Taro T

Did not watch his AHL game yesterday. Have watched several of them. Was at 1 of his NHL games & watched the other. Looking forward to seeing him back in the NHL after the trade deadline to see where he's at. But, don't believe he'll be ready on day 1 in October. Hoping he proves that wrong.

Pretty sure he will be very good in the NHL. But not convinced he'll be ready for the NHL from the get go next year.

Everything old is new again.

No f'n clue.

Depends on how far back one wants to peel the onion apparently. Adams absolutely willingly iced a worse team this year than necessary. HE quite clearly believes that decision will bear fruit eventually. But the Sabres didn't intentionally get to the point where that was possibly necessary. Which seems to be where the OP is finding some hair splitting definition. (Still stand by the position that this team could've been heading in the right direction w/ some judicious moves, but that train left the station months ago.)

Happen to be in the camp that believes they have to start winning SOME games before they figure out how to win enough to get into the playoffs. So, no, do not agree in any way that good (or even reasonable) goaltending is a luxury next year. It's a necessity. OR we are giving Adams a free pass to not show appreciable improvement for a THIRD year? In what line of work, other than POSSIBLY something in the public sector, can you FAIL THREE years running and get a pass?

True. But they likely thought they couldn't really say "well, we're going to sanction them a year from now for what's happening now."

Would not trust Anderson for any more than 15 QUALITY games next year. Since coming back, he plays 20 great minutes then 40 not so great minutes. Also, believe it's a fool's errand to trust UPL to any more than 20 quality starts. Agree he'll be penciled in for 41. MAYBE he's up to it to give them that or more, but wouldn't have money on it. That leaves, should they not go outside the organization, 47 games for Portillo, Levi, & anyone else (possibly Tokarski, but wouldn't expect him back if both Portillo & Levi are signed, and kind-of expect both Portillo & Levi signed) to cover. Helllllllloooooo Bedard sweepstakes.. They NEED AND can afford a legit NHL #1. Doubt they go after 1, but that doesn't negate their needing one.

REALLY believe they should expect UPL to top out as a backup & if he's better than that, well having too many good goalies is A GOOD problem to have. Especially when 2 of them will be under team control for up to 7 more years & one other for 5 or 6 more years. Make sure you don't give a full NMC to any outsider brought in & what's currently a tirefire can be a strength next year & in a best case an absolute luxury the following year or 2.

Expect UPL will be back in Buffalo right after the trade deadline. But, as long as they are only scratching 2 healthy players a night would like to see them scratching Tokarski as well. Agree that they need to find out what UPL is capable of while we're here.

That is correct. President Carter led a boycott of the '80 Summer Olympics. The Soviets thought attending the 2nd Lake Placid Olympics would get Carter to back down, but it didn't. Which led to the near bankrupting of McDonald's after the Soviet led boycott of the '84 Summer Olympics. You are correct that there was no major boycott of the Sarajevo Olympics.

Having a shot at it & being gifted it are 2 VASTLY different things. They really should bring in a guy that on paper is better than him. And if UPL wins the competition, then so be it, good for him, & likely good for us. But this team hasn't had a guy truly deserving the title #1 goalie entering the season since Miller's last year. Not looking forward to an 11th (12th?) consecutive season of that trend continuing.

Seem to recall an Olympic boycott back around '79. Now when did the US lead a western boycott of the Summer Olympics?

They do see it.

There are very few levers nongovernments can pull to highlight displeasure at a different country's actions. Withholding participation in the "fun" things life offers for citizens of the offending country is one of the few that are available to them. IMHO it is an appropriate action. Stinks for the kids that are getting effected, but unfortunately for them "that's just the way it is."

The REAL news from that article buried about 2/3's of the way down: "and Luukkonnen is expected to be ready to be the team's top goalie come the fall." HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bedard sweepstakes.

Absolutely agree that it is bad that the team publicly states development is the focus this year which implicitly puts winning in a lesser role as a goal. But, considering it is as obvious as the sun rising in the east that this team wanted to be in on Wright & other top end guys this year, they can't really say otherwise or else they have to can the coach at the end of the year. If winning is a priority NOW, then Granato has failed. And Adams isn't going there. Sounding like a broken record, but the fear is the team wants to be in the Bedard sweepstakes next year as well. Hoping that's just the realist getting overridden by the pessimist, but until they show by actions (improved goaltending, 2 vet RHD that are actually good at hockey, another vet F also good at hockey being brought in) that winning is now the goal and bottom 6 finishes are no longer acceptable, they are.

Absolutely.

They really, really do. The cap space they have this season is worth absolutely nothing come May 1st. Converting some of that into assets that will have value moving into next season would be huge. There's almost no way this team will use all its cap next year on rostered players either. So there's opportunity to use that as well. Use this year's cap space for picks/ prospects. Use next year's to bring in a vet or 3 that can contribute but other teams don't have the room for.

Yes, it is. It's small but IMHO significant.

Back when the Sabres were relevant but not yet with a ST waiting list they'd have noticeably fewer people in the building in the 1st 1/2 of the season when teams like Hartford, Atlanta, Phoenix, Columbus, the Aisles, & the like were in town. That effect was magnified when the game was a weeknight game. And the Sabres knew they'd have poor turnout as there would be noticeably fewer of the "kiosk" style vendors set up in the 300's. Could just about guarantee that there'd be under 14k in the building if the beer vendor next to our aisleway wasn't set up. (Really stunk those handful of times the Sabres/ Delaware North miscalculated, as the beer lines were intolerable those nights. 😉 ) Can't see why the Sabres aren't now becoming team non grata unless Sabres fans are traveling significantly better than they are showing up at home. As to WHY people don't show up to (hopefully, expectedly, other) watch their team kill a bad team, not a psychologist, but would guess it's some combination of they know they'll get their own backup goalie, they know their team might take the bad team likely which is a serious bummer, and, though they want to see their team win a hockey game they still want to see an actual hockey game if they're going to drop a couple hundred bucks plus on that evening out. When the Sabres happened to destroy the Phlyers or Bruins, it was a lot of fun from start to finish, but should they be destroying say Atlanta by the time the 2nd was nearly done there was a serious decrease in the energy level in the building and the players on both teams seemed to sag from that lack of energy. My 2 cents. YMMV.

Nah, they exist. It's just impossible at this point to differentiate them from the realists. 😉

He's absolutely trying to neuter NATO. And he definitely wants at minimum the former Soviet Union back under Russia's influence if not actually returning as their territory if not sway over the entire former Eastern Bloc. Not sure though how him saying his nukes are on alert works towards that. And this will be my last post on this subject here as I fear this subject will get moved elsewhere and it really wasn't my goal to cause that. Apologies.

But is still brings about the question of WHY would he say that? What is the benefit to HIM?

SoaB. They really DO look like firemen.