Mustache of God

Only 106 days until Sabres hockey.

Pominville was 6th in scoring on the team last year, his rope is longer than Moulsons was at the start of last season. I'm hoping he's relegated to the 4th line but we're going to have to wait until the free agency / draft day trades shake out to see where we can expect him next year. McCabe I can see going either way. I have no opinion on Olofsson other than I know he can shoot...let's see how he looks at development camp.

I signed up for this as well...figure I'll support some content and hopefully it's rewarding. $40 for a year of coverage doesn't seem that bad.

I was picturing more of a butt-goal scenario but I'm willing to adjustment my fantasy to a deflection that boops off casey's butt, then careems off Dahlins butt and dribbles in.

Dahlin will score the 1st goal of the season this year.

Will he stay on the 3rd line all season? Does he get saddled with Larsson/Girgenson types or will he play with people who can help him produce. Does he get Power Play time on the 1st unit? Does Dahlin play on the 1st PP Unit? I like the idea of Sam in front of the net, Dahlin on the point cycling the puck between Casey, RoR and Jack. The points will come for Casey, for sure, I'm curious to see how well he plays C in our defensive zone. Realistically I think we'll see Casey start the season the way he finished his dry-run this year, which was 5 points in 6 games. 24 games into the season he'll be sitting at 20 points. There will be mentions of the Calder, however, the grind of the NHL will catch up to him, and from games 25-65, his production will pull a "Fall '17 Reinhart" and dry up. He'll find his game for the last 20 games or so and will finish the season between 45-50 points. Or he starts hot, stays hot, goes supernova in the playoffs and takes home his first of 13 Conn Symthe Trophies and helps ROR, "fall back in love with the game and also with Casey". also: I'm expecting Jbots to make some moves around the draft/FA period and hopefully the roster will have a shakeup.

If I'm Dahlin I'm asking lots of questions about the "pee-pee slapping" policies.

ZERO, but only because he snaps the bar in half with his super human strength on the first attempt.

We've already learned the hard way trading away a 1st round pick for a goalie was a terrible idea, and Murray justified that by saying "he's an RFA so we have some control for years". Trading a 1st for 1-year of a 7m schmillion dollar goalie is, in my mine, insane.

Lehner is the embodiment of Murray and everything he did wrong with the team. JBOT, in making this his team, is painfully aware of that and I can't foresee Lehner being back here in October. The thought that I'll never see him bite on a deke and immediately get burned, let in a softie for not covering a post, and watch him attempt a shootout is a comforting thought. Barring the near impossible scenario of the Sabres landing Tavares, ROR should be kept on this team, but not be given a letter. We've been fed a false narrative that he's an excellent leader in the locker room. I haven't seen any evidence of that, rather, he just likes to shoulder the blame, put it all on himself. Put the C on Jack and then the A's on whoever earned them (I have no idea on the locker-room dynamics so I won't pretend to know who deserves the As). CJ Smith is the type of player we should all be rooting for as the success of next year will require some prospects being able to make the jump and put up some sort of consistent production. I hope he's one of these and if he does this out of camp or on a call up remains to be seen.

My guess is the Tavares spectacle plays out in the same manner as Stamkos. It's going to come down to the wire, speculation will be had, rumours flying this way and that and then he stays with his own team. On the other hand, I'd love to have JT. Would him coming here have any impact on Eichel being given the C? How would that work in the locker room?

If JBots could somehow convince Tavarares to sign here and then trade ROR to upgrade the blue line...that'd be a f'n coup. Probably the best case scenario imaginable, however, I just can't see Tavarases coming here.

Hopefully he starts the year in Rochester to get some seasoning before having a shot at the NHL (unless he blows away everyone in camp). I think Antipin should have started on the farm as well (i'm guessing the agreement he had with Murray was to not play in the NHL so Botteril had his hands tied). As Pilut is his guy I'm convinced there's an understanding that Rochester is his stepping stone.

Will the Pens be able to afford Guenztal? Any chance Botteril could make a deal to bring him over here?

I was at that game, sitting 20ish rows behind the net on the other end of the ice. Still can't believe Hasek let that in.

This was a pleasant surprise for me...I figured he'd try his hand with a more competitive team using the rationale that if he's playing with better players he'd set himself up for a much bigger contract his next go around. Is it possible we're seeing the Dahlin effect? This signing also gives me two thoughts: 1. Antipin is done on this team. 2. One of the asterisk'd players below is being moved one way or another this year. Risto - Dahlin Scandella - Bogo* McCabe* - Nelson Beaulieu* Pilut

I thought we won because we all translated our names to Swedish for most of the season. Whoever had that idea deserves a beer. I feel like there's no way they didn't know when the final 3 picks were announced. Botts mouth kept twitching into an almost -eating grin and the Carolina GM had a gauntness on his face that conveyed "I can't believe I still have to stand through this, we lost, I want to leave".

I have a hunch McCabe is getting traded this offseason and that Nelson isn't going to re-sign here. Risto - Scandella X - Dahlin Guhle - BOGO Pilut Baloo

If we took sergachev our defense wouldn't have been as bad and we might not have finished last this year....

14614 will be the number Rip gives him in training camp.

F*CK YES! WHOOOO!!!!! I was biking home from hockey in the rain, gear on my back, wgr in my ear and when the pick got announced I was hooting and hollering like a goose on christmas. Got a lot of weird looks from pedestrians but no matter. DAHLIN, YOU'RE COMING FOR US!!!! Should be interesting to see Phil coach him. I hope he's able to impart some wisdom on the kid. I love that we don't have to have any draft day speculation. Our pick is set and we can worry about other things. WHOOOOOOO!!!!! Also whoevers idea was to change the names to Swedish is a DAMN GENIUS! Stick taps to you ! \_ \_ \_

Please....just this once.

I'm looking forward to changing my username back to English and going back to the Schmelik avatar

I don't disagree with any of the above. From a roster availability / contract status + ideally landing Dahlin (I know, 18.5% means we're likely not getting him but it's still a possibility), bringing in this new guy with the hopes Botteril also upgrades the D from within the NHL tells me that there's no room for Anitpin. Last years group didn't get the job done, let's hit the reset button and try something new.

Antipin was hailed as an offensive generating defense-man. He had zero goals. That's enough for me to not want him back. Doubt we'll see Tennyson on the Sabres next year unless there's a rash of injuries (I think/hope Botts will give the back end a make-over). Bogo will play 30 games so don't worry about him and I like McCabe, he's better than Antipin at least but I also have a hunch he might be moved in a "shake-things-up" package. edit. Forgot to mention Beaulieu. He was worse than what people from Montreal were saying when he was first traded here. Absolute trash. I hope he's not on the team next season but can live with him for another year if need be.