In The Buff

Yep. Theres a site called: https://www.twitlonger.com/ where you can type to your hearts content & have it all under one tweet. If only more people knew about it.

Rutherford seems to be looking back to the years when they won the Cups in 2016-2017. Bringing the likes of Sheary & Kapanen back home. Kapanen was drafted by Rutherford in 2014 but was moved out in the Kessel deal. Sort of reminds me of what the Bills have done with Carolina players they're familiar with & comfortable with. The Pens have a short window to make another Cup run, with that in mind the trade makes sense imo. Especially if Bryan Rust is traded, Kapanen can fill in his spot or provide additional scoring elsewhere. For the Leafs this was basically a cap move so they can acquire some defensive help. Lots of rumors have them targeting Pietrangelo so that extra cap space was needed. Whether or not he's the player they target remains to be seen. They also need more secondary scoring. Losing Kap hurts that a bit & will need to be replaced. In the end i think this trade was a win for both sides, as they both got what they wanted.

I think on paper Toronto wins in this trade, but when it comes to winning right now, Pittsburgh wins hands down. The Leafs biggest issue vs Columbus was their lack of secondary scoring, so moving Kap just makes that problem even worse for them. The Pens trade futures for a 20 goal scorer that will balance out their offense better. Getting Hallander back is a nice addition for the future. He's being projected as a potential top 6 winger who plays a 2 way game. But with the Leafs in win now mode, once again I don't see how this helps them now. They do remove a few million from their cap, so perhaps they'll be looking to make more moves than this. Cmon Kevyn Adams, show us what you can do!

How soon is Sanderson to starting in the NHL? Is he committed to playing another year in North Dakota or is he ready to play this year? If it was the latter, i could see a scenario where we drafted him being more likely. If he's another year or 2 away than i'd think we'd lean forward, because our needs are more pressing there.

This is the last im gonna speak on this topic, so forgive me for the length of my post. Its not that i "love Taylor that much", as you said yourself he was "fine". I guess thats probably the question I & others had, with so many problems this franchise has, why fire someone who appeared was actually doing fine? If we could just get that with our Sabres, i think we'd be happy with that at first, as we haven't had fine in a long long time. So why was he let go? Having a clean slate makes sense, saving money makes sense (if there were any savings), upgrading makes sense. Up until his termination we hadn't once heard anyone say anything negative about him at all. I also don't think we can look at Taylors firing in a vacuum, as it was one of many terminations that day. If it was just him being let go, you could read other things into it. But with this, who knows what to think. Clean slate makes the most sense to me. As for winning in the AHL, i think theres something to be said that when you're trying to change the culture at the NHL level, you'd like to see your AHL team have success as well. When you look at when Rochester was sniffing the Calder Cup regularly, it coincided with the Sabres doing well. Is there a correlation? Idk but it would seem there is. Also seems the majority of minor league teams that have been in the Calder Cup recently have parent teams that are successful too. Correlation? Who knows, but there seems there is to some degree. Maybe it means those franchises just have their act together more so than others. Maybe they have better prospects & players who are pushing to be in the NHL. Or maybe in our case they augmented the lack of promising NHL ready prospects with AHL vets in order to have success there. "As for Nylander, Guhle, Fasching, Baptiste, Bailey - none turned into players and all have been traded"... they still haven't turned into players with the exception of Nylander really, & even then he's a question mark. You could add many more names of disappointing players, its one thing we have succeeded with in this organization, a stockpile of disappointing players. Really too many to mention, but add Mittlestadt, Tage, Rodriguez, Pilut, Fedun, Tennyson, Nelson, Asplund, Oglevie. Not a lot there to speak of other than fringe NHL players. CaseyM stands out, but can we honestly blame Taylor for him? I had hope for Pilut but u know how that worked out. Asplund could be a Larsson, Tage might be something one day, but look at the prospects we've had over the years. Pull up those rosters online & look at em. We're not gonna get an all star from any of them, yet alone a top 6, top 4. Who do u blame for their lack of development? Could be coaching, but is it the coaches fault for everyone or are these players just who they are? Maybe most of them just suck? Oloffson didn't develop until he was 24. He rose to the top. Was it Taylor that helped propel him or is Victor just a cut above everyone else? Did lightning strike & we just happened to get lucky with drafting him? Maybe it's just gonna take 5 years for Casey to mature, coach be damned. But by then he probably won't be with us anymore either. For the past 10 years our Sabres have sucked, where now they're the punchline to random people's jokes on the internet chatting during the NHL Playoffs. Most of the players we've brought in have sucked. All the GM's we've hired, the coaches we hired, have all sucked. Those names you mentioned, they sucked here, they're with new teams & they suck there too. The biggest issue i see that affects both the Sabres & Amerks is that our managing of assets & drafting has sucked & its been spoken here ad nauseum for many years on this board. Fire Taylor, replace him with some other guy, i don't care. Our problems are bigger than him & have been for a very long time. Since the Pegs fired just about everyone, it seems they agree. But they also fired the 1 guy who seemed to be doing fine. Thats it.

