Taro T

Scary stuff. So glad your post implies that you came through that well. Hope that's true. Will say a prayer for you.

Bandits continuing their dominance of the Kin-ig-hit Hawks tonight. 14-8 including the penalty shot w/ ~9 seconds left in the game. Decent crowd. At least 3x what was there the 1st time these 2 played in the formerly Flour City (now Flower City). Probably close to 70% of the lower bowl full and ~ 1/2 full near midfield in the 200's. At least 50% of that was Bandit fans. What can you say, we travel well. Both goalies were ridiculously sharp in the 1st half. Vinc gave up 4 goals in a just over 4 minute span in the 4th to let Ra-cha-cha back into it, helped in large part by Hogarth cross checking Robinson in the back to get open for a pass & goal which drew a PP as well when Robinson apparently mentioned something to the ref about his mother having canine roots & at any rate, whether that was legit or not, something about his parents not being wedded at the time of his birth might also have been mentioned. Hartley let up a bit in the 2nd half, but it ain't easy to shutdown a team w/ as much firepower as the Bandits have for a full 60 minutes. Several great saves at both ends & Nanticoke had one of the sweetest goals you'll ever see. Priolo did not make he trip but the D was still solid as ever holding the Hawks to only 8 for the 3rd time this year. If you look closely, you might even see ol' Taro in the crowd.

There'd better be a pretty high bar set to cross on that count or we are ALL diminished. MHO. YMMV.

Agree that a lot of adjectives w/ negative connotations describe the guy running the country that's currently invading its neighbor in Europe. Really don't believe unhinged is one of those though. (Thankfully. Things get even scarier if the guy w/ the 2nd largest nuclear stockpile IS unhinged.)

Yeah, we're on the same page there. Pretty sure his views are colored from experiences of the Canes, just not sure which is the one he drew lessons from; maybe both. 1. A team can win a SC with mediocre goalies if thy can be hot often enough over up to 28 games. Both Gerber and Ward got pulled on multiple occasions over that run, but they were good enough to beat the depleted opponents they faced. 2. A team w/ good systems & young players won't necessarily become habitual losers just because their goaltending is subpar for multiple seasons & that if the team does truly have good character & good systems & players that fixing the goaltending once the other pieces are there can make them contenders. And once you're a legit contender anything is possible. He himself lived the 1st example. And his goalie coach lived the 2nd one. Were this all occurring in a vacuum, expect we'd be in for 1 more year of "development" and no established NHL goaltending. Attendance and a need to address it might be our saving grace. Hoping that's the case at least.

The Russians also still hold Georgian territory as well. The bar IMHO for whether an individual player (or any particular non-citizen for that matter) should be allowed to remain in country or not is whether that player is in the country legally & whether the player is acting as an undeclared agent for a foreign government. If the answers to those 2 questions are 'yes' and 'no' in that order, then don't see a reason to prevent that player from earning a living in this country. Hasek is allowed his opinion, those they disagree w/ his are also entitled to theirs.

Really don't believe that Adams doesn't realize that. Rather, am pretty sure that he didn't particularly want quality goaltending this year. The fear is that he might not want quality goaltending once again next year. Hoping that the horrendous attendance & the prospect of still having very bad attendance next year forces his hand away from being a fringe Bedard sweepstakes player. (By fringe meaning bottom 6, not bottom 16.) We should know the answer to whether he wants good goaltending next season or is willing to wait yet 1 more year by mid-July. Really don't have a good feel towards whether he will or won't, but either way we'll know long before October.

Agree that it was the actual 3rd line, but there's some sort of panache that comes from calling it the 4th line. Kind of like that "identity" like on the Aisles. They're called their 4th line but really aren't.

Expect all of this is reasonable. But, don't share your optimism that UPL will be ready to be a #1 though do expect you are right that he'll be projected there. Do expect he'll be a legit NHLer but as a Biron - a very good backup but a poor man's starter. Who that other G is will go a long way towards coloring what expectations should be next year. If we're wrong & Adams does bring in a real goalie, it won't take much luck to get close to an NHL 0.600. But if UPL & Levi are the platoon (or Portillo if he beats Levi out in camp) really expect more of the same results though the games will be more entertaining as we'll be watching those Carolina teams @Randall Flagg did all those deep dives on a few years back. This kid keeps hoping that Adams will bring I a real goalie next year & give the players & us hope, but after 2 years of him not addressing it in any substantial manner won't expect it until he's done so.

Yep. He might become useful, but t's not likely by even next season.

Yeah, Mittelstadt had 2 tough games in a row there. Definitely not playing w/ confidence now. But, unsurprisingly, with Okposo back in the lineup the team overall played with a poise lacking on Wednesday. They've gotta win again eventually. Why not Sunday afternoon?

Rookie. 😉

Everything old is new again. 😉

Not really. He busts his butt but he has hands of stone & is very low on the NHL skills spectrum. His hockey sense is reasonable, but he really is at best a tweener. If he had the skills of Bjork, he'd be a fixture in the middle six. Neither belong in the NHL on a regular basis.

Define competitive. If you mean close to an NHL 0.600, no, not without more than a fair amount of luck. If you mean only having a handful or less games like vs Moe-ray-all Wednesday and being ~ an NHL 0.500, then if the goaltending is fixed or at least improved, quite confident.

And it's guys like him having that 1 special season that keep people from trying to land a Price type guy. It shouldn't be overlooked that Adams SC ring was earned with Ward & Gerber splitting duty. Yeah, crud like that can work, IF you don't lose 1 single player during your playoff run until the penultimate game of the playoffs & he then gets replaced by Eric Cole. Really expecting that next year's day 1 goaltending tandem will be 2 of Anderson, UPL, Levi, Portillo, or as a wildcard Tokarski.

Sabres have assembled a fan council. Yes, though it is early in the process.

No, this is afaict something more than they've done this century and different from past attempts to reach out. And, though it's a small gesture in the grand scheme, IMHO it IS significant. And they already know several thousand Canadian fans will be back next year as they've already taken their money. So without doing a single thing positive attendance would be significantly up. More so than in any other US based rink almost definitely.

You "heard" me. Why do the legwork for the next owners? Can't see that adding to the purchase price offered them were they trying to sell a controlling/full interest in the team.

Still believe it's more impressive that the Sabres walked away from 3 of them. Guess Adams actually HAS improved the goaltending. (Where's that wacko emoji when you need it?) Edit: Oops, only 2. Keep getting Blackwood confused w/ that other stellar Devils draft pick Scott Wedgwood. D'oh!

So, you're saying Dell was an upgrade over Blackwood, Hutton, & Johansson. 😉

Back on topic, for those concerned about (or hoping for) the Pegulas selling a majority share of the team, pretty sure you don't kick off a fan reachout when you're getting ready to run out the door.

As annoying as that place is, really miss it.

Must mean Peterka. 😛 (Yes, we know it was actually Fitz. It was a funny, or at least an attempt at such.)

Can't be more than 25 or so. 😉