Broken Ankles

Live look at T Pegs and Adams in the Suites.

He's nothing more than a JAG. So I "rewrote" a song just for him - to the tune of Just another Day by Oingo Boing. For you Gen Y and Z I added the youtube video so you can follow along. ------------------------------------------------------------- There fans being clowned I feel it all around, I feel it in my bones, My life is in decline. We lost away from home. When he sits on the bench, The arena is alive... I do not trust my coaches, I can’t believe this Blue-line. I will not check a bod, I cannot risk the bet, Cause hearts are fragile toys, So easy to forget. He’s just another guy, There's ‘basic’ in the air... He drags it when he skates, I smell it everywhere. He’s just another guy, Where people cling to light, To drive away the wins, That comes with every night... He’s just another…He’s just another guy. He’s just another guy-He’s just another guy. He’s just another ... He’s just another guy. He’s just another guy-He’s just another guy. He’s just another guy… When players wake from dreams, With coaches in their ears, That will not go away... I had a dream last night, I even scored a goal. And everywhere I went, There wasn't any sneers... The temperature decreased, The ice was muted blue, The fans turned into fire, We never have a clue. But there's a smile on my face, For TPegs and Kev... There's a golden coin, That I didn’t deserve... There's a lonely place, That's always cold... There's a place in the League, For when you get old. Oh... Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh... He’s just another guy... He’s just another guy... He’s just another He’s just another guy... Oh... There's ‘Razor’ in my head, He comes out late at night. He always disappears, Before the morning light! I'm dreaming again, Of last night's boozehound... It never gets old, It’s extremely profound. And just when I think There’s a boost in the fan base, The heavens are secure, The whole thing explodes, in my face! He’s just another…He’s just another guy. He’s just another guy- he’s just another guy. He’s just another... He’s just another guy. He’s just another guy- he’s just another guy.

Mormon Wristshot.

In terms of 5v5, his line was close to the Greenway/Tage/Tuch line and 3 more minutes than The 4th line. Beck/Kozak/Lafferty brought their big boy pants last night and deserved more time. Maybe the special teams affected the distribution of 5/5 time. And while the Murray/Krebs/Quinn line had a decent Cosi (all lines did), their expected goals for/against were by far the lowest. And they were on ice for one of the two goals against. You have to impress the coach when you get the call up. It’s just not there.

So true. My number one observation was that Zucker, while not on the scoresheet was a beast. Zadorov and few other Bruins tried to impose their will, yet it was Greenway and Zucker who punished their forwards all game. Something the youth on this team can’t do. My other observation was Murray was invisible. In a game where you had an opportunity against a younger rebuilding team, you were a no-show? Send him down.

Is there an insider here who has visibility to the renewal data and if Exec management within the Sabres have established goals as it relates to renewals as a percent? I have to believe with the general unhappiness about the owner/GM/organization coupled with the uncertainty of the CAD, overall ST renewals are not reaching internal metrics. And there has to be a melting point at which Pegula can’t deny what the “paying fans” think and he pivots away from Adams.

Yeah, organic growth is required for a team to jump from #8/9 to leading the conference. But I would restate my original point about the adds from trade and UFA. 277 points of their total ~620 came from the acquisitions from last two years. That’s 45% of total points. And PLD and Strome are #1 &2 respectively. Conversely what have Adams acquisitions done? McLeod, Zucker, Beck, Clifton, Byrum are good for 131. And most give Adams credit for Zucker and McLeod, but they are 5/6. And Logan Thompson is second to Helle in goals saved above expected. Again, for the pittance spent, an amazing ROI. Not to mention a GM gets some credit for their drafting.

https://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Brian_MacLellan/281/1 This above is just a trade tracker, which provides a nice view into the work of the Caps GM. PLD for Keumper. PLD has been a solid 2c. On defense, only 2 home grown. Chykren and Sandin came via trade and Roy as a UFA. Magiopane came relatively cheaply. Logan Thompson to solidify Goal for two mid level draft picks. Roy and Strome are two players with not huge contracts by way of UFA that are paying dividends. The return for Hathaway- Bravo. I agree, textbook GM’ing that keeps a very small core of Alexander O, Wilson and Carlson together.

Zero chance. Murray has had 4 years to make that change to his game. He probably could have asked for assistance from Ray or others if he had a desire to make the NHL as a fourth line goon. If someone gave you $350k/year (current Rochester salary) to play hockey in the minors or $1m/year to fight in the NHL and risk CTE what would you choose? Murray has made his choice. He is a big, .6 pts/game AHL player who does not possess the skills to play in the NHL. Nothing about his game is elite and it certainly won’t manifest itself after 29 years of age. He will continue to use his PSU affiliation to pull a decent AHL salary from Pegula until his mid thirties and then go into coaching. Not a bad career choice at all.

