Taro T

Yes, the league suggested Botterill; but the other finalist to replace Murray was Zito. It's no different than when the Bills were looking for a new coach and it came down to Ryan and McDermott; Pegula (at the suggestion of Brandon) chose Ryan. The parallel goes so far as to Zito sitll being available when Botterill was canned, just like McDermott was. Unfortunately, that's where the parallel ends. But still, he has options to rectify the current mistake, and one of them is already in the buidling.

IF they can find a partner that works for/with Byram (besides Dahlin), would expect LT getting an extension on him and trading Power when/if necessary would be the better play. And maybe now Timmons can be that guy; they played very well together yesterday but were absolute trash in Detroit together; didn't pay that close attention to the matchups they were getting but 1 game being home and the other being on the road say that matchups could've been a huge factor in that. If not, keep Power. Byram's highs have been better than Power's, but his lows have been even worse. And there's a bigger risk of getting bad Byram than getting bad Power IMHO because his play seems to be so partner dependent. Though with the cap going up as much as it will soon, and with Byram showing he ISN'T a 1 or a 2, not completely convinced they can't keep them both. Mrkta will be on an entry level contract for 3 years when he finally arrives; Muel is locked up for a while and being a defensive 1st guy won't likely be getting much of a raise. Timmons is what he is. The only wildcards salary wise are Kesselring and Byram himself but Byram keeps playing himself to lesser deals down the road. That could change, and hopefully they do find a guy he works with very well (again, besidee Dahlin) but hasn't so far.

Yeah, signing Lyon for 2 years gives them a ton of flexibility for figuring out how to handle this season and even some flexibility for next year too. Pretty sure Levi isn't waiver exempt next year, so they have a decision to make within Lyon, Ellis, and Levi; but by having Lyon signed for the extra year, they actually get to make that decision rather than having it made for them. But, hang onto UPL for now, while working the phones to find him a home elsewhere. (Again, not convinced Adams is up to the challenge, but maybe with Jarmo's help he will be.) And if you get to a point that you have to send him to Ra-cha-cha, or more likely loan him to another team's farm club so both Levi and he can continue to get ice time, see if he clears or not. If he doesn't, well, at least you've just effectively knocked Skinner's cap hit next year down to what it'll be his final 2 years. And that is manageable.

Yeah, even with the apparent return of a few guys on the horizon, they have the ability to waive Geertsen 1st. Personally, believe they could (they won't, but they could) risk waiving Bryson when all D are healthy as they have some guys in Ra-cha-cha that could get called up and fill his role. Pretty sure they also could waive Dunne for a little bit longer without him having to go through waivers again, though they're getting close to that limit if they haven't already passed it. Personally don't want to see either Swede nor Kozak sent down when they get healthy but expect either Östlund or Kozak to be towards the front of the list of moves that do get made. There are moves they can make before simply waiving UPL. But if it weren't Adams making the move, would be more insistant on them making a move sooner than later. But don't really have much faith in Kevyn getting that right; but he does have Kekalainen helping him now (and Staal too 😉 ) so maybe he won't F it up.

The interesting thing there, IMHO, is how much more rubber Ellis has seen relative to UPL with significantly better results (small sample size). Also, pretty sure UPL hasn't had one shot in by his defenseman. Ellis can't say the same. 😉

It also could simply be an acknowledgement that teams will key on Thompson more than they will on Norris, so other teams will treat Tage as the 1C and Josh as the 2C. By ice time, expect Tage will get a little more time than Josh will, especially as they work Norris back into the lineup (hopefully for significantly more than 3 games this time), but when both are in game shape doubting that difference will be more than 1 minute. By what the other team puts out against them, expecting Tage to clearly be the 1C until Norris can create more problems than Tage can. And IF Tage stays motivated to play this way, which is a big if, as a physicality has never been in his tool box, these last 2 games have been a revelation, but if he stays motivated to play this way, he'll be real hard to supplant as the 1C.

The reason that it was suggested he be the 1st out of the lineup is all of the guys that will be coming back are offensively minded. So, you'd likely want to not be removing your defensively minded guys out initially. IMHO Rosen and Östlund have been playing better than Quinn. Expect that you have a better constructed roster removing Quinn than removing, say, Kozak who's been very good in a checking role or Malenstyn who's been very good on the PK. It isn't hate; it's simply a #'s game. Could see him being removed from the lineup after Krebs, but if he is kept in the lineup in Krebs' spot (because he isn't getting more ice time than Zucker, Benson, or Norris) can he handle that role? What is your preference for lineup when Zucker (and quite possibly Norris too per reports yesterday) comes back in? Forgot about Dunne. Would pull him out of the lineup before Krebs and Greenway and depending upon the opponent, Quinn too. Again, it isn't ire, and was one of the few here that expected a bounceback year from Quinn. It's strictly numbers and believe the 2 Swedes have been playing better than him in a very similar role.

