mjd1001

Your above statement resonated with me. I'm not from Canada and this is only indriectly related to the topic, but I think of it alot. A lot of people in our age think 'an hour' away from something is very far, when that isn't the case in many parts of North America. -I spent a lot of time working in New England. I lived on Cape cod but I traved to or through Boston everyday, and on a monthly basis I had stops/meets in Burlington, VT, Bangor Maine, Providence RI and many, many cities in between. One common thing about that area? Distance really didn't matter. Portland Maine is about 2 hours from Boston (more with traffic) and 2 states away (maine-->New Hampshire-->Mass) Yet most of the people I met there identified with Boston. They were just as much Red sox or Bruin fans and people who lived in Metro Boston. Providence RI? Same thing. Where I lived on Cape cod, I was about a 2 hour drive from Boston yet just about EVERYONE near me considered themselves a 'Bostonian', for Theater, sports, many things you just go to and identify with Boston. -My wife grew up in NY city and has many friends on Long island. Same thing for them. She has former co-workers that live 50+ miles from the city (almost 2 hours with traffic) and its nothing to them to support or go to events in NY city. Now yes, I get the fact that in many cases those are the closest teams for them (no other options) but it isn't an issue. Its a bit different in Buffalo. I had friends that lived in Amherst growing up, and would have an opportunity to go to a college basketball game at Niagara, and often no one would go because it was 'too far' away. (the 20 mile, 25 minute drive)

I don't get 'mad' at the Sabres when they play like they have lately, I just stop watching until I see things get better. The issue right now is they are very close (kinda there already) where I'm done watching the team for a while. Sure, i'll follow to see how the are doing, engage in this forum, watch the highlights....but for the time being, i'm done seeing what time the game starts and making sure I watch it. Go on a streak of winning 4 out of 5.....or win 6 out of 9 and I'll be back. But right now, its just not fun anymore.

WAY too early weather forcast for next weekend in Orchard park: Saturday afternoon/evening: cloudy/overcast, small chance of precip, 30-32 degrees, moderate winds Sunday afternoon: pretty much the same as the above forcast for Saturday evening.

For the Bills to advance, it really matters how they play or are they good enough. Who would be tougher, cincy or jax? hard to say, if jax plays good they might be just as good as cincy. But, I might want to play cincy and force jax to play kc. Will jax beat kc? probably not, but i think they have a lot better chance against kc than baltimore would, I think Baltimore gets rolled in kc. so who do we want? Doesn't matter either way, the Bills will win or lose based on their own play, not necessarily 'who' they play.

Football seems just so random at times. The dolphins aren't good enough to advance, but the Bills looked beatable for sure. Now you think the Bills are in huge trouble vs Cincy, but they look 'beatable' too. Even if Baltimore moved on, I don't see them beating anyone else. Depending on what half you took into consideration, Jax or the Chargers could beat anyone or get blown out by anyone. One bad spot by an official. One inch. A ball being 1/4 inch off of the ground vs hitting the ground. So many little things can be the difference between a team making an appearance in the Superbowl or going home 2 rounds early. I guess it is that way with all sports, but it seems like it shouldn't be that way with how long the season is and how much work goes into it.

I don't see how Seattle is doing it. When I look at their roster, I just don't see a top team: -Burakovsky is a career 10-20 goal scorer -Beniers is a great young player, but on 'pace' for 30 goals, not like 50 or 60 -Eberle is getting older and like Burakovsky, for the better part of the last decade he is a 'in the teens' goal scorer -Gourde? see above -Sprong is a journeyman former 2nd round pick who is about a 35 point per year guy -On D-Larsson is a guy that no-one wanted the last couple years -Dunn was a 2nd or 3rd pair guy for St. Louis -Olesiak and Shultz...2 more journeyman that were also not much more than average 2nd or 3rd pair guys Their goaltending is middle-of-the-pack at best. The team Save percentage is about the same as the Sabres this year. Maybe its a case of giving guys a chance they havne't had anywhere else. I just don't see a lot of top talent on this team and their play keeps on surprising me.

What is the rule with restricted free agents vs UFAs? You have to reach a certain age right? IF you are drated, the drafting team could just have exclusive rights to you until you reach one of the ages, UFA or RFA age, and then those rules apply to you. If you really, REALLY don't want to play for that team, you can always go to Europe and play there unless/until you force a trade or get waived.

I agree with you. I know the players don't want this, but from a fans point of view...not much good come of it, and a whole lot of dissapointment/fan stress come whenver you think of a player and not know whether it was a draft pick that your team will never have a shot at.

