In The Buff

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...

U guys who say the Jays game is on local tv. Who's ur provider, Spectrum? Verizon FIOS? Verizon guide has a totally different game scheduled, but if you disregard that & go to that channel anyways, the Jays game is on. My father wanted to watch the game & was arguing with me that the game wasn't on because he saw the guide. I told him to just humor me & check out the channel & he just called to apologize to me haha.

Yeah my 1st thought obviously was Crosby with Sheary. Sheary's probably the perfect example of that

As a Sabres fan I know the feeling. Not about us scoring in a playoff game (because its been so long since we've been in one) or about paying for talent (see half our roster), but i can still relate lol. I'm still optimistic we'll get this thing turned around though... one day. It's always darkest before the dawn & we haven't seen sunshine in a decade. But while i think its extremely unlikely they'll trade a Marner, after getting knocked out of the playoffs in the 1st round for what, the 3rd season in a row if im not mistaken? There very well could be some thoughts that what they have now isn't working & to take an area of strength to fill out a big area of weakness. Stranger things have happened

The link you provided has the word "edit" in it & brings up an error while viewing. I'm guessing because you didn't save it or publish it. Didn't even get out of the gate with this one, we've reached a new low haha

Yeah Nashville works for me too. Even though I'm still disgusted any of these teams at all have a shot at #1OA. At this point for me its about making the best out of a less than ideal situation. Whatever team gets 1OA, I don't want them to be from our Conference

Yeah i really like that shade of blue i think. Reminds me of the blue in the 2018 Winter Classic jersey (which was one of my favorites). And the striping tweaks the traditional for a bit of an edgier look. Some cool ideas for sure. I just hope the official jerseys are something we can all be proud of. I remember before the slug came out there were lots of interesting concepts like this floating around that got me excited about our new jersey. And then the slug came out haha. They absolutely nailed the 50th Anniversary jerseys, so i can't wait to see what they come up with now.

There are some pretty cool jersey ideas on the 1st page of this thread from years ago. I remember some other ones from back then that were pretty cool too, but i couldn't find them on the internet. In my search i did however come across this page full of some good looking concepts that I didn't see posted anywhere here. Here's the link of them if u'd like to check em out https://buffalohockeycentral.com/2020/06/26/sabres-jersey-concepts/

Thankfully i never bought anything with the slug on it. Thought so then, still think so now haha.

Appreciate your exercise with the trades... it'd be great to get Monahan but there's no way in hell they'd trade him for Casey & a 2nd & Montour. Maybe if Casey was further along in his development, but even with our 8OA idk if it gets it done (though it'd obviously would be more enticing for them where they'd have to think about it). But if Calgary had missed the playoffs this year, then I could see the Flames wanting to make a move like that. He's their 1C & PP1, signed to a decent contract for a couple more seasons. Getting rid of him creates a hole in their lineup where if they made that trade, now they would be looking for a 1C/2C to replace him. Casey obviously isn't that guy & Backlund & Bennett aren't 1C material. Backlund could fill that spot if needed, but their C spine would be neutered. I'm no expert however so who knows, i could be totally wrong (wouldn't be the 1st time haha). I just think you're undervaluing Monahan. I also think Montour's value has dropped a bit (even if its just slightly) since when we traded Guhle & a 1st for him. And Casey's value is well, in the eye of the beholder. And that 2nd rd pick has a 25% chance at making the NHL, years down the road. So really the trade is a 1C for Montour & a couple prospects. Would u make that trade if you had Monahan? Maybe if their GM was Jbotts they would do it. I also would hope we made some move at Goalie for next year as well, unless you're going with: Hutton can see clearly again & betting on him to turn things around.

I would too. Especially when you factor in our our draft history & what we've used our 2nd rd picks on. Jury is still out on our 2nd rd choices under Jbott, but nothing really blows me away with them. Sure we all hope UPL will be the real deal or that Samuelsson's career is at least as good as his fathers. But in 10 years prior really only Jake McCabe has done anything with us. Sure we've used others in trades but i'll take Strome over Asplund or Marcus Davidsson or the many other players we got in the 2nd. Sabres draft history in case anyone wants a good cry: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005054.html

I just hope they don't screw this up. The reason for the change in the 1st place is because its "what the fans wanted". Idk if there's been any fan input into the design changes, but it would've been nice. Between the slug that got smeared across a windshield mess & the alumni jerseys from last year with the embarrassing spelling mistakes, I really don't have much faith that it'll be what we hope it'll be. But after so much disappointment over the years, getting this right should be a gimme right? As always hoping for the best.

I hear ya. However when i lived deep in the heart of the West Side here, in the summer time i'd have a bonfire in the backyard, with a few grills going & my HD projector playing Katt's standup shows on the back of my house. And the whole neighborhood would come over, often people I didn't even know, with the demographics being heavily slanted towards african americans & hispanics. Maybe it was just the perfect setting for me but we would've had the cops called on us from everyone laughing so much, if it wasn't for the whole neighborhood being there too. Tbh watching his standup's together in that setting really seemed to bring us all together, kinda ironic given how disgusting that word is on its own. Chappelle is also known for gratuitously using the N word... context is everything i suppose. This was also like 8 years ago, when times were different & not everything was weaponized like it is today. But yeah that Chappelle skit was funny as hell... just like most of his stuff imo.

Besides from the other names on this list. Katt Williams had some pretty funny standups back in the day. And from my childhood days i'd toss in Gallagher. He was pretty witty & he liked to smash things with sledgehammers. The sledgehammering alone gets him on my list haha These 2 still wouldn't be Top 5 imo... Just other names added that havent been mentioned yet

I can't see Calgary trading Tkachuk, Lindholm or Gaudreau... suppose anythings possible but those are 3 players I can't see them wanting to move on from. I wouldn't move them, not for what we'd be willing to send their way, unless they really value our 1st rd pick in a deal. Vancouver makes some sense. I'd love to have Horvat but i cant imagine the Nucks would move him, as he's sorta like their Eichel & on a good contract still. But Boeser, Virtanen, Gaudette seem like attainable pieces. I also remember their GM Benning wanting Reinhart in the past, and that area is where Sam is from. The Nucks also need some defensive help. So maybe Risto & Reinhart for some combo in return? Chicago also seems plausible. Strome & Saad could be possible targets for us. What they'd be interested in return i have no idea. Strome is up for a new contract & will be getting a substantial raise from where he's at now. Still gotta figure his salary will be less than what Reinhart will get on his new deal. If thats part of the trade, Chicago ends up paying Reinhart but knows who theyre getting in him & we pay Strome & take more of a chance we get the numbers right. Maybe that is attractive to both teams for different reasons. I hope the names we're mentioning are the targets we're looking at & not a bunch of middle 6 tweeners we're hoping can be 2nd line players.