Taro T

Further on that, it's really a shame (but par for the course for how things have gone the last decade) that the team was in the low 90's last year and back in the 80's this year. Had these 2 seasons been reversed, there's the ever so slight chance that Granato would've been removed at the end of last season while Brunette was available. (He still likely would've chosen working for Trotz with Saros as his netminder over working for Adams with Levi/UPL as the crew; but it was at least POSSIBLE he could've come to Buffalo in that circumstance.)

IF they trade him and retain say 1/2 of the salary, they've reduced the length of time that they're losing cap space from 6 years via a buyout down to just 3 years. So, there would be a value in that. Pretty sure he doesn't just have a NTC but actually a NMC, meaning he is NOT seeing the AHL unless he wants to be there. It is not happening. Leaving just 1 & 2 as options to get him off the roster. Neither seems worth it vs just keeping him around for this season. Were his contract less, nobody would care if he were the loose cannon on the 3rd or 4th line. His contract isn't keeping Adams from making any move he'd ACTUALLY make this year, so personally can't see a reason to buy him out. And he holds the cards regarding a trade. Get used to watching him play as a Sabre again.

Yes, he absolutely is.

Ruff's one truly outstanding season as a HC out of his last 5 or so came when Andrew Brunette, the President Trophy winning Panthers HC (who got fired for a 1st round exit) who went on to get Nashville to sneak into the playoffs in a year that they were expected to be in a nearly full rebuild, was one of Ruff's assistants. Am not seeing a really high end assistant on the staff. We need to hope that Appert is the next Jon Cooper, but it's more likely he's the next Randy Cunneyworth.

Well, Appert could be the next PP coach. Pretty sure Adams merely said Ellis wouldn't be running the PP, not that he'd be getting a demotion. (Though we can always hope REALLY REALLY hard.)

That's obvious. But did not want them to be retapping the development well for Lindy's replacement.

It's a joke you hoser.

Adams is definitely going all-in on his belief that he's got the right kids in house, they just need a little better guidance and a couple of other pieces. (3C, 2W, identity 4th liners) It COULD work.

Not seeing Lindy's new Brunette anywhere in that list.

And $8MM in space should be enough to add a 2nd line W and a 3C. Though there are other spots that could stand improving, those are the only 2 (besides giving the 4th line an identity whatever he means by that) that Adams has said he will fill. Past history shows that unless Adams has talked about needing to add in an area, he doesn't bring somebody in from outside. IF something falls into his lap, can see Adams buying out Skinner. Just would be quite surprised were it to happen this off-season. Not completely sold on the idea that he'll be bought out next year for the reasons already stated above, but can see that being more of a 40-60 proposition. Don't see him on the roster for that 8th year unless something really unexpected happens.

Not shocking. But had kind of hoped they wouldn't make that move. They've still got at least 1 other "development" coach pencilled in on Ruff's staff. Any word on who they might be looking for to take Seth's old job?

How in the world does a team playing in Moose Jaw end up the Warriors and not the Molars? It's so friggin' obvious what they should've been called.

Nah, he gets called McJesus pretty much everywhere. McClavicle is the one that doesn't seem to get much traction anymore.

Would be shocked if they don't bring in a veteran C via either trade or FA. Also expect a top 6 W to be brought it. Adams has literally been talking about adding them for 2 months now. Maybe a change from Girgensons and Robinson as well, as Adams has talked about making that 4th line an identity line (or something to that effect) but wouldn't want to have a car payment riding on those other 2 happening. Could very realistically see those the only NHL moves Adams makes as per people's reports on what Adams was saying to Seravalli (haven't had a chance to watch it yet personally) he's still gushing about how he likes the D and the G. Would like to see a bolstering to both of those units as well even if it were to simply add competition for those 10 jobs, but not expecting it unless Ruff pushes really hard for those moves.

He might be able to get to close to 30 on the 3rd or 4th line, but am guessing about 22 is more realistic. Which is still acceptable. (Forget what he costs in $'s, his contract won't be what's keeping Adams from making necessary moves.) Really don't see Skinner's contract keeping Adams from making moves this off-season. And if the contract isn't limiting what Adams is going to do, then there's no pressing reason to saddle the team with reduced cap for 5 seasons beyond this next one. Would be surprised if Skinner's 8th year doesn't get bought out, but not even convinced that the 7th year will necessarily have to be bought out. Personally expect that to be a function of what moves Adams makes next off-season provided the Sabres made the playoffs next year and Adams is still making those decisions. Don't forget, the cap will be going up in the future pretty significantly with the players now having repaid the owners COVID clawback AND while Utah shouldn't affect the national TV contracts, it will increase overall HRR relative to what would've come in from 5k seat Mullett. Not completely convinced that they won't be able to squeeze Peterka, Quinn, Levi, and Greenway into the cap next year even with Skinner still on the books. And if the team does make the playoffs, could see where Adams does essentially run back status quo as so many pieces on the roster will be improving simply by being closer to their primes. And at least one of the "big 4" and likely 2 of them will be ready for the NHL next season and Novikov might be making one of this year's pencilled in 8 expendable too.

