msw2112

Given his age, has apparent love of the sport, his apparent love of Buffalo, and his apparent love of the Sabres, I don't think a fancy title or even a huge payday is necessarily what Dudley is looking for. Just call him a consultant and pay him hourly for his time & contributions. At $500-$1000 per hour, which is what big-time corporate lawyers, accountants, and consultants make, he could make a few bucks to pad his retirement savings without tying the Sabres to a huge salary commitment and he'd be available to advise, mentor, etc. as needed. He can live at home in Lewiston and not have to travel other than to Downtown Buffalo on occasion. If things don't go well, there isn't a fat contract to pay out. If things do work out well, you could add a bonus to his comp. If titles were more important than I am suggesting, you could pad the title a little and go with "Senior Consultant" or "Executive Consultant," "Executive Advisor," etc.

A very well-known business book discusses the concept of "getting the right people on the bus." I have mentioned this in another Kim-related post on the Bills site. After struggling with the management and staff they inherited with the Bills, then striking out with Rex Ryan, the Pegulas finally got the right people on the bus with the Bills. They can step back and let Beane and McDermott and the staffs do their jobs. They have yet to get the right people on the bus with the Sabres. Time will tell whether Krueger, Adams and the 2 newly promoted scouting guys are. The most successful managers, once they have the right people on the bus, empower those people to do their jobs and get out of their way. Let's hope that a) the right people are on the bus now; and b) Kim can empower them to do their jobs and get out of the way. Getting the right people on the bus, empowering them, and knowing when to get out of their way are business skills that Kim may or may not have. We'll find out soon enough. I should add that this is a Rick Dudley post and my opinion is that he would be a good person to have on the bus....

Wayne Gretzky was famous for operating from behind the net. He's also the NHL's all-time assists leader by a wide margin. Not sure how this necessarily translates to the Sabres or the PP (nobody in the league currently or on the Sabres - or potentially ever - is/was as talented as the Great One), but this theory still made me think of him.

I don't get this. I thought Taylor and staff did a pretty good job. They weren't over the hump, but they did turn the Amerks into a playoff team. While it's true that Olofsson and Lazar were among the few Amerks to "graduate" to the Sabres, it looked like Middlestadt and Tage Thompson were making progress as were some of the defensemen. I don't think that the Amerks were provided with all that much to work with and did pretty well with what they had. I also saw Taylor as a potential successor to Ralph, if they decided to kick him upstairs. I guess I was wrong. You have to wonder if this is a hockey move, a cost-savings move, or both.

I'm ok with retaining Botterill. Some people here like him and others don't. Regardless, Kim could have issued the message more diplomatically. Not a good choice of words to a disgruntled fanbase.

Many great players on this list. Ovie takes the top billing because he's the most dominant player of the bunch. He leads in scoring, but also plays physical. He has now achieved a Stanley Cup Championship, so that puts him over the top. Had the Caps not won that Cup, I'd probably have gone with Federov.

The Sabres don't deserve to be in the playoffs, but if this scenario happens and they "get in," it will be interesting to see what they can do and we should allow ourselves to enjoy it. When the Sabres turn it on, they can play with just about anybody. Perhaps they will do that in a playoff type scenario.

Sounds like a modern-day Mike Keenan. Also similar to George Karl in the NBA.

My personal favorite was Paul Harrison. He wore that long white mask....But seriously, the Sabres have had a lot of excellent goalies over the years. No doubt the Dominator was the best, but it's hard to pick a #2 among Miller, Edwards, Sauve, Barrasso, etc. Fuhr was a great NHL goalie, but his tank was pretty empty by the time he came to Buffalo and he didn't have the Edmonton Oilers multi-cup winning team in front of him. I seem to recall Gerry Desjardins being pretty good, but I was a young kid at the time and not really old enough to judge. Perhaps some of the more senior members (than me) on the board can elaborate.

I started growing a beard again, but then realized that beards itch and that I touch my face a lot more when I have a beard. It's also another "surface" in which things like droplets could be caught. Out came the razor.

