Taro T

But you're stopping it at 8 bodies. It very realistically ends up Greenway as that 8th body sliding in, because he wasn't in the 8 on the original list but he's (in all likelihood) going to be playing in a more important role than any of the 3 UFAs signed on Monday. So, again, isn't it Greenway coming in? (And again, not trying to argue, just trying to have it apples to apples. And yes, Greenway was there in both cases, but he's presumably ahead of Malenstyn in the 2nd case whether he was ahead of Skinner in the 1st case or not.) And agree very much that Mittelstadt to Zucker or Krebs is a legit downgrade.

Of course, in a few situations that's actually true. Different sport, but Jim Kelly has a tremendous "Football IQ." But he comes across as dumber than a stump.

Not arguing, legitimately asking, wasn't Greenway a bigger piece of last season's team down the stretch than Skinner was? And also, wouldn't Greenway be considered to be a bigger piece of this season's team than Malenstyn? If looking at the team from the beginning of the year, it should be Skinner --> Greenway; and if looking at it later, it should be Greenway --> Greenway; right? Malenstyn would seem to be Girgensons replacement.

IMHO that's like saying the EPA accidentally turning the Animas River orange wasn't a debacle because they planned to be draining some water and waste from the mine they were working in and they just ended up releasing a lot more than they'd originally planned. Or saying a controlled burn that turned into a several 1,000 acre blaze wasn't a debacle because well the people starting the blaze did so intentionally. The plan was to be worse than the current (at the time) versions of Florida and Arizona and everybody else those 2 particular years. It wasn't to be worse than the '75 Caps nor the '81 Jets. That Rolston led team would've been in that conversation. THAT's a debacle.

Personally, expect that simply from the coaching change the team is better than last season's team. But last season's team finished w/ 84 points. Being better is a low bar. The question we all are discussing though is: is it good enough to make the playoffs? And the answer is: maybe. But with the team they have now, they need to have more than a few things break their way for that to be the case. IF they stay healthy and they don't have much (or effectively any) regression from any of the kids and the 4 new guys don't have a huge adjustment period; would even go so far as to say YES this IS a playoff team. But if any of them don't happen then it goes to back to maybe they are. And if none of them happen, the only way they are is if several other EC teams are also imploding. Which is why adding that 2/3C is so important. (Gee, no Schlitz, Sherlock.) Adding that piece ups the expectation for points this year from mid-90's to upper 90's and also skews the tails of the expected distribution from fairly normal (could honestly see the team as currently constructed getting anywhere from 88-102 points) to something further to the right. Personally still expect Adams to make 1 (and hope for 2 or 3, but am not hopeful of that) more move to help the big club before this off-season ends. (Full disclosure - fully expected him to do that last year as well and it ended up a very poor expectation.) The rationale for believing that it will happen this year when it didn't last year is 3 fold. 1. Several credible posters have indicated that this truly very likely is a make or break year for Adams - and that should spur a bit more desperation than he's had in years past. And 2. Whoever he brings in today to legitimately HELP this team (unless it is an Ehlers on a discount deal because he wouldn't sign an extension type of deal; which personally expect would come at a fairly low price) now would have a pretty good likelihood to also help the team in the targeted contention window as it's opening in 1 - 2 years from now rather than 2-3 years from now. And 3. It makes too d*mn much sense to do it, can't see how it doesn't happen. (Though that last one has caused far more than one person's prediction that the Sabres will finally become relevant to be horribly tragically wrong.) Points 2 and 3 aren't ALL that strong. But if the rumors about point 1 are correct, that is a REALLY strong reason to expect that late summer move.

Have there been more than 1 or 2 100% confident the Sabres make the post-season posts?

Yes, he was. Whoever (and really don't believe it was Regier's brain child, again likely the Pittsburgh crew) came up with it wanted the team to be bad but STILL WATCHABLE. They expected to lose fans, not have attendance decimated. They were merely really bad in '13-'14 they weren't "Hoe-lee Fack, these guys couldn't even beat a mid-level AHL team" bad. Like they were at the beginning of the next season running Rolston's "system." Regier was giving them what they asked for - the worst team in the league. Do you recall how truly awful that team was when Ron got to set the whole on-ice program? Though Arizona and a couple others wanted to be bad in '14-'15; that Rolston team was leaps and bounds worse. They were going to have an open revolt from the fans. And, yes, under Murray and Nolan, they were JUST bad enough to be the worst. Under Rolston the previous year they were about 15 points worse than anybody else and they probably would've been '75 Caps bad had Rolstson stayed the coach the whole season. And, IMHO, Regier was the most successful "Yes Man" this league has ever seen. He did whatever the owners told him to do - give Nolan a 1 year deal, get rid of LaFontaine, operate with a significantly lower budget than the rest of the league, but he still put a competitive team out on the ice. Until he was told to NOT put a competitive team on the ice. And he did THAT in spades. Regier would've had the low budget team the Pegulas seem to have wanted during the rebuild. Can't recall him trading away any of the picks nor prospects he accumulated during the tank. Maybe he just got punted too soon to do so; but expect he was planning on using most all of them in Buffalo and then the team would augment from outside once Reinhart and Eichel were coming into their primes. Won't ever know for certain, but it sure seemed that was the plan.

