Mango

First line almost had a good shift there. Tucher couldn’t wrangle the puck with an open net. But then Skinner lost it and they spent the rest of their shift stuck in their own end. I wish Thompson was more physical in front of the other teams net. He’s so big he should be immovable and claim a lot of free space.

If you stopped watching hockey before Greenway scored you aren’t allowed to watch anymore.

I have the Islanders feed and these guys suck. Also the 3-0 odd man rush favoring the Islanders is a stat that is waaaay too familiar.

What a wild game. Clifton is responsible for 2 goals. (With some help from the refs) Mitts is our best center I keep noticing Okposo and Greenway on really positive plays. I thought we were the better team for a portion of this. Also, it’s crazy that we talk about having a log jam at center and nobody can win an effing face off!

I included Adams to cover my bases, if the Sabres missed the playoffs I’d be surprised if Adams was shown the door.

I don’t disagree. I’m a playoffs are the absolute bare minimum. But I’ve seen some people post “we need another year to make the playoffs” and “the Sabres are contenders”. I thought 105 points and a strong showing in the playoffs. Even with a first round loss would be fine as long as they pushed the pace for the series. Missing the playoffs would mean one of Donnie or Adams would (should?) be shown the door.

I made it through all the covid stuff without an issue. But I took a chance about 9 months ago on a European start up/scale up and it was a mitigated disaster. They out right lied about stuff during the interview process and told me “well if we told you the truth you wouldn’t have come here”. It’s been the worst career decision I ever made. And the company I left just finished a merger between 2 $750M companies. They’re over staffed and I can’t go back. I’ll be fine, it’s a bit unlucky, but it’s been a total mess.

Fair. I forgot about all those Biggie and Jay-Z songs about Brooklyn...err I mean Long Island. (a good portion of this is a shirt post for anybody who is taking this seriously)

Haha. I just posted this in the aisles GTD. I didn’t realize I was doubling up.

I hate that the Islanders sweaters seem waaaay too similar to the Sabres. Other than the slug/goat head era this has been the case. It drives me nuts. And it’s a dumb name, “oh we live in Long Island, we’re Islanders. Oh and our logo is a map of the place we live. But also include other places like Brooklyn” The Long Island Cartographers would be a better name. Imagine if we were the Buffalo Buffalonians and our logo was an outline of all of WNY. So dumb. Eff the Isles in the A.

If the Isles try and go full trap I hope the Sabres ruin their home/season opener for their fans.

I have been using it for years with a VPN without any issues. But have been leaning into it in full this fall and cut the cord on most things. I work in tech sales and we just went through a large round of layoffs, so we are cutting expenses. I have friends in tech who have been out of work as long as 9 months. I can't justify spending $200 per month on media subscriptions in that kind of job market. The longest you can buy real-debrid is 6 months at a time. It is in Euro's and it comes out to $3 and change per month. I was rounding to $40.

Right. I wouldn’t be thrilled with a .500 start through the first 6 weeks. But if it means they it helps them eliminate the 4+ game losing streaks and consistent winning hockey, I would be for it. 105 points is .640 pace. To get to 96 would require 4 months or so of .620 pace. It’s not thaaaat crazy. But yes, preferably we just play consistent hockey all season long.

I am fine with a slow start if it means this team galvanizes the team. I won't be furious if the team is something like 10-10-4 (or whatever the math is) at Thanksgiving, don't lose more than 2 or 3 in a row, and win more games than they lose every month through April. We had too many 4+ game losing streaks.

I understand some of the aversion to trade. It was a bit ago, but I feel like the rumor was Savoie/Kulich for Chychrun. I cringe a little at that because you either have to sacrifice keeping somebody as part of the core to extend him in 25-26, or you gave up two great prospects for a rental. I find a situation like Orlov different. We are in a position where we could have overpaid at say $8.25 AAV(?), absorbed that cap hit at minimal cost to prospect development, and protected our goaltender. Obviously this isn't NHL 24 and there is a human factor involved. I am more using Orlov as a single example to paint with a pretty broad brush about our approach to roster construction. I am OK with a calculated overspend for one or two pieces for this team to take a big step. I don't think there is anymore room for "development". The team will certainly stumble, evolve, grow, get better, but if we miss the playoffs I think we have a new coaching staff next year.

