Kruppstahl

Granato scribbling in his notebook after the game: "Note to self: never play Jeff Skinner in 3-on-3 conditions. EVER."

Allen has quite a bit more natural talent than Jim Kelly ever had. It's not a 1 man game, but in theory, Allen should be poised to utterly shatter all of Jim Kelly's records as a Bills QB. The game has moved on so much in the last 30 years!

Neither Peterka or Krebs are ready to play at the National league level.

I am reminded of the comments of a poster (at another forum) from around game 4 of this season. He was demanding "the haters" eat some crow as it was obvious we had the right coach and were clearly heading for a playoff appearance this season. A moderator chimed in, urging him to hit the brakes, at least until we play a decent chunk of games and we get a feel for what the team is really about. We don't know what our goaltending is right now; it remains a serious question mark.

There are a million things for the league to think about/do right now and it made sense to flat out shut things down for a while. Paul Hamilton was calling for this on the radio a good 10 days ago or more.

It's going to get much worse before it gets better. This could even shorten the season (substantially) or flat out kill it, depending on how things go.

Assuming that everything goes exactly as planned? That won't happen. But the clock keeps ticking and I am guessing Pegula's ownership tenure is drawing to a close. That's the positive to take away from this.

What sort of data do you point to suggest Terry values winning? His ownership tenure has been a historic celebration of losing. There are men who are married to, and have been married to, the wrong woman for 30 years. And yet they stay in the marriage because of fear of the unknown. Will it be worse with a new woman? Can I land a new woman? Will I end up alone and sad and worse off than I am now? Don't be one of those guys. Push forward and work to make things better in your life. Let's all hope Pegula sells the team, and fast. Have some faith he isn't the only rich guy who likes the Buffalo Sabres, or sees the value in retaining an NHL team where the Sabres are located. There are tons of potential buyers out there. And whoever knew about some guy named Terry Pegula before he came along on the radar screen anyway? What did you think it was? A well run sports organization? Or you trying to be facetious and imply it's been a circus for a long time already. I can't tell.

Not sure I'd call the 1980 preliminary round of the NHL playoffs "meaningful" but it is a playoff series, you're correct there. Honestly I had forgotten about this series; I was 9 then. Thanks for your thoughtful analysis and response. 🤫

I assume all the Leaf haters are young. I never got the Leaf hate, as Toronto was always tucked away in the Norris Division in the Campbell Conference! They were just never a rival to Buffalo and we hardly ever played them in anything approaching important games. I am also very familiar with TO the city, and LOVE IT. So there's that. Hatred comes from facing--and losing to--the same teams over and over and over, particularly in playoff games. (I think). For this reason, my historic "most hated team" was always Montreal. Just HATED THEM...but that was when they were good and we were our usual middling selves. Boston would make sense as a team to hate, and I can understand anyone here who listed them. But they are very well run and structure themselves precisely as I wish the Sabres would. I admire that franchise--can't hate them for that reason. When we beat them with the May Day goal, it sure felt good though! I hated them at that time! But my favorite team to hate is definitely not Montreal nowadays. Hasn't been them for a very long time. I think it would have to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. I just hate every last thing about that organization, their approach to hockey, the players they've had forever, the uniforms, all of it. No team in the league makes me go "BLAH" like the Penguins! In contrast, my second FAVORITE TEAM after the Sabres is, and has always been, the Edmonton Oilers. I fell in love with those guys in the early '80s when they were, by far, the most exciting NHL team of all time, and it just got in my blood. I love that franchise, as bad as they have been for so long now. I still say the 1991 Battle of Alberta (the last real one there ever was) is, BY FAR, the greatest 7 game NHL playoff hockey series I have ever seen. You can see pieces of it on Youtube. This is a long post; longer than I intended, but it's a good question! I'm wondering if a single person will actually read it. 🤔 We are like twins of losing! I have always felt a strong connection with Vancouver and its fanbase for that reason--and it's why I definitely always kind of liked the Canucks. They also never really played the Sabres in a meaningful hockey game as well, which helps.

PS: The recent Pegula New Stadium Proposal has the whole thing slated to be finished no later than 2027. I haven't been following stadium talk very closely b/c I have zero control over any of it, and the story is going to take a couple dozen twists and turns before its over. The whole thing is built around a complex set of political concerns in any event. I don't think ANYONE knows how it will play out at this point. But at least that date of 2027 is something to base some thought around, assuming there is a nexus between stadium construction and Pegula sale of the Sabres. We've made it this far; I can do another 5 years easy. 😜

I finally just watched the video. It's pretty short and to the point, so everyone should watch it if they haven't already. Here is what's interesting to me: Elliotte Friedman is one of the 3 or 4 guys who breaks ALL the NHL news, always. And the first thing he says here is "I have been hearing rumors of the Pegulas wanting to sell the Sabres for a long time." He follows that up by suggesting now is not the right timing because of the politics behind getting governmental financial support for a new Bills stadium. That may or may not be relevant. What if Pegula sells the team in such a manner that he guarantees commitment to the WNY area from the new owner? That's just as much a service to WNY as if he continued to own the team personally, and it would impact the new stadium project about the same, I would think. But there is some source of hope here. Keep an eye on that stadium project. When it's finally here, perhaps Pegula will be finally gone from the Sabres. That is the day we have to all hold out hope for at this point. The circus won't change much until Pegula is gone.