Having been in the building (behind the net too) when Georgiev played his way out of Colorado, and seeing how his preseason went this year, just can't see anyone getting desperate enough to want to give him a try. Unless they've already gone through at least 5 goalies, can't see any NHL team even thinking about dialing Adams #.

Heard Elmira might be looking for some help. 😉

Well, there's the $5MM/yr question. IF he can continue to play like this, he'll be making at least that in the fairly near future. (Not necessarily on the next contract, but the one after that for sure.) If he can't, he'll be looking at ~$1.5MM/yr on the next contract. Whole lot of reasons besides just getting to continue living the dream for him to figure it out when shooters have him in his least opportune environment.

Personally would say: Quinn, Krebs, then Greenway in that order; but expect Ruff will be popping the kids out of the lineup. But, on this night, they all pulled their weight. As bad as Timmons and Byram looked in Detroit, they were very solid together. The Thompson line got chances. Obviously the 4th line was dominant. Except for losing the puck at the end of a shift that resulted in the odd man rush that ruined Ellis' shutout; Dahlin played very well and he and Samuelsson are finally playing again the way they seemed they would for a long time back when Muel got that seemingly horrible contract. (Looked like it probably would be good overall at the time, but then looked bad ever since he stepped back on the ice; it's finally looking like it might be good when all is said and done again.) The McLeod line played well overall as did the Kozak line. Heck Bryson played well with Power today. And Ellis showed that yes, he was the the correct choice to put between the pipes tonight. Fun game. Don't know why they are so good against the Eulers in this building, but whatever it is, keep it up. And figure out how to show up against Calgary. They've been good at home, they need to keep that up. 6-1-2 at home after looking like they'd never been on skates before taking the ice for the 1st 2 home games.

They gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was shooting the puck in. Officials ignored the fact the puck hopped over his stick so he was swinging at nothing.

Blind nut; squirrel.

Thought Bettman helped with identifying Botterill and Zito, and the Pegulas chose door #2.

Thought he ended up with LaFontaine because he was starstruck when he talked with him over lunch, offered him the GM job on the spot, Patty said no to that because he didn't have enough experience, so he took President as a title instead.

Not sure if that warrants the "awesome" emoji or the "cry" emoji. So, will just run w/ "danke." 🍺

LET'S GO BAN-DITS!!!! (And, no love for the Stampede? 😞 )

WHAT's more important? The post you responded to was strictly one pointing out a coincidence - that under Pegula coaches generally get replaced on a 2 year cycle but GMs seem to be on a 3 year cycle. There was nothing of major import in that OP other than, again, pointing out that coaches go stale after about 2 years and GMs after about 3. Here's to hoping this one isn't on a 9 year cycle (or God forbid, a 12 year cycle).

Under Pegula, the team changes coaches every 2 years, so this is Ruff's last year. Until Adams came along, he seemed to change GMs every 3 years. Not sure why he gave Adams a double, but this is year 6 for him, so this (hopefully) is Adams' last year too.

A little surprised at Ellis getting the net tonight. Expected Lyon tonight and Ellis on Wednesday. Also, would really like to know what they have against Ryan Johnson. Hopefully, they don't call him up to keep from "rushing" him into the NHL, but thought he played all 4 years of NCAA, so that doesn't seem to be the reason to keep him down. When he's played, he's seemed to be the exact sort of guy you want as a callup - one you don't notice. Which, for a D-man, is a good thing.

They also might've been unhappy about Dahlin getting into the play well before the guy he was replacing got off the ice to start the play. But after the way the Sabres were going nuts over the too many men that was called, that one had to be ticky tack at best, so expect the non-call in OT was a makeup call. And, Thompson and DeBrincat were fighting for a loose puck, have seen plays like that called, but rarely if ever when the game is on the line. That's a "let 'em play" call. They battled back well and Ellis managed to never give up the 5th goal that would've buried them. Bring on the Eulers.

The Bills have NEVER gone 2-0 for a weekend.

Did Kesselring breaking (even though he and Power were playing very well together, pretty much like we'd hoped) end up allowing this win to happen? Because really doubt Ruff/Wilford would've broken up Timmons/Byram and that pairing was looking like they wanted to be on the ice for at least 5 against tonight. Get Kesselring back healthy quick and figure out someone that Byram can play with.

???

And the captain with 2 assists. Welcome back Ras!!!