mjd1001

I have never tried any of the Trails up in Vermont, although we do travel there once every couple of years, and I used to go there monthly when I lived in New England. Maybe another minor complaint about WNY is the potential for more/better bike trials. They are finally trying to link everything together, but why would you NOT have a full trail, un-interupted, between Niagara Falls state park and Youngstown, NY (Fort Niagara) where the River meets Lake Ontario? A 10-15 mile trail between those 2 areas along the river/gorge has the potential to be one of the best in the country, especially if there was a way to extend it a little farther along the lakeshore. But, to my knowledge (at least as of a couple years ago), not finished: -While they are removing the old Robert Moses parkway northbound from the Falls, a lot of work needed to be done and the trail wasn't finished -Once you get north of Devils hole state park near the power plant, the 'trail' was crumbling concrete between 2 concrete walls as you crossed the power plant. That needed to be cleaned up quite a bit. -Approaching Lewiston, they were putting in a trail down the hill but not sure if it is done yet. -Lewiston itself, you have to go down Center street and it has no bike lanes and the drivers there can be pretty aggressive for a 'main st, USA' type place. Finally, and this one really really is my complaint, when you get close to Youngstown, there was no sidewalk on River road, but instead the paved trail is there. HOWEVER, some residents of Youngstown didn't like too many people using the 'trail', so they have Signs up ALONG THE PAVED TRAIL that bicycles were not allowed. Google maps shows this is a bike trail, it is a paved trail, yet they had signs up saying no bicycles. Lots of areas have great trails. As I said living right next to the Cape Cod rail trail, you can ride for miles and miles on it...Bridges built to go over highways just for the trail...tunnels for the trail to go under some roads. Access to snack shops, plazas, and even beaches right off the trail. Signs that alert trail users to where to find refreshments and restrooms. We have so much potential in WNY to do those things, but yet WNY is so far behind.

I'm not sure about 70 points, but I'll 2nd him getting in the Norris conversation. It is hard to get nominated, as only 3 among Hedman, Josi, Makar, Ekblad, Hughes, Fox and others (would have to beat out all but 2 of them to get nominated)...but I DO think he is going to get noticed and talked about as one of the 'top D-men' in the NHL league-wide.

Speaking of multi use paths, this is a really minor complaint but something I was thinking of recently.. I grew up in Western NY and live here now, but I spent a good number of years living in Boston or near it on Cape Cod. Cape cod especially has miles and miles and miles of bike trails I used quite a bit when I lived there. Not only are they safer to ride than on the roads, some of them actually go someplace (a Bike trail came right into my community and I could ride it a few miles to get to a shopping plaza without ever driving alongside a road.) Anyway, what I grew used to there was whenever someone would be going faster than you and pass you, or whenever someone was walking and a jogger or a bike rider would pass them, they would almost always say "On your left" a few seconds before they passed you so there was no surprise. That is something that very rarely happens here. On a trail, on a sidewalk, anywhere, when someone traveling faster than I am (whether on a bike, running, etc) passes me here, usually it is a surprise if you don't see them coming, and several times you almost run into each other. In general, people using bike trails/multi use trails when I lived on Cape Cod or near Boston where much more courteous and safer than they are here.

Neighbors who insist on their dogs NOT doing anything on their lawn but instead going on their neighbors lawn. We have several brown spots of dead grass up front from where our neighbors dogs go. I understand you can't prevent that...what my problem is with certain neighbors who will basically run the dog out of the front of their house to get down the street, and never let their dogs go in their own back yard. There is a guy a few houses down the street from us who walks his dog down the street several times per day. Earlier this week I saw him take their dog out and it looked like the dog was looking for a spot to go right outside the door. The guy pulled on the leash and yelled at the dog to "come on" and got the dog of of his own front yard where the dog proceeded to use a neighbors front yard.

Agreed. I'm happy with hit. UPL played decent/good in his time with the Sabres last year. If he can repeat that, or improve over the offseason, I think they are fine with that duo. Of course, the team should have a decent idea where UPL stands when training camp hits. This also does not preclude another move.

