ska-T Palmtown

Did a rat skate this morning, great skate - way over my skill level - and a bunch of the guys went out for breakfast after. I think there were 12 of us at the table THREE of us (in Chicago) were Sabres fans. The fan base is there ... give us something to cheer for!!!!!

Assuring prospective new owner of a quick path to that sweet sweet playoff revenue stream is part of the business model of the NHL. "You too can walk all over the Sabres on your way to the Stanley Cup Playoffs!" @Pimlach - exactly. The stars of teams don't go anywhere and the 2nd and 3rd line talent gets spread further and further out - except a few really good teams that manage to hang on to them long enough to get a cup. It gives FAs more teams to choose from, and as noted - the recent expansion teams seem to be run better than Buffalo 😞

I don't believe the $30M number, because Forbes is a reputable source and they are including all sources of revenue, tickets, merch, concessions, and league revenue sharing. Terry is a successful billionaire business owner, surely he is not stupid enough to forget to include all revenue streams when deciding whether or not he as a net profit or loss. Add to that, the asset has appreciated by close to $1B over 14 years. If he thinks he has "lost money" on the Sabres, he is either very dumb, needs to fire his accountant, or both. This line of thinking is hilarious.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/196791/revenue-of-the-buffalo-sabres-since-2006/#:~:text=The annual National Hockey League,in the 2023%2F24 season. No idea how stadium upkeep, etc is figured into this number - but sure does not seem like he is losing an average of $30M per year. More info from Forbes. Looks like the only person you need to "know" is Google: https://www.forbes.com/teams/buffalo-sabres/ Operating income by year, 2024 being on the left: From rough math, since 2015 he would be ~+5M. (in the article you can hover and get numbers for each year.

Krebs would be the poster child for "former Sabre player goes to a team where he is used correctly and flourishes"

I wish there was an "Although I don't agree, I see your point" emoji reaction 🙂 And I should say, the entertainment went down with each "fight". Right off the opening faceoff? Ohhhh! Drama! The others? It felt ... staged?

In the salary cap era, most teams can't afford to have a designated goon. I am a bit torn on fighting. I can see why something like what Greenway did is needed. Even if Z was getting a penalty - he took liberties and that needs to be fixed. I think it is a fine line because the other way to address crap like that is to overly involve the refs in their subjective penalty calling. As a Sabres fan, I am not sure I want the refs having even MORE influence on the game. I think the USA-Canada fights, while somewhat entertaining, were also kinda dumb from the perspective of having a hockey game.

Let it not be lost that The Athletic ranked them LOWER than the fans (by 0.02 - which is within "rounding error", but STILL!)

Until the Sabres lose the lottery and slide down the "maximum" two spots ... and pick 5th.

I was looking through the trash heap of old threads and could not find the one that either @GASabresIUFAN or maybe @LGR4GM was lamenting the potential disaster that might be the Sabres 2025 cap situation. I was just wondering what the trades and recent signings have done to that situation?

We are spending too much for too little production in other areas to go get Marner 😞 It is kind of odd, now with Cozens gone, many of our good(ish) forwards seem like good deals. I don't think any of our forwards could be classified as a significant overpay. But the overspending on what we are currently getting at D? Oy.

Curses! I have Max to watch cool shows ... and thus also have access to this game 😞 I am not strong enough to stay away on my own.

Lord knows I don't have it in me ... but after 1 pm Eastern on a game day without a thread ... losing 6 in a row will do that to you, I guess.

nifty little move by Rosen.

Yeah, all of that was what brought up my original question ... any total scrub goalies with their name on the cup. I don't think any of them approach being Dilfer-esque.

I think this is such a tough exercise because Trent Dilfer was borderline BAD ... to reiterate, he threw more INTs than TDs in his career ... Corey Crawford - These numbers are very respectable, but his teams were such powerhouses, it is hard to tell: Those numbers are essential over 10 years.

There is a joke in there about the typical Sabres game this year belonging in a circus ....

23-25 bring me an enormous amount of joy This also makes it official, right? Tage Thompson is the #6 center in the league. Done. 😉

This is my exact experience as well. Somehow the out-of-town fans get better treatment than the home fans. For the longest time under their previous owner, the Blackhawks owner would only allow home games to be broadcast if the game was sold out. I think they are now all shown (except national games) on some random Chicago sports network channel. Seems broken to me. But, ESPN+ for Sabres and picking up random free trials for other services when I care to try to watch TNT works just fine for me. Sidenote - if you have a gmail address, you can add and move around a period to your address to fool the subscription services. JoeSchmoe at gmail and Joe.Schmoe at gmail both go to the same inbox. I have almost run out of these iteration with Fubo, tho - lol Edit: Cut the cord in 2015 and have not regretted for one single second. Cable can eff off.

Yeah, totally get that. I just ... I dunno, I like to give in to the good vibes. I also don't get super down when they get back to sucking giant donkey balls, either. Watching your favorite football team lose 4 super bowls in a row while you are 12-16 yrs old really just kinda teaches you how not to feel, lol

It is worth noting that by going 7-3-0 in their last 10, if they keep that pace up with a few 7-2-1's , they'd be near CBJ's current 90.5 pt pace. Unlikely, yup. Improbable, heck ya. Fun if it happens, sure would be!

This. It is hilarious how poorly the Russian military has performed right next door to their own country to think they wouldn't lose half their force crossing the ocean to broken down boats is silly. Not for nothing, I don't Canada's air force would be a push over, either. A+ for the fan fic, LGR!

The second bullet under Ward actually makes me lean towards him. Forgot ALLLLL about Niemi. I guess a reasonable argument could be made that in his starting years with TB, Dilfer's number were "decent"? 69 (heh heh) TD and 85 INT seems closer to bad than decent. More like Ward's 3.68 and 0.882 ... woof.

@matter2003 after carefully reviewing the virtually non-existent criteria I set forth in this challenge, I have decided to reluctantly accept Osgood. I still think he (and Cam Ward) were no where near the level of "WTF?" in being starting 'tendies that Dilfer was being a starting QB, but they might be the closest we get?

But, that isn't entirely true. Didn't they have one of, if not the best, record in the NHL under Donny G when leading going into the third? This year has be so traumatizing, it has people misremembering left and right! Or ... am I one of those people??