Working from home is optional at my job right now. I tried working from home Monday and Tuesday, but the kids are home, which makes it difficult to get anything done. Then my wife had the brilliant idea of having her mother come over to help with the kids....I'm back at the office. Fortunately, very few others are coming in, so it is quiet, I can get a lot of work done and I can keep social distance from others. I have an office with a door, so I can keep it closed and not interact much with others. I've even had conference calls with people in the building who I would normally meet with face-to-face. I wish I had something more interesting to share, but I think the mother-in-law thing is kind of funny and many can probably relate!

This is more of an indirect comment than a full evaluation of Ullmark, but the team slumped badly while he was out injured. He came back and started 1 game (which I did not see) and they beat a top team 3-2 in a shootout. I can't imagine they get that win with Hutton or Johansson in goal.

I agree that the goaltending needs to be upgraded. I think that Ullmark is a competent starter who is good enough to do the job on an otherwise good team. He's not likely to be a Vezina finalist anytime soon, but can carry the load if the team has adequate defensive support and scoring (which the Sabres do not). Hutton is a great locker room guy and has flashes, but is clearly not the answer. I was at the game Saturday night in Arizona and sat very close to the Sabres net during the 2nd period. Johansson is simply not ready for NHL duty. While there were many defensive breakdowns that didn't help him, he was shaky at best. One of the goals occurred because he cleared the puck right onto the Arizona player's stick, when no Sabre player was even close to the area. Although he "only" gave up 4 goals (the last one was empty net), he was beaten many more times than that. The goalposts were his friend. He was beaten twice on a couple of the goals. One went in, but bounced out quickly and would have been called a goal on replay review, but AZ put the rebound in so there was no need to review it. On another one, Johansson was beaten, but the puck hit the post, came back out to the AZ player, who potted it on the 2nd attempt. These were my observations live - perhaps those who saw it on TV and had the benefit of replays saw something different. Sometimes young, inexperienced guys from the minors develop into quality NHL players and sometimes they don't. I can't say whether Johannson will develop, but I can say that he isn't ready now.

I agree with those above who think that it is unnecessary to make any changes to this. It has only happened twice over a period of many years and tens of thousands of games. For the sake of argument however, here are some thoughts on how a new system could be implemented: 1. Allow teams to carry a 3rd goalie for playoff games only; OR 2. Allow teams to activate one of the guys on the roster, with the team, but inactive for the game (the healthy scratches in the pressbox) in-game if another player gets injured. It's up to the team what positions they want those players to be. If a 3rd goalie is one of the guys who is with the team and inactive for the game, they could bring him (or her) down. If they choose not to have a goalie as one of the available players, they can still use the insurance salesman who played some net in college, like what is provided for today. This wouldn't be a goalie-only rule, but would give teams some flexibility for injury coverage. The team would only be able to use the move once per game and the injured player (obviously) would not be able to return to the game. Given the rarity of the situation where both dressed goalies go down, I think teams would opt not to have the 3rd goalie be one of the "injury-substitution-available" players, except maybe for the playoffs, where the risk of it not being a goalie is much higher.

Both. Eichel is older. He is more mature physically and mentally and is entering his prime. Some guys enter their prime earlier and are immediate stars at 19, 20, 21, etc. Others need some seasoning before really hitting their stride. Eichel may be one of the latter, plus RK's coaching has kept him fully engaged. His demeanor on the ice is noticeably different this year. He plays with a new level of confidence and engagement. Now there's the chicken and egg issue: is he more engaged and confident because he is playing well (and pucks going in the net, etc.) or is he playing well because he is more confident and engaged? Again, let's go with both.

He's a veteran guy that was a solid player and a solid team guy at one point. If a contending team is short on veteran d-men and have some cap space, the hit is only for a few more months, then he falls off the books at the end of the season. The Sabres, on the other hand, are not a contending team (arguably), are not short on d-men and don't have a lot of cap space. Plus, he hasn't demonstrated himself as a solid player and a solid team guy this season. A change of scenery benefits everyone involved. Let's hope lands on his feet somewhere and is able to resume a previously productive career and the Sabres are able to move on with younger and less expensive talent.

