mjd1001

Thats a good way to look at it. I'm firmly in the camp of the longer the young guys stay in the minors, the better off they will be (of course, hopefull that will be less time than Luke Adam has been down there.) Bottom line is...guy should not expect to be called up when they THINK they are playing better than someone at the bottom of the Roster who is already in Buffalo. They should get called up ONLY when they are playing so good that it is obvious they have a chance to be a LEGIT top 7-9 player on the Sabres and contribute right away. If you don't make the team out of training camp as a young guy, they the way you get a call-up is by blowing everyones doors off in Rochester.

This is what I HATE the most about fights..when guys do that. He got hit, went down.....Prout held back and didn't throw any more punches when Lucic was down...but then Lucic gets up and wants to keep going after the refs get in. If there is any kind of "CODE" as they call it among fighters/fights in the NHL, Lucic looks like he just showed he thinks it doesn't apply to him. I'm kinda as much of a Bruins fan as one can get growing up in Buffalo and loving the Sabres. I still follow the Bruins pretty closely, but Lucic is just one player I don't like. I wish he wasn't on that team and they had someone instead with similar talent but just someone different.

Well, it all depends on what you mean by "taking Buffalo seriously" If you mean contend to get into the playoffs, then I think you might be able to consider that in as soon as 2 years. However, if you mean to contend for a Cup, or at least to be a top 6 team consistently, then yes, I can see it taking 5 years. What I am hoping for (and I think we can be realistic about) is this: This year: finish at or near the bottom, get that high pick. Next season: Maybe not make the playoffs, but be in the converstaion for most of the year 2016-2017 season: Contend for playoff spot 2017-2018: Expect playoffs (and hopefully make) 2018-2019: legitimate top 10 team. (Remember at this point, Zadarov, Grigorenko, Risto, Girgensons, etc will still all be under 25 years old.)

If Risto and Zadarov keep playing well together (a big IF) and when Gorges comes back to team with Myers, the Sabres just may have a pretty legit top 4 D pairing. Not elite, but more than respectable. Of course, that all depends on Myers not regressing and having Zadarov not drop off too much. I know this, I would be surprised if he doesn't get worn down a bit IF he keeps playing 20 minutes a game (something he isn't used to, at least at an NHL level)

So, does the high ice time indicate that, for the time being, Nolan is using them as his #1 pair?

I haven't seen the last few Sabres games, so to those of you who have, I have a Question about him. Just how well is he playing? I know the numbers: -His ice time is going up, with a team leading and staggering 'over 25 minutes' last game -He is a plus 3 in 7 games, which is really good on a team full of players who are almost all in the minuses So, does he LOOK good? Is he really playing now like a top 4 guy (at least through 7 games) or is he still making mistakes but is in the "right place at the right time"? I'd just really like to hear a detailed opinion from someone who really likes to analyze the young guys.

I like the idea of Reinhart going to the AHL for half, if not all, of next season. I don't see how it would hurt him in the long run, and would only help him.

I had almost this exact same conversation with my wife today. I agree with just about everything you said.

I thought of the issue of how baseball doesn't attract the younger crown anymore...and I can't take credit for thinking of this, as I heard it talked about a year or two ago on a radio station. The topic was why ratings for baseball were falling especially with people under 25, and an example was brought up of an early season game on national TV (I think it was a Saturday afternoon, or MAYBE the sunday night game). The issue was, the broadcast started, and one of the 'old time' baseball writers/broadcasters started talking in front of the camera on TV before the national anthem. I don't remember the exact specifics, but they started doing the "waxing poetically" thing bringing up "harkening back to the days of Ebbetts field" and picturing the "Fluid swing of Ron Cey" and then talking about "Charile Hustle"...without ANY explanation at all. Now, to the typical 40-50 year old (or older) lifelong fan of baseball, that may have been a cute opening, but if any of those viewers were trying to get their 14 year old to watch the game with them, the kid must have been like "WTF is he TALKING about? Just let me leave so I don't have to watch this stupid game" Now that doesn't apply in every situation, but after hearing that...I did pay attention to a few broadcasts the next few weeks and it does seem even the broadcast caters to the older crowd. Unless you pay attention, you don't realize it, but Baseball seems to mention things that happened 20-30 years ago a LOT more than any other sport...and that can be something that turns off younger viewers. And as others have said, when you do get excitement in baseball, it IS very excitement. The problem is 95% of the game is comprised of the following: Pitcher stares at catcher, batter walks out of box, pitcher walks off mound, pitcher stares back at catcher, pitcher throws ball, batter doesn't swing at it, Repeat.