I haven't listened yet, but will do so. I had heard maybe a week ago (just through sports fan discussion) that Kim wanted desperately to sell the team, but Terry did not, and so they were not selling the Sabres at this time. I hadn't heard ANYTHING about that, and wondered if it wasn't purely manufactured by fans or what. I can totally see that, however. Kim doesn't have the heart-strings tying her to the team that Terry has, and from Kim's perspective, the whole experience has been terrible, hard, work, and not bringing pleasure to the life of a billionaire...which was the idea behind buying the team. I'd be willing to bet the person who needs convincing to sell is Terry, not Kim. I have been calling for this for a couple of years now--focus on the Bills, Terry! It's going so much better over there--and that's the real gemstone in your asset ownership crown anyway! Not the Sabres you dimwit! Come on Terry, dump the team! You can do it!

With the increased value of his estate since buying the Bills, Pegula could dump the Sabres tomorrow, take a huge loss, and not miss the cash from his spare change drawer in his sock dresser at home. It's not enough to prevent a multi-billionaire from getting out if he has had enough and wants to get out. Remember when he bought the Bills? He overpaid by a couple hundred million dollars! When asked, he just shook off the question and said "I got what I wanted, so I'm happy with the price." People with this level of money do not play by anything close to the rules you do. The loss he would realize upon the sale of the team tomorrow is not relevant to his decision to sell or not, IMO.

If they only realized COVID is staying. It's the NHL that's going!

The OP set the odds at 50/50 to make it more risky and more of an interesting though experiment. In reality, I don't think the threat of moving is anywhere CLOSE to 50%. It might actually be close to 0%, especially if Pegula made sure that it worked out that way, which he has the power to control--to an certain extent. I wish the OP would make a new poll, and get rid of the 50/50 talk. I.E., Pegula is gone tomorrow, real world market forces at play, team could stay, team could move, it's on you the voter to think about that....now....do you vote for new ownership or not? I think the score would flip flop, with a big percentage voting "NEW OWNER PLEASE."

You think the Pegulas are "fine?" I'm curious what you think bad owners would look like.

Interesting and thought provoking thread. I voted "YES" and in a heartbeat. I have thought/talked about this for years, within the context of the Bills. For at LEAST the last 20 years of Ralph Wilson's life, the Bills organization was destined to be a tire fire until Ralph Wilson died. I said as much during that entire time, and I was right. Rather than simply "exist" in a pit of mediocrity and doom, I wanted new ownership. "But a new owner might move the team!" exclaimed scared fans. So what! The idea is to be a competitor in the league, and to work to achieve championships. If the franchise isn't committed to doing that, let them move! Who cares? AND JUST REMEMBER, IF/WHEN PEGULA SELLS THE SABRES, THERE IS NO GIVEN THAT THE TEAM GOES ANYWHERE. We are not just the little market from the eastern fringes of the Midwest. Our proximity to Canada makes us special--the league would be wise to keep a team in WNY forever.

Really? You think so? I think we have a stellar shot at going 3-2 or even 4-1. I still think we are better than NE and will beat them in Foxboro given "normal" winter weather. And then you have the 3 slam dunk games. Tampa I expect to be a loss.

LOL; I said yesterday (at another forum) that "seeing specialist" means consulting surgeon; surgery likely; will miss the season. He'll be out for weeks and weeks, but it's early so maybe not the season.

That look on McDavid's face wasn't so much "I wanted Buffalo" it was more "I have to move to Edmonton, Alberta? Seriously? I don't want to go there." I assume that's how anyone would react to getting dumped off in Edmonton, and Edmonton is my long-standing second favorite team behind the Sabres! LOL But it has to be right up there with Winnipeg and Calgary as the top places you don't want to go to. At least in other horrible locations you have some population and/or weather.

Are you kidding? We just gave away something like a Top 10 C for mostly nothing in return. We were ALWAYS going to lose this deal, which is a huge reason why I never wanted to move Eichel or Reinhart. Eichel will flourish in Vegas assuming his neck is OK post surgery. We just gave up a 1.3 PPG center for bits of crap here and there. Awesome! Turning value into less value is what this organization does extremely well.

What do you mean? We have a very clear team identity: league worst tire fire. The truly sad thing is we are very much at "Square 1" of yet another new rebuild. It's like the tanking never even happened.

No surprises with this announcement; Pegula likes small names under him; easier to control that way. And now we move one step further to trading Eichel and/or Reinhart without first acquiring a proven NHL HC. And some wonder why this team has missed the playoffs for a decade. Expect more failure soon, Sabres fans!

These idiots are going to move Eichel and/or Reinhart BEFORE acquiring a proven, NHL winning, HC, and seeing how that works out for a while. I hate this organization! Only Terry Pegula would review our situation and conclude the problem is Eichel or Reinhart!