To your 1st point. Well, sure, they try to say they're OUR Buffalo Sabres; but they can't lay that #### at OUR feet. They're the Pegula's Sabres. WE didn't hire Housley nor Krueger. Ain't taking no responsibility for the debacle that has ensued. 😉 To your 2nd. Actually expect that they sell a lot more merchandise to the folks that AREN'T in the building every night. If you only go to 2 games a year, you're probably in the Sabres Store at least 1 of those 2 times you show up and possibly both. STHers don't go there more than a handful of times the whole year. The IDEAL model is having a large STH base that is willing to have their own money tied up for months who then are willing to resell a significant (how significant, no data) portion of their games to other SABRE FANS. Then they get a sold out building plus have a large portion of the crowd feeling they're doing something special and have the adrenaline rush and excitement/enthusiam that comes with that and which ideally has that enthusiam become contagious for the whole building. And THAT transfers to the players (though they shouldn't need it) and eventually you have a positive feedback loop working.

Am wondering if the fallback plan for 3C provided something can't be done before opening night isn't leave Krebs there as a placeholder until either he "gets it" or more likely one of Kulich, Savoie, or Helenius show they're too good for the AHL and get promoted into the spot. It doesn't leave the position as good as you'd like it to be and there still is (when healthy) one additional slightly overdeployed F - either Benson or Greenway who takes the 4th top 6 W slot but neither is totally out of his element. Depth at the top is still a big issue, and injuries could really hurt (and are realistically unavoidable), but ... IF those & possibly still having a D or 2 playing on the 2nd pair that really should be on the 3rd pair are the ONLY spots that aren't at least NHL average, this team will be in the mix and with any amount of good luck going their way (and by now, they HAVE to be due for some, right?) well then ...

If they're better and make the playoffs it will be because of Ruff; the improved play in the defensive zone he brings; the PP not being hot garbage; the improvements that being a year older bring with Quinn, Peterka, Benson, Power, Byram, Cozens, and possibly even Krebs (though still hope the improvement there is via an upgrade); the goaltending being solid to actually good all season; the PK not regressing or possibly even improving; and at least a couple of (and hopefully more of) the Caps, Devils, Pens, Wings, Isles, and Otters taking a step back or at minimum not materially improving. There're 5 "locks" in the East (FLA, Boston, TO, Carolina, & the Rags) and expect TB to be there until they're not. Leaving 2 playoff spots open.

See, this is the problem with having a purely #'s guy as the GM. He does the math and sees that teams with Sabre cast-offs - O'Reilly, Eichel, Reinhart and crew, end up winning Stanley Cups soon thereafter. But he missed the nuance. Those teams had GOOD Sabres cast-offs - O'Reilly, Eichel, Montour, Reinhart. Just collecting a whole lot of Matt Ellis doesn't seem to help the cause.

That sounds like it would be a cool show and yet somehow completely wrong. The Femmes with an orchestra?!? My how times have changed.

They've used that term since at least the 1st full season post Covid. But it sounds dumb, so most of us continue to use the old term STHers.

Well, the funny thing is, if the deal doesn't get done in the next week, it likely won't for another month & a half to 2 months, but a window opens up again when teams actually try to figure out which 23 they're going to keep and how they're going to be back under the cap. So, we can all be frustrated a week from now, but there is still that final window opening and pretty much nobody saw Boychuk and Leddy becoming Aisles back in '14 and they got each for a 2nd round pick. Not saying it will happen. Just that it can.

Fine. Long f'n week of traveling. Just got home a couple of hours ago and should've been in bed an hour ago but am still wired. 1st sentence should've said, and it IS possible that Adams WILL actually make that deal for that guy. ...

And it IS possible that Adams is looking to make a deal for that guy. Did ANYONE here have Reimer to Buffalo before it was announced? Just because we aren't privy to the attempts to improve the roster doesn't mean they aren't being made. And, regardless of how many deals Adams was or wasn't in on that he couldn't get done, just 1 (at minimum for that 2/3C) deal would have people much more optimistic and 3 more (also bringing in a 2W and a 4D (though still expect Adams believes he has that already in house and his name ISN'T Jokiharju)) would have even PA downright giddy. (Maybe even GA would be happy with all that.) This kid would be pretty stoked.

Why, Santy Claus, WHY? Why are you taking our tree?

Are you new here? That's a given. Oh, you were talking Sabres? Nevwrmind. 😉

Don't expect it to be the LT plan, but for 3-4 years it is.

What's really interesting is the Devils don't have the same disadvantage. Thought getting hit that hard would've been partially a function of only playing 2 games in the 1st week & a half or so. Guess not.

It would be insane to have UPL part of a package at this point for a 3C. A 1C, maybe. No F'n way on a 3C. (And can't see him being part of a 1C trade.) It would be insane to have UPL part of a package at this point for a 3C. A 1C, maybe. No F'n way on a 3C. (And can't see him being part of a 1C trade.)

Can have a nice AHL career before having to find a real job.

PLEASE please PLEASE don't ever ask us to remember last season again. 😉

1st name or last? Know several of the latter. Not so much the former.

And for whatever it's worth. As the B&G I, they made it sound like they were running w/ UPL as the clear starter and Levi getting in all the btb's and some others when travel is an issue. This likely only means Levi (& UPL too have to earn it. Which is a good thing. Internal competition makes everyone better. (Even if it is only Reimer. Still better than Comrie or Tokarski.)