Taro T

Pull some random overseas phone # out of your head and tell them you expect that's likely the best way to reach him? When they call back again, give them a different random overseas phone # and tell them that THAT's what you expect is likely the best way to reach him. After 2 or 3 go arounds, they should leave you alone.

The biggest issue UPL has, and on many levels it's not a good one to have, is between the ears. He seems to need outside reinforcement to believe in his own abilities. And, when things start going ferkakta he isn't going to get positive outside reinforcement. Is it something he can't/ won't be able to overcome; not necessarily. He did an admirable job of getting beyond the mental reluctance to push his hips to their limit after surgery that season that they just missed the playoffs by 1/2 points. During that stretch and 1 or 2 others, he's shown an ability to truly believe in himself. Maybe he can do it again. For our sakes and the Sabres sake, we really need him to do that again. When he's been focused, he's shown an ability to move post to post that few men that big can do. But he's too easily taken off his game and then he overplays pucks and he gets too low in his stance and suddenly the glove misses things it should catch and the area above his shoulder and below the crossbar (which should NEVER be open when he's square due to his size) open up. The level that having his issues lie in his head is good (possibly great) is that if he can ever consistently get out of his own head, he has the physical tools to be one of the best in the entire league. And, the switch from subpar to superb can LITERALLY be like a light switch going on. If he were on my payroll, would insist he see a sports psychologist (maybe Ryan Miller's is taking new clients) because whatever money that costs would be 100% worth it should the lightbulb not only go on, but stay on. IF all 3 guys they have bring their A games, the Sabres could have one of the 5 best goaltending situations in the entire league. But, as of now, we should expect about the 22nd or so best goaltending situations because that's a smidge better than the 3 they have have been when looking at their entire bodies of work and 2 of the 3 are getting closer to / into their primes.

Personally, believe they should wear them for all 3 home divisional games (and if the Dolts come to town this year, don't expect they do, but it they do, wear them against them too).

It's Bird Rodman. Rodman was an incredible rebounder but wasn't much of a shooter. Nobody cared that he talked smack at/about Bird because Bird was one of the 2 best players for the bulk of the 80's and Rodman wasn't even close to that conversation. Reese seems to be a pretty incredible rebounder. But, pretty sure there are a lot of HS B-ball players that would crush Reese in a game of HORSE.

Don't follow the league. Wifey watches some particularly when Clark is on, so see some of her games. She is playing injured rignt now and isn't dominating like she did before she went on IR. Amazed at how badly she gets hacked by opponents because interest in the league (and the advertising revenue that accompanies it) goes down tremendously when she isn't playing. And if they shorten her career appreciably they'll shorten the window they have to catch on as a sport that people in general care about. Women's soccer had Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach and then Alex Morgan and it's back to being an afterthought for the most part again. They really need to understand just what they have in Clark and they also really need to get her Larry Bird a Magic Johnson to stir up interest because Bird vs Rodman, while an interesting story, wasn't anywhere near as compelling. Bird vs Rodman wouldn't have gotten CBS to stop showing playoff games on tape delay. Bird vs Johnson got them way beyond that.

More importantly (and only being slightly facetious) what would he be able to do with GOOD NHL development coaches assisting Seattle's specialty coaches and how much will he regress / fail to reach his ceiling with the Sabres development coaches "assisting" Seattle's specialty coaches.

Actually, as long as you have an adequate supply of duct tape, it is WAAAAAY easier to paint stripes on a pussycat. 😉

A C? Do you mean center or assistant coach(es)? Team could use at least 1 more good 1 of each.

That, or he's got a deal worked out with some team but that team wants/needs to make a move or 2 before getting the deal finalized.

And he may want to do that. He also may want to sign an 8 year deal with the Sabres next July rather than go to FA and only get a 6 year deal the following summer. 2 extra years at $9MM/yr is $18MM. And even if those 2 extra years were bought out, it's $12MM in his pocket. That might be tough to walk away from.

