mjd1001

I could add another one related to yours. I lived in Boston for many years after college, and I was there in the late 1990's and 2000s. It wasn't a Red sox game for me, as I wasn't a Red Sox fan, but the day before the All star game my boss at my new job offered me a ticket to go with him to the home run hitting contest. Sosa and McGwire were there. I honestly do not even remember who won, just the whole day was a great time. Sometime when you are too invested in a team, it becomes more 'stressful' and 'less fun'. When you can just take in an event without too much being invested in any player or a team, those are great days to be a fan of sports.

I was at the comeback game against the Oilers years ago. Yes I am one of the 100,000's of people that claim to be at the game but was actually there. The thing is, we would have left early at halftime. Me and the friend I had discussed it, but we drove with someone else who sits in a different part of the stadium, and thought "If we leave and go to the car and the don't, we'll just be standing out there" so we stuck it out. Good thing there were no cell phones back then, if there were we would have called or texted them, probably all agreed to leave and not been there for the end. I told myself I would never forget that game. And I remember the 'feeling' of being there, but I honestly can't remember any of the details anymore. I was in my late teens for that game and am in my late 40s now. But whenever I see highlights of it, I remember being 'there' for it, but when I see the highlights most of the plays aren't something specific I remember. But if I am honest with myself, the 'best' games to me, the 'most fun' games to me aren't the Bills games I was at in the past...they aren't the Sabres games where they have a big win. They are Bandits games...just because I love the atmosphere and I just have a better time there than I do with the Bills and Sabres games in person.

Hoping he gets a stint in Rochester, at least get him 'somewhat' up to speed for a couple weeks. There will be a lot saying 'if he is good enough to skate/play than we need him in Buffalo', but I think some time in Rochester would make sense.

Honestly in terms of goal scoring production, its really comes down to 2 things: Thompson: At this point last year he had 14 goals already, and he was ready to head into his best month for the Sabres (13 goals in December last year). By the end of December last year, Thompson had 27 goals. This year he only has 6, and is not playing heading into December. Cozens. Your 30+ goal emerging star from last year is on pace for mid-teens. Not only that, but he has been a non-factor/invisible in many games. You are getting the production you expect out of Tuch and Skinner (both on pace for 30+), and Peterka is pretty much picking up the production from Olofsson from last. You MIGHT have liked one or two more goals from Tuch earlier in the season when he struggled, but honestly the biggest thing this team is missing up front is production from Thompson (injured) and Cozens. The only way I think it was/is an anomaly is if you expect Thompson to be a guy that is injured quite a bit AND think Thompson is only a 15-20 goal per year guy going forward. If nothing else changes, this team's offensive woes will be solved by Thompson coming back and not playing hurt, getting Quinn back, but mostly Cozens becoming a factor again.

If they are playing differently this year then agree, go back to last years style. This team didn't give up bad goals so much last year by being too run-and-gun....rather it was defensive positioning and decisions. Making bad decisions in your own and and deciding whether or not to hold your position rather than chase a puck on the boards shouldn't have much to do with what you do in the neutral zone or offensive zone.

Who started this 6K garbage Anyway? I've been avoiding this thread most of the time because not only does he already have a nickname... UPL... 6k is just dumb.

I really don't know what vets you will bring in that will put this team over the top: -Who are you going to bring in that is a top 6 level guy up front, and who comes out of the current top 6? if you trade for someone who is not a legit top 6 guy up front (someone who would be the 7th or 8th best forward), I'm not sure that makes much of a difference. -Same thing with the D. Dahlin is getting his 25 minutes per game. Power his 22+ and Samuelsson 20+. They are all long term locked up and part of your young core. That leaves less than an average of 14 minutes for the remaining D-men. Jokiharju is playing pretty decent this year. It LOOKS like the younger Johnson is playing well and may be a legit decent guy by the end of this year and going forward. So again, who are you going to trade for that will be a player that makes a big improvement on the D-unit? Power isn't playing all that well but you aren't bringing in someone to take minues away from him. So, again its all well and good to trade for a top 'vet' but who is that going to be and who are they taking minutes from? I see 2 problems with this team. #1, the Defense is young. They are talented, but if you look at the top units around the league, for the MOST part the solid D-units have top guys getting top minutes that are at least 28 years old. This D will get better but you have no choice to give it time. Like a couple hundred additional games of experience. The second problem is the top guys aren't scoring. They went from last year being the 3rd best scoring team in the league to being in the bottom 1/3 this year, a major drop. Who do you trade for that fixes that, and who's spot do they take in the lineup? And remember, you can trade for a guy who is really good by giving away a top draft pick and 1 or 2 of your top prospects, but you aren't paying much for those 1-2 prospects and that top draft pick. You bring i a guy who is a VET who is really REALLY good its likely he's making decent $$$. This team is much closer to the cap now than they have been in the past and don't have that much room as they used to, not to mention Mitts, Peterka, Jokiharju, UPL, Ryan Johnson and Quinn all needing new deals in the next 2 years.

