Taro T

That's where my thoughts were prior to yesterday. Opinion is evolving based on the emotion of the past day. Probably won't have a fully settled in opinion until next week. Might move back to it. Don't know. Preference is still to get him signed LT, but not sure how realistic that is. Also, do believe that HIS opinion as to staying could get turned 180 degrees by January. Right now, would likely take that chance. Next week, who knows?

But, pretty much all of the complaints that have been levied against ownership regarding the Sabres could also be levied against them regarding the Bills prior to McDermott being hired & the subsequent hiring of Beane. The Bandits have been run well. The Bills are run well. Their daughter's tennis career seems to be run well. (No data on the new Kin-ig-hit Hawks.) The Sabres have not been run well. Get the right guy running the Sabres and they'll be 4 for 4 IMHO. The Pegulas show up in the Bills draft room too. That doesn't just happen with the Sabres. And, considering my preference is to keep Eichel & Reinhart. Really kind of looking forward to some meddling this summer. 😉 If you mean Eichel, pretty sure he's under contract for 5 more years.

Right now, really doubt that being named the captain would move the needle 1 bit for Reinhart. IMHO, the way to get him locked up LT is sign him to a fair 1 year deal & bring in a coach that can get them to win & 2 UFA goalies each as good as a healthy Ullmark, 1 of which is Ullmark, and work out the differences with Eichel. Doubt they could get him signed LT THIS off-season after 2 seasons that included a mirage of respectability & this one which included likely, & at minimum arguably, the the most depressing stretch of Sabres hockey ever.

There is an entire (though fairly short) section of the CBA dealing with insurance. Haven't read it but expect that is where your answer lies.

That is definitely possible. OR, they don't have a non-owner Team President or a President of Hockey Operations because having people in those roles DID NOT work for them in the past. It also DIDN'T work for them on the Bills side of things. Beane reports directly to the Pegulas & that is working very well. It is CLEAR to any outsider, that Adams can't do the full job on his own. Even he's acknowledged it himself by hiring Karamanos. We'd like to see an advisor or better yet President of HO, but not having one doesn't mean necessarily that owners think they know more than a PoHO would. It very well could mean they believe they have the right guy running things & that his title, much like Beane's gives him enough authority to do what he needs to do. On the Bills side, they trust their agents hired to lead management. In that management team's 3rd year, the fans bought in. On the Sabres side, they seem to trust their agent they hired to lead management. The fans have not fully bought in yet. But that doesn't mean ownership isn't bought in nor that Terry Pegula envisions himself to be Jerry Jones.

12.9.c. (Sorry, have the CBA downloaded, not looking for a link to it.)

The leverage is, short of the resolution of a grievance, the team's medical opinion provider's opinion overrides that of a player selected 2nd medical opinion and that of an independent 3rd medical opinion. Not a medical professional, so take this for whatever it's worth, it seems that Eichel wants the surgery because the recovery period will be shorter & he'll be able to train on close to his planned off-season schedule & thus would be back to true game shape by the start of the season. If he waits for the disk to heal, it will take longer & he doesn't know that he'll be ready to hit the ice flying (& leading) without the surgery. The team seems to want the more conservative approach. Being a fan of a team that's missed the playoffs for a decade, would prefer he get the surgery & be ready to go on day 1. As this also reduces the possibility of teams wanting to trade for him this off-season, it keeps him here which is another win. If Eichel is back, it makes more sense to keep Reinhart, too. Another win. Get Gallant to coach them. And get Davidson in house to be the guy Gere is ticking off, rather than ownership, and they are fixed goaltending & a coup,e of smaller pieces away from breaking a 10 year drought. And the only way Gallant comes in is if ownership is insulated from him. He's a player's coach, but wears out his welcome to the point of Florida not even being willing to get him back home after getting canned on a road trip.

No, teams can only select 2 year arbitration deals when the player is at least 2 years from becoming an UFA. If his deal goes to arbitration, & that is a very likely scenario, it WILL be for a 1 year deal.

Well, his would be the shortest tenure of any of the coaches if he doesn't get the full time gig. He's not due to be canned until sometime in early '23. IF Eichel & Reinhart are gone, my expectation is now that Granato will be retained. Wonder if Gallant would still be available next off-season.

