In The Buff

Is/was Arttu better than Bjork? I'd like to know why he's still on the roster

just saw this on twitter, but cant find anything else on it

The way i look at it is he's in our system now. If Comrie had been developed all along by us in the manner he was in Winnipeg, then with his 19 game sample size last year we'd be looking at him to take this next natural step. It just so happens that before today it was with Winnipeg & today its with us. Since we needed a goalie desperately, however we got to this point he is our guy now. And im relieved we did something & with a player who at the very least is on an upward development track & not a declining one.

we're aiming for the stars no doubt, up there in Hockey Heaven

Holtby's injured & according to Frank Seravalli his career may be over. Varlamov is on the Islanders signed for another year. There was some thought that Lamoriello would move him because it'd take $5 mil off their cap sheet, but looks like he's staying. Jake Oettinger is negotiating a new deal with the Stars. I'm beyond desperate for at least an average NHL goalie here. I'd pay a premium with term if it meant having a good one come here. Prospect pipeline timeline be damned.

dangit, thought we were all setup to draft McGroarty & Winnipeg snagged him ahead of us. I know nobody had him ranked this high, but liked him as a player.

Would you trade #16 for Dach? Someone further along in their development than whoever the pick might be? I'd probably say thats too high for us.

hope i posted this in the right thread

I'd give him the least term possible even if it meant paying a little more if thats what it took for him to accept it. Money shouldnt be an option if we're picking up players to get to the floor. Reasons i wouldnt give him more you've already covered, but he most likely is near his ceiling & doesnt forecheck & provide what we'd lack once Quinn, Peterka & Rosen & our youngins start coming up here. I have to think we still could add a veteran player into the mix which would change the complexion of the team as well. Now there's no guarantee they'll be as good as VO, but with the way VO plays do u envision a 31 year old VO in his same role down the road? How about a 30 year old VO? Where would he fit in i guess? And could we get the same thing he provides from one of our youngsters coming up? Its a good problem to have because it means theres real competition

I think the team & players themselves should have a say in deciding. I mean they would know the most of who the real leaders are in the room. I wonder how much input the players have or if this decision is made from the top. But Kyle & Tuch make the most sense imho.

For me it started early when i was a kid, staying up really late pretending to be sleeping all while hiding a small radio under my pillow late at night so i could listen to RJ call the games. Hearing that crowd at the Aud roaring over the airwaves as RJ called the play: as dreams of Sabrespace danced thru my head. I'd say his calls had a big role to play. Have to also include Rick Vaive on the list. Watching him play, sticking his neck out on the ice & seeing the pain he'd be in with the nerve issues & his neck. Seeing his determination growing up hooked me as well. Later on it'd be Hasek of course & the identity of that team in general. nice topic!

I agree. Whatever anyones thoughts on it, in the end after decades of being able to study the impacts of various stadium locations on the region, we settle for a smaller stadium next to the old one. Seriously thats what we go with? Idk how that is anything other than missing an opportunity in a region lacking opportunities. Did we plan on ways to maximize the revenue this stadium can generate? Did we have any strategic thinking about any of this? KBC needs renovating? Perhaps we couldve combined the 2 projects into a sports corridor? Or how about our City has needed a new convention center for years, decades even. Dallas has their huge stadium, that also houses conventions & concerts & brings in revenue every month of the year. Will our new stadium do that in Orchard Park? Nope, we just spent a billion $$ on a smaller stadium next to the old one for what, to be used 15 or so days a year max? Glad the team will be here in the future but this was a golden opportunity & in the end we just settled for a smaller stadium next to the old one

