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Not really. It started with news of more departures from Pegula's operations. This quickly morphed into a discussion of whether Terry is at fault for the seeming instability in said operations or not. From there we've been separating the people who understand the business world from the people who think they understand the business world. We also have one who thinks none of us understand business and should talk strictly about hockey - in a thread about the operations of a hockey team.

I don't understand why you keep distilling the argument down to Bill Clinton levels. The argument is that these people lacked sound judgement in A) complying with the terms of their hiring, and B) an area that is presently socially charged where failure to be mindful of this reality can unnecessarily distract and/or damage the company. As I tried to explain earlier, poor judgement in such an obvious and easy to process situation likely means poor judgement in less obvious and more difficult situations. Violating the terms of your contract violates trust. Dig? You simply can not have people you can't fully trust being responsible for the well-being of a high-profile, billion dollar plus enterprise.

Well after the fact. There's a small history of Pegula not being the best judge of executives. When executives with bad judgement hire managers, what kind of manager do you suppose they'll hire? And when you have bad managers how do you think the staff performs? Systemic poor performance is usually a symptom of problems at the top.

Are we being funny or are we asking a serious question?

And we're wondering why we haven't made it to the Super Bowl and have had 12 years of no NHL playoffs. In any organization culture is ultimately top down.

I will be shocked if that nachos dish looks anything like the picture when served up at an actual game. Who needs something like this at a hockey game anyway?

If these kids are signing contracts that would otherwise legally obligate them to remain in the leagues they originally signed to then obviously there needs to be an agreement in place to avoid a cluster-#$% of legal wrangling. Agreements require negotiation and negotiations in most cases involve one party giving up something in order for the other party to themselves give something up.

My guess would be they're trying to buy enough time to see if Benson should stay beyond the nine games.

Maybe concessions? I think they gave away concession vouchers years ago to mini-pack buyers.

Tweaked his neck doing a double-take at Dahlin's contract.

This. His natural abilities are freakish and I don't mean that in a bad way. Just the opposite. That video analysis highlights how he uses his body in such a super-smart manner. I feel a lot better that he'll be able to avoid disastrous situations on the ice although that doesn't mean some goon won't head-hunt him. When he adds muscle and his man-body matures, these skating and positioning skills ought to translate into exceedingly entertaining hockey.

Why don't you read the preceding posts before stammering like an old man with dementia?

This is a great analysis. I believe I was the first here to proclaim this kid is going to be star and I would like to formally double-down on that prediction. I mean, he's already a star in the market but just a curiosity for the rest of the league. He will be a star across the league. I bet you he eventually makes an appearance in a movie, too.

Between Mitts and Benson Greenway may very well find out he can score goals on the regular. Assuming he makes it past the first nine games, which I would wager there is a strong likelihood he will, they're going to need to set up a little cot in the locker room for Benson come February for naps. Perhaps they'll have to force-feed him proteins as well. I'm sure that will go over like a lead zeppelin. Hopefully he can teach the rest of the offense how to play two-way hockey - he looked like the most skilled at it. Let's see, what else is there...can we not ever, ever bring up the stupid situation comedy again when referencing this kid? I think that's it, other than good luck, kid! Too bad our goalie situation wouldn't miraculously solve itself like your arrival in Buffalo seemed to occur!

Some of you people are ridiculously petty. My kids went to Catholic school and as part of the parents' service I worked bingos for many years. Some of you give the worst of that population a run for the money. Peters had initially said 10.5 x 8 then said he heard from one source 5 years. Isn't it possible that the Sabres offered 10.5 x 8, Dahlin's team balked because they were looking at Matthews' strategy and/or felt Dahlin should get more, and so the Sabres upped it to 11 x 8 after the cap news came out? Or, maybe the deal was really close all summer at 10.5 x 8 but Dahlin's team was waiting for cap news to come out. Maybe they put out the 5 years rumor to influence the final number. Stuff like this happens all of the time in high profile negotiations.

Yes, the thread really didn't need to proceed after this post. I think @Curt nailed it - if they wanted Dahlin for more than, say, five years, they were going to have to pay him absolute top dollar. And they did, so that's that.

If the season falls apart they will be pointing to this game where the Bills exceeded the threshold where injuries become a impediment to overall success.

Who is "6K" supposed to refer to?

Having never been to an Amerks game, what is the experience like? I'm talking about parking access and prices, walk to the arena, concessions, seats...stuff like that.

I don't see how one can get super excited over a prospect during preseason games and ignore the rest of the team when they play awful. To accept that they're meaningful to a certain group and not another is simply making excuses for deficiencies. I think these games at the very least are indicators of the raw talent and focus of each individual player at that time. I'm particularly interested in the focus because if it's low that just means it will take more time at the beginning of the season for them to catch up - if they catch up at all. As we all know, every game in the season is meaningful when it comes to making the playoffs.

Apparently the top 6 doesn't have the IQ to play this system as well.

And now a live look at Kevyn Adams:

...but, but Benson. He wears #9.

A live look at Terry Pegula: