Pimlach

It is fascinating. @PASabreFan and @Dr. Whohave managed to spin a discussion on aliens and UAPs/UFOs into another parallel universe where KA leads the Effective, Efficient, and Economic (E3) Party to global dominance.

Last year was a year he was talked about with the top 7, I doubt if he stays there. There are so many really good defensemen.

Population density? Better drugs in US?

You are in are rare form on these OT subjects and I suspect you are just firing for effect on some of this stuff. When you get to your mid 60's, like me, you tend to refrain from all these comments about people - at least I do. Or else you get labeled - today everyone gets a label and gets put in a category. It is part of the divided and distracted society that we have become. You touch on the obesity issue and it is real and concerning. There is a lot of really bad food out there, filled with sugar and sodium, and the portions are way too big - all designed to get you to buy Brand A Junk instead Brand B Junk. There is too little exercise for our youth. Kids don't play anymore, baseball diamonds are either gone or empty all summer long. Everything kids do is organized by parents - this is bad, no wonder they are slow to learn how to resolve problems with people.

There are some who can play and coach at the NHL level. Lindy Ruff, Brind’Amour, Berube, St Louis, and Tochett come to mind.

I saw those F/A-18 videos. They look real to me and I was a key part of the design team for that aircraft for a long time. They saw something very unusual and the equipment on board was working as it should.

I agree with some of your comments related to social media and all the Joe Blows out there spreading things. However, there is the recently released (or leaked) US Navy warship and US Navy F/A-18 target video that shows a target detection and track that made an impossible (for us today) maneuver and then disappeared. Our military has more advanced sensors today than ever before. They have the ability to blend target data taken from multiple on-board sensors (such as Radar and IR) while minimizing their own chances of being detected. In addition, they now have orders of magnitude better than ever before on-board signal and data processing to look at the target data real time. Pilot workload can be an issue so they have the ability ability to data-link and share target data quickly with other platforms, ships, or a ground site to further and better exploit this images and detections. Bottom line is they can "see" more and see it better. 100% verifiable proof is made on controlled test ranges, but what has been recently seen is intriguing. Do we trust our technology and the people operating it? I expect that our military will see things today that they have not seen before, and I expect our government to keep quiet on most of it.

I don't have to tell a veteran fan like you how many great coaches over the years were borderline NHL players, or less. You just never know. Looking at the 2022-23 Stanley Cup coaches: Paul Maurice - never played pro hockey Bruce Cassidy - 36 NHL games, he was a minor league player like Redmond

Mark Napier had a charitable foundation for fighting cystic fibrosis - his number 65 was derived from that.

It actually sounds like you mean courtesy to you. You were inconvenienced by being slowed down and are annoyed by it. If you cared about courtesy for others then you show courtesy to others. I get your point on why you are annoyed and I am far from perfect. What I don't like about your example is the targeting of elderly people that operate with reduced cognitive functional skills.

I took my 90 year old independent father shopping at Topps recently. He buys from a hand written list, he takes his time and moves slow and steady, he pays with cash, he uses change and strives for exact change for some reason. Bags a lot of it himself in his own bags. Then he shuffles out slowly, pushing his own cart. I marvel at him. On the days that I’m not there I sure hope he doesn’t have to deal with the intolerance you describe just because he took a few extra minutes. His stamina and independence are rare. We should value our elders more. What is your hurry?

I think the line gap thing is a holdover from Covid social distancing. There are people fearful of close contact now. If it isn't the reason, so be it. There are so many changes in our society today, so many behaviors that were once considered rude and unacceptable, that this is not one I spend a minute worrying about. I worry about all the angry and depressed people out there carrying guns.

The difference in 11 - 7 versus 12 - 6? Our bottom 3 defenseman are that good to keep a forward on the bench? I doubt that they are. We would be better off giving some shifts ( development opportunities) to someone like Savoie/Kulich/Rousek but actually I prefer to see them add a forward that can help us kill penalties and play a solid 200 foot game. Someone like Tatar makes sense. Losing Quinn (replaced by rookies) and keeping VO are two negatives in the effort to play better defensive hockey as a team.

Lots of debate (and had wringing) on Adams and the forwards, Adams and the goalies. Wasn’t Adams allegedly pursuing a forward when free agency started? I thought that was part of the rumor mill and that might have been before Quinn got hurt? Back to the topic: I vote no on the 11F and 7D concept. It reminds me of Krueger soccer-hockey, the opposite of Granato.

You get tartar sauce with your Friday Buffalo fish fry. Or you can order your burger rare. That is as close as you get to Tatar. Savioe, Kulich, or Rousek - that is who will get a benefit from Quinn’s ice

I don’t necessarily agree with the slow roll, deliberate pace. But Adam’s feels that is needed to build for “sustained” success. He is not going to tie up money on rentals or trade top prospects for rentals. The early Sabres teams did not have to manage a salary cap or fee agency. I think just making the playoffs will be a challenge for this team. Winning a round or two in the playoffs is a whole other story. It could happen though, I won’t rule it out. Florida won the Presidents trophy and got bounced, then squeaked in and made it to the finals. Boston set regular season records and lost in round one. You never know.

The next step is just making the playoffs. If they win a round that is gravy.

You won’t get agreement from me that KA gets fired if they miss the playoffs this season. Mostly because he is doing a good job thus far and he doesn’t control all the external forces the team could face, and partly because I’m afraid of the next move TP might make. It could be another poor one which could eventually ruins the progress to date.

You can argue that you can build from back to front. A goalie would have helped win a few more games. Tokarski and Dell to replace Linus was not great GM’ing.

This is my take. He should have expectations to make the playoffs, it’s the next step. BUT - no blanket statements about playoffs or out. I simply don’t think Pegula will find someone better. Too much turnover happened in the Pegula past. I don’t trust him to find a better guy.

I will always pull for the Sabres but I admit I was not liking them until Adams came in with the culture changes. From top to bottom - Pegula, Boterill, Krueger, Eichel, Risto, etc. - I was sick of all of it. Adam’s, with a lot of help from Granato, have put together a team that is fun to root for.

Since he started I have been unhappy with the goaltending decisions and I still am. If the Sabres get another 9th place ribbon (or worse) then the timeline and pace of Adams “plan” will become a very hot topic here, as it should be. Overall, he is doing fine and the trends are positive but it’s also time to make the playoffs.

@JohnCyour unbridled support and praise for Adams reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in this clip.