Boesser just got a true seriously old school definition natural hat trick. Vancouver up 3-1 with 1:26 left in the 1st.

Back in March, after the trade deadline, Adams said the 2 things he wanted to bring in was a veteran top 9 winger (which, reading between the lines is actually a top 6 winger but he didn't want to say that publicly because realistically bringing in a top 6 W forces Skinner to the 3rd (or even 4th) line) and a 4C that can win faceoffs and kill penalties (and, again, reading between the lines, Krebs was in a tryout to see if he could lock down the 3C role; considering he didn't, could easily see that "4C" that Adams wants be a legit 3C). Can't believe that Adams is going to pencil Benson into the top 2 lines at 19 yo. See the top 6 as Peterka - Thompson - Tuch and New Guy - Cozens - Quinn. With Benson and Greenway flanking a new 3C. Leaving Skinner (and very likely Girgensons) flanking Krebs in a very weird 4th line. Ruff will likely give Skinner a chance to be on the 3rd line, but can't see him seizing that opportunity. Ruff won't be coming to the team with the same history that Granato had with Skinner so he won't be nearly as gun shy as Don was to demote Skinner to where he should've been based on his play. He doesn't play well with others but can create on his own pretty well. Let him be an overachiever on a bottom 6 line and MAYBE the 2nd PP unit rather than the guy killing the 1st line and the top PP should they actually get the puck into the zone. Have faith that Ruff will see what Skinner is. Personally, expect a LOT of the lack of leadership was due to the coaches not really coaching and then guys like Tuch, Dahlin, and Cozens deferring to Okposo and Girgensons as they were officially the leaders. Am fine with Girgensons coming back, but if he has a letter again, something is wrong in the state of Denmark. That and the fact that the team was REALLY young. There were a lot of guys that had been leaders at lower levels, but they haven't been around a winning organization at this level and can't really be expected to know what it takes to win at this level when the coaching never fully really left development mode. Am expecting the captain to be either Dahlin or Tuch (and am fine with either, though do have a preference) with Cozens wearing the other A. Really am looking forward to seeing what moves do get made this off-season both on the ice and on the bench. Am hoping Ruff brings in a really experienced guy (maybe Bob Woods for the PP?) and 1 young guy that seems really sharp and can relate well to the younger guys (Peca would fit the bill). Bringing in a guy that's been a HC would be good too and might finally get Ellis off the bench.

Danault's the guy they should've brought in to take another kick at the can with the LAST group that they jettisoned for another reset. Still absolutely would love to see him as a Sabre.

Has it failed COMPLETELY? No, but it has clearly failed. Thing is, with the ages that the key players are, a significant portion of the entire team is still literally years from their peaks/primes. Can the players mentioned in the poll be a winning core? Yes, they may. But there's so few guys on this team that are actually in their primes. That's what was so frustrating about the Mittelstadt trade. They and we went through all the growing pains of Mittelstadt and finally got to watch him enter his peak and look pretty darn good only to trade him away for a guy that might be really good when he reaches his prime but he's a 22 yo D-man. We're 4 years away from seeing Bowen Byram at his peak. Jokiharju is what he is but he and Clifton are the only D-men on the team that're older than Dahlin who is also about to enter his prime years. They have what very well could be a very strong D-corps come 2028 but they're almost all to a man too young for what they get asked to do. The same can be said of the goaltending. They have a tandem that in 3-4 years might be the best in the league, but it isn't 2027 today, it's 2024. The forward ranks have a lot of that issue too, but they actually have a full line of guys in their prime (one of whom should be a 3rd liner, not a 1st liner but that's not really on Adams. He didn't give the guy $9MM/yr and a full NMC) a middle 6 guy and a couple of 4th line wingers in theirs as well. Honestly believe that Adams and Granato expected they'd gotten to the point that they would build on the '22-'23 season and that they would be a playoff team this year. (So, again, the plan has failed to this point.) And that led to the lack of moves in the off-season and spending almost the entire preseason figuring out who would be the late season call ups when injuries hit rather than letting the lines and pairings that would be needed in the regular season get their chemistry back. Their belief in where they were got this kid to buy in as well even though other than bringing in Clifton which only partially addressed one of the needs they had heading into last year they didn't bring in ANY of the pieces that Adams should've brought in. But, the flip side of it is, because the team IS so young they necessarily should be better simply by being a full year closer to their primes than they were last October. Plus, having an actual coach that will actually coach should be worth some points as well. The big question being was Ruff's only good season out of the last 5 or so years on him or on Andrew Brunette and can he repeat that sort of improvement that the Devils saw 2 years ago? Hoping that works, but still would really have liked to get Gallant behind the bench. And will that increase in talent be enough to have them able to get where they need to be. IF Adams is correct and the kids getting a lot of experience at a younger age than most get will help them elevate their play earlier than it would normally have happened and this team should be able to get in the playoffs this year because barring major restructuring of teams in the East, there are only 5 good teams in the East. (At least prior to draft day trades and July signings.) Adams is on record saying he likes the D and Goalies. But he would like to add a top 6 winger and a 4C (3C maybe considering Krebs doesn't seem quite ready to even be a 4C some nights) that can win faceoffs and play the PK. That's what he was saying after the trade deadline. Would be interested in hearing how those evaluations might have changed since then.

