Mustache of God

So close. Make that b&g & you've got a winner. I like the idea of the Alternates being radically different from the normal sweaters, variety being the spicy of life and all. I wouldn't want royal blue home/away and royal blue goat heads. Since every team has a retro fetish, maybe the new alts for next season could be a throwback to the old Buffalo Bison pepsi cap logo (although i'm sure there's licensing rights that'd pose an issue(nothing pegula bucks can't handle)).

Is Johan Larsson approaching JAG territory? Next team he's on I think he'll fit the bill, but does that apply to his Sabres tenure? I'm inclined to think "no" but could be swayed either way.

Perhaps this is influenced by my bubble, but I'm willing to bet a majority of fans in Sabredom would embrace the return to Royal Blue and there would only be a small subset of belly achers. The team has tried, and failed, so many times as Jersey redesigns. They've been trying to fix something that hasn't been broke since the mid-90s. If they do it right, it won't be so much of selling the fanbase on a new desing, rather a return to what's right. I also think a 3rd alternate Goathead in the red and black would be pretty damn cool as well.

I really hope the Sabres don't furp the 50th anniversary up. The royal blue looks so damn good, it's amazing they've stuck with the navy for so long. "For our 50th anniversary, the Buffalo Sabres are proud to announce our new jersey, the Royal Blue TurdBurgers"

#15 Jack Eichel was guaranteed to be hear for 9 years.

McCormick was a 4th line grinder who knew his role, and was on the team for multiple years. I believe he was forced into retirement by blood clots, right? We traded for Stewart, which means we at least believe he had some value, so I couldn't vote for him. I voted for Stranchen the stanchion , Adam Pardy (did he play defense, i can barely recall who this is) and Dalpe.

Looking at this list of names is giving me tank flashbacks, "think of how great we'll be in 5 years when this is all over". I need a drink.

There is no chance those teams will be better than the Sabres. These teams are going to lead the CHL all year and then will be crying when Arizona finally wins the Hughes lottery.

This was a great write-up, thanks for taking the time IKP. I was surprised to see how "reliable" Baloo looks on that chart. Building on what 5th line wrote, it'd also be interesting to see the player's +/- during the playing time with each partner.

The Sabres will finish the season with 96 points, missing the playoffs by one point. The shootout loss to the Islanders/Lehner will come back to haunt us.

I don't understand why so many think Risto is "A" material. Everything I've heard/read about him indicate he's not an ideal candidate to be a leader. You also need your leaders to be there to lead on the ice, so I'm hoping Bogo gets his letter stripped this year. Part of me wants to see Reino with a letter but I think you'll need actual veterans to buoy Jack's fledgling captaincy. Okposo will keep his letter and I'm thinking the other A goes to one of the new faces brought in, fresh ideas from a veteran to "change" the "culture" in the "room", so to speak. C - Jack A - Okposo A - Berglund

I currently own 2 nameless Sabres jerseys. One is the stupid Navy "home" jersey with the stupid silver piping and pit stains. I also have an old school "home" jersey that I picked up from the Sabres store not too long ago that looks the home jerseys they wore from 87-96 (using this site as a reference: http://www.nhluniforms.com/Sabres/Sabres.html ) I reckon once they switch back to the Royal Blue's I might buy a Dahlin or Eichel depending on how their careers are projecting.

Matt Ellis is the exception to the rule as he is the ultimate JAG, our crown prince, if you will. In his last 5 seasons with the Sabres (2010 - 2015) he racked up an astounding 16 points over the course of 169 games, was a -25 and averaged less than 10 minutes a game throughout that run. A further look at his advanced stats during this time span will show you that he was not good.

No he shouldn't. He should be able to choose any number he wants without worrying about a bunch of cry-baby fans whining about his number change. It's just a number on a Jersey, plus now the #15 is a badge of honor, shows that you've been backing Eichel since the early days, before he won all those harts and cups and so on.

