Thorny

No reason for debate: the strategy was ass I supported it at the time as a misguided child. Learned a lot from it tbh

It’s scares me that this was probably Adams’ chief employed strategy, here: “prove to me he CAN’T be another drastic anomaly. See, you can’t.”

I mean sid signed at 8.7 one year ago He’s not in his prime but certainly well below market value

I’d imagine Edmonton retreats right back into the igloo if McDavid escapes them - the difference between buffalo and Edmonton is merely the bounce of those balls - - - management didn’t get the idea to tank from the fans come on now. We merely concocted it into a potentially viable strategy, in theory, after the fact for them because putting more thought into their strategies than they do is what we do around here. If the team employed the level of passionate thinking to their strategy dudacek does after the fact, in the first place, we’d instead be benefiting from his explanations for why it DID work

This is almost always the case. A lot of confirmation bias involved

Isn’t Ellis a career AHLer? If UPL has to compete to replace him at all we are in trouble

I see the current AAV as a big silver lining - to your point. But it’s firmly in “silver lining” category. I wouldn’t used “saddled”, I’d used “graced”. McDavid was a lottery ball godsend to the only market ranked below winnipeg and buffalo re: player destination The marketability and jersey sales etc etc alone make him an egregiously valuable asset, he’s the face of the league. Nm fact realistically he’s gojng to be exceptional till probably 40. This isn’t Alex Tuch, it’s the most talented player to ever play the game I can’t call it saddled when we all know the oilers would take that deal to the bank, running, if they could - - - If the Sabres could have McDavid at either deal, which do you personally take? I take McDavid for a decade and cry myself to sleep in happiness, with one solitary tear reserved for Terry’s fat wallet

I can’t see the McDavid deal used in any way to artificially lower the value of every new deal now for the foreseeable future. I don’t think people will pretend it’s anything but an anomaly - otherwise he effed over the nhlpa lol

Can someone explain to me what the expected setup is in net? Actually asking. All of these guys apart from UPL and Levi look like the made-up guys perennially sitting in “free agents” in the EA sports games and I stopped paying attention to goalie ads after several years because of proven incompetence when addressing position being thoroughly stamped in as a Rushmore staple of Adams’ tenure I’d take panic tbh rather than a reflection of the fact Adams has no real expectations foisted upon him

The ultimate goal of winning the cup isn’t naive, but acting like you don’t have to achieve a multitude of smaller building blocks of success in the immediate term, first, is utter hubris. The sabres have sacrificed the now with the goal of a dynasty. Which is backwards - they’ve always needed to prioritize and achieve success in the now so as to facilitate the future they want They’ve literally ingrained the idea that “this season was never about winning anyway” - they’ve made that the standard.

Frankly I also thought they needed scoring help and that was before moving JJ. The moves definitely made with an eye towards, “if all goes right, we can scratch 8th” rather than, “things would have to torpedo for us to miss” I personally believe a team that’s missed for one and a half decades straight deserved the latter approach

If/when the Sabres switch GMs, they claim/act like it’s a multi-year process, they’ll have already lost. That’s what happened when Adams took over. Didn’t even need hindsight back when he did to claim that - with the next guy it should be blindingly obvious

McDavid signed that deal as a symptom of the fact Bowman specifically *didn’t* do a good job. What do you think the deal and term looks like if the Oilers had won a cup? So Bowman failing to craft a team worthy of the talents of McDavid results in him signing an even better deal? Doesn’t make any sense. It’s purely a commentary on McDavid choosing to give the team one more small chance. Any GM in Edmonton would have gotten the same deal, as it’s a McDavid call - - - *obviously* the oilers would be after a long term deal if they could get it. The, what, 6-8 million they are saving for 2 years is a *small pittance* relative to the potential lost income from losing said best player in the world that the franchise would see in ticket sales and marketing should they let him get away. “They’ll save some salary cap for 2 years” is myopic. Not to mention, McDavid is 28 not 38 lol. They’d need to be exploring dealing him at 30 should this window not pan out. “Best years” is rich when I’d imagine McDavid’s trajectory would compare much more likely to Sid Crosby’s and his *best* years were arguably in his 30s

A minor technicality

Yessir - - - Potentially only a two year window to make it happen - I’d imagine they’d have to at least entertain the idea of moving him during the final year rather than losing what will be a monstrous asset for nothing

LeBron left a bunch on the table in Cleveland - not to this level though

"And it's another Sabres........POWER point!"

No I comment about a team I hate because the board is the best and most enjoyable part about it that it pisses you off so much is just an added bonus

Yes and the reason you don’t hire a housekeeper is because you care too much about then cleanliness of your house check your logic at the door all ye who enter this thread

You don’t even believe your own jargon You can’t work a 14 year old drought into it being a fan problem because they are never happy. It’s devoid of logic All you’ve done is prove the drought could extent to 20 years and you’d be making the same argument cause you have quite literally zero standard, and zero argument

I like the diagnosing of it not being about winning when I was screaming it 5 years ago lo

YESAVAGE

From your keyboard to god’s ears

Grok, is this true?