Taro T

With God as my witness, thought there were 7 teams in the West. (Where's the d'oh smiley when you really need it?) 🍺

With that making 16 teams, hopefully the league is done expanding for a while. The Bandits WILL lose somebody good in the expansion draft. And Saturday is the RS finale which very well could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Championship as the Bandits are locked into home field throughout the playoffs & the Rock are locked into 2nd in the conference.

Correct. & division winners that don't get to the semis are seeded at the back of the 17-28 grouping.

One thing we're all neglecting wrt the outside top 4 RHD we're all clamoring for is that D rarely are near their peak in their 1st season w/ a new team. Unless there is something unusual about their situation, such as Jokiharju falling out of favor w/ the new coach in Chicago, they often take a small step back. But in their 2nd year, they get back to form after settling in w/ their new partner and new coaching philosophy. So, the guy that comes in might not seem like an improvement over Henri when the rubber hits the ice in October. But that next year, when the kids are now about to enter their 3rd year in Granato's system and are ready to blossom, that "new guy" should be ready to as well. And, hopefully Johnson is also in the system that year & if he is would likely be an injury callup in the 2nd 1/2 of that season. Expect the D to show signs of what it can be next year, as will the F's btw, but that following season is when it will all come together, as it will for the F's btw. 😉 Looking forward to next season. Am really starting to get excited for '23-'24.

That FLA pick can't be any better than 27. They've locked up the 2nd best record in the league. Would guess the most likely outcome is 28 - a 1st or 2nd round exit combined w/ the Avs making at least the semis.

FTFY. 😉

Not ripping him, but won't praise him for being a good 4 because IMHO he isn't. He's a near ideal 5 and can play up a pairing but really don't want him there at this point in his career. IMHO he's an adequate 4. Would like better. Don't see advocating for a better 2nd pairing RHD as ripping him either. The GM is advocating for it as well. And this is from someone that believed a valid case could be made that he was playing the best of any of the Sabres D-men when he was paired w/ Scandella. (How's that for an evaluation of Botterill's tenure, with all the D he started w/ and also subsequently brought in that the 4th or 5th best defenseman today was arguably playing the best of his entire bunch.)

In a vacuum, would agree w/ the bolded take. But the Sabres are coming into the off-season in a rather unique position. They have most of the roster they want & it is very young & therefore very inexpensive. They need to get to the cap floor & want to do so without bringing on LT contracts that will force them to make decisions 3 years from now that they don't want to have to make. So, spending reasonably big $'s on ST GTing is actually filling at least 3 needs and arguably a 4th - getting capable GTing, getting to the cap floor, not messing up the salary structure by overpaying a skater, and maintaining maximal flexibility in constructing the roster when the kids are entering their primes. That said, not sure Holtby is the right guy to bring in. Would much rather see Husso, Varlamov, Kuemper, or Fleury brought in. (No idea whether Adams could get any of them, but they're higher on the wish list.)

Was sure it would have something to do w/ boobies. VERY disappointed.

Adams is on record as saying he wants "an established D-man." How aggressively he'll pursue that is where he's been coy (thankfully, no sense in tipping his hand before it's been played) and it's another role he wants to fill but has specifically said he doesn't want to box somebody (read as an up & coming kid) out of a spot. Not sure if that "somebody" he doesn't want to box out is Johnson, Jokiharju, somebody else, or maybe both. My take was he's leaving room for Johnson or whomever the top pick might be, but that's speculation.

Really hoping in the GMs EoS PC that somebody asks Adams why UPL was kept in Ra-cha-cha through the entire stretch run. Expecting it has to do w/ only having 1 non-emergency callup left, and they wanted him the be Ra-cha-cha's playoff goalie so he couldn’t get called up a day before that roster freeze set, but that isn't a particularly satisfying reason.

The extent of the dilapidation has been exaggerated, but there are issues that should be fixable and actually fixed. There is no hot water in many, if not all, the bathrooms. There are, in fact, seats that are broken. Not 100's, but how many patrons paying good money have to sit in a broken seat before it is considered an issue? Apparently many cup holders are broken/missing. Tend to sit in rows where the cup holders are built into the seat arms, so no idea how big that problem is.

Provided it doesn't end up a full NMC contract in years 3 & 4 would be perfectly fine w/ it or even $5×4. He seems to be the guy to go after. Besides, he looks good in B&G. 😉

Can't speak for anyone else, but see him in his own end get out muscled too often & get running around too often to be a regular in the top 4. As a fill in for injury in the top 4, sure. And he has improved significantly this year in picking his spots to join the rush - haven't seen his partner defending an odd man rush nearly as often as it happened in the past. He's young & he's improving, but let him lock down a 3rd pairing w/ Bryson for now & Johnson in 2 years.

Had he come along a few years later, he might have. Starting QB jobs were few & far between back then. Doug Williams is the only starter that immediately springs to mind before Moon. And Williams benefitted in getting the opportunity by being on a horrible Bucs team that was desperate. Those 2 definitely were pioneers though there had been a few backups before them who got a handful of starts, including Buffalo's own James Harris.

Geez, read that as Sergachev gets destroyed by Sam Reinhart at 1st. Oops. THIS makes waaaaay more sense.

Great question. The reason should be that when the players will get a set amount of money to split between themselves league wide (like NHL players do under the terms of the CBA & MOU), if Vegas is over the cap by $10-20MM that's an extra $10-20MM in the denominator that everybody's individual share get divided by. Expecting though that isn't the reason. (But, darn it, it should be.)

Yeah. Expecting they'll blame DeBoer if they miss the playoffs, but maybe they'll hang it on injuries. No way the GM hangs it on himself.

If Allen has a long career, IMHO he's close to a lock for the HoF. He's already got a bunch of records for combining passing & running stats. Playoff success will make the difference between being a 1st ballot HoFer and a guy that has to wait 3-4 years. Fouts is in the HoF but never made it to a SB. Marino is in & only got to 1 SB very early in his career. Kelly was in on the 1st ballot but never won the big one. And scoring a TD EVERY SINGLE time in the playoffs will be an impressive bonus card, too.

Another possibility might be Broadway Knitting Mills. Apparently they've moved to North Tonawanda, but back in the day they would do that sort of work. Expecting the Sabrestore would do that for you, but they'll likely be pricy & are just going to sub it out to someplace like BKM.

And Vegas might very well miss because they lost in regulation in Buffalo. It's a long season & everybody but the 2 worst teams have collected at least 2 points every 3 games they play. Nobody but themselves to blame if they can't be prepared to play teams that are just outside the middle 1/3 of teams in the league.

Don't see why not. Working in our household.

To the bolded, presuming you are assuming there is still a team in the AZ desert when he reaches FA. My expectation is the same, but that would be one way he doesn't get there. 😉

True. Plus, the great run could to a degree be due to losing having no appreciable consequences for the team. Individuals players, maybe, if they aren't learning from mistakes, but for the team there weren't real consequences to losing. With where the Sabres currently are, a 21 point improvement is very much in the realm of what's possible. Will it materialize? No data, that's why they play the games.

Playing intermittently is another way of saying he isn't getting a regular shift. 😉