My company with regard to days off/vacation days. A decade ago, we got 12 paid holidays per year (including 'floating' optional days.) As of this year, we now get a total of 8. Years ago were were told "you earned your vacation, enjoy it". A few years ago it changed to "you earned your vacation, enjoy it BUT you must schedule it very far in advance or we may not approve it" Now as of this year it has turned to " you earned your vacation time, but there are 6! (six) blackout weeks that you can't take it...our customers pay the bills and we have to be available when they want us to be!" There is also something that some are figuring out (doesn't impact me directly but I still think it stinks). New hires at entry level positions making more money, sometimes noticably more than exisiting employees that have been there for a few years. Existing employess CAN get a raise, but they are very small. "Sorry, no money in the budget for that" is the answer. But if there is an open position in a territory that needs to be filled, a brand new hire, wth no experience, no special skills can get paid a good amount more than an existing employee who has been there for a couple years. I get it, they are couning on the exisiting employee not wanting to job jump to get more, maybe not KNOWING the new hire is making more, but it still isn't right. "Job retention" gets a smaller budget than the budget for "filling new positions". The problem is, most exisiting employees DO find out about this...and they they simply care less about their jobs. Instead of giving them the raise to at least 'keep up' with the new hires....what they often get is an employee who becomes 20% or more less productive, who does 'just enough' to keep their job, who doesn't work any extra days...because they were told as an exisiting employee they are 'maxed out' on the pay scale.

Barkhov not playing up to his usual standard. Reinhart also. Duclair had 30 goals for them last year and he hasn't played a game. That is a lot of missing offense from just 3 players. Ekblad has missed about 1/4 of the season for them, and when he has played he just isn't himself. And Bobrovsky's save percentage is about 20 points less than it was last year. That pretty much sums of 80% of their problems this year.

Not out yet, but a step back the past couple days. Last week I was feeling 45% chance of making it, now I feel it is more like 30%.

I think if ROR is healthy, someone will give more than that. I agree with you though on not giving up more, just to me that will rule the Sabres out. Will someone offer St. Louis a 1st and prospects? I hightly doubt it. But I can see a mid level prospect and a pick, or maybe a late 1st going there for him...to rich for me.

I'm just not interested in O'Reilly. Is he still a good player? Maybe, probabably, but whos roster spot is he going to take here and what is the long term cost? I dont' think they want to give him away and I don't want to give up a legit prospect for someone who is not going to be a top 2 line center, especially one who is over 30 years old. Again, its not as if he isn't a good player, but you aren't going to trade away all of your young assets....so if you choose to trade SOME of them, I want the help on the back end before the front end. Now, find a a guy on the D that can be a legit top 4 guy, and I'm all for that. Especially if he is more than a rental. He could be a top 4 guy...or a 5-6 guy where you give that last pair more minutes to take the strain off of your other top guys. But it has to be someone who can be here long term.

As far as the bottom D-men on this roster.... Lyubuskin Is the best of the bunch. He's a #5 or #6 but when he isn't hurt he is legit NHL guy. The rest of them...Clague, Fitz, Bryson, Pilut.....to me they are all interchangable. Do they have different skillsets? Yes. Are there times where one of them goes on a 2-3 week run where they play better than the rest? Yes. But those runs of good play don't usually last, and when you total everything together....while many on this forum have their favorites they are all very close to each other in terms of overall production. The key to this team is not findout out which of them is the 'best', but rather insuring that all of them dont' have to play a big role long term. I don't think any of them are so awful they kill the team single handedly, but there isn't any one of them that is better than the rest. This team needs a healthy Jokiharju.

I'm wondering if Reinhart is nursing some sort of injury. Its not just his raw production. I try to look at production stats for where a player ranks, not just the raw numbers. Scoring has been going up and up almost for the last decade, but it has been accelerating the past 2 years quite a bit. Someone scoring 25 goals 3-4 years ago is a bit more impressive than doing it this season. With Sam, he has been scoring a bit more lately, but he's tied for 130th in the league in points. 88th in goals. 161st in assists. And that is with not missing many (or any) games and getting top line ice time and he's on the 1st Powerplay team for them. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if he is playing though an injury. But If I was a big fan or follower of the Panthers, as the 3rd highest paid forward on the team at 27 years of age (in his prime), he would be the #1 guy I want to see increase production the rest of the year.

My problem with Krebs is that if he does score 20 goals, that is great, but he seems a long way from doing that. He is playing better than earlier in the year, that is true....but earlier in the year he might have been the worset forward in the NHL...no offensive production, getting back late, whiffing at guys who eventually scored goals against and being a turnover/battle losing machine on the boards. He has progressed in the past 10 games or so...yes he has, but he still has only 3 goals in 31 games this year. He is young. There is no way I want to move him or give up on him...but in the past month or so, he has taken a couple of steps on a journey to being a good NHL player that requires a mile. He may do it. I hope he does it, but I need to see a lot more myself.