I'm not disagreeing, I'm just wondering what we consider a 'killer season' to be next year. -Lead the team in scoring and they go deep into the playoffs? -Top 5 in the NHL in scoring (last year would have meant about 110 points)? -Final 3 for league MVP? -Top 5 in league for goals (last year would have been about 50 goals)? If he is healthy, I think career highs in points/scoring should be a given, seeing how scoring has gone up in the past couple years. But his career best season (2019-2020), he had 1.15 points per game. Last year in the NHL, that would have put him 24th in the league. Again, I'm just not sure we know what a 'killer' season can be.

I see your point and I understand your point. I really do. The 'common sense' approach is to wait to verify as long as possible the player you are getting. Do that with everyone, your chance of handing out bad contracts goes down. In the long run with no 'bad' contracts you can have a 'good team'. But there is the problem. In todays NHL, you can win with no 'bad' contracts, but if you want to be a serious cup contender year after year, that isn't enough. You have to have 'good' or 'great' contracts on some key guys. You don't get that until/unless you are willing to give them a 'little' more now so you don't have to give them a 'lot' more later. Do you trust your GM? Your management and scouting staff? If so I need to trust them to identify (with information none of us have) which players are worth long term deals now and not just waiting and waiting and paying them more later. I want to take a chance at being a team like Colorado and Tampa (teams that had some of their stars locked up early to contract that in the long run were risky but paid off)....rather than being a team that is good enough to always compete for the playoffs but is never a top 5 team in the league.

Maybe it took him a while to 'get used' to the Center position? If that is so, it bodes well for next year when he will have that year under his belt. So based on the numbers you quoted, that means he played 40 games before Feb 1 and had 14 goals and 29 points in that time (29 goal, 59 point pace), After Feb 1, his pace was 52 goal, 84 point.

But you say they are telling us they are most likely not going to make any moves that matter. It doesn't matter whether this 'tells' you that or not, because this move is not the thing that is preventing it. Again, this is basically a free 7th rounder. If they change their mind about signing someone, or someone falls in their lap, this will not prevent them from doing that. And lottery ticket? Make fun of it if you want, but it is what it is. There have been a handful of 7th rounders that have turned into legit NHL players. Is it likely? No, but again, for free why would you not want it if it is there for the taking at effectively no cost to you?

Yes, I try to. However I can get him done in anywhere from a 4-8 year deal...whatever of those options he is willing to take to keep the average annual cost down. If he will take a little less money to go long term, I do it. If you want to be a 'good team', then you make sure you have no bad contracts. In that case you wait to see how he does, and when his deal is up you pay him a 'market contract' deal. That will make you good. You want to be a GREAT team, you need to have some star players making under market value when you are making a run to the cup. You have to take chances. You give guys a long term deal possibly 'overpaying' them earlier in the deal, so that later in the deal when you are competing for a cup they are getting under market deals. That is why you hope the Sabres are really, REALLY good (better than us) at identifying whether Tage's season last year is for real, and if it is giving him a very long term deal that may look like an over-pay now but might not be in 3-4 years. For all the angst some are having on this forum about the lack of moves and wanting the Sabres to 'do something.....the thing I personally want them to do is identify who of this young 'core' is for real, and hit the hard now with long term deals. They will be good-great when they can lock up players earlier than we are all comfortable with to long term deals and be correct about it.

I'm not saying to be excited for it, but I can't see complaining about it. Again, a 7th round pick isn't much, but you basically got it for free. For taking on a contract that will have no impact on you, someone gave you a lotter ticket...that is all I'm saying. Doing this does not have much of an impact on any moves they may or may not make in the next few months.

I worked at a vendor for a few major retailers. First guess...Home Depot. 2nd guess Walmart. But I'd have to go with Home Depot.

The games are good. The series is/was close. This is a very good matchup and I have it on the TV and am watching a lot of it. But, it just isn't holding my interest for some reason. I think I am further sliding into that 'Sabres fan' and not an 'NHL fan' thing.

