mjd1001

For me personally, Girgensons and Dahlin have to be near the top of the list.

How about having him come back as a guest in the booth when he is attending a game and doing a period maybe? On the other hand, I seem to think RJ will be like John Madden when he retired. I remember Madden, after he retired, was asked to come back and do a game. He said no, and his reason was once he retired, he stopped studying the league as a job, he stopped doing the prep work, all that is involved with the game. He didn't talk to the coaches and players to keep up with the 'inside trends' He treated it as a fan and was too far behind on the detailed stuff. I think RJ would be the same way, not coming back for a game, or even a period...cold.

70 points to end the year for the Sabres. 18p in 19 games is slightly above what they have done so far (points per game) but still should be do-able. Behind them in the league standings will be: Montreal, Philly, Arizona, Seattle. Buffalo, Chicago and Ottawa will battle to the last week to see who finishes 5th, 6th, and 7th worst in the league. New Jersey and Detroit should pull away a bit. As far as league-wide...Florida will real in Colorado in the race for the presidents Trophy, but ultimately Colorado will win it. Carolina will fade and fall pretty far behind Florida. Once the playoffs start the Rangers will disappoint their fans the most. Slight chance they get out of the first round (don't think they will) but if they do they will go out quickly in the 2nd round.

I'm going to agree with you here. I don't see many problems with is game. Sure he is 24 already, but with limited NHL experience he still should get a LITTLE better than he is now, and I think he could be good enough now to be a solid 3rd pair guy.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think of it as anything close to a curse. Call it a tank, call it a teardown and rebuild, call it what you want but the Sabres tried it and it failed terribly, mostly because of poor execution. Bad trades. Bad decisions on contracts, bad coaching hires, bad draft picks, all of it. Things are looking up now, but that can change quickly. Not change long term, but in the ebbs and flow of a season, ANY team can have good weeks or months (where they exceed expectations) followed by bad weeks or months, and then back to good. I expect that to happen. The main thing I expect to happen hasn't changed. I expect this team to GRADUALLY get better. I know, I know, a lot of us are tired of waiting. A lot of people think they can make certain aggressive moves to take big steps and now is the time to do that. I myself am happy seeing improvement, and I'll take a big move but not for any players you have to overpay, not for any players that are only coming here for the money, and not for any players you sign to long term deals that are over 30. If there is a curse that has been lifted, to me it would be the curse of impatience and bad decision making that results from rushing a rebuild. Now that things seem to be moving forward, I hope the team doesn't swerve off the current path. Next years the goal should be 100% to win as many games as you can, but no shortcuts or temporary moves to do that.

That kind of thought is realism. If they were cup contenders, I would have a different viewpoint. But odds are they will not be cup contenders. Do I like that? No, I wish they were, but it doesn't change the likely facts. That is not being negative. that is not 'thought that needs to end'. That is looking at the situation, evaluating it, and giving an opinion based on where the team ACTUALLY is in its development, not where we want them to be. I root for the Sabres, I think they are getting better, but hey, thank you for telling me what kinds of thoughts I should be thinking in my own head. I'm fine without that advice though....

Besides the game against the Sabres, the Flames have been a dominant team for the past month or so. I'm not sold on Tampa, they just aren't playing very well against other teams in playoff positions, I think they have taken that 1/2 step backward this season.

I'm not for making any big moves or free agent signings. Things look to be getting better, stay on the path: I personally would bring back Olofsson unless he wants top dollar. Try to resign Hinostroza also. Top 12: Skinner Thompson Tuch VO Mittlestadt Girgs Cozens, Krebs Asplund Okposo Quinn, Peterka. Roch guys like Murray and some low priced bodies battle it out in Training camp to fill injury spots or to see if anyone takes a huge leap to make roster instead of the above. Defense: Dahlin, Joki, Samuelson, Fitzgerald, Power for sure. I'd like to resign Pysyk. Open competition between Roch guys and anyone else you bring in for the final couple spots. Thats not exciting. That is close to 'status quo' but with Quinn, Power and maybe Peterka, you are infusing some talented youth, and the team SHOULD be better just as the young guys get one year older. The current youth should take another step and make this team better next year. Once you see HOW much better, THEN you can start thinking of adding more veteran pieces to take that next step beyond.

Team is not winning the Cup next year. Have UPL be your #1 guy. In limited time in Buffalo he has looked pretty good in front of a suspect D-unit. Want to bring back Anderson or another Mid priced vet to back him up fine.

For Dahlin the progress has been steady. At first you saw flashes of what he could be in individual great plays. As time went on, you saw him having great shifts. Then he would have great periods. Recently he has been having great games. Hopefully things will continue and he'll start having great months, or even great seasons.

I don't understand how so many eastern teams (especially Boston but Buffalo also) have weekend games that start in the afternoon.....yet whenever an east coast team goes out west most of the games seem to start late. It would just make sense that every team has a good number of afternoon games, especially on weekends or holidays, and the ones on the west coast are against visiting east coast teams (for the fans sake). I've been watching more and move Sabres games lately, but I'm not up to watch any of these late starts either.

I actually don't like this trade right now. An extra 6th means really nothing to this Sabres team now...and getting rid of Hagg means just one less guy in the organization, and that filters down to Roch. Unless you can take that 6th and flip it with another player to improve the NEXT return. Unless they are just making roster room for Power or anyone else coming from College?

I agree 100%. Girgensons might be one of the most underrated players in recent memory on this team. He doesn't put up a ton of points, but he does score SOME, but everything else he does for this team is a positive in almost every way. That is a guy I want in my top 12 forwards for years to come.

In one of the twitter threads, it said he took a pretty bad shot with the puck off of his arm. I didn't see it so I don't know if its true, but it might be an explanation that would be non-neck related.