Last nights game took something big out of me. They played very well at times, but the results....We are hearing too many times from the PLAYERS (not the coaches, but the PLAYERS) things like...we have to do better...there were some positives....stuff like that. The season is still (kinda) early, and a 3-4 game winning streak makes the standings look a lot better. Teams have 3 - 4 game winning streaks (or more) all the time right? Well, the Sabres have had ONE TWO game winning streak all year. More than 1/4 way though the season and ONE single time they won back to back, thats it. So, when is that 3-4 game winning streak coming? You want to get to 95-96 points when things all shake out at the end of the year to have a good chance of making the playoffs. 98 almost guarantees you a wild card. So, from this point how do they get to 98? 76 points in the next 59 games. From today on, until the end of the season, they have to play at nearly a 106 "point pace". That is almost 65% of available points. Just to get be 'almost' assured of a Wildcard. The rest of the entire season. From a team that in 2 months has not had a single 3 game win streak and only ONE time has won 2 in a row. I usually am pretty positive, I tend to look at all the possibilities and lean toward 'they still have a chance and I'm going to enjoy the ride'. But this morning...Just not feeling it for the first time in a couple years. Too much "we know we are good enough" or "we have to play better" or "we had some good stretches in there" Last year they were fun, 3rd in the league in goals. Almost 56% of available points. This year they are 23rd in the league in goals) and they are getting less than 48% points. That is a major step back and a LOT less fun to follow. There is no talk around the league about an emerging superstar/potential top 5 goals scorer here. No talk of an emerging Norris candidate or a possible Calder candidate. Nothing. In 2 months this year, they have turned back into an irrelevant footnote of a franchise that is not any fun, and gets no attention or respect from anyone. Following a team like that is just about the most non-fun thing to do in sports. I still don't think a coaching or GM change fixes this quickly. I'm not out for 'heads to roll'. I like many of the players on this team and I want them to be successful WITH most of this current roster. I fall back on Pegula being a bad owner right now, and he was an AWFUL owner in the past. Just how much did he screw this up? The tank (not a bad idea but poorly executed). The rushed rebuild. Murry as GM. Bad trades. Gutting the scouting department with the resulting bad drafts. Until recently not much in terms of player development (and maybe even now we give them too much credit for just 'catching up' to the rest of the league and being average). Front office changes left and right. How many coaches? You can't fire the owner, and he DID keep the team here, but this has been a dreadful franchise since the day he took ownership of the team. It shouldn't be this early in the year where we start thinking like "well, next season will be the year they make the playoffs" because that means we would be 1/3 of the way though Calendar year 2025 before we have a CHANCE at seeing a playoff game with this team in it.

It was a few years ago, but someone put out an article that in the games the missed (small-ish sample size of coure), Draisaitl's production dropped only a little bit without McDavid, while McDavid has a slightly larger percentage of production drop without Draisaitl. This of course was in the years a little while ago when McDavid missed more games, but I think the Sample size was close to 50 games. Basically, he was a point per game player still in games where McDavid didn't play. A drop-off, but not a huge one.

The Blues have not much on their roster that is scary. Sure, they have a better record than the Sabres, but this is the team that only beats you if you make mistakes, if you control the game vs them you win. No ultra high end talent, zero guys even bordering on elite. The reason they win any games at all is they have an somewhat above average, veteran D-unit that rarely makes mistakes and is backed up by forwards who are always fresh because they roll lines, and have decent (slightly above average) goaltending. This might be the definition of a team that does not beat you, you only 'lose' to them when you don't play your game and you make mistakes.

Girgensons is a 4th liner, when you are talking your 10th-12th best forward, you normally don't always need a ton of offensive talent, but to say he has none is just wrong. 5 on 5 goals per 60 he is 6th on the team this year, and if you go back over recent history (I searched and combined the past 3 years with anyone who played half the games or more for the Sabres) he is still 6th over that timeframe. Not bad for a 4th liner. His shooting percentage is just shy of 9%. Again, not great, but about the same this year (or better) than Cozens, Greenway, VO and Benson...and not too far below what Peterka's is for both years of his career. Anyone who is my 4th line (10th-12th forward on the team) that is better than 10th in goals per 60 (best way to measure offensive production for players with limited ice time and little-to-no PP time), I think thats actually good for the 4th line.

