nfreeman

She could also be referring to TP influencing/demanding that Howie be the 1st coach, or that ROR be traded, or many other "meddling"-type moves that have been speculated about here many times. And as @Thorny points out, there's no reason to think the long-term prospects of the team will be made clear this year. If the team stinks again, JB will be fired, and, as before, everything will hinge on whether they find the right guy next time.

And the cold ring of truth tightens its grip on our collective guts. I might not get Center Ice next season.

Yuck.

So yesterday was a beautiful, sunny, breezy day around here. I took my daughter to an ice cream stand that is somewhat of a local institution (it's affiliated with a local dairy farm), has been closed for the past 2-3 years, and somehow reopened about a month ago in what I took as a sign that the people are resilient and are going to come back from this GD pandemic. It's the kind of place where you line up outside, order at the window, pick up your food (they also have burgers, fries and similar grub) at a different window and then sit at various picnic tables and benches that are scattered around the property. There is no indoor area that is accessible to the public. Yesterday, there were about 10 people in 2 different outdoor lines, with social distancing stickers on the pavement to keep everyone appropriately separated. In that situation, I would not generally wear a mask, as the risk of infecting anyone or getting infected while outdoors and socially distanced is, as I understand it, minute. Everyone there -- in line or waiting on the side for his/her food -- was wearing a mask. I wore mine so as not to cause anyone any agita, but it seemed kinda silly to me.

If this is true, it's another firing offense for JB. If Calgary was ready to go on that alleged deal, JB should've accepted immediately. IMHO -- and I say this not to express skepticism on your source -- by all means, please keep posting this kind of thing if you think it's credible -- it sounds way too Sabres-friendly to have been real. Here, too, JB should've sweetened the offer to get the deal closed.

This seems a bit overstated, innit?

I can't dispute that there is some wishful thinking in my conclusion. You are at least 49% likely to be right here, maybe closer to 79%, and I agree with most of your reasoning.

Moved some posts to the politics club.

I agree with much of @Weave's post above and would just add that I'm not sure when I will feel comfortable getting on a plane again (to say nothing of the NYC subway), or going to a movie theater, an indoor restaurant, an indoor sports event, etc. The answer really might be "not until there's a widely approved vaccine."

I'd like to revisit the key question of this thread. When the season was halted, the Sabres had 68 pts in 69 games, which extrapolates to under 81 pts. So that's essentially an 80-point season, in JB's 3rd season after taking over a 78-point team. The Sabres had also, before surprisingly winning their final game of the season vs Washington, lost 6 in a row to bang in the final nail in the coffin of their weak playoff hopes. I re-read a number of posts after that 6th loss and there was close to a consensus here that JB was gone and RK probably was too. In addition to the poor on-ice results for the 3rd year of of 3 during the JB era, the season saw a number of embarrassing moments for which JB is fairly accountable: glitches during the 50th anniversary celebrations, multiple players demanding to be traded, articles in national hockey media about organizational dysfunction, trading Scandella for a 4th and seeing him flipped for a 2nd and a 4th a few weeks later. And now another one: with the playoffs expanded to 24 teams, the Sabres still can't make it. In JB's 3rd year, they still aren't better than 3rd-worst in a 16-team conference. I have to think that once the NHL officially announces the end of the season and the playoff plan, TP is going to sit down, soberly evaluate the situation and cut him loose.

I'm not writing Mitts off. But I am disagreeing with you "writing him in," i.e. assuming he's going to be a decent-to-good NHL player by using phrases like "until Mitts is ready." I think Mitts has shown zero at the NHL level or, based on Sabrespace eyewitness reports, at the AHL level, to support that assumption.

Again: Miitlestadt doesn't belong on this list any more than @PASabreFan does.

So Japan, which did not impose a lockdown or undertake widespread testing, has evidently come through the worst of it without many casualties: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-22/did-japan-just-beat-the-virus-without-lockdowns-or-mass-testing?utm_source=url_link&fbclid=IwAR3KgVaweOFTLSYqWoovnHXDom1vRSrBGhM84y8Rfx79wn8OO4QsdLZwZnI

@dudacek -- I'm curious as to the sources regarding Monahan. It seems impossible that Calgary would trade him.

7-6, and it's not even close IMHO.

Not that it's a material difference, but didn't Mitts have 12-13-25 in 77 games in his D2 season? Am I missing something? More importantly, while I agree that TC was heavily criticized in his D4 season, and rightly so, he had still shown much more to that point in his career than Mitts has. IMHO, Mitts has not yet shown that he has the physical ability/timing/skill to play in the NHL. TC had clearly established that he had the chops, but needed to work on his determination and his 200-foot game. I'll agree that Briere is (hopefully!) a reasonable comparable.

Well, I opened myself up. I was vulnerable. And look at what happened.

I agree with both of you that players mature at different rates, and that there is no reason to dump Mitts for a low draft pick or otherwise make any kind of hasty decision on him. The Sabres should keep him in Rochester and let him sink or swim until they are forced to give him a real contract. That will be the decision point. What I am objecting to is the notion that Mitts represents a viable option in Buffalo this year. @GASabresIUFAN has, on a number of occasions, including upthread, mentioned Mitts as one of the Sabres' prospects who could play a meaningful role on the Sabres this year. I think there is a less than 10% chance of that happening -- and it's closer to zero than 10%. (To be clear, @GASabresIUFAN isn't the only one doing so -- he's just the one who has triggered me this time.) I will also note that based on the stats and on our SabreSpace eyewitnesses, @dudacek 's description of Mitts' play in Rochester seems a bit generous. When I combine the numbers, the views of those who watched in Rochester, and his complete inability to do anything at the NHL level over a 2-season period, I get pretty pessimistic about him. Also, Connolly, although also an underachiever early in his career, was about a million times better and more effective than Mitts was at Mitts' age -- Connolly had already put up 41- and 45-point seasons by age 21. Of course, YMMV.

Why not let Cozens battle it out with a roast beef sandwich? In all seriousness, this assumes that Mitts is a viable candidate for #3C, which he isn't. For that matter, he almost certainly isn't a viable candidate for an NHL roster spot next season, let alone #3C. I think we need to move away from the mindset of "we can count on Mitts to become a real contributor at the NHL level" and toward the mindset of "Mitts is probably a washout and anything the Sabres ever get from him, either as a Sabre or in trade, is a bonus." And we need to understand that it is critical that JB, or preferably the new GM, brings in other candidates for #2C and #3C in addition to Cozens.

My family and I didn't have the antibodies either. Might be for the best, as there is still much unknown. In any case I'm glad you were able to get tested. Has anyone else tried to get tested but been unable to do so?

So -- they were unable to get tests? Or were they able to get them?

Serious question: has anyone here tried to get a virus or antibodies test in the last couple of weeks but not been able to do so?

I'll say it: I am cautiously optimistic about TT and will predict that he becomes the #3 RW by the end of the season and shows enough to make most here optimistic about developing into the #2 RW. I think he's got the physical tools and the drive to get there. And I'd be pretty psyched to watch a 3rd line of Mojo-Cozens-TT.

It looks like a number of people are interested in something along these lines: https://driving.ca/audi/auto-news/news/people-keep-breaking-new-illegal-cannonball-run-records-during-lockdown

^^^ Pilut and Tage?