That bodes well for the present and future of the team. If the captain and star player hasn't bought in, it's a big problem. That was the case with Bylsma and sure seemed like it in the later part of the Housely era. Jack's next-level play this year certainly indicates that SOMETHING is working with him.

Don't forget: Steve Patrick and James Patrick. Was there a third? And I'm pretty sure there were only two, but we had father Mike Foligno and son Marcus Foligno. Too bad Nick Foligno, a pretty good player for the CBJ, isn't a Sabre.

I spent as much time watching the NHL All-Star game and related festivities as I did watching the Pro Bowl and related festivities. Zero. Great to hear that Jack centered the top line and had a few assists.

Freddy Krueger, Ralph Krueger - brothers?

I wouldn't trade Sam. He's a building block for the team. The team's biggest need is quality forwards and he's one of them.

Joe Byron was the best. I miss him and always hoped they could replace him with someone of a similar style, but they never have. Has he passed away? It's been many years (decades?) since he sang. He had that classic style ("opera" style) that you rarely see today. I think Montreal used to have a similar type of guy who would do O Canada in half English and half French. Tynan arguably has that style, but he's not a permanent Buffalo guy - he would just come in on occasion; plus, with the whole Yankee stadium, post 9-11 thing, he got a little too big for his britches.

My father (in his 70's) always does this. I was mid-sentence telling him "The Sabres are playing tonight and I recorded it and can't wait to watch it later," but after the word "tonight" he proceeded to interject into the conversation to tell me that they won. After I get frustrated, he always tries to backtrack and say "well, I don't really know what happened" but it's too late. The horse has left the barn. I have other friends that text frequently during games to talk about them, no matter how often I remind them I live in the West and to please not do this. The only way to do it is to not answer or look at your phone for a few hours. One time, I went phones down and my neighbor was calling to tell me there was a fire at her house. I ignored the call and was quite startled when fire trucks showed up shortly thereafter! Thankfully, it was a very small fire and nobody got hurt and little to no property damage. (It pains me to tell this story, as I sound like a real a-hole - but really, I'm not. I just like to enjoy my sports.???)

Great topic. It is my life! I live in Arizona now, so I'm usually at work when Sabres games start. I also have family responsibilities when I get home from work until the kids go to bed, so I often don't get to sit down and watch a game until 8 or 9 PM Arizona time, which can be 10 or 11 in Buffalo. The game is long over. I have to live in the bubble and not look at my phone or someone will ruin it for me. Even thought I have turned off all "alerts," my friends like to text when a Buffalo team does something good or bad. Same goes for football. Bills games start at 10 or 11 am (no Daylight Savings Time here, so it varies by an hour). It's often difficult to have all of the Saturday or Sunday morning responsibilities out of the way and be ready to go by that early start time, so the DVR comes through for me. I do prefer to watch live, but with fast-forwarding, I usually catch up to live sometime in the 3rd quarter. It allows me to zip through the first half commercials and halftime. I also very much agree with the earlier post about MLB games. The DVR allows you to fast forward until the point where the game becomes interesting. I just can't spare (nor do I want to spare) 4+ hours for a baseball game, but the late innings of a close World Series game are entertaining. The DVR also (as someone else mentioned) sometimes spares some agony. I was able to fast forward through most of the Sabres-Caps game the other night. It saved me a lot of time watching a putrid game. If, during my fast forwarding, it looked like the Sabres were going to get back in the game, I could have switched back to regular speed and enjoyed it. Unfortunately there was no need.

Now that the thread title has been corrected....It will be interesting to see how the goaltending situation plays out over the next couple of years. With a capable defense in front of them, Hutton and Ullmark are both playing pretty well this year. When the defense has been poor, they have stepped up and bailed the team out. Ullmark was the reason we got a point in the Columbus game and I think that Hutton stole a game for us more recently (perhaps the LA game, which I didn't see). If these guys are able to sustain this level of play for the next couple of seasons (a big if, I understand), how and when does UPL get into the mix? After Hutton's contract expires? What if Ullmark, who is still young, becomes a bona fide NHL #1. Where does UPL fit in? This would be a good problem to have, mind you....