darksabre

Cozens being tough is such a great bit. I hope whoever dreamed that up for the TSN guys is having a good laugh today.

Definitely something this team needs more of. Remember Hinostroza amazing everyone just because he moved his feet?

I think good players want to play well all the time, regardless of any rumours they might be hearing about trades or whatever. These guys are conditioned to tune it out, it's part of the job. Sports psychologists abound, as do veteran players with sage advice. If Cozens was letting it affect his game in some way, then that's on him for being immature. I don't put much stock in it any of it. I think he's just not the player we thought he was.

I think what I like most about this trade is simply that it removes a guy from the team whose face I am tired of seeing and name I am tired of hearing. There are a lot of guys on this team that fit into that boat. Just a really unlikable group (with a few exceptions).

For two whole seasons? I don't think it's fair to say he played like crap either. He just isn't the type of player this team needs.

This is my hope. Maybe Norris is just a smarter player who can help this team clean things up in their own end while not hurting their scoring output (which is good by league standards) too much.

They couldn't send him to the A, so they're doing exactly what they should be doing with him. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Gary Bettman.

Yup. It's fine. I think he's got the talent, and I think he's got the smarts, to keep developing. It's too bad they couldn't let him develop in the AHL, but that's the modern NHL. He might be the only young player I like on this team, but I'm not going to argue that he deserves more ice time on a higher line right now.

He's on the 4th line because he's 19.

what

Good, veteran players come here and keep playing the game the right way without any issue. I think the younger players on this team are uniquely stupid. They might have talent, but they have not caught up to the mental aspect of things that the NHL requires. Concentration, discipline, seeing the game at speed. You can't really coach that. I think a team can absorb a certain quantity of dumb guys. I don't think it can have as many as this team has.

I don't think that would even get it done.

Congrats to the Sabres on having two whole hockey players (80% of the time).

Good thing the Sabres have a guy on their roster comparable to Tkachuk wait...

That's usually only during normal business parking hours, same with street parking. If you get down there at like 4:30 before the lots are staffed you're stuck paying card or with the app. Once the event guys show up it'll be cash. Prepaid credit cards are out there if having something other than cash on hand is desirable. They'll work in the area.

On game day most places will take cash. The Harborcenter ramp does, the ballpark ramp on Washington does. I think the lots over on Perry do. They might even be able to find some free street parking on Franklin, Pearl, or Delaware depending on what time they get down there... I like to park on Chicago outside Resurgence and walk over, it's not a bad walk most of the time. A little longer now that Swannie is closed though...

With all due respect to Lindy, winning games at this point in the season really isn't a priority anymore. The only thing left to do now is try to build a team culture for next season. Let em fight. Maybe they'd actually get something out of it.

A leader is only as good as the people and tools at their disposal. I don't know how anyone can be stuck in the minutiae of whether Dahlin is a good leader or not when the roster is so lacking in ability and upper management sets a zero-effort example. Who is leading anything in that environment?

BABYMETAL *****in rock. I'm partial to HANABIE as well

I mean, he didn't say when.

Also, and people will probably hate me for saying it, but this approach does somewhat resemble what the Bills did with Allen. He was highly rated but very raw, and it has taken him time to develop into the player he is now. But they had to have faith early in his ability to rise to the challenge. They had to commit to him when other teams might have pulled the rip cord. So I think they're looking at their highly rated draft picks, players that have shown some elite skill but lack consistency, and decided to put their faith in the raw talent and scouting that those players WILL turn out given some time to work through things. The difference between the Bills and the Sabres is we haven't made that move yet that is comparable to bringing in Stefon Diggs. But the NHL is a harder league to take those kinds of big swings in, given the way contracts are structured, NMCs, etc.

Just to play off of these three posts all at once, given what we have seen from the team over the last few months, I think Terry has accepted that the team is going to suffer at the box office and with respect to season ticket sales. Remember, they get some help on the revenue sharing side of things from the league, so they aren't totally dead in the water even if their own ticket sales are in the tank. It's how Arizona stayed viable well past the expiration date on the milk carton. I don't see Lindy as anything more than taking a step up from Granato. I don't think they expected him to turn these kids into a contender right away. They might have alluded to it, in order to try to keep some ticket sales up, but I doubt they believed it. The rest of their actions don't align with that idea. And Lindy is a professional, who came here to do a job, and probably knows he's basically got a free pass regardless of how the team does. His hiring put everything squarely on the players, and Pegula reinforced all of that yesterday. It is not out of the question that the kids DO start to figure it out. I'll be very interested to see what happens if they start to find some consistency that takes them from losing a bunch of one-goal games, to winning them. Then what does Kevyn do?

It sounds ridiculous, but it aligns with what we're seeing, does it not? I'm not saying there isn't a better approach, like what you're suggesting (which I agree with). I just think they've decided to go with the plan of holding that cap space open and planning to pay guys even if they haven't hit yet. I generally think they aren't planning to hit the playoffs in earnest until 2027. Any attempts at arriving earlier will be due to younger guys exceeding expectations.

That's why I'm hesitant to call it an Austerity plan. I think Pegula has spent PLENTY of money on players that have gotten the team no further ahead. I think Adams has made the case that he doesn't need to do that, at least not in the short term. "Spend the money when it counts" is likely the ethos driving things. Given how badly the team has played so far this season, I think it's possible that spending to the cap wouldn't have improved their position much. It's debatable, but I think it's an argument that should be entertained. What's the ROI on spending to the cap with this current team? It probably isn't the playoffs, as we are seeing now. It would not surprise me at all that the consensus inside the building, among the stats folks, Adams, and Terry, was the same this offseason. Which I'm sure will upset many people.

I'm not going to defend Adams, but I have a hard time with the classification of him as a puppet. It's a little melodramatic. I think it's more likely that he and Pegula are simply in agreement on how to proceed. We may not like it, but I don't think that makes him a puppet. Keep in mind that if he wants to have a career as an NHL GM, he's investing in himself here. Being a yes-man probably doesn't land him another job. But being the guy who finally got Terry Pegula to stick to a plan does... if it works.