mjd1001

For me it's getting beyond just pure frustration. Fire Kevin Adams? I don't care, keep him here or fire him... Just win some games. Dahlin and Tage might get frustrated and want to leave? I don't care anymore, let them leave, 16 teams have made the playoffs that didn't have those two guys on them. Tuch may or may not resign here? I don't care anymore. Just win some games. Keep the coaching staff or change them? Trade your prospects and picks or keep them and rebuild? I really, really don't care anymore... Just win some games. Under Pegulas ownership, The decisions don't really matter. There are no right or wrong decisions. I feel like as long as he's here as owner this is going to get turned around with nothing but random chance and luck. They've tried so many different things over the past decade and a half and none of it has worked. I really don't care if everything changes or if nothing changes. Find a way to win and I'll watch. Period

For the past few years I never understood people pushing Detroit and thinking they would be really good. I Look at their drafting, look at how many picks they've had, I look at the entire rebuild they've gone through.... I'm not saying they're an awful team... But they are one of the "lowest potential ceiling" teams after a rebuild that I can think of in recent memory across any sport.

I'm not that far behind you. I'm not going to watch the game on Saturday. I told my wife let's go see a movie, so we're going to see the new Tron movie Saturday night. It might be an awful movie, but with a nine inch nails soundtrack and a lot of explosions and sfx, it will be more stimulating than watching that home opener last night. As long as they have a negative goal differential... That's my metric... I'm not going to watch any live games. If they win, I'll watch the replay. They have until the end of this month to have a positive goal differential and to have more points than games played. If at the end of the month they don't reach that... I'm canceling cable... Because watching the sabres is the only reason I still have it. If they don't turn this around immediately... That's it for the year for me until they do.

We are less than 12 hours after the home opener... If you look at the NHL official standings they sort the teams based on points... And then beyond that it appears as if they sort them by goal differential to break any ties at the bottom of the standings. Again... Less than 12 hours after the home opener, the sabers are showing as team number 31 in a 32 team league. I get it's only one game. But winning versus losing your first game of the season... Probably meant more to this fan base than any other one in the league. And what do they do? Of course lose.

I have a very short leash with this team this year. Last night didn't help. I didn't even finish watching the game. If they don't score a few goals early against Boston, I'll likely be out before the 2nd period hits.

I'm not saying he isn't injury prone....Just no need to post something when you say "literally" and it is exactly not true...thus not 'literally'

so, opening night, and who are the players supposed to be here that weren't (or didn't finish game #1?) UPL Kesserling Benson Power Norris Not good, but am I missing anybody else? If not, game 2 is only 2 days away! Literally not true. He made it until just a few minutes left in the game. Well beyond "1 period of 1 game"

speaking of drivers, this has always been something bothering me but seems to happen more and more... I park across the street, and then get out of my car and walk across the street to the store I am going to. I am the person who parks across the street from the store, or in the way back of the parking lot and do the walking. There often seems to be drivers, speeding down the street I want to cross. Doesn't matter that they are going 10 or 15 over the speedlimit. Doesn't matter they didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign or didn't stop when making the right on red. Doesn't matter that I have the right of way, IN the crosswalk. None of that matters. If they want to drive 45mph down a street after a rolling stop and I am ANYWHERE near them in the crosswalk, I get the horn and an obscene gesture from them. How dare I be a pedestrian walking across the street in a crosswalk and inconveneice their normal (illegal) driving patterns.

I thought about that the other day. That seems to be really popular in the arena on Red and Black jersey days, so why not keep it all the time? Its not like you have to only have it on '90's retro' days because its a 90's song. Goal songs from teams are from all different eras. Just keep Blur as the goal song all the time. I love Kickstart my heart, one of my favorite rock songs of all time, but its not a good 'goal song'. Its more of the song you play before the game starts, before the faceoff, coming out of the period. Leading into the game, leading into the powerplay. Kickstart my hear is a 'beginning' song, not a celebration song.

Or there is not one thing that is going to get him to sign here vs not sign here. Its a sliding scale with multiple inputs that you have to weigh against each other. Maybe he wants to sign here but at $10m+ per year. If the Sabres don't give in he MIGHT sign that deal 'later' but he's going to wait them out and see if they up the offer. Maybe he would rather play for a contender, so he got the $10m+ offer from the Sabres...and if the team is in contention half way through the season he'll sign it...if they are 10 points out of the playoffs come January he'll breathe a sigh of releif he didn't sign it. Maybe he wants to be here, but the Sabres are only offering something like 5 years at $8m per year. He told them no on that deal, and he's hoping for a hot start to get the team to 'up' the offer. If they don't, he'll reluctantly leave. Maybe the Sabres internally with the analytics department have decided he is worth a LOT less than Tuch, his agent, and even the fanbase think. Maybe the Sabres are putting a lower dollar ammount on Tuch, thinking the charts say a forward like him might start 'declining' before his next deal even starts. Both the Sabres and Tuch KNOW he will likely get a contract from SOMEONE who will pay for past performance, not future performance, and while Tuch would like to stay in Buffalo ultimately he is going to look for someone else to 'overpay' him. Probably 4 or 5 other scenarios other than what is listed above that can be in play too. If Tuch were 26 years old, I would be a lot more worried about this than I am now. For me, the WORST case scenario is they announce something like they extended him for 8 years at $11m-$12m per year. I would RATHER both sides let this play out than that.