It was. It was them saying the strategy of the tank wasn't wrong, it was the accelerating the rebuild that was wrong. And to prove it, they'd rebuild the slow cooking way, except built around 2 D rather than 2 F's and that by slow cooking they would actually rush 5 years worth of prospects into the NHL via the "no blocking" policy. Guess they showed us.

Hmm, team with incredible goalie; team with very good to great goalie; team with incredible goalie. Noticing a pattern here.

They definitely were. Giving Dahlin, Power, and Byram their own pairing while having Thompson on the W with 2 kids, upping McLeod's ice time (pretty sure a fair amount of that was out of necessity but also to see how he'd handle the extra load), running Reimer heavily. 2 conclusions they drew were that Reimer wasn't good enough to rely on should UPL falter this coming year and that Bernard-Docker didn't improve Power's play enough to risk giving him the sort of contract that Timmons will get. One other they seem to have come to is that Quinn's improved play down the stretch (there was no way he could be as bad as he was early in the year and stay in the NHL) was an indication that he'll bounce back. You don't give a guy twice what Krebs is making if you expect he'll be in the press box or Ra-cha-cha regularly. They also decided that McLeod is a good one and that they were willing to overpay for the leadership that Greenway and Zucker bring. Really would've been interesting to see what moves they'd've made had Peterka not wanted out. Because the team is essentially the exact same minus the Peterka for Doan and Kesselring move.

It'll be real interesting to see how Ruff deploys the D. Could see Dahlin starting a game paired with any of them except Power or Samuelsson. And could see Power with any but Dahlin or Byram. (And, yes, realize that Ruff ran Samuelsson Dahlin at the end and a fair amount of Power Byram early; but just personally don't like those pairings. So, maybe who those 2 won't play with is more hoping than expecting?) And, yes, if putting money down, would expect Dahlin and Byram to be a thing again.

So, the next time the Sabres miss the playoffs, let the league slip them the mystery lottery win which has never happened when they haven't been the league's worst team and only happened 2 out of 4 times they were the league's worst team.

#### that guy.

Still expecting one more move at F. Really not sure if it'll be a Rust level (top 6) or more of Chinakov (middle 6) move. Expecting the back end is set. Sadly, expect the coaching staff is set too. Realize the past 4 years say we should expect to end up with about $5MM in cap space based on where they are now; but just can't believe they really are going to do that again and expect them to end up more like $2MM under when all the dust has settled.

With all the pedigree the D unit has, it SHOULD be a strength of the team. But yet, it's coached by arguably a moron, so ... there's that.

Ruff sees Greenway (and Zucker) as leaders on this team. (Not replacing Dahlin but supporting him, Tuch, and Thompson.) Doubt either one would go out the door this off-season. (But, suppose for the right deal ... just doubt it'll be there. The Sabres value him likely more than anybody esle would at this point in time.)

Have no problem with the guy having a full recovery from cancer. Do wish him well. But can we wish his improved play to begin the day AFTER the Loafs trade him away for pennies on the $?

On the offhand chance the question wasn't rhetorical, you obviously take McDavid. Because as long as the others are in any way positives you necessarily end up with more value.

Dayum. That's the usual Christmas present for relatives that we don't really see often enough to know what they'd really like. Might have to start going with the old standby of cash. It's always the right color but they usually aren't thrilled with the size.

But the show the character started out on was one of the best ever.

So, Karmanos gets it. Wonder if he'll ever manage to explain it to his boss.

Personally don't see Samuelsson nor Greenway as being nearly as important as the rest of what you've mentioned. Muel is (or should be) their 5th or 6th defender and Greenway will be middle 6 (likely 3rd line, though Ruff might mix stuff up) the 45 games they'll get from him. Expecting the Quinn we saw down the stretch is closer to what we'll get than the one that was totally lost at the beginning of last year. But it stinks that they haven't added at least 1 more forward to let his staying healthy and contributing being roughly as important as Muel and Greenway will be. (A nice surprise if they do pan out, but completely unexpected and not overly critical in the grand scheme. They need him to look like the guy he was turning into before getting injured twice.)