The Sabres EHL affiliate now in Jacksonville, FL has huge turnouts to games. Anyone on the board ever been there? I'd like to know what the gameday experience is and the quality of the arena is down there for such huge turnouts.

Ok, Biro...anyone know this guy REALLY well? Like if he were to stick around the NHL, what is his ceiling? Is he a defensive specialist? Physical at all? super hard forechecker? Energy guy? I have watched him play, but maybe someone who watches him in Rochester a bit, what is his style of play and in 2-3 years from now if he WAS in the NHL, what would his potential role be?

I try to not go at people too hard, but with some people, I have gone back and forth really hard on some topics. It can get heated. What I try to do is look at everyones screename and recognize those people who interact with me....but not to remember the conversations too hard. I'm sure I have gone back and forth with you over the last few years on some pretty heated things, but after a day or two goes by I end up liking a post or yours or you (and others) do the same to me. I think its ok to argue on here...as long as it doesn't get TOO personal..and as long as we don't hold that grudge for too long.

This team has a lot of potential depth, much of which will be very good in not too long from now. The issue is, if you have a FULL roster, that young depth you would ideally want to work into games gently. When you have young guys it helps if they are talented, but maybe the first few games you don't want to have to give them ice time in the 3rd period where if they mess up it can cost the team a win. We all have our opinions and we all think we know more than we do, and Benson, so far is an example. I wasn't upset that the Sabres drafted him...but something about him I wasn't feeling all that good about. Just didn't think it was a great pick and thought if he turned out he would be a 'decent' nhl player at best but it would take him 3-4 years to get to that point. Yep, I look to be pretty wrong on that one.

Maybe St. Catharines? Although you don't want to have to potential deal with a border crossing. Are AHL facilities really that good across the league? I ask because I really don't know. I was at an Amerks game, and I didn't think it was all that bad, certainly not a dump. Maybe things have changed across the NHL? If you are not going to keep them in Rochester and you did build a new facility, how about Niagara Falls? Right across the border, a 20-30 minute drive from downtown but enough of a separation to give it a different 'feel'. And it doesn't have to be in run-down-main st niagara falls, you could do something off the highway, maybe lewiston.

We all know goalies are strange guys how they develop. UPL could turn back into an inconsistent guy and be a borderline AHL/NHL guy with no further development. He also could turn into one of the best in the NHL over the next couple years. Or he could get slightly better and be a decent-but-not-great #1 but a solid #2 (Marty Biron comes to mind). You never know with goalies.

Each time Comrie takes the net, there seems to be about a 1 in 3 chance he will get injured again, bringing Levi back up.

100% agree. Fans do it also big time. It seems that 9 times out of ten when the Sabres or Bills win a big game, its because of how good they are, how well they played. When they lose a game, its 'the coach needs to go' or now what changes have to be made. Rarely, if ever, is the outcome of a game simply you were that good or that bad. It is equally how the other team was, how 'good' or 'bad' they are.

I don't get that...the "looks bad for KA" stuff here and all over Twitter. So the Sabres are making a move that is likely good for the current team by passing on him, but some people are just looking for anything to support their narrative that will they take something that is just (Likely) wrong so they can say what they want to say.

Vets at the correct age (fowards under 30 but with a lot of experiene and D-men between the age of 26-32). That is perhaps a big thing that is overlooked in terms of how successful a team is. Yes, you need talent. But a lot of people can't figure out why Seattle was pretty good from the start, so was Vegas. Why are the Kings doing so well now (and there are other examples). A lot of it has to do with teams, espically on the back end, that have 'decent enough' pure talent but have a lot of expereince.

When Ulmark was 25, I beleive he had only spent very small stints with the Sabres at that point, playing 26 games over 3 seasons with a losing record (although a losing record on a pretty bad team). Goalies can, and mostly DO take time.

Boston has now lost 3 in a row, allowing 17 goals in those 3 games. Lost 4 of their last 5, allowing 5 or more goals in all 5 of those losses. They have allowed 23 goals in their last 5 games, after only allowing 32 total in the previous 16 games. A small bump in the road? or a bigger issue starting to show up with the Bruins?

I'm not in the fire him camp yet. As other have said, who are you replacing him with and give me a reason why they would be a lot better first.

It appears he has taken that step where now he's perceived as a legit NHL goalie. Now let's see him take that next step... And keep up this relative level of play for a few weeks or a month or two. Then we can actually start talking about him being a legit good NHL goalie.