mjd1001

Even though the losing streak, they do seem to be better at scoring first in games lately.

Is it strictly a kids movie or can 2 adults enjoy it? We like going to the theater a lot to see movies, but most of what we wanted to see we have already. This time of year (January/February) is when we would go the most. My wife and I haven't seen any of the Sonic movies, the thought enterered my mind to watch the first 2 at home and then see the 3rd. But watching the trailers and reading reviews, i cannot tell at all if this is a 'geared at 10 year olds and parents MIGHT enjoy it" movie...or one that can actually be enjoyed by 2 adults with no kids?

I'm probably watching both back and forth, but unless the Sabres are down 4 or 5 or more, I'm watching more of the Sabres. I used to be a bigger Bills fan. Had season tickets for over a decade at one point, but football and the NFL for me, I just don't care as much. The more something gets overhyped, the more I can't get away from it, the more discussions/arguments between fan bases (like the Allen vs Jackson for MVP thing that I am trying to avoid), the more they push overhyped halftime shows, the more bandwagon fans that appear and just say 'dumb things'....it just turns me off of football. Hockey, the Sabres, its a more comfortable sport for me to watch and follow.

I didn't really understand just how bad Chicago is until watching the Sabres game and a couple other of their games recently. -Bedard is fine. Coming out of the draft I really didn't get the hype for him, I didn't see a player that excelled at anything that jumped off the ice to me against pros, but for being 18-19, he's almost a point per game guy. The rest of the team? They are going to be in trouble for a few years: -They have a #2 overall and a #7 overall guy in their system (Levshunov and Korchinski), but both are D-men and likely years away from being very good. Nazar looks like he might be a decent prospect, but from what I read he's a 2nd or 3rd line ceiling guy. Hes still young, but from what I read about him, he's getting pushed around big time in his limited stints in the NHL (he's 5'8 or 5'9 and close to 170 lbs) Other than that, no top 20-level picks in their system. As of right now, their farm system is pretty bare, its a shadow of even what the Sabres have. Not much on their current roster either: -Foligno is 37 and looking it. On most good teams he would be a 3rd or 4th liner at most. -Teravainen produces ok for a 2nd or 3rd liner at best. -Bertuzzi is....Bertuzzi. At times he seems like a head case. He'll have a decent month and then you won't even notice him for a month. At best at this point he's a 20 goal guy that you don't trust to play a good 2-way game -Taylor Hall looks as washed up as a 32 year old can be. -Donato and Dickenson are "OK" players, but probably about the level of a Ryan Mcleod. Thats it for their forwards. Nothing great, not much even good, and not much help on the way anytime soon. If the fans and team are patient, this could be a pretty good team in 3-4 years. But it doesn't look like they will be contenders anytime sooner than that.

Well, the ECHL affiliate of the Sabres actually has palm trees on the jerseys they wore tonight...

If they DID win the next 8 in a row, that would give them 46 points in 44 games. .522 point percentage. 8th place (last playoff spot) in the east is currently at .559. So, they would likely still be 3-4 points out of 8th even with 8 more in a row after tonight.

No PPs or PKs in the first, so ice time is pretty straight forward, Lindy can play who he wants in the first regardless of situation. Interesting on the D-corp....Power, Byram, and Samuelsson all with more ice time than Dahlin. Even Clifton was only 11 seconds behind Dahlin.

I never understood that late 90's "hardest working team in hockey thing" at all -They had the best goalie. They had some guys that could, and would fight. They had a coach that 'talked' about hard work (tell me a coach that doesn't do that) But what I saw was not the hardest working team ever. I saw a team that was outshot game after game after game and had their goalie bail them out. I saw a team that, to my memory, wasn't good at backchecking but had their goalie bail them out. I think the 'hardest working team in hockey' would go all out, give up everything on the Penalty kill, and with the best goalie in the world, should be simply the best at it..but what I saw was a team that was good, but not great (nor at the top of the league) in penalty killing. They were good. They had a great goalie. They would fight. They weren't LAZY, but 'hardest working team in hockey' was just marketing.

Ads online. They are getting even worse. I'll go to websites that I am visiting to GIVE THEM MONEY (buy stuff) or go to web sites that I pay to subcribe to and am getting blased with more ads than ever. I love how they load every part of the website except for a strategically placed ad. The kind where once I think the full site has loaded, I go to the top of the page and click on one of the options in their 'menu bar', only to have an ad pop up at the last minute a fraction of a second before I click, so instead of clicking on what I wanted, my click registers on their pop up ad and my whole screen take me there. The biggest offenders seem to be companies trying to sell me medical equipment or drugs for ailments I do not have, Political groups on both sides of the aisle but a bit more leaning from the right, and Tesla. Not the company directly but organizations, forums, newsletters telling me how great Tesla is, telling me how great Elon Musk is, telling me I need to go to their site and sign a petition going after people who criticize Tesla or Elon Musk. I just want it to stop. Youtube is getting much worse also. Many videos I'll load, you have 2 ads to watch before you watch the video. In the past most of they you could skip after 5 seconds, now I'm coming up with more of the unskippable ones. And what makes it worse is that I'll load a video that I KNOW what I want to see is farther into the video...so I watch the ad at the beginning, sometimes 2 ads. Then when I click to foward the video 1/3 of the way through, (without watching an of the video yet), I get another un-skippable video. After that, I finally see the video I want but realize I have to go forward just 20-30 seconds to get to the part I want. So I move the status bar just a tiny bit, and when I do that, BAM, not only another 30 second ad, but the EXACT same one I just saw 10 seconds ago.

