JoeSchmoe

With next year being an Olympic year, I don't foresee many players going to this.

I'm always looking for new spots to check out as well... That's why I started the thread. Hopefully others will share. PS- Don't pay for parking in the main lot. Go into the old neighborhood to the west of the beach area and park for free on the street. Also, check this website for water quality if you're planning on swimming. Like most Great Lakes beaches, they sometimes post a water quality advisory after a period of heavy rain. https://www.niagararegion.ca/living/water/beaches/default.aspx

I've been meaning to check the rafting there for many years. Is there a draw there beyond that?

This place needs a little cheer with all the doom and gloom threads! My apologies if this has already been hashed out, but where do the Sabre-Space Cadets like to go for a summer day trip? I'm thinking no more than an hour or so from the arena. My favourite from here on the Canadian side of the border is a bit of a sentimental pick. I grew up in the area and still only live 20min away. It's the village of Port Dalhousie in the city of St Catharines. Rush fans will know the area from their song Lakeside Park, which is the beach / park on Lake Ontario that the village centers around. Neil Peart wrote about what it was like to grow up in "Port". I'm quite a bit younger than Neil, but I cut my teeth down there in the 90s, which was the heyday of the Port Dalhousie bar scene. It's a lot quieter than it was back then, but it's a great place for a family picnic, a day at the beach, or to take a ride on the historic 5¢ carousel. It's busy, but never too busy. There's quite a few good restaurants in the area, and has some pretty good fishing. If you've got young kids, pack the picnic basket and have a fun day at the beach. If you've got a significant other, go for dinner and drinks and take a romantic walk on the pier. So there's my spot... Who else wants to share? Edit: Adding pictures

Without reading the article, I have a hard time separating the fact that the Bills are the #1, but the Sabres are the team he micromanages. It's like how my team at work got transferred in to a different department where the manager looks after 3 different teams. My boss honestly has very little knowledge of what me or my team does, and seemingly only pretends to care. His original team though has his daily attention. All of our department meetings are pretty much solely focused on the topics from that group. He goes to industry conferences and wins awards for that team, while my team does everything on our own.

I remember when Buddy Nix said you gotta take the best player available. We had Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson already, but Nix was a BPA guy. So we took CJ Spiller. Given there wasn't room for 3 feature backs we traded Marshawn for a 4th round pick and a conditional pick. But essentially we traded out 9th overall pick, for the next year's 4th round pick and lost Lynch in the process. Meanwhile we were deficient all through the lineup at every position besides RB. So, given our organizational strength at LHD and undersized F's, I think we need to draft for need, especially since there are no surefire franchise changing players in this draft at 9th.

When Lindy started with the team in the 90s, they played a tight checking, low scoring game. After the lockout, he saw the roster he had and turned the offence dial to 11. When asked about the stark contrast between the two styles of play, he publicly stated that you need to coach to your team's strengths. If you have a high flying offence, you don't constrain them in a defense first system. So theoretically, our coaching staff can adapt to the type of roster we're able to assemble. It's hard to get good players... let alone players that only play a particular style, so largely you need to play with the cards as they're dealt.

Rumours are dumb. Go back and look at the last 100 rumours affecting this team. How many came true?

Byram can walk for whatever we can get for him. His defensive metrics have been bad his entire career, including being a sub 50% expected goals against on COL which is almost impossible to do on a team that good. In his entire career, he's only had good numbers while playing with Dahlin... but everybody has good numbers with Dahlin. Addition by subtraction. We can pay Peterka. No reason not to. Even a bridge deal. Last year we were a defenseman and a goalie away from being playoff worthy. If we can trade Byram for a less flashy guy that's good at defense AND we somehow get a goalie, I think we're good. If I believe that (and I was one of the few that voted Sabres aren't making the playoffs on last year's preseason poll), then Tuch can too.

This doesn't look real.

Levi and the 9th for Woll.

What would we need to package with Levi to get Woll from the Leafs? Does Levi and the 9th OA get it done?

