DarthEbriate

GM Sheevyn is on record as saying he has been provided all the resources he needs and does not have an internal cap because he's been saving that money for future long-term contracts. If we take him at his word, (and we would be so very, very wrong to do so), then it is his fault for all the innumerable missteps along the way since his hiring, from never getting a starting caliber goaltender either extended (Ullmark) or who was under 38 years old (and Anderson was no longer a 1B option, he was a solid 2), not getting a veteran defensive D for Power, not addressing a gaping top-6 hole ever, waiting and overpaying for 3 seasons of Girgensons/Okposo on the 3rd line compared to their production, etc.

Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them. GM Sheevyn and Darth Pegulas the Wise should've said: To the forwards: score 8 goals next game and I'll trade the player with the most points to Florida. To the D-corps and goalies: get a shutout next game and I'll trade one of you to Vegas.

But a future-focused draft-and-develop team that doesn’t have access to palm trees would love to acquire some draft picks.

So… they’ve canceled 3 practices since the collapse against Colorado? Seems like Appert could’ve used some of that time to work on the power play without Dahlin on the point.

Exactly. Adams is unlikely to go anywhere except up the hierarchy. Pegula is too distracted by the Bills’ prosperity to worry about a pathetic little hockey team.

Yup. 9 games ago they were 3rd in the Atlantic and needed a veteran defensive RHD to pair with Power. A couple of those teams have up a bit, but no one has gone on any run. It's the same GM that had a team 1 point shy of a playoff spot and lost a scoring winger in the offseason to surgery (before UFA) and made no moves to the forward ranks except to re-sign Jost. Never seized any opportunity. Unless the Sabres were to go on a 12-game winning streak to get them back to wild card pace, the season is already over.

Sneaky, sneaky Toronto. Good on them for scheduling to antagonize their divisional opponents. I wonder if they've done something similar to Boston in the past.

Fear leads to the Cap Side. See, there's two sides to every Schwarz Concept: the Cup side and the Cap side.

The main punishment... is for Benson (and his points totals this season) and his skating mostly with Cozens and the ghost of Quinn. He's third in LW time on ice and like everyone, he's provided little to nothing (1 goal) on the power play.

2/22/2011 - Introductory press conference “Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.” - Terry Pegula The payroll went down coming out of the tank -- rookie deals for Eichel, not trying to win, etc. Got up to 10th with Eichel making good cash... 6/17/2020 - Zoom conference "I mentioned three words: effective, efficient and economic. I'm the last guy to know anything about technology. I can't even mute this thing (Zoom) we're talking on here. But I can tell you this, with all the existing technology that exists in the world of sports today, we can move forward much leaner than we operated in the past and much more efficient." - Terry Pegula; from Matthew Fairburn's Athletic article (I had to pull it from a Bleacher Report article). It went on to describe they were getting leaner (axing the scouts/AHL staff, for example). Then, right back down to bottom 4 in spending. I don't know if Pegula has even had an on-record presser/appearance or statement about the Sabres finances since, but he certainly hasn't said anything to the contrary of EEE.

GM Sheevyn is afraid he’d get roasted by the press and fans if he attempted such a maneuver.

You could have Benson crash the crease in practice and make Power’s life a living hell. But Power would probably end up getting hurt if Benson went all-out pest on him. Worst-case: Benson would get injured overexerting himself.

It’s not the points so much as the number of teams between the Sabres and the WC (initialism intended). Particularly when those teams all have a knack for picking up loser points.

Kermit the Frog here, reporting from the plant Cozbane.

Let’s say Adams’ plan works. Two years from now, the Sabres make the playoffs on the strength of an offensive dynamo puck mover d-corps (like Nashville under Housley). And they don’t look back for 5 or 6 seasons (Power’s entire contract) after that. If he can’t learn how to defend his net and crease and goalie in the regular season now, how many playoff series/seasons are they willing to burn while a #1 pick who is going to play 27+ min/game learns that in the playoffs? Are they willing to let a goalie get concussed in the playoffs because of it?

So… what I’m choosing to hear is that he became a Lions fan as a young Darth Pegulas and they never won a championship again. That tracks.

No. The simple reason is play stoppage. Orchestrating or encouraging celebrations would result in slower play and delays and it would spillover to celebrations for non-goals like the NFL. One inane part of the NFL is the celebration of a hard tackle after a four yard gain on first down. What, exactly, are you celebrating? But you can because you've got 20 seconds of downtime. In hockey the puck is still in play. Bonus reason: the Sabres give up too many goals and I wouldn’t look forward to it. Give me the occasional glass hop, or he random Satan skeet shooting his glove for silliness. But unless it’s a game winner or series-winner in OT, just huddle up and then fly by the bench. It works. Hockey is beautiful because of its speed. Next face off. Let’s go.

Heck, even Armia (he of 1 GP in Buffalo before becoming Kane/Bogo) is still kicking around the league. He settled in as a solid 3/4 PKer (15 career shorties). There are some NHL players selected in the 15 first round picks after him, but no one phenomenal. At the end of the first is Rickard Rakell and another 10 picks later is Boone Jenner. But Armia compared to his available peers is.... fine.

The 1st round picks have not been a problem since 2005-06 when they had back-to-back NHL no-shows. But since then, only Nylander projects to play fewer than 500 NHL games (and even he is back in the NHL again), with Rosen, Savoie, Östlund, Kulich, Benson, and Helenius way too soon to make a determination on. Sure, you might go back in time and take Tomas Hertl and Tom Wilson instead of Grigs and Girgs, but put those two players on a team designed to tank and they'd have likely had their potential go unrealized as well.

What do they talk about in their daily conversations? How they've finally succeeded? It only took 14 years, but they finally destroyed a good hockey fan base?

If their early season were to be believed, it'd be WWLWLLLLW. If their recent stretch is any indication, LLWLLLLLL.

That has to be an online joke, right? They can't ban plastic, can they? What are they going to do? Pat people down for uninflated palms? They should ban fans' wallets, purses, and cell phone holders of credit cards. That'll vastly improve the experience, get fans really focused on just the game.

He has a no move clause; then it becomes a 13-team NTC in 2026-27. He's not waiving his rights to join this fantastic franchise.

This team still needs a collective line brawl like nobody's business. They'd all get destroyed (except Greenway and Benson and UPL), but this team still needs a galvanizing event that reminds them that it's just hockey and they're actually among the best at it on the planet.