Taro T

Is there? When asked directly 3 days after the trade deadline if he would trade prospects and or picks for guys that can play in the top 9, he literally said "absolutely, yes." Where/what is the change in what was said from then to now?

If either of them don't hit that it will be a major disappointment this coming season.

It actually would make more sense were the Dakota's to be divided into East & West Dakota rather than North & South. (In both states, ranching is bigger in the east and mining bigger in the west.)

Apparently with the bar lowered enough to get Housley in, Pete managed to eventually Sneak in himself. (Honestly had no idea that he'd been elected this past season; or at minimum completely put it out of mind.)

Dakota Fanning disagrees with this take. 🤪

Lofton started all 16 games the previous year and didn't even average 2 catches per game that year. He played his way out of the lineup before he was actually out of the lineup as a Raider. Yeah, people thought he was over the hill and past his prime. Agree with the rest of it.

And people looked at the Bills askance when they brought in "over the hill" "way past his prime" "nothing at all left in the tank" James Lofton. Sometimes guys just need an opportunity in a new surroundings. (And sometimes, it still goes kerplewy. But he's definitely worth taking a shot on.)

Yup. Sunrise for all intents and purposes is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. It's far closer to that than it is to Miami.

If the league is putting pressure on the Sabres to actually appear to care, any thoughts on whether they actually start getting some calls to go their way?

It's really Auhsoj?

We need a 'hmmm' reaction button here. 😉

And yet, according to the ads, the miracle deodorant apparently can't do anything about foot odor. At least if the user isn't a contortionist, it's outside the scope of their product's intended use. Or maybe it IS specifically designed FOR contortionists. Which beggars the question, why the full on mass marketing of the products when it really is a fairly niche customer base?

Quinn does line up most often on his strong side, but it always seemed he was at his most effective when he'd slide over to his off-hand side (especially when playing with Peterka, the chemistry of those 2 seemed to skyrocket when they'd swap spots during play) so wouldn't be overly concerned about which side he played on especially if he's playing on a line with Kane. Would expect Benson playing with Skinner would result in a fair amount of him freelancing to his strong side as well as Skinner tends to head towards the right post when he does go low in the zone. Besides, both are smart enough players that they should be able to handle the point inside their own zone on the wrong boards. Skinner definitely can't do that; and not sure how Peterka would handle it.

Cool. Couldn't recall if you'd decided to give Celebrini the McDavid treatment or said you WEREN'T going to go that route. 😉

So, any word on whether @thewookie1 sideswiped any of the prospects yet? Still 1 more day for him to pull it off, but if he hasn't done so yet, it isn't very promising.

Until Patrick Kane is re-signed in Detroit or ends up elsewhere, am expecting he is still high on Adams radar. Would expect the top 3 lines to look something like: Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Quinn - Cozens - Kane Skinner - New Guy - Benson Those 2 top lines would both be good to very good and would allow that 3rd line to absolutely feast much like the RAV line feasted back when Briere and Drury were here. (Honestly, that 1B line might be better than the 1A line.) Make that 4th line something truly difficult to play against, and it already wouldn't be a picnic with Greenway there and that is a forward lineup that can the them into the playoffs. And 100% would have Skinner (should he be back, and expect he will be) on that 3rd line on day 1. And if he wants to get back onto the top line, let him show he can play within whatever system Ruff determines will work best with this bunch and earn his way back.

And, of course, with the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth ...

Well, if they don't end up bringing in say a Patrick Kane to play in the "top 9," then, yeah, Greenway likely stays in the "top 9." But this team would be a lot better if they can roll a 4th line through.

Yeah, in an ideal world, where there is a new 2W and a new 3C brought it, Greenway deploys at the beginning of the game as a 4W. But see him getting more ice time than the typical 4th liner as he can slide up onto any of the other lines as situations dictate. Also, see him (and the bottom 6C they bring is) as the primary PKer. At the age of 19, Benson could see his ice time diminish in critical situations as could Peterka and Skinner. But, also remember, when he can do so, Ruff likes rolling 4 lines. It's a heck of a lot easier to do that when Greenway is the driver of the 4th line than when last year's Krebs is that driver. And also expect that whomever they bring in for that open C role (whether it be 3 or 4), that Krebs will be given every opportunity to take that 3C role away from the new guy and that the new guy could be a big chunk of that "identity line." Lastly, depending on who that C is and the other 4th line W is, the "4th line" might very well be the 3rd line in terms of ice time and deployment while Krebs-Skinner-Benson/new W end up with the title of 3rd line but actually getting 4th line usage and minutes. Don't get too caught up in who's on the "4th line." Personally, find it more interesting to see who he's deployed with.