I know a bunch that won't go to Sabres game until Trump is out. Some out of fear, some out of "principle". For the ones that won't go out of principle, I remind them that Carney- when he was basically the PM in waiting, and after Trump's tariff threats, still voted to move Brookfield Asset Management headquarters from Toronto to New York. If the future PM can do that, it should be okay to enjoy a Sabres game. Unfortunately, tensions here are pretty high and it doesn't seem to matter.

Everyone thinks he has potential... I for sure do and hope I'm right in saying this is a bunch of agent tricks. What I'm saying is he's a 2nd liner and a PP2 guy on a good team which will drive down his UFA value. Mittelstadt was PP1 here and was our top point producer a couple years ago (before he was traded). Once he got on better teams and was subsequently moved down the depth chart, his production plummeted. His UFA contract will take a hit as a result. If I'm JJP and don't want to stay here, I'm riding things out here until UFA. If an offer sheet were to come along, then all the better

That's one way of looking at it. A better way would be to look at all the good teams he might be clamouring to get on. How many are going to bump their established veterans off the 1st line for a young kid that doesn't play 200ft and sucked on the PP? Not many. Sure, they'll all take him in a heartbeat, but they won't give him the same opportunity... Just ask McLeod and Zucker how much opportunity can boost you on the scoring sheet.

He's not playing on a 1st line, or with anyone as good as Thompson on most any other team in the league. He's also not playing on a PP1. As such, he'd be an idiot to walk away from the Sabres before he's a UFA. He'd be an even bigger idiot if he sat out. For that reason, I question this report and think it's just the usual BS behind the scenes posturing by the agent.

Florida heat is the worst. Players are fortunate enough to get out before the worst of it, but I'd take a winter in any NHL city (except maybe Winnipeg) over a summer in Florida. Anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line is too much to be honest. If I could live anywhere in North America, give me the Adirondacks. A real winter with snowboarding and ice fishing, all the lakes in the summer, and endless hiking in the fall. I just wouldn't leave the house during the Mother's Day to late-June bug season.

I've long maintained that the Sabres should have amenities that cater to wives and families so that they build the sort of culture that once they're here, it'll make them more inclined to stay, preferably at a discount. Buy a ski house in Ellicottville, a nice big boat and/or boat house on Lake Erie... This is for all the players and their families to share, and to get to know each other. Hopefully bonds are built to the point where they feel better about putting down roots in the area and potentially signing at a home town discount.

Congrats to the Bandits and all their fans in here! I've only been to a few games over the years, but it's a blast. Full respect to all the players, many of whom have day jobs and families, but keep doing it for the love of the game.

I just checked the scoreboard and it looks like the Amerks are getting it DUNNE!

Even though he's unlikely to be available, I'd hope the Sabres pass on Martone if he is. The video confirms what little I saw at the U20's in that he's passive and doesn't use his size enough to be a power forward. We don't need another soft player in the locker room. One thing is he mentioned is that he still may develop the physicality. I'm curious... Has there been many cases of a big but passive player learning to be aggressive? Dahlin maybe comes to mind, but he wasn't exactly big when he came into the league.

It's been many years since I've watched an episode of Cheers but this line was the one that always stuck with me. This and Sam Malone rapping on the newscast.

Another important point. Peak Leaf fan obnoxiousness came in the 90s and early 00s in those few years they made the conference finals. It was so unbelievably bad. It's only by the grace of Matthews' and Marner's ineptitude that we don't have to go through that again. All that far pre-dates Pegula's ownership.

FWIW- From coverage of his farming days, it appears the Martin family was doing quite well. But farming took priority over hockey.

If you don't live amongst Leafs fans and their media, I can respect how you think we observers are just being petty. But when you're like me- a Sabres fan in Southern Ontario going back to the days when the Islanders were winning cups, you've seen and heard enough that this day is special. It's day when Sabres fans, Habs fans, Bruins fans, and anyone else from the area can come together as one... To celebrate another year of that oft talked about Yonge St parade not happening for another year. 🍻🥂