We drafted Zemgus in the 1st round though, and by my arbitrary metrics that disqualifies him as JAG for the Sabres. Once he's released and then signed by the Islanders or Senators he can then fulfill his prophecy as JAG. Off the top of my head I'd say he's also the longest tenured Sabres on the team, which is the opposite of JAG. A true JAG is here for a cup of coffee, or a season at best.

Matt Ellis is a shoe-in. That leaves me with two votes. Porter was the captain in Rochester, right? He's more than just another guy, more like a disappointing uncle who can still teach you things but it comes with a cost of having to hang out with said uncle. Luke Adam & TJ Brennan were prospects, which to me disqualifies them as JAGs as they were drafted with pedigree and hope. JAGs don't inspire hope, they inspire "nope". JAGs are brought in to staunch a leaky hole, not drafted to build a foundation. Removing Porter, Adam and Brennan I'm left deciding to chose two of McBain, Dags, and Sulzer. Research shows that McBain somehow played in the 2011 all-star game. Can a 1 time all-star be consider a JAG? I'm not so sure, and therefore I choose Dags and Sulzer as they epitomize JAGs, in my mind.

I'm amazed he found a job in the NHL next year. Isn't the Islanders D terrible? Not the best combo for Lehner.

The Nylander pick doesn't make sense for Murrays style of heavy and fast either...plus the defense pipeline was so depleted. Ugh. Oh well. Onwards and upwards...or sideways.

Murray enamored us with his brashness and was the opposite of Reiger and after 16 years of footing around he was a welcome change. At the time I loved how GMTM operated. However, his legacy is now buried under a steaming pile of horse in one of his stables. For someone who gave no effs, he surely gets a big F from me in grading his tenure here. That could be upgraded to a C minus depending upon how Guhle, Pu, Oloffson, Asplund and Fitzgerald pan out. The Kane trade was a failure because he vastly overpaid for it. Lehner was a disaster. He talked a big game about improving Rochester but it seemed like he had no clue there. The O'Reilly trade was a great trade and was the only trade he made that we won. All others were tire-fires. Let's not forget the Moulson contract. Nylander is still "developing" but he's approaching BUST territory. The reports of the Cal O'Reilly treatment I think tarnishes the ROR move a bit because the only reason Cal was here was "I'll sign your bro if you sign here" He also never addressed anything when things things started spinning out of control in his last year and if we're to believe Terry, there was no communication anywhere. Not enough pee-pees were slapped, or maybe too many pee-pees were slapped and there wasn't a safe-word (another communication breakdown).

Sabres play in St. Louie on December 27th. Blues don't come to town until March 17th. Does O'Reilly get a tribute video? Or does he get booed? I don't know what kind of tribute he'd get, "gee, thanks for all the losing?". My money is that he gets no video and boos.

It took me literally all day to read through this thread at work and get caught up. Lots of good stuff, some bad stuff and some silly stuff in here. I'm in the camp of not liking this trade but if the 3 players that were brought in help push Girgensons and Larsson out of the line-up then I'll like it more. ROR, while a hell of a hockey player, really came off as a guy who sniffed his own farts and I hope his absence makes improves the "locker-room", whatever that means.

I'll be interested to see how Toronto juggles the cap next year when Marner, Nylander, and Matthews need to be paid. I like this news. A. San Jose doesn't get Tavares, hopefully they're not as good without him and that results in a better draft pick. B. I want Toronto to have a good team, because I believe the Sabres are (finally) going to be good soon and I want two amazing teams with a great rivalry. It should be some great hockey going forward. C. Toronto. This makes them even easier to hate.

Casey with the championship winning shootout goal. Thoughts on the tourney are that the names you'd expect to make an impact did. Casey was easily the best player on the ice. The next tier was Dahlin, Guhle, Pilut. Asplund Oloffson, Ogelvie, Pekar, Glotov and Byro all had their moments as well.

Casey is having a hell of a tournament. Oloffson with another beaut!

Dahlins team beats Guhle's team in the semi-finals, will play Team Casey in the finals. Brandon Byro showcasing some nice hands in close today.