Taro T

Expect you are correct about that. He seems earnest. But if spitting the bit when signing a big contract and spitting the bit when getting a letter says he doesn't yet know HOW to be a consumate pro. Buffalo clearly wasn't where he was going to figure that out. Not sure that Otterland will be significantly better for him trying to figure it out either. Expect he needs to land on a veteran laden team that he can actually learn that portion of the game from. If he ends up in a location less disliked personally than Otterland will wish him well and hope he figures it out. As long as he's there, am perfectly fine with him continuing to struggle.

And the assistant coaches that had been around these players for 2 or more years (only Appert and Ruff hadn't been in Buffalo that long recently) apparently thought it was a good idea to give Cozens and Samuelsson A's. Quite certain Ruff regretted those decisions and could've used better input on that front. Realize you're talking about Ruff, but there are some guys in that coaching room that don't really get it. But directly to the Satan issue, Ruff never pushed to get him off the roster. Nolan benched him. Nolan playing Ed Ronan over him was one of several items that Muckler and he did not see eye to eye on. But a few years later Drury pushed to get Satan off the roster and Regier listened to him and the team went to the Eastern Conference Finals the next 2 years. (Yes, correlation, not causation; but Ruff apparently didn't see just how much of a negative energy Miro brought to the room. He didn't get moved out until Drury made a point of it. Dahlin, Tuch, Thompson, Zucker, and Greenway should all have input (not necessarily have that input followed, but they should have input) into which guys do truly pull their weight and which ones (if any) might be addition by subtraction).

But, (and realize that at this point there are other issues wrt Power, so please realize this is only addressing the following point and not all the other issues) IF the player WOULD be a x point player but for the fact he can't get ahead of somebody that is elite at the PP (and as bad as the PP is, without Dahlin it would be significanltly worse because his ability to keep the puck in the zone and his passing is elite) WHY say he's not worth what he'd get were he not "blocked" 😉 from the PP? IF one is inclined to only want to pay for what a player can bring in his place in the pecking order, then it's pretty much guaranteed that unless you have guys on ELCs, you will never have more than 4 top line F's and 1 top pairing D because that's all you can squeeze onto the top PP. Especially if the team has cap space, shouldn't we want more than just 1 D that's excellent running the BL on the PP and more than just 2 D that are excellent PKers? And if you have an extra guy that can handle 25 minutes per night (like when they hit their primes, the Sabres current roster has 3 of those on it) then you only have to find 45 minutes of time (tops) from the other 3 guys and you should be able to cover that fairly inexpensively. (Samuelsson not playing up to his contract being a monkey wrench in that calculus.) (Not sure why THIS particular post warranted this particular reply; it's a fairly common theme here. NOT calling you out on this, it just seemed a logical spot to ask the Q.)

Know we won't ever hear, but would be VERY interested in knowing what the players think about yesterday's announcement.

Yes, there currently is depth at LHD. But IF they trade away Samuelsson and 1 of Power or Byram, is that still the case? And, even if they don't trade their NHL LHD depth away this year, will next season's GM still agree that it shouldn't be traded away? Personally like the idea of taking BPA with the 1st & 2nd round picks and then go for filling in gaps in the pipeline with the rest of the lottery tickets. (And ALWAYS draft a goalie every year. They're way too hard to evaluate at 18.) And like the idea of trading the pick for help TODAY even better. 😉

True, the sytle has changed based upon personnel. But the timing of that is off slightly. They started moving towards a significanlty more offensive entertaining style shortly BEFORE THE lockout. So, they were very well positioned to take advantage of the rules opening up the game when the lockout ended.

Some won't wait until the end of the season to turn negative, some will wait until its official that another one has bitten the dust. But, personally, see today as once again bringing us that fleeting glint of hope. But regardless of whether that glint manages to germinate an actual seed into something fruitful or not; don't see where it's the fans fault that for far too long SHKIIIP has been nonarable land. Personally don't get why people must fan one certain way or they're doing it "wrong." EVERYBODY at this site is ridiculously fanatical about this team (even the ones that have been nearly wiped from considering themselves fanatics or even simply the diminutive of that word "fans" any more). If some poster "hedging" his view on today's news irks you so, why not just come up with a list of people to temporarily put on ignore and enjoy that once again we've been given a glint of hope.