Should he not play and Vegas wins without him.....doesn't mean much long term and it wouldn't mean hes a bad player....but a win in the first game without him will surely give fans something to joke about for a couple of days.

I read a good article about ice surface a few years ago that basically went against all conventional wisdom of the larger ice surface being better for speed/faster players. It claimed just the opposite in most cases. The large ice surface allows the Defense more time to setup. They have that extra half second to see the play develop. More importantly it is about the distance the puck travels. On a small ice surface there are more 'bang-bang' plays, a pass from the board to the slot is shorter and gives the D less time to react. And quite simply on a smaller ice surface the puck is usually closer to the net and that is where more goals are scored. The large ice surface benefits most a team with a fast/mobile D-unit...and that benefit is it allows them to react to and choke off the opposing rushes a bit easier. The small ice surface benefits forwards with good hands and good acceleration (that good first step).

How about the Sabres win a high-scoring game in OT? Gets a W for Buffalo, Oilers still get a point.

Agreed, and he never was. The only way anyone thought he was generational was before his draft SOME pundits told us he was. But ever since he started with the Sabres, he never showed signs of it. Very talented? Yes. The ability to be NEAR the top of the league in scoring? Occasionally. But generational as a center/point producer? Never generational.

Let the kids develop and move into their roles. Strategic signings for the bottom 6, with the young guys getting more chances in the top 6. No more middle aged higher prices free agents to take spots (and time) away from the young guys. Smart signing or trade for ONE veteran D-man that might have top 4 skill to pair with one of the younger guys. Patience. Don't go out and trade for or sign 4 or 5 guys because they will make the team better next year. No 'big name' guys just because we like the sound of their name or they had 1 or 2 good years a few seasons ago. I have no desire for a 'jt miller' type guy that so many people keep bringing up....who is going to be 30 years old and would likely make this team better NEXT year but at the expense of taking ice time away form the younger players. The team IS getting better as the young kids develop. Don't mess with the locker room, just add one or two strategic pieces and let things develop.

With regard to the Sabres prospects and how they are developing, players like Mitts, Cozens, etc... There are many of us who want to rush players to the big club, and then label them as busts if they aren't superstars (or at least regulars bordering on stars)...if their first round draft status doesn't translate into that within a couple of years. We have seen our own Buffalo Example of Tage Thompson...Its just this year he has blossomed into a player bordering on a star, and he is 24. -First round pick at age 18 -Didn't even play a game in the NHL until he was 20 -before until this season (where he is 24 now) he had 145 games played and 18 goals, a pace of 10 per 82 games. This year he is on a 35 goal per 82 pace. I saw a bit of the Coyotes game last night and there is another example of it taking a LONG time with some guys. Lawson Crouse. He's 24 also, I think the 11th overall pick but up to that draft many thought he would be well inside the top 8. -He is now playing in his 6th NHL season now. Through his first 5, most people thought he was a total bust, not even worthy of an NHL roster spot. He averaged under 14 minutes of ice time per game played and was pretty much buried on a 4th line. -In his first 5 years: 281 games played, 36 goals, 10 goals per 82 pace (same as Tage). This year, 18g in 54g. 25 goal pace. PP time and SH time now. Most of us know this, but you really cannot rush prospects. Sometimes they turn out to be nothing, but other times, they need 5 or 6 years in the league, especially with forwards they may seem like total busts and then something clicks with them when they get close to 24 or 25 years old. For players like Krebs, Cozens, Dahlin, even Mitts, we may still only be seeing a fraction of what they will bring to this team in a couple years from now.

Leaf fans have pretty much overtaken Boston fans to me as the most annoying in sports. Yesterday during and after the game, you could read social media posts by leaf fans and read 6-7 in a row saying NOTHING other than the Refs are jobbing them...that 'the fix was in' to make the Sabres win because it was nationally televised in the USA, and I even read one post that the Leafs would be in position to win the presidents trophy if not for the refs not liking them. Nothing about them being overrated, nothing about them being a good-but-not-great team, an OCCASIONAL post about their bad goaltending. But mostly about how they just get robbed by the refs every single game.

From this picture, it doesn't look like it will be easy to see much up close, the fans look very very far away.

Personally, I never 'fully embraced' Eichel. I hardly go to games so its not like I'm someone who cheered or booed anyway. But there was just something about him. I liked him as a Sabre, I wanted him to do well, but I never got that fan-player 'warm and fuzzy feeling' of feeing he was 'one of us'. To me, last nights comments aren't a huge deal, but they somewhat cement the feeling I had for him even when he was a Sabre.

He came across as someone who can be 'coached' to say or do the right thing, but when he doesn't get his way and gets frustrated, a bit of an entitled/elitist attitude comes out.

I have one friend who is a big Flyers fan and I have on occasion browsed some of the Philly message forums. What is interesting is in less than 1 year a good portion fo the fanbase there (at least those who post) mirror his reaction to the buffalo fan base: -When the trade happened, most liked the trade. Though it was a steep price to pay but they were getting a very very good physical d-man that was held down in Buffalo. A few (minority) didn't like the trade because of his analytics numbers. -A month or so ago 'while he was not playing and injured' I noticed that now it was closer to 50-50 whether flyers fans liked him....maybe leaning slightly toward not liking him. A common thing that my friend mentions when I talk to him and what you can read on the flyers forums: Physical D-man, often takes himself out of the play to make a hit, Seems to have all the offensive tools you want but his production lags a bit, and Flyers probably better off trading him to get something back rather than re-signing him. I admit I only browse other teams forums when I am really bored and have time, so I probably missed 75% or more of the discussion about him, but the exposure I do have is very close to what many of us learned about him for his time here.