I have to agree with you to a certain extent, and maybe take it a step farther. Are they the greatest team ever? Is Lebron better than Jordan? Is Brady or Manning better? Was the seahawks D better than the 85 bears or the 2000 Ravens? That stuff drives me nuts hearing it over and over and....when it is brought up it is the #1 thing to get me to turn off talk radio or a pre-game/post game show on TV. If, IF I am going to engage in that conversation, it will be one-on-one with my friends. I don't care to hear what the experts say about it (maybe ONE time) but the stuff you mentioned and I mentioned above....it just gets created for something to talk about.

That crowd of under 5000 is a let down. I'm not planning on going to any games this year (we went to a preseason game)...but if we had decided to go watch a game downtown, This game would have been at the top of the list for pure entertainment value to me.

The beauty of low expectations....people who actually watch the Sabres seem to be less upset with watching games like tonights...compared to how upset Bills fans get when they "only" win by 20 points when they thought they should have won by 30.

I think people are making a good point locally about the Jays. The Blue Jays used to be a lot bigger of a draw here, and it was the 'local' team with them being only 1-1.5 hours away, but ever since the big Dollar cable TV packages, WNY doesn't get the game on TV. While Yankee, Met, or Red Sox fans don't care much about that, it does have an impact that you can't see them anymore. Another thing related to the cable packages is, most of the games you CANNOT watch on TV without cable. That has been like that for a while now, but with more and more people (especially younger people) 'cutting the cord' and getting rid of cable, they simply aren't exposed to the game. As someone else said above, the league seems to be sacrificing a lot of future fans for current dollars. What needs to change? 1. Get the games sped up a LOT. Pitcher must get rid of pitch in 15 seconds or its a ball. Batter can only step out of Box 1 time per at bat. 2. Let viewers see local games streaming online. Maybe somehow get local games on TV and not on cable (probably not going to happen though) 3. Its summertime. Yes people work, but you need more afternoon games. Also, when an east coast team is visiting a west coast team during the week, make some of those west coast start times a bit earlier (an occasional 5:30 or 6 West coast start time would help a lot) 4. World Series. Start the games an hour eariler. A lot of the games might be great, but in my life I have been exposed to a lot more games that were dogs. I just don't feel like blocking out 3+ hours of time with the HOPE it might be a good game. Get most of the games down to 2 hours, and might be in.

I think you are 50% right. More profitable than ever? Yes. Highest ratings ever? No.

With the end of the world series approaching, just looking to see what others think. As a kid growing up, I watched over 100 baseball games a year once they were on cable, and watched EVERY playoff game I could regardless of who was in them. Starting a decade ago, I still watched some games, but maybe 15-20 a year, but still watched the World Series. This year, I haven't watched a playoff game yet. Just don't have the interest anymore. Some things to consider: -So far, this is on pace to be the lowest rated World Series EVER. -According to the ratings details, only 1 out of every 25 viewers of the World series is under 18. -The average age of a World Series viewer is now 55 years old. -The U.S. vs Portugal soccer match this past summer earned DOUBLE the ratings that game one of the world series did this year. On the other hand, 2 million kids play little league baseball, the number has stayed steady year to year, while the number of kids playing pop-warner football has declined, and about 10 TIMES as many kids play organized baseball as football (under the age of 12). So, what does everyone think, do you still watch baseball? Is the game doomed to be a 'fringe' sport within the next 5-10 years?

There are examples on both sides of things, but I wanted to bring up another example of a guy who is turning into a superstar who really didn't show much of anything until 3 years after he was drafted: Ryan Johansen from Columbus. Drafted 4th overall in 2010, but C-Bus didn't rush him. He didn't even play with the club until the 2011-2012 season, and only totaled 9 goals and 12 assists in mostly a full season. The next year (2 years after draft year), he had 5 goals in the 40 games of the shortened season. Simply looking by the numbers, a lot of people might have said he as a bust as the 4th overall pick with only 14 total goals since getting drafted 3 years ago. So what has he done since? We all know last year he came up with 33 goals and was a plus player for the first time in his NHL career. This year, he has 5 goals and 6 assists through 8 games (about a 50 goal, 110 point pace...although as with most hot starters he is not likely to keep that up) Just because a player is drafted in the top 5, doesn't mean instant success. It may take 3+ years from their draft time to start producing as you want them to.

As others have said, it really isn't the lack of shots that is the problem for the Sabres offense, it is the lack of any of those shots being QUALITY chances. We can't really tell if anyone on this team is talented enough to score until they get some quality chances.

