Pimlach

So some of you guys think Ellis is another Binnington from the Blues AHL system?

... Stale hot dog buns, dry pizza, old popcorn, low quality and expensive beer, broken cup holders, urine on the restroom floor, paper towels that don't dry, can't put my size 12 1/2 shoes on the floor when seated in the 300's, always get the seat next to the fat guy ...

Well back in the 80’s there was no Internet forums for fans to commiserate on. The group negativity that we have here is contagious but it’s also a coping mechanism. But the regular fans here watch every game and follow them closely, even in the off season. I stopped going because I’m out of town, it cost a lot to travel and to buy hockey tickets. But the big reason is that when I go they almost never win and I’m just sick of it. They don’t win because they are a poorly run team at the top. I’m not a fan of Terry Pegula, I’m a fan of the team he bought. He is not getting any more ticket money from me until he fixes the mess he created. I’ll be a die hard fan from a safe distance.

He scraps, he defends himself, he agitates, but his is not going to deter someone from taking liberties. Same with Benson and a few others. The team needs a fighter that can play a regular shift.

Former season ticket holder here. I started my home game boycott after the "solution is in the room" speech last season. I don't want to do it but for me to attend games I have to travel to Buffalo and my expenses are much more than just the cost of the hockey tickets. Otherwise I would have met up with you and the rest for the game this season. I still visit Buffalo often but going to that arena and paying for that product is not worth it. When I see a tangible semblance of a Sabres organization on the right track I will be back. I will be happy to pay more to support a team that cares about their fans.

Good to hear this but keep in mind Buffalo is a college town loaded with NYC metro and Long Island students. The price of tickets is ridiculously cheap for them. Looking forward to the game anyway. As always.

It sure seems that Adams loves to work on, 5/6/7/8 defenders, fourth line forwards, and backup goalies. Could that be why they don't get better?

True, but I got tired of seeing those 3 having to drop them and no one else (accept maybe Clifton) and certainly no follow up (see Noeson and Thompson). Ruff wants to carry a tough guy, yet he didn't put Gilbert on the ice after Thompson got nailed, he wanted to score a goal. That was fine, but Gilbert never even got a shift after that. Why carry Gertie if that is how he is going to use him?

Well, at least Dahls, Tucky, and Tommer won’t have to fight if we are carrying Gertie.

What happened to Zac Jones? Did Ryan Johnson beat him out? This looks like another California Golden Seals type season.

Bad game and it needs to be put away. The refs seemed to target the Bills and the calls were certainly not consistent but the Bills panicked at the very end and they failed to make the key plays needed to win and run time off of the clock. Just look at the last offensive drive - it ended with a Shakir drop followed by two broken plays with no one open, there is a cry for DPI on Shakir but no replays to verify what happened. We settled for 3 with lots of time for the Pats*. The last defensive series started with a missed sack, mostly due to the fantastic play by Maye, but a sack changes everything. After that play the defense failed to hold the tie and get the ball back in Allen's hands. If this game showed me anything it confirmed that the WRs and the secondary are just mediocre. We already knew this going into the season. Bills may have faired better with rookies Hairston or Dorian Strong, or maybe even J'Marcus Ingram. Too many times Diggs was matched up with Tre White and the results were not good.

Lyon is a decent backup that must somehow break out as a starter. UPL is starting the season injured and somehow must return to the form he showed in the good season that he had two years ago. Georgiev's play has slipped a lot the past two seasons. Levi and Ellis - two promising AHL goalies Does it look like there is a combination here that can take a perennial loser to the playoffs? Stay tuned to the Buffalo Sabres 2025-26 season to find out.

While the NHL team has a bunch of backups and unproven goalies.

I don't think saying your organizational mission is to win championships is naive. In fact, it is a necessary component to winning. The Bills have that mission statement as well. His methods to do so were extremely naive. The worse false bravado from Terry was the "drill a well" comment. Most of us can see that he cares more about expenses than winning hockey games right now. Hope that changes at some point. I just don't see this team winning with Adams at the helm. Reaching the 7/8 seed in the conference is not a huge accomplishment but something we could celebrate.

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play. Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys. Let the games begin.

My mother used to answer the TV, “yes I do.” Great lady.

You are on to something. I had dinner with a troubled 35 year old man. He asked me a question on calculating a simple formula and rather than hear the explanation he stopped me and said never mind, he would just ask Chat Gpt. He wanted the final answer without knowing why it’s the answer. He was impressed that my answer was the same as Chat Gpt but saw no value in understanding why. Several other topics came up and he for asked advice, but then became disagreeable and told me to forget it, he would ask Chat GPT. I told him AI is not the tool for this kind of advice, the answer is not in a formula. He smirked and placated me. Later, he got political and told me things about a few current events that I never considered. He smuggly proclaimed I should get news from internet sources and podcasts and everything on TV news is a lie. He may be correct on the TV media, I don’t know. It seems to me that social media and AI can easily create confusion and division.

If you watched a lot of hockey you already knew that a healthy Norris is a better player than the past Dylan Cozens. It’s too early to say that he is going to make a difference, he has to be available to play. But he was productive in Preseason so that is a good sign.

No. Only RJ is RJ. Accept no substitute. And it very well could stifle future innovation and creative thought.

I think this is simple. The kid has played just 43 games in Junior A WHL. He will not be 19 until this coming season ENDS. I would send him back to juniors and expect him to dominate and be a team leader. The AHL is his next step after that. He played a few preseason games for the Sabres against mixed roster competition, not true NHL teams in real games that count. He did ok but there is no reason to think he is ready for the rigors of professional hockey in North America at age 18. He needs to play a lot of minutes, not watch others doing it. I suspect that after a few weeks in Rochester he goes back to Seattle.

I asked you this because I wonder what you base your opinion on how “older people” feel about their savings. You could be a financial planner that studies how people feel about managing finances and risk?

Lyon is a key, no doubt. Norris was very good with Ottawa, he just needs to stay healthy. You need 2 scoring lines. Tuch helps us get that. With Peterka gone they needs others to step up and produce more goals (Quinn, Benson, Kulich) while still maintaining the contributions from McLoed and Zucker.

Ok. Thanks.