mjd1001

I sure need more than 28 points out of him if he is going to be on a first line. Just by luck touching the puck he should get more. BUT, if he is on the first line and only gets 40-50, I won't be TOO upset if the entire line is doing well. I'm not as worried about the point totals of each player on the line, vs how the line performs as a whole.

Any Sabres powerplay that doesn't have the name "Cozens" on it sounds really good to me (until they go 3 games without a PP goal at least).

Agreed. 2 years ago he was a top 10 goalie, and for the 2nd half the the year probably the 2nd best guy in the league. Last year he was a lost cause. WHEN he returns healthy, I think its equally probably he returns to either form.

I'm not big into baseball anymore. As a little kid I liked the Blue Jays (got to go see some games in person) but as I got to be an older kid, teenager, and into my 20s, I became a Yankees fan simply because they were on TV so much. I really don't care at all about the Yankees anymore, and I think part of that is they just don't seem that likeable, the players or the team in general, for the last decade or so. For those that are really big Yankee fans, do you seem like the teams in recent years have just been less 'likeable' (for lack of better word), or as big time fans are you able to see through that?

With regard to online ordering: Amazon. Ordered a case of soup from them that no local stores carry anymore. Came in 2 weeks ago, wrong flavor. Checked the order, we ordered the right item, they shipped the wrong item. So, asked for a replacment/correct item. 2 days ago it came in. Same wrong item. When they ship something wrong, do some sort of cycle count in your warehouse already to make sure items are slotted correctly. This is getting annoying.

I don't DISLIKE Byram, its just I need to see him take another step up. Forget about taking over a game, I just don't ever really see him using his talent to even take over a single shift all that often. Thats the eye test. As far as results/analytics go, he had a chance to be the #1 guy back there when Dahlin was out and he wasn't that good and the team was awful. His analytics...when he is NOT with Dahlin they are actually pretty bad (below 50% in most major categories). WITH Dahlin they are better, but EVERYONE's are better with Dahlin. I mean, I kinda do like Bryam for his visible skill, I just want him to step up a bit more and make more use of it. I just don't think we have seen him take advantage of all the skill he has yet.

Agreed on the last point especially. We know versions of the saying "Can toughness be taught" or "you can't teach toughness". But you know what you CAN teach? You can teach a guy with his height and his size and his reach to position himself better to take away lanes, to use that reach to push the puck away from opposing players better than you could with a guy who needs to take an extra step or two to get there because he has less reach size. We've had 'big-ish' guys supposedly with talent who were physical and hit (Bogo, Risto) that had awful positioning and didn't use their size strategically and they weren't good. On the other hand, here on the Sabres you also had 'big-ish' guys that didn't hit, but used their size and reach and positioned themself well and ended up being pretty darn good in their own zone because of HOW they used their size (Schmelik and Tallinder) Power is taller and has a bette reach than all of those guys, and arguably more upside offensive talent. If/when he learns how to position himself, how to take angles, how to make the 'smart' play in the defensive zone, he could/should be better than any of them.

For all the talk about Power, I am more confident in Power than I am in Byram right now. To me it seems as if Bryam is closer to his ceiling, and that ceiling is a very skilled guy who underperforms that 'raw skill' and the end result is a slightly above average D-man at best. With Power, I still think, and expect, he will be better than that over time.

Well, we all know this and its been posted in other threads...but to the topic, why they may not be good? Day ONE of camp. Tuch nursing an injury. And UPL. and Greenway. Already.

As per my above post, I don't either, but the contract may or may not look that bad by the end of it if the cap does what they think it will. For example, lets say he got 8 years at 9m per year. That is a lot, and toward the end of the deal when Tuch is 36-37 its likely to look bad. I don't think its outrageous to say the cap might/should be at least $140m in 8-9 years from now (considering they are estimating it at 113.5 in just 2 years) Well, last years cap was $88m I think? A $9m deal when the cap is $140m is the same percentage of the cap as $5.6m was last year. That wouldn't be that bad. I know a lot of assumptions there, but you pay in the back end of a deal to get the guy signed up front.

I'd love a shorter term deal from the Sabres point of view. If he went long term and got $8.5m per year (maybe more), with the cap going up so much that won't look that bad in a few years. But at the same time, I'd rather have the short term deal to take someone to 33-34 years old and then re-evaulate from there.

I really hope that Thompson and Norris aren't on the same line from day one of camp. If it ends up that way fine, but try some different combinations first.

So UPL injured.. Greenway injured... Tuch has something, And this is on day one of camp. What's the over and under on number of days before Norris or Dahlin comes up with something also? It's frustrating.

That Greenway extension is looking to be the worst signing of the past 12 months at least.

Im surprised it took this many years for tickets, even for a home opener, so be so far behind the rest of the league. Lets see, at $33 per ticket (I'm assuming no taxes/fees on that?) If I wanted to go with one other person, wife, kid..whoever. $66. Add in parking (is that up to about $20 now?) Lets assume not much in the way of concessions and certainly no full meals, but maybe one drink and one snack per person. At arena prices that is another $30-$40 for 2 people? So, for the team that hasn't made the playoffs in a decade-and-a-half, in one of the 'worst' arenas in the league, getting some of the worst seats in the house and having some pretty undesirable food, I might still be looking at $150 per night or more? On a weeknight/worknight/schoolnight? When I could watch it at home for free and if the game is awful tune into the Thursday nigtht NFL game instead? I'm not a person that goes to games anymore, but even if I was, between the quality of the team, the quality of the Arena/Arena experience, they would have to give me SOMETHING for me to spend any money to support them.