If they are not going to spend to the cap (and it is hard to see them doing it) then why does this move upset anyone? You are helping out another team that you aren't competing with, that is in a different conference than you are, and you are giving nothing for a free 7th round pick. Is a 7th round pick worth much? Nope, but if it is basically free, why would you NOT want to do this?

Looks like they are about to re-sign Reilly Smith. I'm guessing he won't come that cheap. Looks like they can keep most of the old team together, but even with a 'healed' Eichel, is that enough?

The great thing about Okposo is you do NOT have to give him the 'C' for him to be effective at leading this current team. -Give him the C and I think you have a good captain for a year. -Give him the C and tell him if he resigns a new deal next year he may or may not have the C and I think he'll be fine. -Give the C to someone else and give him a "A" and I think he'll be fine. -Give the letters to younger guys and ask him to keep being a leader without a letter and I think he'll be fine. With Okposo, I think, is that you can make decisions on who is or isn't ready to be leaders in the rest of the room and then based on that ask him to take the role you want, and he'll be good no matter what.

I posted a few pages ago to this thread but after thinking more about it, I have slightly changed my mind... Looking at his stats and trends with his age, and after putting more thought to the handful of BH games I have watched him in over the last few years...I really don't want him at all. As a free agent giving up zero assets on a mid-level, short term deal MAYBE. But to be honest, I don't see him being a 30+ goal scorer for the next couple of years anymore (at least not with this sabres team). I don't want him taking up ANY spot that could be used for one of the younger guys. I don't want ANYONE over 30 taking up ANY spot up front unless they are on a short-term, low dollar deal, comes free (no draft pick or prospect assets given up) and are great in the locker room and a stellar 2-way player that can kill penalties. That is not Kane. So if they take a run at him, fine, but not at the expense of any assets at all for me.

People talking about politics when not asked about it, in forums/places not about it. We all have our point of view, and sure, we all want others to feel the same way that we do, I get it. My complaint is hearing about others political point of view when I didn't ask to hear it. Being TOLD someone else's point of view when I want to avoid it. I don't care if you think one side is 100% correct or the other side. I don't care if your view is the same as mine or not. When I WANT to hear about politics, I will go to places where that is featured or ask an opinion. This has been getting worse over the last 4 or 5 years and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. The person who just CAN'T RESIST responding to a twitter post that has NOTHING to do with politics with something political....the person who just can't stop putting that slight subtle jab relating to politics in a forum about sports (like this one), the person in the supermarket how insists on talking about his/her political opinion loud enough so anyone within 50 feet can hear them (and they want it that way). That is my complaint for today/this week/this year.

I'm not sure if I want him for 'free' (assets) next year, it depends on the length of the contract he would want next year. With that in mind, ZERO interest in giving up anything of real value for him this year. A later draft pick, MAYBE (and then I'd need convincing he is worth it/fits in with the team), but I honestly have zero desire for this team to get anyone over the age of 30. For me, a lot of the fun of this team is seeing it develop from a bunch of young guys to see them mature.

I never thought of posting this, but I can't agree more. When I am walking anywhere, if someone is walking toward me (honestly usually 2 females) who are walking side by side, they just WON'T move when you walk by them. I usually get over to the right side of my sidewalk, and when I walk with my wife we get to the right and one of us goes in front of the other, but usually when 2 women are walking at me, they usually refuse to stop walking side-by-side. To the point that when you pass them, you usually bump shoulders or arms.

I'm not too worried about Krejci coming back. I think its less than 50-50 he does. And if he does, I don't think hes really a threating player anymore. His last 5 years in a row with the Bruins his goal scoring went down (goals per game), he has a LOT of miles on him, and if he does play with the Bruins he will be 2 years older than his last season starting with the team at what, 36 or 37 years old? He was good (not great, but good) 2-way forward in his peak years when he was 29-32 years old, I'm not worried about him at 36 or 37. BUT, he may be better playing 3rd line minutes than anything else they will have in the system, I just don't think he moves the needle to them doing anything else other than competing for one of the last playoff spots in the east.

