Georgia Blizzard

Again, I'm not trying to tear Risto down. I think he is one of our best prospects at D and has the potential to be top-2, again, potential. He's 21 years old. I struggle with the urgency to crown him the next Bobby Orr ? His play has been very good (NOT great), Ekblad is a year younger and a better player. You dismiss +/- too quickly. It should give all of us reason to pause and look for more information. If you look at his advanced analytics, they are troublesome as well. His Fenwick and Corsi PER MINUTE numbers are bad, he's ranked 90-100th in league of D-men. Again, I like Risto. I think he has a great chance to be top-4 on this team and the "POTENTIAL" to be top-2. Let's just wait for more evidence

I think you are confusing my point a bit. For a 19 year old, 20 year old to become a top 2 pairing D-man, I expected MORE progress than what I saw in Risto during the 1st half of 2015-16 season. What I saw on ice was some progress during those first 40+ games, but not a ton. In the second half of last season, I saw regression. Now, that could have been because he was overused in first half, it could have been who he was paired with, but, what I didn't see was ascension and he taking that next big step, which is what you would need to see if he was on the trend for top-2 I will grant you that he looked better at the very end of the season. Just because he didn't take that next big step last year, doesn't mean he won't this year, but it give me (and seems like GMTM) reason to pause and reassess whether he will be top-2 or top-4

Amazing how saying he wasn't a top-2, but a top 4 is met with such harsh objection. I still think Risto is a stud, I just have a lot of questions on whether he'll ascend to a legit top-2 for a playoff team -- again, he and his agent are attempting to position the negotiations based on the quality of Buff D last year and where he stacked up -- the D was not good, being the best of an average group of D men, does not warrant a huge contract ---

So, to the extent you can be "more sure" about a 19-year old his first season (1/2 season), YES, I was. But, you have to remember, he exceeded the expectations of what an 8th overall pick would look like as a 19-year old 6 months after being drafted, so, you immediately reset his trend line and say. wow, he's a can't miss top-2 Dman. He settles in for his 2nd season as a 20-year old, and for the most part, he looks like he is progressing along that same (reset) trajectory. Last year, it appeared as though he didn't make the necessary progress during the 1st half, and actually regressed in the 2nd half of the season. Defense is hard to project and typically take longer to develop. I want to see him cut down on the defensive lapses, get more physical and push the puck more. I'm hoping a stronger pairing with Kulikov will allow him to make more progress.

I think even the most ardent Risto supporters would admit that his play in 2nd half last year was concerning and his plus / minus and Corsi are both troublesome --- again, he's looking for Ekblad money, he's no Ekblad. He's a legit top 4, hopefully he'll develop into top 2, not so sure anymore

I think the bigger issue is not when Risto will sign and report it's whether he'll turn corner and be true top pairing D-man that we all thought he'd be 2 years ago. His play has NOT trended in that direction the past 2 years, that's the concerning headline !

Completely understand, I think my buddy was reading another poster's post anyway

It's funny, I got a text from a buddy in Florida who simply said "kane a coke head, get this f**ker off the team" Harmless fun, defaming people. Ugh

I'm shocked some posters are purely speculating but stating it in their posts as a fact that Kane does coke. Completely mind boggling that you would stoop that low. Let's stick to facts and opinions and clearly state as much in posts. I'm not even a Kane fan, but to read these posts makes me disgusted.

I think it's a great idea, and long overdue. Supply and Demand in a free society, it essentially moves a small portion of the secondary market profit from the brokers and STH sellers back to Sabres where it belongs. To me, it's a natural evolution of the tiered pricing that's been in place for years. I can't see why anyone wouldn't like this, of course, unless you're one of those Bernie socialists who want the minimum wage at $15/hour and rent control and subsidies etc. etc., GROW UP ! STH will still be rewarded with the lowest full season prices available at the time and a guaranteed seat at every game. If you're a STH I highly doubt you can do better rolling the dice and hoping demad plummets, but, hey, if you think that the case, then cancel your tickets and buy game by game -- I doubt any would

While scouts are somewhat split, the consensus is that he is a top 6 (probably 2nd line winger) with 20-30 goal upside. Most think if in this year's draft, he would have been picked 7-15 range in 1st round. I think you raise the same issues his detractors raise. I think the reason there is so much hype surrounding him is three fold 1- lower upside, but much higher floor than most non-Top 5 1st round picks 2- can contribute immediately 3-costs a team nothing (i.e. he's a UFA) and he's cheap ($925K base, max $3M+ with incentives) For those reasons he is creating the hype --- not to mention, there isn't much going on in the NHL !! BTW, if he was a UFA and asking for 5 years and $30M, it would be a different story, IMHO

How much is the delay in signing Rasmus and Girgs related to Sabres waiting to find out what Vesey does ??

