Taro T

Am really wondering just how much of a playoffs or else those year Adams actually has. It's been said by some of our very tied in posters that it is there, but watching the events of this past week, really am not certain that's the case. Do expect they WANT to make the playoffs (absolutely do believe it's a goal) but not nearly convinced it's THE goal. Rather, after watching the events of this past week am noticing how many similarities there are to Regier's "there will be suffering" teardown & rebuild as there are to THIS rebuild. In that one, the team was torn down to the studs to get Reinhart & McDavid & rebuild from there with a crazily stupid # of pucks, They didn't luck into McDavid & after the debacle that was Ron Rolston Regier had to be punted. (Personally felt as soon as he promised suffering heshould've been gone, but that's neither here nor there.) But really believe the plan was to use all the picks and keep moat all the prospects & grow into a perennial contender about 4 years afterEichel & all the other kids showed up. When Regier went away they switched gears to the accelerated rebuild. But that wasn't the plan ownership originally bought into. They bought into (or maybe they or their Pittsburgh cronies came up w/ it ; and it being the brainchild of the Pittsburgh crew makes sense, especially the way Regier was thrown underthe bus early in that '13-'14 season) the suffering plan. Watching this all play out now, can't help but believe Adams convinced Terry that the plan would've succeeded with some tweaks. And it seems the target date to be perennial contenders was on Dahlin's timeline (& that slid a year or 2 when Ullmark walked). Stink out of the gate, but generally improve every year & by year 4 or 5 (counting Eichel trade as day 0) be legit playoff contenders & legit SC contenders by the year or 2 after that. THAT seems to be the plan Pegula bought into. Hate that that seems to be the plan, and maybe it isn't, but it sure seems to be the case. Because, so far the only clear difference is that Adams was smart enough to never utter the word suffering nor fail to remain upbeat about where they are. Please tell me Östlund & Rosen, Krebs & a protected 1st are going out the door for SOMETHING GOOD later this month & will believe we aren't watching them try to prove Regier right that this can work. But short of that, or them missing the playoffs sitting at 97 points & Adams getting punted, will believe we're 60% of the way through "Suffering Pt2".

In the fans eyes, it'll be scorching. No data on whether it will be in ownerships eyes. Depends on how big the stumble is.

Reinhart, Montour, and Ullmark ALL were gone before Eichel. Portillo MIGHT have walked regardless of whether Levi was in the fold. There were rumors long before he was traded that he wasn't high on staying in Buffalo. Leaving UPL who, according to Adams, absolutely wants to be in Buffalo. So, HE hasn't been alienated yet. And also leaving Mittelstadt, who by all accounts wanted to stay in Buffalo until he was dealt. Again, where are the alienated players post-Eichel leaving?

Just how bad was the offer Adams made him that he chose $850k x 3? He's my guess of the next former Sabre to win a SC. (And was prior to the signing.)

Expect your 1st contention is almost positively a given. The latter not so much. Because ... This.

Agree very much w/ the 1st paragraph. But since Eichel walked, what young player has Adams alienated? This off-season may be alienating someone. But that hasn't been made public if it has happened. Mittelstadt wanted to be here and Skinner (not young, but still) did too.

Said this in another thread when Skinner's signing was just a rumor. So, with Foegele going to the team that they always seem to play in the 1st round and Skinner joining their squad, it looks like somehow they decided the problem vs FLA was too many 2 way players and not enough offense?

If he's needing to make LT deals to bring guys in, well, it kind of is. (And, no, am not happy the team appears to be in line to be $9MM under the cap.) Really thought we'd see A big money deal (not counting the single year deal for Zucker big money).

And expect that Ruff & Adams talked with Dahlin, Tuch, and probably a few others about the move. Ruff talks a lot about how a big change of his from earlier in his career is trying to get to know the players. If that isn't simply lip service, then he's spoken to at least the team's leaders. You may be right, and this breaks the guys that are here. (Doubt it, but maybe.) But if you are, we're screwed anyhow. Better to know it in October than after 2 more lost seasons.

