people to drive themselves to distraction over it.

Can't wait to hear who Tyler Bass is the equivalent of. 😉

Pretty sure it was necessary if the final 3 episodes revolve around Gene. And it'll likely take that much to get the story to closure. Considering Walt's state when we last saw him, would expect there's a better chance of an Aaron Paul cameo.

Thought there'd only be 5 teams. Cool that they've got 6 total. Will be a nice little bump for downtown (or at least the portions the Pegulas have a stake in 😉 ).

Clearly Travailling thought the Florida deal was the best he could get. So, again, if he asks for more (& getting a deal signed/ agreed to w/ both Huberduberdeau & Weegar is asking for & getting more) & Florida says no, take the deal we've offered or walk, then what?

And if Florida tells Travailling (sp?) to go pound salt, what then?

And there's the rub. If they're out of the hunt, it's a no brainer. But this is a team that won its division & a round of the playoffs. They have to expect making the playoffs & if they can't sign 1 or both before the trade deadline find themselves in a spot where they might have to say that year's playoff run, a prospect, & a 1st in 2 years plus whatever they can get before the draft for negotiating rights is all 1 year of Tkachuck was worth. Because it'll be a hard sell to the fans that a couple more high picks & a couple more prospects were worth throwing away this season's run.

No idea why Weegar is presumed to be bolting at the end of the year. Huberduberdeau (face it, that sounds way cooler than plain old Huberdeau 😉 ) said immediately upon getting traded that he would not sign an extension w/ Calgary. He's since walked it back sort of. He's "open" to staying but it isn't his decision. Mongo only pawn in game of life. It's up to his agent & the GM. (What a tool.)

Perhaps the best clip.

Really doubt that. Most of the rest of the world didn't even know the tournament was happening prior to the '00's and even less of it cared. Ratings will be down in Canada as it's coming right after black fly season & right before mosquito season but it'll still draw more eyeballs than it did back in the '80's.

Not within the "club," within PSE and Harborfront specifically. He was an assistant coach & then a development coach w/ the Sabres relatively briefly & then spent a lot of time w/ the Hockey Academy and Harborfront itself. But he wasn't on the Sabres org chart for a long time prior to being made the head of the Sabres hockey department.