mjd1001

The thing about Dahlin is...he is 21 (think he turns 22 tomorrow?) D-men usually take a little longer to develop...he might still be getting better and rounding out his complete game for a few years yet.

UPL in Buffalo, a free agent guy in Buffalo. As far as Rochester....I don't have any names but the Sabres have to be looking for some 'decent' young prospects that other teams have. You don't want to overpay for another teams top goaltending prospect, but I would think there are guys out there that are 'potential' NHL long term guys, in their early 20's, that might not have a path to the NHL with their current team. Adams has to find a handful of those guys and maybe trade a mid-round pick for them. After you find one of those, sign another free-agent for Rochester to go with him. Or find a college free agent guy that hasn't been drafted for Roch.

I agree that this D-unit is not playoff caliber yet. Getting a legit top 4 guy (probably 2 of them) to plug in would help them next year if they really really want to make the playoffs. However, It think you don't need that on this unit. Dahlin is legit #1 guy now and he should be playing 24+ minutes per game next year. The issue is Power. I don't think he will be a top 2 caliber guy next year, it might take a few years. But you bring in a legit top 2 or top 4 guy, and that likely takes minutes away from Power. Do you want to bring in a couple of really good D-men next year to help you make the playoffs IF the tradeoff is Power gets less ice time because of it?

Many of us were OK with the Eichel trade (as much as we could be) because, even though it was hard, we came to the realization Eichel was not as good as we wanted him to be. McDavid is the best offense producer in the NHL. Matthews is in the top 5. Eichel...we WANTED him to be '1a' to McDavid and as good as Matthews, but in reality, he is more in the range of the 20th best in the NHL rather than top 5 in producing offense. Eichel is in a category closer to Scheifele, Aho, and an aging John Tavares....well behind the likes of McDavid, Matthews, and McKinnon.

People who can't be on time. It seems like most people I know are always running late. Have dinner reservations? we are getting there barely on time. Appt for anything? plan on being late. Meeting me for lunch or dinner? I can expect to be waiting 15-20 minutes for them. Say they will call me back in '10 minutes'? count on an hour. When I make plans with someone else, I am making a commitment to them so I honor it. If something else comes up after I give someone a time, that 'something else' is the 2nd priority. I understand everyone is busy, so If i tell someone I will do something at a certain time, I know they might be changing other things on their schedule to fit me in, I expect them to do the same. I get it that emergencies come up, that everyone cannot be 100% on time. But I know a lot of people, friends and family members included, that are LITERALLY late for 19 out of every 20 things they commit to. On a somewhat related note, how about doctor office visits now that they will cancel your appointment or sometimes even charge you money if you are late (they view it as a canceled appointment if you aren't on time).....but when you are on time there is nothing preventing them from making you wait an hour past your appt time to get in. If you are going to charge ME if I'm late or I cancel in the last day, then you should do the same thing to me if you call me and cancel my appt at the last minute or If I do get there on time and you make me wait an hour or more.

The key for many of us has been to look at who he is, look at his total time with the Sabres. What he did the first month of the season should not matter anymore than what he did during his scoreless streak, as much as what he has done in his last 17 games. I don't want to define a player by his 'streaks'. To me he is a guy that is a 20-25 goal scorer, with the potential to hit 30, and can be VERY dangerous on the PP. People like to say he is a PP specialist so those goals don't mean as much, but I say back...tell me that when you are a playoff team and struggling to win games BECAUSE your PP is sputtering. A goal is a goal is a goal (unless it is an empty net goal, but again maybe that is still as valuable because it clinches a win.) I have wanted him back on this team consistently over the past year or so..as long as he isn't getting drastically overpaid long term. (overpay him on a 3-4 year deal and I'm fine with it, they should have cap room for at least that long)

I'm not into any april fools stuff at all, but if you want to do something cute like a prank I get it. Reporting 'news' on a forum however is not funny, just annoying.

I did a quick search online and found nothing about this either. If someone is reporting something that a lot of us are talking about as major news, can you please put a link to a legit story before reporting it?

