Taro T

Good point. But, in fairness on that front, most all scouts worth having are under contract through the draft. They become FAs right after it. So, there really haven't been many/ any experienced scouts available since extremely briefly after the bloodletting. And that was while cashflow would've been tight (if cash flow was a contributing factor to the axing of most of the hockey department), so they probably weren't all that eager to restaff when they could've (& should've) done so.

Pretty sure that was actually the 3rd opinion. He certainly has some expert(s) supporting his view that he should get the ADR. He actually mentioned that's he's spoken to MANY doctors.

Hope they weren't, but until we have evidence of the search actually bringing in candidates, they might have been.

True. And he was such an integral part of that Pens team he spent time in the minors mid-season & wasn't re-signed after that season. His leaving Buffalo was a non-minor part of bringing that team together.

My expectation as well. Which most likely means Adams has already settled in on keeping Granato and we're about to see the same exhaustive coaching search the Sabres went through prior to taking the interim label off Rolston (who also was quite experienced at coaching young players, had a brother that played in the NHL, and had the team playing better & looser while wearing that interim label than his predecessor had the team playing; hopefully that's it for the similarities). Suppose it could be they want to wait until they've figured out if the relationship with Eichel is mendable to decide which direction to go for the next head coach, which would be disappointing as good candidates will be gone before that process is completed. 3rd possibility is that the Sabres don't want Gallant due to his reputation of being a guy that's a PITA for his bosses. Would not hate having Granato back but if it's because they've already made up their mind, it would flash HUGE warning signs.

Not a trade, but the Sabres let Satan walk. SIXTEEN years ago.

IF he were to come back, it would become McCabe's team as a placeholder until one of the kids is ready to take on the role. If he doesn't come back, guess the mantle goes to whomever the new Craig Rivet or Brian Gionta is.

Welcome back!

Yeah, gonna be a long summer. We're still at that point & nowhere near the point of people blaming other fans for it yet. 😉 Know that many are looking forward to this summer & the uncertainty & excitement it brings. Me, not wishing time to fly by, but am looking forward to October & flat out dreading the summer. Ever since the Knoxes put Muckler on a budget & got rid of most of the expensive pieces (pretty much all of them but LaFontaine & Hasek) everytime the team the team truly seems to have turned the corner or is poised to do so, there is something reminding us that NHL hockey is a business & we can not have nice things for long. Whether it be Nolan & Muckler BOTH getting effectively punted after award winning seasons, LaFontaine getting told to retire, Zhitnik or Peca holding out for a new contract into the start of a season (or an entire season), Hasek & Peca getting converted into futures, losing Dumont & McKee as precursors to the next season's 7/1/7 massacre, preparing for "suffering," or dumping O'Reilly there is ALWAYS another shoe ready to drop. Which is exhausting. Now, we've seen the kids show promise & have some hope this decade long trek through the wilderness may finally be ending and rather that finding the pieces that will put the core and kids over the top, we might be watching the core of this team (Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Ullmark. & McCabe) all gone by the next puck drop. Truly expect the team to be better next year than they are now, regardless of how the off-season goes; but if all those guys are gone, expect the team won't be as good as it would've been swapping out only 1 or 2 of them. (IF Adams IS the right guy, maybe that won't be the case, & the team will be optimized; but wouldn't have money on it today. Or maybe all gets worked out & the core more or less stays intact. Which is still possible.) By next season, we should finally be done with the drama 1 way or another. And THAT is something to look forward to IMHO. (Even if the questions of what to do about Risto & Reino on the last year of their deals remain. That won't likely feel as existential of problems as the current ones seem.) All the back and forth of whether the core are spoiled brats or true leaders will be something to talk about, but would rather be talking about whether the Sabres could add whomever this off-season's JT Miller might be and what that'd cost.

Reinhart is definitely a candidate to sign an offer sheet. Two minor clarifications, the picks would be for the 2022 draft; and most guys coming off ELCs (like Dahlin) are exclusive rights players. Though they are unsigned & could sign with teams in other leagues, if the team tenders a QO the team is the only NHL team with the right to negotiate with the player. It's the same situation Mittelstadt was in last year & why wringing hands over whether Dahlin will get poached is unwarranted at present. (Not implying you were worried that Ras would get poached, btw.)

Wonder if they considered asking Nolan or Krueger to coach this bunch. Because on paper this looks comparable to Team Latvia or the Swiss National Team.

Thanks for stating something I've been speculating about in a much better way.