I won't say fraud....but he had a nearly perfect situation in Tampa when he was hired there...and got credit for more the situation and less what he did.... I posted this about him earlier in the year..but....I still think the same way... When he took over in tampa, he already had 2 young #1 overall picks on the roster in Stamkos and Hedman. He had 5 first round picks in the next 4 years coming, including 2 top 10 overall. He had Veteran stars on the roster to bring the young guys along (St. Louis, Lacavalier). And most importantly, he had 2 BIG things that Detroit doesn't......Low taxes and Palm trees. For the last few seasons, a lot of talk was Ottawa, Buffalo, and Detroit...3 teams in the east with a lot of high picks who were going to get better eventually. My opionion always was it was between Ottawa and Buffalo...I didn't thik what Detroit did (and the young talent they had) was enough to sustain long term success. I was always a bit 'down' on Yzermans play there.

I think my first choice isn't listed. As Archie Lee said above, "they continue to lose and stick to the plan". Well my personal opinion isn't losing at the same rate, more 'treading water' around .500......but yeah, that would be my opinion....close to .500 hockey and minimal changes.

I'm very hesitant about them trading Bryam. I really like his game and would love to see him here long term. I do question his re-sign-ability though and it may be an issue. They traded Mitts last year and I think the contract he ended up getting is going to be a lot less than what Byram is going to want. Cozens, I am OPEN to him turning things around but I just can't share the higher level of optimism. The reason I feel better is not that he has scored a few goals in the past couple weeks, but that I haven't seen him make as many dumb/selfish plays without the puck. Maybe Lindy is trying to get something through to him and its starting to take hold. I still see him as only a 10% shooter long term. Can he have another 30 goal season? sure, but I see him as guy that is not going to score 150+ over I think the next 5, overall he will average in the 20's at best. So he NEEDS to become better without the puck, and he NEEDS to make his linemates better (he doesn't distribute well at all in the offensive zone. I have seen him become a bit better without the puck, that is encouraging, but I haven't seen anything yet about him getting other players on the ice involved. He's like a black hole with the puck, once it comes into him, it doesn't come out most of the time. I do think Cozens and Byram is too much for Pettersson (with his contract.) if that deal was made, I'd need another usable piece coming back to Buffalo with it.

I have a lot of trouble with accents at times. A bit off topic.... I don't know what it is, but for me its the English/Irish/Scottish accent. I can understand people with southern accents, even really really deep ones. I get the NY accent, the Boston accent gives me zero issue. Even some people who had Spanish or French as their first language and then learn English and its a bit broken (like Biron), I can understand. But for some reason, some NATIVE English speakers from England/Ireland/Scotland, I can't even follow them in a regular conversation. If you watch F1 races, I can normally understand the guys, but some words I have to stop and think about for a moment. However, there is a female (I think named Bernie Collins?), Sometimes I can figure out what she said with context, other times, I literally have no idea what she said even though she is speaking English. She might as well be speaking a different language. My wife was watching a show just last night streaming when I was watching the Sabres game, it was some Briritish spy show, the actors were all British and since it took place in Great Britain were using their natural accent. When I checked in on here during intermissions, I guess I COULD understand what they were saying, but at times I had to stop and slow down my brain to think about it. My wife, she had zero problem at all though. I do notice the same thing with music. Put on Rock or Alternative music (that I grew up listening to), it could be an obscure song by Motley Crue, Foo Fighters, pretty much every metal or alternative band I can hear every word crystal clear and my wife is like "what did he say?". But she grew up listening to pop and rap....she'll listen to a rap/hip hop song and knows every single word and I seriously can't even make out a full sentence of what they are saying. In short regarding Biron, I notice his accent but it doesn't bother me too much. Maybe after all these years I'm just used to it with him.

Younger players, lack of veteran players. 1st time coaches and GM's.....one thing they all have in common is they don't cost as much $ as the alternatives. Pegula used to be all about spending whatever it took, but something changed about 10 years ago, now he seems to want to save every dollar with this team (with a very few excpetions)

Interesting on the stat sheet, Quinn has 5 shifts so far but only 1:48 of total ice time. He's averaging about 21 seconds per shift. Most other forwards also have 5 shifts, but Peterka is the only other one with less than 3 minutes and even he almost 40 seconds more than Quinn. I mean, small sample size, but he is taking VERY short shifts and his line-mates are not. Sorry, Cozens also with 5 shifts and only 2:16. Maybe its just by chance, but that line has gotten off the ice really quick when they get their shift.