We recently cut the chord on a lot of subscription stuff and use Kodi on my firestick. It works great. I can get anything and everything I want when I want it. Including everything that is on any other streaming service, live TV etc. I use it with a VPN, but I have friends who don't and have had no issues with their ISP. I use Express VPN. I watch all F1, NHL, World Cup, NFL etc. without any issues. Here is my set up: Kodi (free): Platform to run any add ons https://troypoint.com/how-to-install-kodi-on-fire-tv/ MadTitan Sports (free): This is the best for sports and live TV https://www.firesticktricks.com/mad-titan-sports-kodi-addon.html The Crew (free): Anything TV, Movies, Shows. If it is on Hulu, Netlfix, Paramount, Disney, etc. it is here. https://troypoint.com/crew-kodi-addon/ Real Debrid (-$40 per year/$3 per month): Totally worth it. It sorts all your streams from working/premium to dead. Otherwise it is guess and check. https://www.firesticktricks.com/real-debrid-kodi.html

To an extent the revolving door for youth should allow some calculated aggression in free agency. Maybe not the greatest example, but take Orlov at 2 years $7.75 AAV. Not the greatest value for the Sabres, but we have the space, and who does it cost us in 24-25 ?Jost and Krebs? OK those are JAGs. The billion forwards in the pipeline should allow us to not resign some, and over spend elsewhere if needed to improve the team. To an extent it feels like all the money saving efforts now are so we can keep the exact same 23 players for eternity. EDIT: I will say I like the job Adams and DG have done. I am rooting for this one to work. But at the same time the preseason and this last game unlocked some of the last 12 years of baggage.

I think when you openly identify your "core" and have them in house for 3, 4, 5 years like Tage, Cozens, Mitts, Dahlin, Skinner, etc. Then you extend them for 6, 7, 8 years on real NHL contracts and values. There is some expectation that while yes the team is going to continue to grow, evolve, and stumble at times, but to an extent it should also have arrived in some aspects as well. The team can exist in a grey area. It is unfair to hold them to a best team in the East standard just as much as I think it is unfair to say chalk the season up to a "development year" or "a year away from the playoffs". They missed the playoffs by a point with a reasonably low bar of 92 points. A 5-10 point improvement m shouldn't be a crazy growth expectation for a team built on their youth coming of age.

Agreed. But it also drives me nuts because we have been the youngest for what feels like a bit now. I get it is the plan, but now we are extending these "kids" for pretty meaty contracts. Their has to be some middle ground in expectations between "these are just kiddos figuring it out" and "we have arrived". I didn't realize the Sabres are the youngest AND 4th tallest/5th heaviest team in the league. https://leftwinglock.com/teams/biometrics/ .

I didn't like that we saw a lot of repeats from last year. 3 of the goals against Levi were defensive gaffe's. We still struggle against the trap game. Concerned the first line was so blah. You would like your stars to be stars when they open the season. Especially on a team committed to scoring at the expense of the defense and goal tending. I liked that we were more physical than normal last night. That gives me some hope that there is some evolution to this team and this season other than just rolling it back. One thing facing this team that they aren't used to is the burden of expectations. We will see how they hold up. I have my pass/fail metric, but this absolutely has to be a playoff team at the very worst.

I don't know why I find this so funny. The Sabres "often" miss the playoffs. More "often" than not the Sabres are not "fine" these days. I think this team is turning the corner, I am not doom and gloom, the phrasing just made me laugh. This is much better wording.

I fully agree here. Especially if we’re all in on putting together the highest scoring line possible and compromising defensive responsibility.

Dude, I literally said “he’ll be fine”. I was just pointing out that he looked slower/the game looked faster than pre season. That was it. Full stop. And this is the second time you are referencing it. I’m not complaining about Benson. Literally just pointing out an observation. He also had a nice opportunity at the end of the period. Again, he’ll be fine:

It’s clear he is trying to be more responsible in our zone. I keep being surprised to see 71 in our zone.

A little mor hustle and physicality on the boards. Getting pushed off the puck a bit.