You responded while the post was being editied. IF they make the playoffs, yes, there is a chance that they go back to what seemed to be the original plan of bumping Adams up to PoHO after the past season's successful playoff run. So, yeah, it MIGHT happen, should they make the playoffs that Adams goes up, Kekalainen becomes the GM, and who knows how Karmanos and Ventura react to that move when their contracts are up.

And hopefully, and IMHO even more importantly, to say "have you ACTUALLY spoken to _____ (within the Sabres organization)? Wtf is he responsible for x? He's a f'n (pick whatever derogatory term doesn't trigger you)." And then see to it that Adams &/or Pegula end up altering that person's responsibilities.

If the goal is getting rid of Adams, personally expect the "best case" is barely missing the playoffs this year which then results in Kekalainen taking over as either GM or PoHO as Adams is offered a role running one of Pegulas non-professional sports team ventures (likely going back to Harborfront if he can accept the obvious demotion). If they make the playoffs, they aren't changing a thing (although Ruff likely rides off into the sunset as he's getting kind of old for this ####) though could see some of the AGMs deciding they want to see if there is more upward mobility in other organizations as pretty sure all their contracts are on the same timeline as Adams'. Don't really know how this all plays out now. But yeah, expect Adams is on a very short leash. And, while there's a lot that's impressive about Jarmo's resume, have a hard time getting past the only 1 trip to the 2nd round in 10 years and IIRC they got swept after sweeping the juggernaut Bolts that year. They ran the momentum of that game 1 comeback through that round but couldn't sustain any of that momentum beyond that. But, at the end of the day, the FO is now better than it was a couple of days ago. So, will take encouragement from that. And yes, Adams has ties to Carolina's management and Seattle's and he talks often of speaking to others around the league; Jarmo should have way more connections than Kevyn has because he's done that job for 10+ years in C-bus and had FO experience with 2 other teams prior to that. So, hopefully this helps on the trade front. And he DID convince Gaudreau to sign with C-Bus, so he has been successful at least once in convincing a star player to play for a team most of the league avoids like the plague. Which after 14 years ... EDIT: Actually, thinking a bit more on it, maybe this is the precursor to giving Adams that bump up to PoHO that we expected should they have not screwed the pooch last year PROVIDED they do make the playoffs. Maybe?

OR he could finally luck into the right guy in Buffalo for the Sabres and reluck into someone good for the Bills. Heck, the Steelers were THE joke in the NFL for pretty much the enitrely of their existance until Chuck Knoll and "L'il Abner" (Bradshaw) showed up. And they're still on only their 3rd HC in the last 1/2 century since. Wouldn't have ANY money on it. But would anybody in 1965 have seen the Stillers becoming THE team of the following decade and a perennial model of consistency since.

So, wasn't Seravalli the one speculating the Sabres were trying to trade him at the deadline also? If so, seems like somebody really wants to do everything he can to help "his" team land a good player and isn't afraid to carry water for the guys he favors.

You have no idea how depressing this post of yours is. Not because it acknowledges that Pegula had the right guy in his final 2 but chose the wrong guy; but because just like the other "rght" guy he didn't select with his 1st crack (thanks to the wonder that was Russ Brandon) the "right" guy was still available when the wrong choice was punted. But unlike with the Bills where he made THE right choice with the do over; he made the wrong choice again and that "right" choice was bumped up to GM elsewhere a few months later. The reality that Pegula got 2 cracks at making the right choice with both teams but only did so for 1 hit like a ton of bricks reading this. They could've had Bill Zito running that bridge season where they tried one final time to make a team built around Eichel work. Fack, we could've still had that entire core (well, minus O'Reilly because he was already gone) still here. Such a depressing summer and we're still more than 3 weeks from it officially being summer.