Pretty sure it wasn't covered with a "thin layer of dirt" but rather a thick clay cap. (HS Environmental Science was a LONG time ago, but IIRC it was in fact a thick clay cap put on top of the dump when they stopped using it as a dump.) The reason for that stipulation mentioned with the caption was that Hooker did NOT want to sell the filled in canal to the School Board. The School Board was going to eminent domain it because they considered it to be prime unused real estate, so Hooker ended up selling it to them for $1 expecting that by having no financial gain from the sale of the land and also telling the school board to make sure they didn't dig into the cap that it would help limit their liability. As mentioned, and unmentioned in that caption, Hooker told the board that whatever you do, dont dig through the cap. In other words, use it as parking lot or park or any other way that the cap wouldn't be breached. What did the School Board do, dug through the cap to put in a school and sold a lot of it off for houses (which also cut through the cap to put basements in the houses). Hooker's hope that by giving the land away rather than selling it that it's liability would be limited was not realized. They ended up bankrupted with the assets bought by Occidental Chemical (Oxy Chem). The case was instrumental in the enactmant of the Superfund legislation.

Pretty sure HC and Hockey Club are only being looked at like Washington used "Football Team" before coming up with the Commies name. Looks like Utah will run with one or the other of those 2 this coming season and then have a real name next year. Though Washington calling their team Football Team was actually helpful as it wasn't intuitively obvious that that's what they were just watching them play. 😉

Still say that when New Orleans got another NBA team they should've called them the "Fighting Mormons" and then asked Smith if he wanted to trade names?

Who is better? Right now, when his head is on straight UPL is better than Levi is. On nights when UPL is in his own head, Levi is better particularly when they've given Levi a chance to reacclimate to being in the NHL. (Still have no idea why they thought putting Levi in the pressbox the 1st night of the Western swing was a better idea than having him sit on the bench the night before putting him between the pipes the next night unless it was for UPL's benefit and not Levi's. And it doesn't make sense that they'd think UPL at that point would be phased by having his actual competition down the road as his backup that night.) Who will be better? Prior to this season would've absolutely said Levi. His reasonably plausible ceiling is Saros. Right now would say it's a toss up because UPL for the 1st time since he was a junior that hadn't had his hips surgically modified showed a plausible possibility that he could top out as a Vasilevsky. Back on opening night last season flat out did not see that as a potential outcome because he had NOT flashed that in a really long time. (Not the full package at any rate though he had flashed improvements at times.) He was horrible in the preseason this year, regressing back to playing small and also giving up 5 holes; 2 things he'd seemingly cured himself of the previous season. But even last year when he was on his game in January and again this year prior to Levi getting recalled from Ra-cha-cha he was showing a Ray Emery-esque level; not a true top end elite netminder. He built himself back to a point where he could stop head on shots and he could even get 1/2 way across the crease quickly. But he was still toast when he had to go post to post and he was still Lehner when a player would deke and then go to a post on a breakawy. But after Levi came back up, UPL FINALLY moved fully across the crease quickly and under control and started making saves he had not been able to make at the NHL level. Ottomh, can't recall a single point last year or earlier that he was consistently doing that. And he started finding himself up amongst the league leaders in the stats people actually look at for goalies. Can he repeat that moving forward? He SHOULD be able to do so. IF he does, would probably even give him the nod for having the higher ceiling (a big goalie that can move is necessarily a smidge better than a smaller goalie that can move; unless that smaller goalie happens to be named Hasek). But UPL still has one thing he needs to prove he can do at the NHL level before we can reliably state that yes, he's going to be a really good one. And that one item is: can he get out of his own head when he has competition for the #1 spot? He had several poor outings down the stretch and they tended to correlate highly with Levi being around and playing well. They also correlated highly with being absolute must win games because the poor start to the year led to the Sabres being in must win territory well before the absolute end of the season. If either of those were the causation of the poor play, that would be very worrisome. There's a lot of reasons why they very well might not be the reason for the poor play, but if they were, this still young man still has to reach a higher maturity level. And would go back to the belief that Levi will be the better goalie. Personally, am expecting the Sabres to run with just UPL and Levi as legit NHL goalies this coming season, but would really like to see Adams bring in a true quality NHLer to compete with the 2 and let the 2 best be the ones that start the year in Buffalo. (No more friggin' 3 or 4 headed goalie monsters please.) For '25-'26 am perfectly fine with only have UPL and Levi around as Devon will be definitely ready for primetime, but this year is too important to put it on the shoulders of 2 kids. Regardless of who they run with this year, am expecting that under Lindy Ruff we'll get an answer to the question of whether UPL has the mental toughness to approach his ceiling. Am convinced Levi will get at least close to his. And, would be perfectly fine with UPL and Levi being the Sabres version of Ullmark Swayman. Just don't want to absolutely 100% need that to happen this coming season.

