thewookie1

SO do we try to convince Power to PTO with Rochester and then sign 3 years on ELC to avoid him coming up with Dahlin, Jokiharju, and Mitts contracts?

It was 2-0 and then 3-1; we never led by 3 during the game. I think everyone here is angry we lost; many of us however want to find the good parts in their performance. Earlier this year they were ran out of Carolina. This year they blew a lead but their fight never ceased and they forced Carolina to play at a very high level in order to beat us this time. We played toe to toe with them until they tied it and still threatened until their lead goal in the 3rd. With their lead Carolina did what they do best in playing a heavy forecheck coupled with aggravatingly lining 4/5 players at their blue line and clutching & grabbing anyone entering the zone.

#### the Hurricanes and their 15 fans. They don't even deserve a freaking franchise. Infuriating game in the 3rd, between Buffalo's non-existent powerplay and Carolina playing forecheck forecheck and then everyone lineup at the blueline and grab anything in a white jersey

I'll certainly give you partial credit there.

I have no problem with their color commentating, just something about their pbp makes me think of a grade school lecture

I'm sorry but I cannot stand women pbp announcers. They just don't sound right, their highs are too shrill and their lows are either barely audible or make them sound like a woman pretending to be a man for a joke. Carolina looked for blood but never found any

Denver was a hair better but Michigan got jobbed by the refs. 0 PP opportunities... seriously when they gave Denver 3 of them?!?

So what’s the deal with airplane food?

It would appear as if nill has been hacked since I’ve never seen him actually positive about anything before lol

It could just as easily be thanks to Pysyk being a vet that he’s giving Butcher a game here and there to try and salvage his career Yes

Strangely the year we won Dahlin I was watching a random anime. The main female lead was named Zero-Two and her catch phrase was Darling but sounded a bit like Dah-Len so I actually made an offhand prediction that because we were 0-2 in draft lotteries that we were destined to get Dahlin to which we did lol.

Seems like Levi really likes to become well done before moving up

That may be too short of a turnaround for Power if he plays the championship game

I'd treat Okposo akin to Anderson Give him the option over the season if he'd like to go Cup chasing if we aren't close enough to make a playoff appearance ourselves. Regardless I'd tell him that the door is still open on >3.5mil contract for 1 year and again in the further future at lower cap hits. And when he chooses to hang up the skates; he'll have a job either in the Sabres organization or Harbor Center. Guy is a warrior and a great influence on the younger players. As long as he can give some degree of on-ice production and mentors the young core he has a home with the team.

I still like UPL but it would be akin to using Helle as the stop gap for Levi/Portillo hence my willingness to make him available in that trade.

No way on a top 10 pick. I’d give them FLA’s 1st and perhaps UPL for Hellebuck

The Sabres could try what a few teams have done. Offer Olofsson 4x4.5 mil but then also give him the option of a 1x9mil contract with a planned latter deal of 3x3.5mil. Helps us with the cap floor and gives Olofsson a bit more money while helping the team in the long term

Wish I could of got a banner but people horded them. Great game through and through, even Terry took the boos like a pro. Id guess either Okposo or Tuch have a C next year

My guess would be Tuch based on his upbeat personality but also willingness to tell a player to shape up in a civil manner. (I remember someone mentioning this happening earlier this year)

This whole point grinds my gears because it is fully based on hindsight. Also even if we retained on Hall I doubt they intended to trade Swayman away.

