Kruppstahl

Looking back, it's not hard to figure out where things went wrong. At the heart of the entire thing is a fundamental organizational inability to properly assess talent, and then keep or acquire those with it, and move on from those without. The funny thing is this sin was not committed by 1 or 2 key people, but by many players within the organization over a sustained period of time and across multiple regime changes. The worst part is that it continues now under Botterill.

There is an entire thread to be found on other Sabres sites discussing Pegula's business holdings, his downturn in fortune at the moment, and the fact that arguments can be made in support of the idea that he is pinching pennies right now. Apparently exhibit A in all of this is the state of the arena, which is said to be a poorly maintained dump. I haven't been in it for several years now. Exhibit B is his failure to buy out certain contracts when that would have seemed the right thing to do, in both organizations. And so on.

Where was Terry Sawchuk? Ryan Miller is nowhere near the top 40 all time. Here is the reason why I put Hasek as #1, at least among goalies I have actually seen play. He performed at an incredibly high level where it seemed like he was on a lucky hot streak that had to end soon...and it never did! He just stayed that way for what? Maybe an 8 season chunk of time or something like that? He was on a "oh that's just ridiculous" level and didn't leave it for a period of years. I don't ever recall seeing another goalie operate at that high a level for that long. I think you can make an argument that the way the league is currently offensively structured on most nights is directly related to the Dominator's dominance of the league. When he was on top, opposing teams started saying and thinking that the only way you could score on him was to get lucky with a bounce or deflection, because he was too good to beat straight up. That gave rise to what we see now--with systems funneling the puck back to the points, traffic to the front of the net, and point shots hoping for deflections. That whole thing seems to have taken off and really become common place during Dom's era, and it was because teams knew on certain nights they weren't going to beat him any other way. In this sense, you can at least argue Dom stamped his name on the structure of the game.

These unusual ideas sound fantastic to me as a fan, and I'd love to see a lottery tournament. But it's not going to happen. The Euro Cup and Olympics are pushed back to next year and those are late summer events. F1 racing has eliminated everything off the calendar until at least June and those races aren't going to happen either. I see the KHL just killed the remainder of their playoff season. I guess the NHL can move along in limbo for a while yet, but they're going to have to terminate the season at some point too. I'd be shocked if we see any more games this year, even in empty arenas. It's just the wrong look right now and it is highly unlikely to happen.

What if he's not looking at all, because he has faith and confidence in Botterill? Lots of posters here keep telling us that is the plan. Then what?! Hi Dave. No offense, but you are probably one of my top 5 most hated Sabres of all time. 😂

Kruppstahl: "Hey Bunomatic, what's up? I see you're growing a mustache!" Bunomatic: "Ah not much. Yeah, my wife says I look like a greasy pervert, but I figure what the hell." 😂

Your take is a positive spin on things. I'll go with this since we don't know what's happening anyway! Let's assume Pegula is planning to fire Botterill when the "time is right." When is that time? Is he waiting for some league decision and announcement that the season is over? I wonder.

As I wrote several weeks ago, this unusual delay/premature end to the season only serves to help Botterill. We would all have been much better served by the regular season finishing as normal, the Sabres doing very little winning, if any winning at all, and home crowds booing and chanting Botterill must go toward the very end. May have forced Terry's hand.

Did everyone see this article? Has some interesting ideas about how to finish the season or avoid losing games. It strikes me as pure fantasy. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/opinion/whats-next-for-the-nhl

If you are that new to the whole thing, my advice is to get out now, while you still can. 😂

No way in the world this plateaus or declines in 6 weeks. Things will be increasing in July.

And completely lacking competitive spirit. It's a great combo.

Anyone here typically sit in Section 211? https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/person-who-attended-sabres-game-tests-positive-for-covid-19

I would guess the Chargers are where he'll end up. This opens up the AFC East a bit, but I expect NE to remain a very strong team. I will be curious to see who their starting QB is though for Game 1, if there is a Game 1 this year.

I'm a huge fan of Salma Hayek as well. And I couldn't mention her without also mentioning Penelope Cruz. I'm a big fan of her work as well.