Curt

I guess, but I don’t see it. They aren’t making a big story of it as far as I can see. It was 5 mins of a 42 minute podcast.

Who? Peters? Actually they wanted to cut his hours so he quit.

Cool

Just spitballing on this Jamel guy, but would he really be that involved I wonder? Wikipedia says he is 79 and his two sons have prominent roles in his businesses. If his “group” purchased the Sabres, I’m guessing it would the sons who are primarily involved. 79 seems a bit old to immerse yourself into the world of sports team ownership.

No, that’s not at all what Friedman has said. Friedman has said that he has also heard rumors of people discussing purchasing the Sabres, but speculates that it may not be the right time with the Bills stadium decision up in the air. He also said that he heard that the Pegulas were approached by potential buyers, but were only interested in selling a minority share, but the buyers only wanted to purchase a majority stake.

Oh good, the Sabres only need to add a top-6 C with leadership skills, a shutdown bottom 6 C with leadership skills, two top-4 RHD, and a starting level goalie. Piece of cake. At least you don’t ask for much.

Can you explain how the team can no longer support the development of Asplund? There should be space in the bottom 6 for him, no? Not saying that you are wrong to be giving up on him though. For my liking, doesn’t play hard/angry/pesky enough for a bottom 6er of his skill level.

Peter’s has been pretty transparent that what he has heard is that the Sabres are probably for sale, at least a minority stake. He has been asking Elliot Friedman on his podcast what he knows about a possible sale literally every week for over a month.

(Raises hand) 🙋🏻‍♂️

My thought for today is that in order to succeed, this team needs to develop a culture of togetherness and also continue adding good, skilled players. In order to do that I believe that they really do need players who want to be here (even if it is becoming a played out phrase). Overpaying a vet and getting him to come to Buffalo just because he felt like he couldn’t turn down the money is not going to be what fixes this team. Mercenaries aren’t the answer. Almost all of the improvements are going to come internally or if they can be lucky enough to find more veteran players like Tuch/Okposo who are both good and passionate about being in Buffalo. I just feel like it’s important to keep this team extremely tight and together for the next 2-3 years. They need to develop the attitude of caring about and playing for the guy next to you. I think that’s what will drag this team out of the abyss.

I know that he probably isn’t ever more than a 5, 6, 7, 8th defenseman, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Fitzgerald. He seems to bring a lot of passion and seems like the kind of player who doesn’t mind doing the dirty work. I hope he sticks around for a while.

The Venn diagram has achieved synergy.

Thanks. I need to catch all the victories that I can. I’m not getting them from the Sabres.

I did not compile and average all results, but I would guess that the average was between 65-70. I’m sorry, you are correct. If they win a couple games and end the season with 66 points, can I declare that a victory? 🙃. My point was just that most everyone thought that they were going to be terrible, and they are.

I just perused the season predictions thread. This is kind of what most expected. Most record predictions were in the 65-75 point range, with more below than above.

This is the work scouts we’re doing during the shutdown. Trying to find out who might have had physical development or skill improvement in a year where he didn’t play organized hockey.

Why would other teams have trouble selling tickets when Sabres visit? Doesn’t every fan want to see a win in person??? Is this a real thing, or a made up thing? Are other teams really having trouble selling tickets when Sabres visit? Feels like a made up thing. My bet would be that the Pegulas are not being given directives from Bettman, although they probably have had 1 or 2 conversations over the past year about the plan for the team moving forward.

1) Talent - they simply are not good enough yet. 2) Mitts has got to be rusty and I would guess that played a large part in that play. On a more talented team, maybe Mitts isn’t on the ice in that key situation or maybe a better goalie bails the team out there. The plan is for these young players to develop and grow into their roles.

Maybe he will get a proven vet. I just don’t think that he will invest much in acquiring one, in terms of trade assets or contract term, so I will most likely be someone who is extremely mediocre or well past their prime. I could see him overpaying a vet for a 1-2 year deal, I’m just not sure that guy will meet the criteria of proven vet who can carry the load and solidify the goalie position. I think guys who fit that description will 1) have better options than Buffalo 2) aren’t available for trade 3) if they are, they are more expensive in trade than Adams is willing to give. With regards to Quick specifically, I don’t see why LA will be moving him out.

As @Taro T said, define competitive.

I don’t know if Anderson will really be back. Adams may try to bring in someone else. Whoever the veteran is, I would be very surprised if significant assets are used to sign or acquire a goalie. It will be a cheap veteran and UPL in the NHL, and Levi and Tokarski (or someone similar) in the AHL.

It’s surprising that he is truly bad, yes, and he did play great during the cup run, but to me it’s no surprise that he has not maintained a high level of play. I cringed when he got that contract. If you look at his career trajectory, he looks like a Linus Ullmark level player. He just had that one special season.

That seems correct. I would say that Tuch, Cozens and Dahlin have qualified themselves, and Skinner’s contract qualifies him.

Yeah, I would thinks it would be 3-4 forwards, 2-3 D, and maybe a goalie. Those would be the key guys who you really commit to, give 5+ year contracts, give NTC/NMC to, etc.

My thoughts are that Putin is probably smart enough to know what he can and can not get away with. Yes, he wants to set up Ukraine as a friendly, puppet, buffer nation, but Putin knows that he can not just start gobbling up multiple neighbors into the Russian empire and still avoid direct armed conflict with the west. I believe that it will be Ukraine alone that is the target.