Drury was a dick, but also backed up his dictatorship with his background and play on the ice. He practiced what he preached. Additionally he had Briere and others to balance it out. Telling a guy who’s French-Canadian to not speak French for interviewers is plain idiotic

Ok I do feel our biggest issue is goaltending but that is arguably the hardest position to guess at. Goalies get hot the drop; play terrible except 1 year where they win a Vezina; and sometimes a bit of both and more. Look at Anderson in Carolina, he looked cooked in Toronto just this past year. Where did the Hamburgler go after his miraculous 30 game run he had in Ottawa? Murray won two Cups as a rookie and then imploded within the next 5 years. Choosing goalies to fill in holes is like one of those aggravating fair games where you toss rings at bottles and try to get them to go around the top. Drafting them is almost just as much a crapshoot seeing as goalies can take anywhere from a year to a decade to actually come into their own. Analytics can help, but even they have serious flaws in truly predicting goalie talent. Im not saying Adams shouldn’t even try; but I certainly won’t crucify him if he gets a seemingly good goalie to hold the crease for a few years only for them to flop

One issue with NFL vs NHL are how contracts work. In the NFL, a guy like Bjork or Butcher would get released or sent to the practice squad while Eakin has the honor of being a spot starter. But since NHL contracts are fully assured, buyouts are more often than not a great way to fix your team. Additionally, the draft in the NFL is an immediate plug in play situation versus a 1 or 2 year minimum in the NHL draft for players to reinforce your team more often than not. Disappointed in losing but the point streak lives on and we were the better team most of the game.

Unlikely but if they keep playing at this pace they certainly will and potentially would end up in 9th or 10th in the conference.

I 100% agree with the whole All-Star point with Dahlin getting to go thanks to Eichel's departure. As for Dahlin getting better due to Eichel leaving is much less easy to parse through. 1. Dahlin always had high-end talent and a physical edge to his game based on his time in Sweden 2. Dahlin was likely going to eventually become a solid dman regardless due to that 3. Eichel's departure and Dahlin's subsequent All-Star appearance seems to have given him the kick in the butt he needed to get out of the rut he had found him self in with Krueger. Granato also plays a huge role in this. If anything I think Eichel's departure did far more for the locker room and its dynamics. I definitely get the sense that due to Eichel's captaincy and Krueger's preferential game plan to Eichel created a strange atmosphere for players of all ages to deal with. Additionally once Bogo was waived I think we started to see cracks form. Bogo may have felt "safe" due to his friendship with Eichel and as such Eichel likely felt he held that power. The more curious relationship was Eichel and Okposo. What was their dynamic as a young captain and an often tragically injured vet who always gave his all regardless and was a solid Top 6 player prior to Buffalo? I know for a fact, Okposo is the team "Dad" along with Anderson. For instance, Okposo handled the Bills tickets for most of the young players when they all went to the game this past September or October. He had them on his phone and waved them in as it was scanned. (I worked at that gate) We know that Eichel ran with the "wrong crowd" (Bogo, Kane, etc.) and wrapped Reinhart into it as well in not "respecting" Gionta and Gorges' leadership group. Okposo was the de-facto leader prior to Tuch joining us in November; so knowing that most of the newer young core are good friends but also seem very willing to follow their elders you get a far better atmosphere overall. As they say, a team will typically reflect their leadership group. This team plays like Okposo when at their best; tenacious, never quits, physical, and takes no #### from other teams. Tuch is a less physical but far better skater than Okposo but plays in a similar manner. All of this rambling brings me back to Dahlin; he's now a young leader under the tutelage of a seasoned veteran in Okposo and an experienced playoff performer in Tuch. His friends on the team, like him, respect the experience and help push each other to do their best to absorb anything they can learn. Combine that with Granato's coaching style that heavily looks to expose their younger players to as much experience as possible and you get a team that is growing and players whom embraced their roles and have ran with them. No longer is this Eichel's team with 21 other dudes; this is now Dahlin, Thompson, Mitts, Cozens, Tuch, etc's team. They all feel valued and involved in pushing us forward; no longer are you just hoping to end your shift so Eichel can save the day. Instead it is up to all of them to support everyone else. Dahlin is a big cog, but still a cog; he knows and wants to help his teammates because he knows they'll do the same. Even if his 100% is far better than anyone else on the team; that doesn't matter. What matters is that all of them give their 100%. Dahlin now believes he can give 100% and not only help the team but carry it in ways so that others are freer to contribute in their own ways.