Wadr, no, that is not the question. The question is: can Kevyn Adams find better? Survey says: probably not.

You know d*mn well that I believe Adams should have been fired. You also know that I was extremely unhappy with the decision to blow the Eichel team up. And getting rid of O'Reilly even further back.

Signing Ullmark would've changed the trajectory. They almost definitely would've made the playoffs the 91 point year. But Adams and Granato would've just been more convinced they were right about where the team was. And it isn't likely Granato gets punted for missing the playoffs again the next year (should Ullmark have not been enough to get them into the playoffs again that next year). Of course, having Ullmark also significantly changes the Reinhart trade (presuming he and Eichel still would've desperately wanted out of the organization) as with having Ullmark and UPL in the system and Portillo on the 50 man reserve list they likely don't take Levi as the other 1/2 of that deal. They also likely take Cossa or Wallstadt with the pick they got from FLA. (As they wouldn't be as concerned about Portillo walking as it would've been almost definite he'd walk with both Ullmark AND UPL ahead of him.) Heck, Covid did a serious # on them as if not for that they likely sign Reinhart and Ullmark to LT deals and maybe they manage to not have Montour and McCabe want out as well. The Krakers likely come into the league when they were supposed to and then the Sabres don't even lose Borgen as they had pretty much nobody of consequence beyond their 7-3-1 to protect. Sooooo many little items through the years ended up having significantly more impact on this tragedy than they should've. Going back to O'Reilly creating the drive through at Timmy Ho's which make the Pegulas regret having signed him eventually leading to them not only wanting him out but also being unwilling to pay the July 1 bonus payment which led to the return for him only being what it was, to Lehner hitting the post going around the net which messed up his ankle which kept him out of games and in Murray and Bylsma's world kept him apart from the team (at least according to Lehner), to Eichel suffering the high ankle sprain in the last full practice before the RS started the next year, to ...

And green Batgirl is the best Batgirl. (Actually, she was bat#### crazy in that one, but you get the idea.)

It does come with an asterisk, but it's the same one that this tournament comes with EVERY year, so good on Thompson for playing really well against the best of the players that play in Europe through the winter and a handful of really good NHLers. There's a reason Europeans care way more about this tournament than Canadians and Americans care about it.

Again, no, he didn't say the goal was to "probably" make the playoffs. It was the complementary goal to the the goal of perennially contending for the Stanley Cup and it was making the playoffs. Meaning, he wasn't going to sell off large chunks of the future to make playoffs happen. You can say then playoffs wasn't a goal, it was merely something he hoped would happen; but personally don't believe that was the case. (Sorry, kind of skimmed over the paragraph where you essentially agreed with that.) And again, believe his and Granato's hubris about that 91 point season is what doomed the next one. And that's how he managed to sell to management to punt Granato without anyone else going. Personally, still not understanding how Adams didn't take a fall THIS off-season. But there was A firing after the expectation of playoffs was not met. (Agree 100% there should've been more and am as frustrated as any (maybe even moreso than most) that there has been NO accountability THIS off-season; but you can't say there were no firings when the HC was in fact relieved of his duties when they missed the playoffs when the playoffs were the ST goal.) And, yes, the focus SHOULD have been on the playoffs more so than it was. The issue, and the one we ALL get to suffer for is, am 95+% certain that Adams sold Pegula on he (Terry) and Regier having been on the right track when they went for the tank but that Murray's rushing the rebuild is what caused the suffering to remain on a continual loop. And the Kevyn plan included (quite wrongheadedly, as they refused to weaponize ANY of their capspace the past 4 years) keeping cap for the home grown talent that would earn raises pushing them organically to a cap team and only trading away youth for players that would still be fitting into the long term vision of what the team is/ was becoming. So, though the ST goal WAS the playoffs, Adams little plan had set up constraints that didn't allow for veering from the plan even when a modification to the plan was warranted. The ST goal was secondary to the LT goal. Now, personally don't know if the playoffs were a Pegula goal. Am suspicious that it isn't nearly as high on his priority list as it was/is for Adams. Expect he still believes in that vision that Adams sold him after tagging along on the out of town trip back in the '19-'20 season which is likely the biggest reason that Adams still has a job after 5 failed kicks at the can. And heading into that off-season personally wanted to see a lot of things happen, pretty much none of which did, which would've made it extremely likely they'd've needed a lot to go wrong to not make the dance rather than staying where they ended up with needing a LOT to go right to make it. And with Quinn breaking in the off-season, they already knew at least 1 of the things they'd banked on to go right wouldn't. And, neither here nor there, knew the Sabres had made the wrong call in choosing Botterill over Zito back when a successor for Murray was needed. Hadn't realized Zito didn't take the Swamp Cats job until about 5 months after Adams had been hired to replace JBots. The Sabres actually had another opportunity to make the right decision and didn't make it then either. This off-season is soooo truly beyond frustrating.