He's not overly physical, I'll give that to you. But in a way he is similar to Cozens in that he will go to the front of the net, he'll skate through the slot area, between the circles. The way I think he's better than Cozens is when he lets go of a shot from there, hes a bit of a better shooter. More importantly, once Cozens gets the puck in tight, its almost always a shot. With Pettersson, he can be in tight but still sees/knows where his teamates are and is able to move the puck out of tight area in close if a line-mate has a better shot. Thats at least what I noticed...

I'm not sure how you say he is a perimter guy? He's not. In the few games I have watched him, he spend a lot of time in the offensive zone in front of or on the side or immediately behind the net, its noticable. And as far as measurables, he takes slightly MORE shots from the 'high danger' areas (right in front of the net, 0-5 feet out) than Cozens does. Those numbers hold true this year, and last year, and the year before (basically ever year the numbers are available on NHL edge)

Not only is Dudley a Buffalo Alumni, didn't he, or doesn't he still live in Niagara County? But don't other league sources say he hasn't been return phone calls at all? So who to believe? He's open minded in coversations with other teams? or not even returning calls?

I think that when a president of hockey operations was brought up in the past, Pegula came out and said it wasn't needed. There were comments that not only were on this board, but came form some in the media at the time, that the reason is Pegula did not want another layer between him and the on-ice product. I do not remember if it was Hamilton on WGR or one of the national guys out of Toronto, but I do rememeber hearing that discussion at the time.

I just turned on the game and more than 2 minutes are gone and they aren't losing yet. Things are looking up!

Makes me wonder how much Lindy just was hired and took the money, or was promised more influence than he actually has. -Lindy has always talked about the value of an enforcer. In an interview with Rob Ray he said he appreciated his role on the teams of the past, he said it really opened things up for other players with him on the bench. This was further reinforced when he said it in another intervier (not about Ray) in the offseason. And he had one just last year in New Jersey (MacDermid). -Also, he really didn't get to bring in his choice of coaches. It seems like if were up to Lindy, the roster might have more of those tougher to play against guys, but instead he might have been hired with "here is the deck of cards, play your best hand with what you have."

Some I'm sure unpopular opinions on the Pitt-Balt game right now: -I think Pittsburgh is usually one of the more boring teams in the league, and I hate low scoring games. This one is currently 17-10. Not super low scoring but not a track meet....but I am actually enjoying this game. -Tom Brady. I dislike him so much as a player, and some of his 'smugness' both as a player and in interviews just reinforces it. I'm going to die on the hill that Peyton Manning was better than him (too many opposing players said Brady was great, but Manning gave them nighmares the night before playing him a lot worse). And the cheating. But, I do not mind him as an announcer. He's a bit clumsy, he says some things that aren't always fluid, but I like him doing games.

So, All Buffalo has to do is lose to Boston tonight and the Islanders next week (they seem to always play bad vs the Isles, don't they) to set up the big game vs Chicago next week. Next week Friday. Buffalo vs Chicago. For none of the marbles. Not for the whole kit and kaboodle. The game for only the kitchen sink and nothing else. For none of the Enchilada. Who canwe crown the legends of last place? If things fall into place....it might be one of the more interesting games of the season.

A version of what you said seems to be the opinion of many on this board. Hire the best people you can to run your team. They may not all be perfect or the very best guys, but if you trust them, and understand they will make mistakes, trust that they won't make as many mistakes as YOU would, and let them do their jobs and get out of their way. That doesn't mean you can't tell them to run trades and signings by you, just don't do more than that, let them make the trades, negotiate the best deals and just get your approval. And on occasion, they are goingto want to do things that you do not want to do. You have to let them do those things, odds are they know more about the particulars of hockey players and building a roster than you do.

I agree there foundation is there. Tage and Dahlin are star-level players when not hurt. Tuch and Zucker this year are good complimentary pieces. Most of the 3rd and 4th line are adequate as 3rd and 4th liners to me. On D....Dahlin is not a problem. Byram isn't always a complete player, but I'm happy with his play. The 3rd pair are not good D-men but very few players have good 3rd liners. Most of the fault of this team to me is really only a few areas, but they have been BIG problems and impact the rest of the team. Quinn and Cozens playing SO bad for most of the year...and the fact that is YOUR 2ND LINE. If Quinn and Cozens were struggling, but you weren't relying on them to be a 2nd line, with 2nd line minutes and first team PP usage it would be different...but it isn't. Also Power. He's really talented and has really good games, but as mentioned above, he would be best suited to have a veteran reliable guy as his partner. I don't mean an old, well past his prime vet who is just hanging onto his career signing 1 year deals. I mean a legit good D-man, 27-30 years old who is legit top 4. Oh, and UPL not playing as well as last year, that doesn't help. Dahlin and Tage are good enough to be your top D-man and to be a dangerous first line Scorer...they just AREN'T good enough to carry your team to victories when you have nothing behind them supporting them with an entire missing 2nd line.