haha, on a positive note at least its not true... i hope 😛

Saw a tweet that simply said: 8 UFA's 1 6th rd pick I hear what everyone has been saying but for a team thats rebuilding their assets, it just seems we didn't maximize our return on all that we had is all. And given our drought of historic proportions its not like our cupboard's been overflowing with them. Surely we could use as much as we can. What Dudacek has been saying makes a lot of sense & has a lot of merit imho. But aside from his points, just on the current trade deadline: I dont care what the odds are for a 5th rd pick, once and awhile you hit on one (Tom Brady GOAT 6th rd wrong sport but yeah you get it). Maybe you can flip those picks for a future player or package. Maybe that player turns into Oloffson or the greatest of all time. If the argument to not trading someone like Vinnie Hinostroza is that our team is playing too well right now & trading him would hurt our progress too much, then whats that say about the rest of the team, where we need him that much, or better yet, whats that say about Vinnie Hinostroza? lol

dangit, wish i wouldve checked here sooner to share this. They had the practice live streamed on youtube Its over now but if u want to watch it here's the link. Action really starts a 1/3 of the way thru

I've always thought we should pair 1 offensive D with a more defensive minded player for balance. So ideally in the future i'd like a Joki/Dahlin type paired with Power. But Power's 1st season i can see how having a seasoned veteran paired with him would be a great idea.

how would we feel if Americans were being suspended due to our invasion of Iraq? At least with Ukraine there's a joint history involving the 2 nations. I don't agree with what Russia is doing & feel bad for all the victims & hope Ukraine survives. But lets not kid ourselves, usually when we go to war, its halfway around the world, under false pretenses & usually for some geopolitical reason in support of our global hegemony. We've lost a bit of our ability to grandstand about some morale high ground & thats a shame. But we see how hard it is to affect change here with our government in America. What power do you think the average Russian has over what Putin does & their own? How easy has it been here to steer our leaders to the will of the People & we supposedly live in the Land of the Free? What do we expect a Russian to do? And a Russian hockey player at that? lol Suspending athletes or hockey players from Russia who have no power at all over what their govt does seems like something an autocrat would do, kinda ironic since it'd be that behavior we'd be against in the 1st place lol. Ban hockey events from Russia, hurt the State, not the individual largely powerless in all this is what i say.

fart away my friend, fart away. But yeah i agree 100%, nice post, farts & all

something he did often & learned from his time with our Sabres no doubt

I believe the 1st time i ever saw him was around 1998. The tweet says he was doing it for decades but no idea on when he 1st started. I lived in Allentown too (a few times), but even if u were just passing thru, u couldn't miss it. BUBBLES EVERYWHERE!!! 🙂

man what a bummer. Slowly as i get older, 1 by 1 all the little things that made life brighter fade away & losing Chuck the bubble guy is no exception. I remember the 1st time i saw those there, was with a group of girls & they all went nuts... suppose we all remember the 1st time we saw them. In recent years i saw he had a fan set up that blew the bubbles automatically. Can you imagine all the soap bottles he must've gone thru over the years? Or the soap stains on the inside of that wall there? RIP Chuck the bubbles guy. I hardly knew ya but feel like ive known you my whole life.

the way i remember saying it was: Theres Zhitnik on Mike Peca that's starting to Smehlik isnt that Grosek? good for some laughs while drinking beers back in the day 😛

commercials? What are those? Since i watch the games on free online streams, the commercials are blocked out & i don't see any of them. So i can pick the home or away feed for any game i want, whenever i want, pause or rewind the game when i want & not have to deal with any of those commercials either... score! But if you're hurt in a car i suppose its good to know u can call William Mattar 😛

Your entire post summed it perfectly. On a side note i thought this was a slightly comical choice of words from Weekes on this acquisition. Kinda funny that getting a replacement level goaltender is BIG NEWS around here 🤣 The fact that it sort of is, is just a sign of the times i guess. Regardless i cant wait to see how he looks out there

exactly! They knew what our goaltending would be going into this season & this is what they wanted. We're spending $2,127,500 on both of our goaltenders. Only Arizona spends less. You get what you pay for & this was a strategic decision. It'd make absolutely no sense to suddenly break from their plan & make a move for another goalie. Unless we're talking Kenny who works in the concession stand or some other scrub who'd cost peanuts.