Sabres diet. High in iron.

Kolesar says in between periods “they (Sabres) want to play a heavy game, and we can match it”. They can?

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This is a filter on RD UFA this July - under the age of 36. Slim Pickens ain't just an American character actor. I greyed out the unlikley. What do you know about Nick Perbix?

Highlighting Adams record as the most successful of those in the drought is like being named the Valedictorian of summer school. The most salient comment was from the agent who speaks for so many here…about the vast resources of Pegula and spending rather than hear a half empty stadium calling for you to sell the team.

Queue the SNL skit “The Buffalonians”….. (Fade in - a young man in Tonawanda NY with an exaggerated long A accent asks) “Hey Mom, how’s the traffic on the 190 this morning? Sully and the boys are picking me up for the tailgate before the Bills game. We gotta stop at Tim Hortons on Sheridan first. Yeah, I have the half baked Bocce Club in the garage refrigerator. We’re heating it up in Fitzys new pizza oven”. There are a series of references to local fare like Beef on Wick and Ted’s Hot Dogs. The 90, 33, and 290 when everyone asks the best way to get to a Bills game. And every episode pits one family member against another because their favorite wing joint is different. Everyone Loves Josh Allen, and 90% hate Terry, Adams and the Sabres. And the one person that loves them is teased by the others relentlessly. Then there is a joke where the guest host is a cousin, Uncle, or Aunt from another state and they don’t even know what the Sabre are…”never heard of them” says Aunt Patty. Then a course of the cast, in unison in a mocking fashion answer ….”The Buffalo Sabres reason for existence is to win the Stanley Cup”. Then, they all start laughing. Followed by drinking, and then quiet. Close up on the character who loves the team where a small tear drop rolls down his face…. Fade to black - literally.

Samuelsson has value. If you retain $750k for the remaining 5 you would get something in return. Especially from Philly. And then you save the other 5 years of a dead cap of $700k. The buyout is 10 years dead cap. Same with Clifton. If you retain 25% you get $2.5m in space even if the return is low draft capital. Bridge both Peterka and Quinn, and go to arbitration with Byrum and trade Power. That frees up ~$14.5. JJP - $3.9m *2. Quinn go to arbitration- what could he possibly get? $2m? Arbitration for Byrum as well. McLeod is 4*$4.5. That’s $16 leaving you with $23 in cap space for traded players or UFA. A qualified GM who could spend to the cap could subtract and add. Ours fail basic math literacy.

Was this out there in the Buffalo News? He made it sound matter of fact, which if it’s true only adds to my hated for Adams. I can’t recall hearing this other than speculation.

Fair. But also not puck moving. Hybrid. I still offered three others in each of the previous GM administrations. My larger point is we started the experiment in 2019, and it only seems to have gained momentum under Adam’s. I would qualify Ras as hybrid today.

Even during the Housley era the Sabres D iced three stay at home D. Zack Bogo, Risto, Scandella and McCabe. The 2019 roster has Scandella (traded in season), Risto, McCabe and Colin Miller. After trades they started to change the pairings where two puck moving D played together. 2020- Montour, Pilut, Joki, Bryson, Dahlin (who as a young D would only qualify as puck moving). Samuelson as a rookie was considered stay at home but still weak and undeveloped.

Because Adams.

The Herlihy Boy played by UPL - Please let me mind your goal. You don’t have anyone better. Please let me tend your net. Farley played by Promo - You vicious bastards, let the boy tend your goal. For the love of God, just let the boy play net.

My votes as well. In same order.

Of course the injury plays into equation of why it was a failure. The Bills committed $52m guaranteed and $120m/6 total which if you look at both the value we received in three years. He had 14 total sacks, 41 tackles, only one forced fumble and an avg 12/17 games played. If we couple this with his off the field issues and now the dead cap issues they face ($15.4m- b/c the cap numbers in 2022/23 were so low), the concept of Von Miller was bad. It was a home run swing (my Reggie analogy) to win a Superbowl and resulted in an epic strikeout. This signing is a much lower risk/prove it deal with no cap consequences. Bosa’s risk of injury is far greater than when Von arrived in ‘22 (although Von did have an ACL in Denver years before), but the exposure is also very low. I mean $12.5m in 2025 cap is 4.4% vs what Von was getting - $17m annualized) was over 8% of the 2022 Cap. So half and no long term risk. ** But still, like Miller, the highest bidder.

Just in case someone thought Bosa took a discount to play for the Bills. I hope this DE works out b/c Miller was a big swing and miss. Like Reggie circa 1978 falling in the batters box. https://www.si.com/nfl/how-the-bills-beat-49ers-dolphins-to-land-joey-bosa

Overall skating well. Tuch/ Thompson playing well tonight. Yet when on a PP it falls apart. Unexplainable.