Curt

Missed most of they 2nd. Are they playing any worse than the first 3 games? Or is it just a better opponent and worse luck?

Maybe, but 50 year old Eichel might not be happier when he is recovering from his 4th spinal fusion surgery. Just offering a plausible alternative view, that might be along the lines of what Eichel is thinking.

This is also true, however, sympathizing with Eichel is not the result of a legal evaluation, it’s an emotional response. Legally everything is fully above board and no one is violating anyone’s legal rights. All parties signed contracts that they would abide by these rules. Still, it really sucks for Eichel that he would possibly need to give up a guaranteed $50M in order to get the surgery he feels is best for his long term health. Its certainly possible to see the situation as morally grey, if not straight up reflecting poorly on the Sabres, while at the same time recognizing that the organization is just protecting its interests and isn’t doing anything wrong from a legal standpoint.

I mostly agree. Someone wants to get a certain surgery to fix their injured neck. Their employer, says, “No, sorry, you can’t get the surgery that you think is best. Our doctors don’t think it’s best and our insurance just wouldn’t cover it.” I understand why it’s happening, but Sabres organization doesn’t exactly come out on the moral high ground.

The Sabres did not receive a poor return for Risto.

Many statistical measures are definitely situational. They don’t tell the whole story. I think there are times that players placed in far from ideal situations produce poor analytics, but that doesn’t mean that they are absolutely not worth considering and if placed in situations that better suit them, they could produce good analytics.

They really do seem to have made a conscious effort to hire top notch analytics people. However, I would push back against the idea that they plan on building a team based mostly off of analytics (not that you actually said that, though your statement could be interpreted that way). It seems like it is/will be just one of several areas of focus. The GM and HC have spoken repeatedly about getting the right people, team chemistry, hard work, and other such unquantifiable concepts. I feel like they will build with a wide range of factors in mind, not “all in on analytics”.

What about Josh Allen? I don’t follow the Bills or their fan narratives.

This win didn’t really count, because I told everyone before the season that the Sabres would be awful, and I desperately need the validation of being right about this.

For NHL contracts, there is no such thing as contract renegotiation.

Not really. It’s his job to talk.

Sadly. I would say that’s probably the case for non-NHL healthy 20-40 year olds as well.

He is still pretty young for a goalie prospect, so nothing is cemented yet, but he has been trending down the past couple years. At this point, I don’t think he should be considered the Sabres top goalie prospect. You know, goalie prospects, that’s why you want 3, not 1.

Maybe you are right, but have you heard the commercial in question? They are pretty over the top and explicit.

Agree. The discussion was on the idea that the media reports were being put out in order to excite the fans into pressuring Adams to make an Eichel trade.

A No Movement Clause gives the player the option to decline to be traded to any team. There is no list, the player can just say “no thanks” to any trade. A Modified No Trade Clause usually has a list of a certain number of teams that the player can not be traded to.

So, you think a lot of people are not attending games because Eichel has not been traded? Or that low attendance is pressuring Adams into rushing an Eichel trade? I doubt that very much.

What has been reported that has made you or others here get into a twist and pressure team management to "do something!!!"? If I wanted to pressure team management, how would I even do that?

I don’t think so, and I would be surprised if NHL doctors or teams were giving it to players. It’s nothing to mess around with, much much stronger than morphine. It’s generally medically used as a sedative to knock people out in emergency medicine or palliative care situations. A common overdose scenario is someone abusing cocaine unaware that it is laced with fentanyl and accidental overdosing. I would guess that’s what happened to Jimmy Hayes. Any medical pros out there feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong.

If they play .500 against the good teams, that probably means they are playing .600 against bad teams. They would almost definitely make the playoffs. Assuming we are talking about point %. If we are talking about actual win % they they would be a playoff lock.

As soon as they can find another available French Canadian coach who they haven’t already hired and fired twice before.

It’s not just about working hard. (You are right most teams work hard almost every night.) It’s about the pressuring style of play. It’s physically very hard to play that way every night for 82 games. It requires effort, yes, but also peak conditioning and generally a fairly even ice time distribution. A line probably can’t truly play that way if they are out there for 22:00 mins a night. They would just get too tired. So it’s not just general hard work, it’s a style of play that both puts a lot of pressure on the opponent and is physically difficult execute. I do think the Sabres have shown some similarities to early Vegas in style of play. We will see if they can keep it up.

This is nice. I often dismiss positive things said by NHLers because saying something vaguely positive is the default, but this is very specific. Even if it was prompted by the Sabres PR in some way, Okposo still put a lot of himself into this letter and believes in what he wrote. It’s nice. I believe in the personal, human component as an important part of creating success.

Lol. Majority under 30 would love it. Most over 50 would be impossibly confused.

Just reading. Congrats! How’s it going so far?