"OK folks, move along nothing to see here" . . . at least until August 15th. Classic rubber necker delay.

I did some reading and came away with same understanding. There is a limit per player, but I've seen no limit per team accept the overall cap, which provides a 7.5% overage if performance bonuses push you higher than cap.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's today. With development camp starting on Wednesday, I'd assume all the front office/ownership would want to focus on that starting on Wednesday. Anyone else know something more certain ?

If he doesn't sign contract this week, I doubt he ends up in Buffalo and I think the Sabres should shop his rights to another team and simply move on. I like the thought of adding a legit mid-1st rounder to the assets we have. If he signs, I think being Jack's LW is his to lose, but, I don't think it's a given, nor should it be. I think Sabres will also look at Girgs and Ennis for that slot and I'm not sure this kid is a huge upgrade over either of those two, except it does give GMTM more assets to trade if Vesey pans out. I don't like the delay, I think it does in some ways speak to Vesey's passion to be here, in Buffalo. I get why he is doing it, and don't necessarily fault him, but, if he was pre-sold on Buffalo, he should have signed or sign quickly this week and get to development camp to start earning his spot on team.

That's something we can all agree on !! :w00t:

I couldn't resist, seemed like you were "feelin the Bern" Look, this is simple supply and demand, no different than ticket price increases, if there wasn't demand at $20/$30, they wouldn't charge it, nobody wants to see an empty arena. It's not like they are asking $200/ticket or something outrageous. I'm tired of everyone expecting something for nothing from our rich owner.

What a bunch of whining socialists ! It's $20, if you don't want to pay it don't go or act like a capitalist and buy the tickets for $20 and turn around and sell them to a Toronto fan like STH's do in regular season for a profit.

Haven't posted in months, but had to after what happened yesterday, especially in Georgia. First, I consider myself unaffiliated, but lean conservative/libertarian, so, when people ask me what party, I usually say, "what issue, because it really depends". Fiscally, very conservative, the fewer dollars that go to Washington the better. Foreign policy, well, I guess what use to be Republican and now, not so, sure, but, now, maybe Libertarian ?, i.e. strong "defense", war is last resort and always have exit strategy. Socially, strict constituionalist, but, support gay marriage, support 2nd amendment, but want tighter gun control laws, hope you get picture. Anyway, heading into this election was really hoping for outsider, was intrigued by Trump for about 5 minutes. The guy is a walking disaster and the biggest fraud I've seen in my 30+ years of coherent adulthood. Not only is he unqualified to be President from a policy perspective, he is unfit from a personality perspective. I hope voters begin to realize this. I've spoken to a few friends down here, who, after I told them to do their own research, quickly changed their minds.

Touch laptop. However, IE sucks and crashes several times per day and GC, while stable, is super slow. On top of that, apps that I run in non-touch mode are not optimized and those that run in touch mode are not as intuitive Printing is routinely a challenge I'm sure most of issues come from my desire to run computer as a laptop not tablet, and preference to non-touch mode

I hate 8 !! I've had it for 2 years and hate it more with each passing day!! Still contemplating whether to "upgrade" to 10 or attempt to really upgrade back to 7. If anyone has done 8 to 7, please post level of difficulty and instructions, it would be greatly appreciated. I can honestly say, I've almost thrown this laptop out over a hundred times because 8 is such a crappy operating system.

Agree 100%. I'm sick of both Sabres and Bills having press conferences and us not being able to hear the questions

So, why don't those states that don't like Texas politics use California textbooks ? or New York textbooks ?

This problem is fast becoming a thing of the past with digital textbooks, in addition, smaller states can have their own textbooks, they just need to pool their resources with other small states to get a large enough quantity or pay a little more. Blaming Texas, imo, is an excuse.