Amerks8796

He’s been beyond bad defensively all year. There’s a reason 3 AHL/ECHL tweeners played over him. With Davidson close to a return, I can’t imagine it’ll be any easier for him to crack the lineup.

I didn’t complain about the seats. I really don’t have a huge issue with them. The Pegulas paid for the new scoreboard. To my knowledge, state funding paid for the concession expansion and bathroom renovations. But realistically, if one wants new seats, it’ll come much sooner if the Pegulas do it. Otherwise who knows when more state money will fund it.

I believe so, yes. But the city doesn’t exactly have money lying around for improvements. The Pegulas operate the arena. I believe the setup is similar with KBC, but it’s Erie county. People generally look to the Pegulas for improvements, not the county.

The seats need replacing. But the Pegulas can’t be bothered. Sometimes I wonder if they even remember they own the Amerks.

I’ve been to that arena. It’s “nice” but sterile. I agree with you about the seats on the end. In general, I like the older arenas because I think they have more character.

The War Memorial always seems to get hate, but I think it’s still a great arena. Delaware North does a terrible job, but that’s another story. My biggest issue is that the arena is just too big. The seats at the end just go on forever and no one ever sits there. It’s probably not structurally feasible, but if they could rip out the top have of those sections, and put some sort of bar/standing room area, that would really be great.

It has better sight lines, but I still prefer the War Memorial overall for pretty much everything else.

Yes, UPL has the NHL style butterfly down pretty well. But he just misses pucks and struggles with weak goals. Sure, if he gets hot, his potential is far greater than Dell. But so far in the AHL that’s rarely happened for more than the odd game here or there.

Let’s be honest, he probably did the team a favor. I understand people want to see UPL play for development purposes, but Dell is better at this level. I’m not sure the Amerks win both of those games with UPL.

And Davidson. Everyone wrote him off and thought he was done for the year, but he’s often been the teams best defenseman when he plays. If they can get both back, they’ll probably run something like this out there: Schuldt - Fitzgerald Samuelsson - Prow Davidson - Alt

It’s my favorite arena to watch hockey in. Small place, where the seats are steep and right on top of the ice. You won’t find better sight lines anywhere.

It’s a bummer, because Binghamton lost their team, and they are a classic, great AHL town. I went to a game in Belleville a few year ago. Felt like a high school game. They were selling snacks from card tables. The people were nice, though.

Yes, healthy scratch. I think the reality with Laaksonen is that he’s essentially a PP specialist who can’t play any defense. He’s very soft in his own end. Belleville was a big and physical team. Utica isn’t much different, so I don’t think we’ll see him, especially if Samuelsson and/or Davidson return against Utica.

I guess it’s fine as a shot in the dark. He has worse NHL numbers than Dell. They could’ve had Connor Ingram on waivers relatively recently.

He is head and shoulders better.

UPL will absolutely sabotage the Amerks season if he continues to play as much as he has. They’ve clearly given him the opportunity to be the clear cut 1 and run with it, and he’s blown it. There’s no justification for keeping Dell on the bench when he returns. They’ll have to play UPL less. This could have playoff implications, and those games are important for the real prospects.

The problem with the Amerk is they’re all flash and no substance. They’ve scored a lot of pretty goals from Peterka and Quinn, and those guys have generated a lot of talk. But for the other 59 minutes of the game, most people haven’t paid attention. They can’t play a lick of defense, they turn the puck over at alarming rates, and they have the worst goalie in the league. They’re 8-6 based on raw talent alone. They should be way better.

Sure there is. Dell will be back in a couple weeks. Houser is more than capable.

You can only justify playing a goalie this bad for so long. Even in the AHL. UPL doesn’t control this team or organization. It’s bigger than just him, and lots of others careers are at stake too. I stand by my thought that he needs to be in the ECHL, even if it’s unlikely to happen.

UPL is a nightmare. He’s going to sabotage their entire season. Eventually they’ll have no choice but to play him less.

Sure. I don’t mind being wrong on prospects, just call it as I see it. I doubt it’s too common for a prospect goalie to go from being the worst in the AHL, for a sustained period of time, to NHL goalie. But we’ll see.

No, but I’m not whining. I’m stating facts. Twitter was a cesspool when Dell started. What exactly did people expect? If Dell is your 3rd goalie, he needs to play more often. This isn’t a controversial thought. UPL will get plenty of games regardless. I don’t even know what you think I’m whining about. I’m fully resigned to UPL playing and costing the Amerks points this year. It’s a reality of the league.

Then Sabres fans shouldn’t bitch when he stinks in the NHL. That’s my point. And UPL is hardly the number 1 priority. He’s never going to amount to anything. The priority, from a development perspective, is developing Quinn, Peterka and Krebs

Sure, but Dell still could’ve played more often. If you’re depending on him to step in and play in Buffalo, he needs to stay sharp in Rochester, not ride the bench.

They were, but the Sabres were also wrong in how they handled Dell. People are shredding him for how he played, and he was bad, but he’s barely played in Rochester. 3 games I think. And then you call him up and expect to play well against a team with all that talent? If Dell is you 3rd goalie, he should be playing more often in Rochester.