I've thought more about this, I think it comes down to the lack of scoring why I have trouble with soccer. I honestly like an indoor lacrosse game more than an NHL game....more scoring. I used to find college football better than the NFL until the last few years, when scoring went up in the NFL. I can't sit through a 2-0 pitchers battle in baseball, and while I don't want a 15-12 game, give me something in the 5-7 runs per team and I'm happy. Over the last decade or so, I have given sports outside of the 'big 4' usa sports a try and I have liked some. F1 racing for example (1.5-2 hours max usually, no commercials) But soccer I have given a few tries, and every time I watch a game I just can't get into it. Sure, I'm sure there is a lot of talent and strategy that happens 'off camera', but every single time I have watched a game it is a task to keep my attention and get to the end of it. The diving and fake injuries don't help. The lack of scoring does the game in for me, but the fake injuries where a guy writhes in pain on the field and is carried off on a stretcher, only to return to the game a few minutes later....If I see that in a game I try to watch (once every couple years) that gets me to give up on it right there and not even ride it out until the end. I have some very faint memories of the Buffalo Stallions as a little kid and I did see a few Blizzard games. I enjoyed the indoor soccer games much, much more. Again, that just re-affirms that I like the greater scoring and less drawn-out game of the indoor soccer vs the outdoor traditional game.

I expect a small to moderate drop-off from Boston based on this. I don't have much of a connection to the Bruins anymore after not living in Boston for over a decade, but I did talk to a couple of co-workers form our Boston office who are huge Bruin fans a little while ago (while waiting for a Conf Call) and what they said is what I expected. The Bruins have started a small turnover of the older guys on their roster, while keeping some of them, and the organization wants to thread-the-needle of doing a soft rebuild/retool while still remaining competitive and playoff bound while it occurs. Kreiji and Bergeron are done, Foligno (while not a major part) might be, and Marchand is still a great player under contract but he won't be carrying this team for years. They want McAvoy and Pastrnak to be this teams without-question leaders, and want to bring along Lohrei, Lysell, Studnicka, and Zboril. Cassidy was viewed as the best coach for the team the last few years, maybe the coach which would give them the MOST points next year, but not a guy who could bring along and nurture a new young leadership group and bring young guys into the lineup as well as who they are likely to pick. Personally, I think this is a mistake. I would have kept Cassidy around for one more year and went 100% toward a cup run next year. Are/were they good enough to do that in 2022? probably not, but the future isn't looking bright for that franchise. The farm system/prospects are bare. In the past 5 drafts, they have a total of 3 guys picked in the top 50 picks of their draft (Lysell, Beecher, and Vaakanainen.) Of those 3, Beecher has had injuries and is just out of college, and hasn't impressed in any of his training camps. Lysell is a 19 year old who was still in Juniors, and Vaakanainen is gone. Studnicka last year was hoped to be a find in the 2nd round, but he has been a pretty big disapointment for them in the last 12 months, not developing much as a prospect. The Bruins should be pushing to be good for one more year with Cassidy, if that fails you go into full blow rebuild mode, needing to rebuild a lot of your young core (rebuild mode, not quite 'tank' mode though.)

At this moment, the Sabres rebuild looks good, but it is hard to compare it to the Rangers. The Sabres rebuild is more focused on the top talent at the Blue Line, the Rangers top talent is up front and in goal. Also, the Rangers are at the midway point of their rebuild 'race', where the Sabres current/newest attempt at a rebuild is much closer to the starting line.

I think most people are comfortable with Hinostroza simply because as a bottom 6 guys he has produced. 13 goals last year for the Sabres in 62 games (16 goal pace). 17 goals in his last 79 games over 2 years. A few years ago with Arizona another 16 goal season in less than a full year. 3rd on the Sabres last year in even strength goals per 60 (only behind Thompson and Skinner). The Sabres haven't exactly had a wealth of players in the past decade that you think you could count on to get in double digits in goals on your bottom 2 lines. Vinny fits that description.