No, his being BAD at his job doesn't change that the timeline WAS Dahlin. He fully bought into the 91 point team taking a step forward. He thought they were better than they were. But that IS the Dahlin timeline. Playoffs was a goal in '23-'24. He flat out NEVER would say that publicly prior to that. It was always building a team in house that would eventually continuously / annually be a contender for the SC. And personally, REALLY wanted to believe it was possible. And, in hindsight, ignored huge warning signs that summer like wasting the preseson on figuring what callup would be the replacement on the top line should injuries strike rather than heading into October desperate to get wins before everybody else settled in to what they were. Or not doing anything at all to replace Quinn's anticipated production when they knew he wouldn't be available for a couple of months.

The team needs to have 2 legit NHL goalies in the fold this fall not named Levi if UPL is still on the roster come October with one of them having enough of a pedigree that he COULD be a legit #1 (and ideally at least 1 of them would be expected to be better than Reimer in a starting role); or they need to have a true legit #1 (think Demko) with UPL or Levi pencilled in as the backup. They CAN NOT roll into the season with UPL and Levi as the 2 goalies. And personally still believe in Levi; but he needs to earn whatever he gets this year. Almost positive he can still be sent down without clearing waivers. That should be where he's pencilled in and if he forces their hand into something different; well that's a good thing. Also, personally expect that Kulich will make the roster out of the gate this season; but would really like to see 2 more F's brought it to put him in the position of needing to beat a legit NHLer out in camp to not have to start the year in Ra-cha-cha. It was an indictment of the team assembly that a rookie was the #1 C for large stretches.

No, he was on the Dahlin timeline. That he hasn't come close to elevating the team now that Dahlin's time is NOW doesn't change that. And, yes, mistakes he made are what pushed the team's timeline out beyond Dahlin's. And, yes, he really should have been relieved of his GM duties as soon as the last player was done autographing "the shirt off his back."

It is but, presuming Canada doesn't celebrate Memorial Day, having the game just after lunchtime in Alberta gives fans attending a chance to get home at a reasonable hour and get a good night's sleep before heading back to the grind in the AM. Lot's of Sunday games end up getting played in the afternoon presumably for that reason.

Both have put up good, but not great, #'s in the AHL. Both have had a cup of coffee in the NHL and neither has done well in their brief opportunity in the show. Still wanted either over Rosen with that pick. But pretty sure Adams didn't go there figuring it'd cost him Portillo (but trading for Levi did that anyway). Maybe he was afraid he'd lose Levi too by grabbing 1 of the 2 "big names" at G in that draft. Don't know the reasoning behind it, but was not a fan of the Rosen pick and even knowing neither of the 2 G's has been a stud yet would still have rather had one of them in the system than Rosen. Both will likely have better NHL careers than him.

They do. But taking the risk is where the reward typically is. (And maybe they'd've gone that other direction had they not been so displeased with how Murray's tenure went. In hindsight, grabbing a sociopath was a bit more risk than they should actually have been taking. 😉 )