Pimlach

I was traveling and on the road. Missed it. I’ll stream it on ESPN+. Congrats to Bandits and their fans. Three-peat. Will they have something downtown, a rally or something to congratulate them?

Florida’s facility is great, awesome, and probably in a league of its own. Reminds me of the Bills facility, which looks much bigger and better than Floridas and includes an indoor practice field for winter. Harbor Center was pretty nice at one time and still is in good repair and probably could be expanded into some of the other levels. The Sabres dressing room was already refreshed to one of the tops in the league when Pegula took over. In the 70’s and 80’s the Sabres were a good destination for many players. The team was always in the playoffs, the Aud was always packed, and players did not avoid Buffalo, lots of players lived in Buffalo for many years and a bunch still do. Anyone who thinks otherwise was not close to the team back then. JUST START WINNING. Veteran Free Agent players want to win. If you’re not a winning team they won’t sign unless it’s for a big paycheck. The action, or inaction, of the Sabres ownership and their FO is telling the hockey world that the Sabres do not know how to win and are not trying to win - probably both.

Florida v Oilers will be fun.

Edmonton came to play.

But they want to be here.

Cheer for Florida, and then spend the month of February down there. Go rogue, get wild.

Pete?

Not a fan of Andersson. The Sabres have proven to be better with only one Rasmus. No to Rasmi.

Terry Pegula is in your head rent free 24-7. Let it go, it’s just hockey.

B-b-but Terry realllly likes Lindy. He knows him.

Carolina getting knocked all over the ice. They are not physically strong enough for Florida. Brind’Amour is gonna hate that.

Panthers 2-0.

The Sabres hockey organization deserves to be criticized for the on ice product, but the City of Buffalo has been a friendly place for players to play in. Both hockey and football players have an easy time finding good housing, good schools, easy commutes, relatively low cost of living, easy press to deal with, and nice people dying for a winning team again. The City of Good Neighbors is not just a slogan. What will hold Marner back is he has a chance to go somewhere and win more. Why gamble on the Sabres?

But he does play solid defense from the RW position, he is a playmaker, and he can score goals and take face-offs.

Correct. Marner is an upgrade over Quinn in every phase of the game. He would improve the two-way play of the top line and bring in playmaking. This pushes someone else to the second line, and pushes another player down to the 3rd line. Three lines could get better if there was a way to sign him. Quinn could be packaged for help at goalie, defense, etc.

No doubt he can make the pp better, and he will make the team better. The cap increases from $88M to $95M $12M+ is going to be a tough target if we are also going to improve defense and goaltending. If Levi emerges next season we catch a big break but its a gamble to count on that.

It will take really big money for a player that so far does not elevate his team in the playoffs. It is not fair to lay all the playoff blame on him, as pointed out he is 0.9 ppg player in the playoffs, and 1.13 ppg in regular season. He has two 30 goal seasons, and four 90+ point season. Will he as a winger get all those assists playing without Mathew and Nylander? I suspect he will not even consider Buffalo.

I have little problem with first time NHL coaches. I have very little problem with first time GMs when they are brought in by legitimate hockey people such as Front Office Senior Execs and/or POHOs, and the new GM is joining a stable organization and not on an island with only Terry Pegula. You can defend Terry's approach but it is not the same as everyone else in the league. He put his wife in charge, he runs things lean, he hires people he can control, he does not spend to the cap. His record speaks for itself.

Nothing remains today from the original 70's team except the Uni's and logo. The root of why everything was better in 1975 than today is simple. The ownership (Knox's) was far better and engaged on the right things, they in turn hired better leaders across the organization and they let them do their jobs. That said, the league is different today, there are way more teams, there is a salary cap, there is free agency, there are teams in the land of palm trees and no state taxes, and players today are much different and motivated by different things. The only blueprint that Pegula needs to follow its to put together an experienced and proven Hockey Operations FO and let them do their jobs. He has yet to do that. Look at his hires: three first times GMs, one first time POHO that lasted just a few months, his wife and some friends/acquaintances from Pittsburgh and Penn State. Knox hired Imlach, Bowman, Meehan, and Muckler. Big difference.

He could change it to Kevin Adyms, no one will ever know.

Florida is pouring it on. 5-1

It’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025 and the NHLs National Coverage cannot tell us what the penalties are without annoying debate.

The Rat is under the Ghosts sheet. (Tribute contribution to the Phamtom Sign Makers)