Great point. I was thinking the same thing. Not about others not realizing but just the different situation Dahlin has compared to those he's compared with the most. I'm not saying its the only reason but it most definitely has to be a factor.

welcome to the board! I know ur question was for Liger but if we're fortunate to have 2 defenders off the board before our pick, i dont think we'd have to move up, as a good prospect will drop to us. But regardless i think the cost of moving up would be too high for us. If we're gonna use assets to move up, i'd rather we use them to receive a player who can help us right away. Like a Cirelli or someone else thats been mentioned a lot.

2020 just keeps getting worse & worse. Dale was such a class act & a phenomenal player. Was such a treat to watch him play. He will surely be missed

Taylor Hall has been mentioned on this board off & on for years now. I think it would've made sense prior to the contract we gave Skinner. But now for reasons you guys have eloquently stated, it doesn't make much sense. We need a C & RW right now. The money it would take to land Hall doesn't fill those needs. I wouldn't be pissed if we signed him, but i can't see it happening.

Good observations! My ignorant impression is that he's more Fortnite than weight training but thats based on nothing & I hope I'm wrong. Casey HAS to see the writing on the wall & see that he's on the outside in when it comes to becoming an NHL starter. If I were GM i'd personally trade him if value could be found. Not to say I think he's a bust, but some players don't fully develop til their mid 20's & I just don't think we can wait that long with him. I wish Casey would put a video on his twitter of him doing 10 pullups... that would give me some hope that he's added some strength & that he's grown into a man & that he wants to silence all the naysayers & doubters out there, one pullup at a time. ?

yay, Ryan O'Reilly playing like the poster boy of playoff hockey again. I'm so happy for him & the Blues! Not bitter or jealous at all... not one bit sigh

As much as its hard to be optimistic when times are tough for as long as they've been, I'll always love this team & support them no matter what. I've never been a season ticket holder but i go to tons of games, but these past few years in the 2nd half of the season when I've thought about going to a game, I've chosen to stay home instead. With the financial cost of attending, coupled with the prospect of watching another losing effort where the arena also feels like I'm in a mausoleum, its hard to justify going. I've heard that bolded comment before many times, that people should speak with their dollars & stop attending games because then ownership will hear us & feel more pressure to right the ship. That we're mad as hell & not gonna take it anymore! And that makes sense to me for sure & who knows, maybe that'd make a difference. But given the covid situation this year where fans most likely won't even be allowed to go anyways or at the very least be limited in number, even if we wanted to do something like that this year to send a message we couldn't. And quite honestly i believe the owners already are 100% aware of how we feel & that they need to do something. They can't be happy or satisfied themselves. The question is how much responsibility do they place on themselves & do they have the ability to make the correct decisions to turn this thing around now? GI Joe taught me when I was a kid that: Knowing is half the battle. Well they know what they've done so far hasn't worked, so that's half the battle. Do they know enough now where they can right the ship? Been waiting on that other half for awhile!

I see your point & i even agree with part of it. And yes the thinking with adding the veterans was that it'd help in turning around the culture there & aid in developing our players & in large part I'd say it worked. But your listing of prospects also speaks positively on Taylor because a bunch of those players have developed nicely or appear to be on the right path. Of course some of the players that have made it have been dealt to other teams & continue to play there & not here. Those that haven't developed have been shown not to be anything special with our franchise or any other or the jury is still out. Maybe those players are just what they are? You know, the Faschings, Baptiste's, Baileys, etc. But there are plenty of players that have come thru Roch & developed into the NHL. Yanno, we talk here regularly about our lack of good NHL ready prospects in the pipeline. I really don't know what else we expect with what we've had to work with. Its not like Taylor is the one who does the drafting or crafts the roster. As for not winning in the playoffs, yeah thats disappointing for sure. Last year we ran into a Toronto team that not only shut us out in the series but they shut out Cleveland as well. But to use their lack of winning a playoff series as a reason for termination seems suspect to me. (Even though thats not quite what you're saying) The Bills have lost their 2 past playoff games, so is their coach on the hotseat too? I personally just don't think that was really a determining factor. I honestly just don't see his firing as performance based, given how everything unfolded. Even Jbotts firing doesnt appear to be 100% performance based given the timeline of events & what happened (even though it should've been & was a factor). So i'm guessing when The Pegs decided to fire everyone that meant Taylor too so they could have a clean slate. Maybe it was even a cost savings measure too. Any guesses though are just that, guesses. Btw i just saw this video clip of Appert having to be held back during a brawl when he was coaching at RPI. Looks like he has a bit of Lindy Ruff in him haha

I don't understand why Taylor was let go either. Besides from developing & working with a bunch of players that would come thru there, before he coached the Amerks, they had missed the playoffs 3 consecutive years. Botts hires Taylor & coincidentally they make the playoffs 2 years straight & were poised to go a 3rd time. His record was a combined 116-65-20-13 in 214 games. Hard to say he was fired for poor performance imo. What he was fired for, is anyone's guess.