STHs seem to already be up. Pretty sure they still have their internal STH cap of 14k. It seemed there were only about 1500-2k seats available as STHs at the B&GI/ticket selection event a fee weeks back. (Which was surprising. Maybe there were more than that and it just seemed there weren't many of them available.) But last year, would estimate they were at ~10k and know the goal this year is 11.5k. It seems they'll reach that goal.

And am convinced that Lindy Ruff doesn't agree. And also expect that these players would rather win then have their little club disrupted. If THAT'S not the case, we as fans are truly screwed. Now, is Lindy right that the well liked but defensively & coloring w/in the linesly challenged Skinner a net detriment, no data. But it's quite clear that's his belief.

Have been convinced ever since the 'we're looking at all options' press conference that this move was about getting Skinner off the roster primarily and then hoping they could use the cap space secondarily. Would Skinner have been a net negative this year? Don't know, but am convinced that is what Ruff believes.

Interesting. Guess he really likes Ra-cha-cha. Would've expected him to try to latch onto a squad w/ less F depth at the lower ranks.

IF Ruff didn't decide that simply having Skinner gone is addition via subtraction, then yes. But the Skinner move screams 'we don't need the well liked by the young guys version of Miro Satan on this roster.' Don't necessarily agree w/ it; but am OK w/ it.

Personally want a 1G ahead of pretty much all of that. But get the sentiment.

Thought that was Bobrovsky. 😉

Had Bryam gone out injured after 5 games, they just might. As it was, he was healthy all year (for the Sabres portion of his season at least). But aren't people wanting a better 4D than Jokiharju? That's similar to wanting better than Krebs at 3C. (Not completely analogous because Byram, Clifton, Samuelsson, or Johnson could be.)

Girgensons was the only piece that would've been pencilled into the top 12. And, he was upgraded.

So far, the Canes 3 additions: Carrier, Robinson, & Jost. Tulsky sure loves him some Sabres 4th liners. How long until Girgensons signs. 😉

W/ the other guys brought in, not seeing much difference so far in Ra-cha-cha. Seems they're looking for guys that fit better into what Ruff does than Granato does which makes sense. But don't know much about the guys they're bringing in as Amerks.

Considering Skinner is the only piece gone & the team now has a clearly better 4th line, yes, this roster is better. Is it good enough? No data. But am hoping we still see a move for that mythical 3C. If that happens, yes the team definitely is better.

True dat to the bolded.

Yeah, that 3C that can be a 2C in a punch is still a big hole. And it would be nice to have a better option for the 6th F should there be an injury (or even just straight out as the 6th F) but between Benson, Zuckerberg, Greenway, or Savoie/Kulich they should be able to cover that spot in a pinch. They don't have that 2C covered if 1C or 2C get injured. And Krebs isn't good enough to be the 3C. The plan has to be to either have him the 13F or part of the package to get a 3C. That 1 more move will really male or break this off-season on paper. And, so far, w/ only 1 clear gap (provided someone out of Byram, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Clifton, or Johnson can be adequate or better at 4D & both UPL & Levi don't regress - not givens) left to fill they've got a roster that MIGHT make the playoffs and haven't taken anything away from the '26-'27 roster.

Comrie back to the Jets for IIRC the 4th time. Don't know where he'll go after that, but he'll be back in Winnipeg again after that. His nickname should be Boomer (as in short for Boomerang). Either that or Keith (as in Tkachuk).

He doesn't fit in the top 6 (would rather have Benson on Cozens line than Skinner) & seeing what they just did to reshape the bottom 6, he sure as #### doesn't fit on the bottom 6. Would've been fine keeping him 1 more year, but they obviously didn't see a fit for him & having a $9MM F sitting in the pressbox waiting for a top 6 injury doesn't exactly scream healthy team dynamics.