Doesn't the "best deal" by definition end up "higher than other offers?" 😛

It definitely doesn't help make him look mature, but IF it was heat of the moment, it is what it is. Speculated/asked back after the PC if the reason for the "tirade" was simply because he REALLY wants the surgery so he can actually start training again on the timetable he (& HIS trainers) believe he needs to be on to be 100% on day 1. Remember, he's been injured right before camp or right at the end of camp at least 1/3 of his NHL seasons. He really liked and respects Krueger. Fairly certain he loved the idea of playing w/ Taylor Hall & Reinhart & the 1st time we saw that they cycled the puck for over a minute (but could never finish on that shift). Knowing that HIS play (which in large part was torpedoed due to the rib & lingering groin) contributed to both of them being gone; he HAS to want to get back to the 100+ point pace he was on prior to the groin injury. And he seemed pretty darn convinced that this surgery will give him the best chance to hit the ground running. Why would we be surprised that the emotions of just having been told AGAIN that the team's doctors & therefore the team don't agree with him were close to the surface? A 24 yo couldn't keep his emotions fully in check for more than 10 minutes dealing with people he doesn't respect who are LOOKING FOR the money quote. Let's give him credit for getting through the 1st 10 minutes without going to the 'good Lord, I'd really like to rip into these *****' smirk. A sign of immaturity, depending upon the viewpoint, it could actually be a sign OF maturity. Personally, my emotions & views of this are swirling & that's from just watching. Right after his exit interview, he had to be emotionally wired. They should've had all the interviews in the AM & the PC's a couple hours later in the afternoon to let guys get fully composed. MHO. YMMV.

While it MIGHT have been calculated, it could also be a frustrated 24 yo having to be grilled by people he doesn't respect right after a long, disappointing/frustrating meeting with his bosses. Remember, the conversation started out on a pretty even keel & then ~10 minutes in went kerboom. Anybody else here glad they didn't have to speak publicly right after not seeing eye to eye with their boss for an hour or so? Yours truly could definitely have been goaded into saying something that sounded really bad & might not even have been reflective of how things really are in such a situation.

95% sure there are no AHL playoffs this season.

Roughly 1/3 full then? (Thought that ballpark holds ~19,000, right?)

The missing link (if we're limiting it to just 1) has been not enough good competent guys available to keep from forcing talented kids to try to take on more responsibility than they're capable of handling at the young age. Whether it be naming Eichel captain at ~20 yo, forcing Mittelstadt into a 2C role in his 1st full season as an NHLer, making Ristolainen the minute eating beast of the D-corps by his 3rd NHL season, or other similar attempts at fitting an oval peg into a round hole; they've all contributed to the disappointment. And now, we MIGHT be on the verge of making Mitts & Cozens be the #1 & #2 C's on the team when they'd ideally start the year as the 3 & 4 if they are both used as C's. Believe Adams is smart enough to not plan on doing that; but if the 3 players that are being discussed as being gone soon actually are (& if they are, why would Ullmark want back in?) then we are a 1/2C acquisition as successful as bringing in Leino, Johansson, or Staal & an injury away from making that a reality. Lather, rinse, repeat.

For those who didn't watch the NFL draft, there were images of the Pegulas in draft room & Kim even announced 1 of the Bills selections. But nobody is complaining about that. Why? Because Beane & Co have had the most (technically, the only) success this team has had in the new century. They're good at their jobs & the Pegulas enjoying their purchase has not perceptably negatively affected the team since Beane was brought in. There really isn't any actual evidence that they meddle any more into the Sabres than they do into the Bills; they just haven't prior to Adams found the right guy/team to run the Sabres. So, everytime they're in the picture it is assumed that they're running the nuts & bolts of the show. Regardless of whether they are or aren't. Have they found the right guy with Adams? Don't know, but hope so, because he's here for 2 more years if he's not the right guy. (And we have to hope Adams makes the right call on the coach - regardless of whether that's Granato, Gallant, or somebody else. Because that guy will also get close to 2 seasons - 2 seasons if he's the wrong guy. And 8 years of at minimum having the wrong guy for the circumstances has grown old.)

The roster was made up of kids - definitely. Houser was the 2nd oldest player in at least 2 of his starts. But it wasn't 1/2 AHLers. Samuelson & possibly Bryson were AHLers. Ruotsalainen was the only F that can still arguably be considered an AHLer that was getting regular usage. Fogarty, Murray, etc were rotating through a single slot. But Mittelstadt, Thompson, Asplund, Borgen, & Cozens showed they are NHLers. They're just young NHLers. Now, to say the GTing was AHLers after Ullmark went out - 100%.

Will watch today's PCs tonight. Am still hoping that Eichel's PC was more about venting & trying to get the team on board with his wish to get the surgery than actually wanting out & beginning the process of burning bridges. Emotions seem to be raw here w/ the fans & we just watch this stuff. These guys lived this debacle of a season. They have to be close to skinned alive raw for these guys.

Did you really need the adjective "baseball" be placed before the word "game?" Watching baseball in 40 degree weather is slightly worse than watching football in a 35 degree rainy day. And before you come back with "people watch World Series games in cold weather," remember we're talking about playing AAA baseball in April above the Mason Dixon line. That is not pleasant.

That's because the ####ers running the NC (Durham?) franchise for years got to set the league's schedule & gave the northern teams the ####### April home dates because "their" fans didn't want to come to games with the temperature in the high 50's & 60's. Like anyone wants to come to a game when it's 40 out.

Was it his trading away assets for Kane, Bogosian, Lehner, & O'Reilly that set the Sabres back or was it Botterill letting them go for pennies on the $? IMHO, running the hockey equivalent of going from a 3-4 to a 4-3 & then back to a 3-4 set the team back further than the individual manueverings of any of the 4 GMs that have worked for the Pegulas. My concern since yesterday is that Adams might now be resetting back to another youth movement. Which sets them back again, all over again.

draining.