That may be the point of not having a superstar forward. You don't need one, you just need one or two of your 'star' forwards to play like 'superstars' for a year. Just about every player has a career year or two. Any one of the Sabres top guys having a career year might be good enough to label it 'playing like a superstar' for a year or two.

Like most things it isn't all one thing, but a combination of things. -Timing/luck. Every team, including this Sabres team and previous Sabres teams, has hot streaks and cold streaks. They are currently in a warm/hot streak. -Dahlin. He is playing like a top 20 D-man right now. He may be personally responsible for moving the puck out of the Sabres own end 10 times a game were a replacement level player wouldn't. -Getting injuried players back.

Yes, they can. If you have a superstar D-man....not just a point producer but a guy who can control every aspect of the game when he is on the ice (play good D, move the puck out of your zone, contribute some offense), that can be just as valuable as a superstar forward. Maybe more so, because that D-man can be on the ice for 4-6 minutes more than a top forward. If, IF the Sabres have Dahlin turn into that kind of player...and if Owen power eventually turns into that....virtually the entire game the team would have a D-man on the ice that would control the entire back end. I know it hasn't happened often in the NHL, but I think that can be just as effective of a way to build a team than trying to chase that superstar forward.

I don't think so. Maybe, MAYBE him not being here let Dahlin step into more of a leadership role. Not even sure that is true but its possible. More so, I just think most D-men need time to develop and adjust. A few years usually. Dahlin is just on the same development curve he would have pretty much been on had Eichel been here or not.

I'm not sure what I think of the wild. In a way, its really great because there is so much going on with it...the whole logo is the head of a bear..the mouth is a lake or river, the star for the eye, the trees, a lot of thought and work went into it. But that may be the problem, there is SO much in there that unless you really stop and look at it really closely, you miss most of the details.

I agree with you. I wish Diggs had 5 more years here, but honestly it might not be a good idea to extend him and pay him elite money until he is in his early 30s. Cycling good talented young guys in and out might be the way to go.

I don't think they will. That isn't the worst thing in the world though. Yes, winning and making the playoffs IS the goal, but some of us really enjoy watching a young team get better, even if that means you aren't at your goal yet. I WANT them to of course. Next year is going to be the first year in a while where my mind isn't on an upcoming high draft pick at all, I just think they are too far away yet....and anything done to accelerate the 'rebuild' to get them to the playoffs will likely hurt the long term. You aren't likely to make the playoffs with Quinn getting a lot minutes getting used to the NHL game and making rookie mistakes....with players like Cozens getting better but still being put in tougher positions than a 20-21 year old would be (making him better long term but short term still making mistakes)...and the same applies to other players. If you want to get max points to make the playoffs, you sign veteran guys that do not have the ceiling of the young players you have, as those veterans are less likely to make mistakes to cost you points and games. However, we have seen with Dahlin, Cozens, even Thompson and Mitts the last few years, that they become better players LONG TERM when they are put in tough situations and fail, let learn from those mistakes. I'd rather have this team continue to get better but maybe miss out on a few points next year if that means their young players keep on developing by being put in tough situations where they might fail at first, but get experience in those situations. Not to mention to get to 3rd in the division this year...that is a 111 point pace. The final playoff spot in the east this year looks to be over a 100 point pace. The Sabres this year are currently on a 69 point pace. I just don't know who is going to fall hard enough or the Sabres to get THAT much better to close a 30+ point projected gap.

I'm not a huge fan of the mighty ducks movies, but I really like the old logo. It was more colorful and was fun. Any of the new ones, just really boring. Go back to the original one, or come up with something similar.

NHL.com doesn't even list him as a center....but it does show he is getting 0.8 points per game. That puts him about 75 among ALL forwards, in the top 30s for centers probably. As far as goals per 60 even strength, the more pure stat on just scoring...he has 1.33 goals per 60 minutes. That is tied for 12 in the league among ALL forwards...and 5th in the league in terms of who is ahead of him that is listed as a center.

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.