I get it, its likely Edmonton would prefer he signed long term.Edmonton might prefer it, and I get the point (even in his 30's, he'll draw the fans in, will keep the team in the playoffs, etc) I'm just thinking of it from a 'win the cup' perspective. That team is aging, including McDavid. If you were looking for a deal that does nothing more than keeps the team together through their 'prime cup winning' window and at a bargain price, this is it. He's signed there now for 3 more full seasons. The first year beyond that is his age 31-32 season. It will be Draisatl's age 32-33 season. If Hyman was back, it would be his age 36-37 season. It will be Nurse's age 33-34 season. Ryan-Nuget Hopiks will be in his age 35-36 season. At that point, without a MAJOR reset that team has aged out of its 'cup run'. This deal maximizes the next few years while those guys are still in their 'prime-ish' years. After this extension is up, they CAN Still sign McDavid, but he will likely be a lesser player by then as well will most of the key pieces of this team. There appears to be very little in terms of young help coming up either to fill in those gaps. So yeah, I get it, he is the face of the team. He sells jerseys, he will fill the seats, he will keep the team relevant beyond 3 seaons from now. Just from a competitive point of view, I think this is a great deal for Edmonton where they can/should re-evaluate the entire roster in 3 seasons from now when the deal is up.

1) Sabres point total? 95 2) Will the Sabres makes the playoffs? Yes 3) Sabres leading goal scorer? Tage 4) Sabres leader in total points? Tage 5) Sabres MVP? Dahlin 6) Sabres ROY? No idea (Ellis?) 7) Best off-season acquisition? Doan 8.) Worst off-season acquisition? Georgiev (I was thinking about this last week before he was waived and he was my choice, sticking to it) 9) Biggest surprise? (positive or negative) Samuelsson plays more than 50 games AND is good on the PK and pretty good on the 3rd pair. 10) Breakout player? Kulich (he'll have the greatest increase in points) or Doan (has a chance to become a 'top 10' player on this team in overall play) 11) Will any Sabres players or coaches finish as finalists (win?) for any major awards such as the Norris or Selke? Dahlin has the best shot 12) Unsung hero? McLeod seesm obvious, but since he is a popular choice I'll go with Power. Not that he will be 'unsung' with his pedigree, but I think he will play better than what most people 'observe'. (under-appreciated) 13) Who will be the first Sabre traded away this season? UPL (doubt it but can't think of anyone else) 14) Will KA make any in-season acquisitions before the deadline? Yes something minor/moderate 15) Will the Sabres be buyers or sellers at the deadline? Minor buyers for depth 16) Other bold prediction? {Such as KA gets fired mid-season ;)} Less than 50% chance, but greater than 25% that Bryam gets dealt this year. 17) Any other thoughts? I think this team might have a slow-moderate start to the season, getting the fanbase riled up and not that happy, but I think the team, without major injuries, will 'turn it on' mid season to the end and finish in a playoff spot.

I'm not sure who thinks Edmonton "lost" the negotiation. I can't think of anyone who is saying this deal is a problem for them.

Also, as the pool of top UFA's shrink (supply) so does the teams with the will, or money to sign them (Demand). If Connor chose not to sign in Winnipeg, sure there would be more supply with him on the market, but the also would be more demand (Winnipeg now looking elsehwere to fill that hole.) Every free agent signed, even with their own team, impacts both supply and demand at the same time in a salary cap league.

I don't know how much the comparables will matter...but Kyle Connor: Younger than Tuch, less career injury history, about 100 more career goals, 200 more career points, multiple 40 goal seasons, almost 50 goals in 2021-22......3 points shy of a 100 point season last year.. If he gets 12m, Tuch shouldn't get anything over 10m per year.

I get your point. But "we were outworked" can also sometimes be nothing more than "we aren't as good as them".

I get that it might be better to be taller/bigger to cover more net. But in the past 5 years or so...Shesterkin and Saros have been pretty darn good goalies at right about 6 feet tall also.

I hope so, but I need to see it. Quinn will be one of the players I watch/follow the most in the first few games. 1 major thing to look for: Is he going to the front of the net and getting shots off, or is he staying as probably the most 'perimeter' forward in the league.

To show the difference between sports....

A quick search with results from sportrac claims McDavid makes/made $6m per year in endorsements, Matthews $5m

I wonder if he makes more or less than Matthews, with Matthews probably getting a lot more 'local money' being in Toronto vs Edmonton...with Toronto's metro population and wealth/GDP being...maybe 4 or 5 times what Edmonton is?

Unless you consider Terry Pegula as a 'fan'. In his first few years of ownership, to me he was certainly acting more like a typical 'fan' than a rational owner/member of management.

I think that deal is great for Edmonton. You get the remainder of "Prime McDavid", for 3 more seasons. At that point, your team is getting really old, McDavid will be entering his age 31-32 season. You COULD try to re-sign him, but at the current contract, you are getting the very best he has left in his career while your team window is open at a value price.

I just posted it elsewhere, but I would LOVE that deal for Tuch. If I were the Sabres, I'd throw a party if he signed for a 2 year extension (You'd have him for 3 more years through the season he turns 32, 2027-28, someone else can pay him beyond that)

I'd take the exact same deal for Tuch. Not going to happen but give him a ton of money but limit it to 2 years, sign me up.