Florida has 40 points, to get to 95 they need 55 more. They have 42 games remaining. 55 points divided by 42 games equals 1.309 points per game to get to 95 points. 1.309 points per game over 82 games is 107.338 point pace, which I put as 107.4

They may very well fall out of that race for the reasons you stated (the kids slowing down, etc) but that doesn't mean they AREN'T in the race now. 95 sometimes gets you into the playoffs. Right now the 'pace' to make the last spot in the east is 95 also (yes that can change, a few points higher or lower) Look at the teams above the Sabres or in that last wild card spot and see what they need to get to 95 points by the end of the year: Islanders: .5975 of remaining points (98 point pace) Pittsburgh: .5795 (95 point pace) Buffalo: .5978 (98 point pace) Florida: .6547 (107.4 point pace) It's a race. I didn't include Washington, Tampa, Rangers or New Jersey, all of whom are within a handfall of 'points pace' to the Sabres and all currently in spots they can fall out of. So the Sabres goaltending can cool off a bit, Scoring may drop. The 'young guys' may hit the wall, or a Team like Florida might get it together and go on a 7 or 8 game run to pass the Sabres. Yes, those are all possible. But they didn't happen yet, so as of now the Sabres are right in the middle of a wild card race at the moment.

I like UPL. I have defended him on this board many times in the past. However, I think the best combo giving the Sabres a chance to make the playoffs and do some damage would be a combo of Anderson and Comrie if they get things worked out. UPL may be the best of the three going forward, but right now I want to see Comrie until the wheels totally come off (if they do).

-Seattle is currently hanging on to 3rd in the division, but only 5 points up on being out of the playoffs, with Edmonton, Calgary, and Colorado the first 3 teams out of the playoffs currently chasing them down. They need to win and win right now. -Wright has only 2 points in 8 games with the team this year. -He also isn't getting much ice time at all. just over 8 minutes per game they are limiting him to when he does play. No penalty killing, he is is an aftethought on the PP (just touching the ice a couple times all year) The coaching staff doesn't have him playing much at all, and when they do he's not doing much out there. Best bet is to get him down where he can get a lot more playing time, AND free up the minues for older/veteran guys who can do more to help the team win right now.

This year I'd say he is in the top 5. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th....maybe even 6th. There are a bunch of players that can all fit in that area based on who is doing the evaluation and what criteria they are using....but I would put Thompson in that mix.

Florida. I'm repeating that one from earlier in the year (the last time we went there), but my complaint, after a 5 days of staying with relatives there is just Florida. -Strip plaza after strip plaza with a few car dealerships mixed in between the bail bond and firearm stores. 6 lane divided highways. New subdivisions with $500,000-$1m homes that have no backyards and are so close together they practically touch each other. Sidewalks on only one side of the street that you can't walk on becaue no-one has basements so their garage is their storage and they park 4 cars in the driveway blocking the sidewalk. 100% hummity every morning. Drivers who cut across 3 lanes of a highway wile driving over 20mph over the speedlimit. Monster trucks (its a status sign down there, buy the biggest truck you can, add a lift kit, get crazy big tires, but never, EVER let it see a trace of snow, sand, or offroad dirt.) Crime (2 times in 5 days the walmart down the street had police there for incidents) In-laws and relatives who are trying to convince you to move down there (yes, we will BOTH quit our jobs and pick up and move here) when all you can think about since being there for 10 minutes it not being able to set foot out of that state. The food (water is awful, and in the past 2 years we went to 3 'authentic' mexican restaurants that ALL 3 had refried beans that were obviously served out of a food-service sized can)

This is really a great chance for anyone who was injured to get rested up and get back close to 100%. On the other hand, when they squeeze the rest of these games in, the schedule is going to be so tight that the Sabres will likely be playing back to backs or 3 games in 5 nights a lot more against more well rested teams. Then again, The Sabres have 32 games played. As of tonight, the league as 8 teams with 32 games played and another 6 with 33....so they really won't have more gamed squeezed in from now till the end of the year than about half of the league.

I guess I don't know the conditions of the on/off ramps. I just think overall its better to get the main artery going rather than having people that would use it try to navigate surface streets instead, which makes cleaning them a lot harder than keeping the thruway plowed.

At this point I'm questioning why the Thruway isn't open yet. I know it was bad in parts, but from the little I have seen, even in the worst hit areas many/most abandoned cars/trucks seem to be moved out of the way, and from the traffic cams it looks like it has been plowed. Once you plow it and salt it and the snow (for the most part) stops, the best way to keep it clear or get down to the pavement is have traffic over it to 'work' the salt in. Besides, on social media alone, i have seen a lot of posts of people who are stuck in Rochester or near Erie trying to get through the area, or people in Buffalo trying to get out. One common thing is, they have been stuck for so long they will take ANY route once it becomes available. As travel bans are lifted, you are going to have some people not famaliar with the area trying to drive out of, or through the area on surface streets. Wouldn't it be better to focus on 'lifting the travel ban' on the thruway and getting pass-through traffic on there rather than keeping the thruway closed and 'lifting the travel bans' on communities? I don't know, maybe I'm missing something but with the plows of the state dot doing the thruway (they only do the thruway, not local routes) it would seem that wouuld make sense. What am I missing?