Yeah, knowing the league was switching to Fanatics starting next season was on a bit of a binge this year. Have pretty much everything we'd hoped to get (including 1 not worn yet which is kind of going to be this coming season's "new" sweater) except they didn't do a jersey for the Dyngus Day game (which was actually on Dyngus Day's version of Boxing Day, being celebrated the day after DD); had a player all picked out for that one and that sweater would've been SHARP but alas, it wasn't available. Oh well, should one of those come out this year, could possibly buy a Fanatics jersey, but if not don't see any more jersey purchases for quite a while.

Whether he finds 1 remains to be seen, but right after the trade deadline Adams literallly said he wants to add a bottom 6C that wins faceoffs and is very good on the PK. Personally am hoping that guy is the 3C in which case, yeah, Krebs can be pencilled in on the 4th line and if he improves, well great. And if not, there are still guys pushing him towards 13F from below. (And in an ideal world, Krebs is pencilled in as the 13th F, and Greenway has a new C and a new W to help him make that "identity" line.) Personally, wonder if Robinson was getting pencilled into that other 4W slot until that couple of shifts in the Filly game where he and and Olofsson both had their Sabres careers essentially end. If he was, wonder if he's going to be given a shot at beating out whatever journeyman Adams signs for that role or if he's simply going to be some other team's journeyman signed to try to fit in on their 4th line.

Won't speak for @Weave, but personally see this team as being good enough to be in the playoffs but not particularly relevant right now (as Levi is becoming an NHLer) and is being built to be a true contender in year 3 from this year 1 when Levi is established at the NHL level. The item that sealed that belief was the Mittelstadt (entering his prime NOW) getting traded form Byram (entering his prime 3-4 years from now). And expect that Ruff signed on for the 2 years because he believes this team has (or will by the time the off-season is through) enough talent to get into the playoffs and that they can legit compete for the SC next year. And he'll make his decision of whether to stay on as coach or bump up to PoHO (or Special Advisor to the PoHO should things be going swimmingly and Adams gets that role with Karmanos getting Adams title) at that time. At some point the rigors of being the HC has to get old especially for somebody that'll be ~68 by then. And IF the UPL we saw from January into March is the REAL UPL then this team could be a contender this season. It still remains to be seen whether he can sustain that level of play or if the UPL we'll really have is the one we saw in April when Levi was back as the 2nd half of the battery. Would expect it's either something between the 2 or maybe we finally lucked out and that goalie he was in January is who he is. If January UPL is who he really is, well In that case the Sabres will have gone nearly overnight (just over 1 season) from having some of worst goaltending in the entire NHL to easily top 10 and arguably top 5 with both goalies at a stage of their careers where they can get better yet.

Because if Quinn is on the 2nd line and plays like he's hinted he could AND if his chemistry with Cozens gets back to where it was his rookie year, then you have a 1A and a 1B line. And that 3rd line, whomever is on it, ends up absolutely getting true 3rd line matchups as other teams will be gameplanning lines 1A & 1B and taking their chances with the 3rd line.

Which, except for Thompson, aligns pretty much spot on to the Levi timeline. (And pretty much all SC winners have at least 1 vet that's been there forever and is working his way down the lineup but is still useful in that diminished role.)

That's the magic of Patrick Kane. Wasn't high on the idea of getting him last year for several reasons, but he showed in Detroit that he's recovered from the surgeries. He's old enough that he's eligible for an incentive laden contract so using him, they can effectively circumvent the cap (just like the big boys do). It pretty much guarantees buying Skinner out next year as those cap savings would pay Kane's bonuses that would count against next year's cap (unless he's REALLY hit a wall this year or gets injured again, in which case Kulich or Savoie get their mid-season call up). And really don't see Adams altering the D nor G lineups, so the only remaining holes to fill that will likely be addressed is the "identity" 4th line. That is easily doable even if Kane is getting close to what he'd actually be worth and not getting an incentive laden deal.