The Pegulas DO spend money. But they have yet to bring in an experienced GM. The GM directs where, within the hockey department, that spending gets directed. Until they bring in somebody / somebody in that role actually grows into it, the amount of spending won't matter. Giving a kindergartener control of your food budget won't keep you healthy. Blowing your entire food budget on Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, and chicken nuggets when it should've gone towards lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, & a smidge of junk food will leave you in poorer health than you should've been. Right now, we're left hoping that Adams can grow into the role. Bringing in Karmanos should help. And if they could get Davidson or Rutherford in would help him in that regard. Also, right now, the team is on its 7th head coach in the just over 10 years that the Pegulas have owned the Sabres. Not 1 head coach has survived more than 2 full years since they bought the team. They need to get the right GM so they can get the coach right so they can actually find stability. And we have to HOPE Adams is the right GM, because if he isn't, this wheel won't get out of the mud for at least 2 more years. (Coaches get 2 years; GMs get 3. Lather, rinse, repeat.)

He broke a rib ~1 week before TC opened. He also was still dealing with the groin injury he suffered at the end of the previous season. Why hadn't he fully dealt with the groin earlier? Per him, it was a combination of travel / medical treatment restrictions getting put in place due to COVID lockdowns & there being a lack of consensus as to what the injury actually was. Considering how many medical offices shut down last March for everything but emergency procedures, that sounds plausible. YMMV. He also had an ankle injury that caused missed time & the herniated disk that killed his season. So, yes, he was injured from day 1 onward.

Well, ####, the Eulers should trade McDavid this off-season then. HIS value will never be higher because he'll never get to play an entire season in a division where defense appears to be banned again. Heck, EVERY team with an upper echelon in his prime / approaching his prime player should trade him right ####### now using that "logic."

At the end of the day, Eichel is an injury prone MacKinnon. Should he actually get traded, the return needs to reflect that.

Interesting. Can't believe they'd change the result this late. Think of all the money they'd have to try to claw back that was already paid out.

Why in the #### would they have traded him heading INTO this last season? It seems years ago, but they were viewed as a team that needed a 2C (brought in Staal) & a goalie to pair with Ullmark (huge fail*) from being a borderline playoff contender. Though they didn't get the goalie (again, a huge fail), they got a top line W (Hall) to play w/ Eichel. So, they still should've been close. Eichel was NEVER healthy this season. Were he healthy, would the Hall move have blown up in their faces? We won't know, but my guess is it wouldn't have. They still would've missed th e playoffs with no legit backup to backfill for Ullmark missing 1/2 the year, but with a healthy Eichel to start, they don't end up dead last. Serious revisional view of the past off season for LeBrun to suggest having traded him last year. * Maybe if the Sabres had somebody inside the organization tied in to the league better they find out that the league is leaning towards taxi squads sooner & Adams ups his offer for a goalie & they actually get the goalie they desperately needed.

Expect he'd be better to bring in than Rutherford would, truth be told, even though he doesn't have any championships to his name. He is extremely well respected in the league's inner circles and could go a long way towards removing the yokel vibe that the Sabres seem to have built up the past decade.

FTFY. 😉

Espresso Love

You HONESTLY think a professional athlete entering his prime that nominally makes 8 figures/ season has only recieved ONE opinion on how best to recover from this injury? He has said he's received several opinions the past couple of months. There is no reason to believe a statement such as that is a lie. No offense meant, but on a day full of bad takes, this one takes the cake.

The thread stating that Eichel wanted to have surgery started on April 14. Who's to say they haven't been pushing forward behind the scenes. It's less than 4 weeks ago.

The way the CBA reads the team Dr's opinion trumps 2nd & 3rd opinions. It seems that the team Dr already has his mind made up. If Adams were more adept at the relationship side of things, maybe he could've brokered this better. Maybe he didn't want to. But either way, those of us who keep caring about & paying money for this #### show deserve better.

Yeah, but it's truly rare for your 2nd scoring line to be a true shutdown line as well. That team was sooooo special, and Golisano was soooooo tight. There should've been 3 teams ahead of the rest of the league at the end of the Aughts. Not just the Pens & the Wings.

Am hoping this is a case of the Pegulas having been distant / out of the picture following their Bills & daughter's career & that having this hit them in the face gets management on board with letting Eichel get his surgery. The 1st side benefit of that is, they aren't trading him coming off a major injury like that. The 2ndary benefit is that Reinhart probably wants to stay here a lot more if his buddy is still around. The tertiary benefit is Rutherford & Gallant will be a lot more on board with coming to Buffalo with the team turning towards true win now AND in the future mode. The quartenary benefit is that there is far more to the front office than just Adams by himself. And the last and best is, the team could actually make the ####### playoffs next season. #### yeah, Jack. Tell 'em like it is.

Well, technically we've never met ...

Does anybody think that part of the reason Eichel brought this up at the press conference is to goad/shame management into letting him get the surgery he thinks will get his game back on track & leave him with a better quality of life post-NHL and NOT necessarily to get himself out of town?