A guy like Myers is always going to be viewed on how the team around him plays, regardless of how he plays. If he's on a team like the Sabres are now, many people are going to focus on his shortcomings and say he is average at best. If he is on a top 5-8 team in the league, he can play the EXACT same way, but if the team wins, he'd be viewed by many (including across the league) as one of the best D-men in the league.

I'm not all that upset with this team yet. Sure, I'd like to see them lose 4-3 or 3-2 rather than 1-0, but not much more beyond that. I also don't think (yet) that this team is an absolute lock for last place and that they are going to as bad (or worse) than last year. ANY team, good or bad, that has a lot of changes from the start of one season to the next is going to take a while to 'gel', so to speak. On the top teams, you have a larger portion of the team that has played with each other for YEARS and know where each other will be on the ice (or at least the key players on the top line.) On the Sabres, it is going to be at least 20 games until that happens..and by the time it does, they will be into the 'softer' part of the schedule. What do I think that means? I think you might still be looking at a 60-70 point team, UNLESS further trades are made to strip this team early (Myers, Stewart, and Stafford gone by the end of the year.) What is puzzling to me is the constant talk of the 'lack of effort' game after game? Are even the 'experts' who are saying that confusing lack of effort for lack of talent? I just don't see how the biggest goal of the offseason was to purge this team of guys who didn't show any effort, who didn't want to be here, and yet that still seems to be a major problem? I don't get that. Maybe it is just human nature, even the guys who are normally 'effort' guys aren't going to go 100% everyday until they feel they have a legitimate chance to win a good number of games?

Actually, that is the best case scenario then. Juniors this year....hopefully some time at the end of the season with Rochester this year.....then next year a full offseason and full camp with Buffalo, and maybe the start of the season with Rochester. If he plays great there, he can then be a full time member of the Sabres in 13-14 months from now.

I said if he isn't ready, then that is the path. He's 18 now, why would it be insanity for a top prospect who is NOT a Sydney Crosby/Alex Ovechkin/Stamkos guy coming out of the draft....to expect them to contribute to your top 2 lines when he is 20 years old? Everything we have heard about him is that he projects to be a star but not a superstar...so I don't get how giving the kid seasoning until he is 20...if he needs it....how is that insanity?

A Myers deal is going to be a tough trade for any team to make. Why? Tim Murray is probably going to want a young star in the making...not a good player but a STAR...and I think Buffalo may be looking to throw in a prospect with Myers or a second round pick or higher. Why? The Sabres are loaded, and I mean LOADED with former and current first round picks..as well as young guys who look to be pretty decent second-liners. They also have a lot of future #2, #3, or #4 D-men. What they need is someone who is going to be a legit first liner. A top 50 forward in the league. For that, you are going to have to sweeten the pot with more than Myers...but this team has a lot of stuff to sweeten that pot with. There is no way the Sabres can take on any more "good but not great" prospects or future draft picks...they are getting to the point where in the future, they won't have spots for all of the ones they have already. Once again, If Myers gets moved, I think Buffalo throws in somethingthing extra to get a young STAR forward.

I agree with you totally. Although I do not think Zadarov is being rushed. What I hope is to see him play through 9 games then go back to Junior....get some time with the Amerks at the end of this year, and then give him a SHOT to make the team next year. Best case scenario for him is he plays well enough to possibly make the team next year but gets sent to Rocheter for at least a couple months...then 'works' his way into the lineup. As for the others, I agree. Next one up should be Larson, give Grigorenko at least a half season in Rochester, and a full season wouldn't be bad for him. As for Renhart, I don't think you want him in Junior this year AND next year, but if I could get away with it, I would have him in Junior, this year, Next year, then the following year spend at least part of a Season with Rochester......of course with the caveat that he can play with the Sabres earlier if he forces your hand. Prove he is one of the top 6 forwards on the team. Until he can do that, it is Juniors or Roch.

I'm NOT all for dirty play at all. Hits in hockey, sure. Stick work or any other kind of play that is on the edge of the rules..needs to go. I'd be just as excited to go to that Amerks game and see the 5 goals, especially how nice some of the goals where...when you see that kind of scoring, I don't need any of the other stuff.

Auto....all cars, all the time. I bought one manual mitsu Eclipse turbo years ago....falling into the thinking of thinking of "sporty cars are meant to be driven with a manual"....but i didnt get that feeling when i had it, Ease of use, comfort, and with todays tech, I'll take also the added performance and efficiency of the Auto over the manual (most Auto cars now out perform their manual equipped counterparts, espeically with DSG's and 6-8 speed autos). Also, if I had a performance car, I want to just hit the gas and enjoy the feeling of pure acceleration with my mind only on steering or modulating the gas to reduce wheel-spin...I don't need the extra 'sensation' of shifting gears to enjoy the acceleration.