I wouldn't be against Pietrangelo for the points already mentioned. He would be an added mentor to the group, sort of in the same way as Beane feels its important with the Bills position groups. And when you talk about changing the culture, he's one piece that can do that. But only way it really works is if its in tandem with other moves. We can't just pick up another RHD, otherwise its Botterillesque. Lots of rumors floating around, it'll be interesting to see what comes of them.

Yep. And as much as i would've loved having a chance to be in the playoffs & obviously I would've taken it, but in my heart of hearts there's no way i feel we deserved it.... stupid playoff format or not.

I understand why lots of fans are saying lets give these hires a chance, i mean really thats the only thing we can do.. we're powerless in this whole equation. I used to be optimistic about our player transactions & administrative or coaching changes... thinking this time it'll be different. But it seems we've missed a lot more often than hit on these things during this Dark Age of Sabres history. And as we approach the prospect of a decade missing the playoffs, until something changes or the results are improved, it'll be hard for me to be optimistic about any of these moves. I understand why we've hired people our owners are familiar with & i wish Matt & Seth & Kevyn all the luck in the world. History shows they'll need it, and maybe things will work out great. I mean I don't think we're even that far away from where we wanna be. But nothing about these guys inspires me or gives me any more hope other than a broken clock is right twice a day.... we gotta get it right one of these times.

I'd take that trade in a heartbeat, just don't know if Calgary would feel the same

Agree totally about our local sports media. Not that surprising either without naming names (you already took care of that for me) ? But I'm not saying i know a lot about the Penguins but from watching their series versus Montreal, I saw Sheary all over the place & involved in a lot of plays. Thats not a stats based analysis just what i saw on the screen. However Game 1 with Sheary on the penalty shot, he doesn't cash in & misses it wide. If he makes that shot, the Pens win game 1 most likely & if they still win the 2nd game, they go up 2-0 in the series. Rodriguez I don't think even saw the ice. But they sure played disjointed & not like a well oiled machine, whereas Montreal seemed to gain confidence every game. I can also see why they'd miss Kahun. It makes me all warm inside knowing that we actually made out on a trade for once & got the better player. I do know they had a ton of injuries this year & that after having 4 months off, its hard to draw on the season you had with a break like that, to then carry it over into the postseason. With that much of a layoff, when the qualifying round started, it was like day 1 all over again to some extent. Their powerplay was also a big reason for their loss. They went 3 for 17, pretty disappointing when you have a Crosby & Malkin... which also leads into Carey Price. He played a heck of a series & was awarded with a Top 3 stars in 3 out of the 4 games. No coincidence they lost the series 3-1 imo. Lots of good points in that article by "those who know" for sure. For our Sabres, i think its far easier to discern what went wrong or is wrong with us. Our GM didn't address our team needs & as a result we had a subpar roster of talent, coupled with shaky goaltending where we were playing a guy who literally couldn't see. TLDR, it doesn't really take an inside scoop to see why we sucked lol.

Just saw this piece on MSN Sports by Chad. Gives a little more info than just the tweet itself, thought i'd share it in case anyone wanted to read it https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/could-the-sabres-not-qualify-brandon-montour/ar-BB17VarI Just like all of you it doesn't make much sense to me that we'd fear arbitration with Montour or that we'd risk letting him walk for nothing. This whole thing could just be clickbait for all we know. I also don't understand why in the tweet he says he could be traded tomorrow. Since the new year date is on October 9th. With the draft on 10/6, I'd think we'd have until roughly then. But i'll admit, I'm not well versed on these things.

Currently the 4th longest atm. Before a couple minutes pass & i get corrected again lol

yeah i left the possibly out, edited it prior to your post... I wasnt quite fast enough!

Besides from this possibly being the longest playoff game in NHL history, Korpisalo just set the record for most saves in a playoff game. Breaking Kelly Hrudey's save mark of 73 saves, a record that stood for 33 years. Crazy

Playoff hockey is about the only time you'll hear a man hoping for more periods ?

Bogosian slipping & falling at the blue line, poised to give up the puck is just like old times. Korpisalo is playing lights out so far. Not like we need any lessons on how far stellar goaltending can take you. Hasek schooled everybody on that. This game could go on forever...