A buddy couldn't use his tix, so got gifted a pair Thursday night. Got a good mean at the Dinosaur then headed over. Not one to typically blame a loss on the refs, but they definitely affected the play of the game if not the outcome itself. The ref was the only person in the building (including the Crunch players) that thought the puck was in the net for Syracuse's 1st goal. Would like to have seen a replay to see what the ref thought he saw, but it was only shown once in the building and very quickly at that. That it took 10 minutes for them to decide they couldn't prove the puck wasn't in the net would seem to be telling. Get that with the Crunch skater getting tangled up with the Amerk D man that the 2nd goal wasn't going to come back, but still not sure how getting checked AWAY from Levi caused the Crunch to land on top of Levi. That one was bad luck/timing. Still not sure why 46 decided that Richards goal that would've gotten the Amerks on the board was kicked in. It looked good right in front of us and couldn't see a kicking motion on the 1 replay they showed either. But flip any one of those 3 plays and the Amerks aren't pressing late in the 3rd to give up the 3 on 1 that turned into the Syracuse insurance goal. No idea how Davies getting crunched away from the puck wasn't a major much less considered clean by 46 who was looking right at the play as it happened right in front of him. Inconsistent calls all game long, refs losing sight of the puck on one of the few times the Amerks did generate pressure near the 'Cuse net, again no idea how 46 couldn't see the puck and let his partner know it was loose, because sitting 100' behind him it was clear from our seats the puck was still loose. The linesmen didn't have a much better night. Thought Johnson looked good, but on the 2 on 1 that turned into the winning goal he looked completely lost trying to defend it. Wahlberg and Novikov were noticeably bigger than their teammates. Kulich put 2 shots just wide from poor angles but both had the goalie beat could he have been just a smidge more accurate. Rosen, surprisingly, was actually throwing some hits, including one just inside the blue line that was reshown a period later as the hit of the game. Amerks really had a hard time getting the puck to the net, as demonstrated by having only 15 shots when they started pulling the goalie with ~4 minutes left. As for the thunder sticks, a kid working for the Amerks started tossing a bunch into the crowd with about 12 minutes left to play in the 3rd. But he only distributed ~40 of them. Don't know if anybody else was handing them out besides just that one employee. The band they had playing for the pregame was decent. Played some Dead, Skynyrd, Tom Petty, and the Goos. Can somebody please explain how "Proud to be Pesky" is a good motto/rallying cry for a professional sports team? Also, missing the logic behind handing out 5,000 RED rally towels and some RED placards on "white out the rink" night. Wouldn't be surprised if it turned out those were the brainchild of the same guy that came up with the Sabres BS hats.

Sure. If a trade that will make the Sabres better today is available and 11 is a piece needed to make that happen, definitely trade it. Personally, as somebody else stated upthread, would rather see a solid prospect like Rosen (or one of the others if Rosen doesn't get a trade done) be part of that trade as that python has a really big slug of players working their way through to becoming waiver eligible and then becoming RFA / UFA eligible down the line too. Plus, theoretically, one of the prospects would be viewed as being more valuable than 11 as they're a year to 3 closer to being NHL ready than that pick will be.