Pimlach

He needs to be near perfect on angles to take away more net, and like most young goalies better rebound control to prevent multiple shots. If he gets deep into the crease he leaves a lot to shoot at. At 6 ft he is on the small side by todays NHL standards, 2 inches below average and the average is trending up not down. Still a very good prospect but sometimes size matters.

Sounds like situation will work out with a happy ending.

Tribute bands - I did see The Strictly Hip in North Tonawanda on July 4th. I sure miss Gordie.

Fabulous band. They are all true craftsmen of their instruments.

Lots of data there to consider. Tage, Dahlin, Tuch and many question marks. I wish I could get excited about this team.

Nice Avatar.

And the problem is right there in bold. It should be a make or break year for Kevyn Adams, he is lucky to be employed as an NHL GM. I’m quite certain no other NHL team would hire him as GM. Dahlin and Thompson should be long term building blocks. This bull$hit of players asking to leave and getting accommodated must stop. I don’t think you will find anywhere in my posts that says they did little or nothing. I don’t think they did enough but if all the stars align, and they stay healthy, and a bunch of them have great years then who knows?

Rust, but it has to be 2 years or less.

Comparing era’s means you have to make assumptions. I guess your point is that just by looking at points and W/L record you can argue that they were not as consistently bad as the Golden Seals, the Barons, the early Caps, etc. They are a different kind of bad. Pegula had some great players, some future stars, and some really good players and he squandered it. What other teams have done that? The way they tanked seems to have created a curse. This season is going to be a critical one. Another bad one and look for Tage and Dahlin to get anxious.

You can’t say the current Sabres playoff drought would not be a thing pre-90’s. Comparing the current Sabres to teams in other eras is not easy to do. The ratio of losing teams to playoff teams was drastically different pre-90’s, but look at how ridiculous 14 years is. Look at what Pegula said, then look at the results. This is what we know about Pegula’s Sabres. He said and promised that winning Cups would be the reason for their existence. He said he would spend money - “drill another well”. What other owner said these outrageous things and then delivered the exact opposite? I can go on but you saw the quality of the FO and coaching that Terry brings in, and you know why. What other team has traded away so many good and great players with nothing to show for it? Terry bought a team with the 4th all time winning percentage that could not get over the hump. He made brash promises of greatness, and then destroyed the brand. This team could be gone long before the new 10 year Key Bank deal is finished. No team has had such consistently poor ownership.

Worse, he was not happy because he saw no signs that the Sabres FO were committed to winning. The first things he said after he signed with Utah were comments on his new teams commitment to winning.

He gets elected so the majority does support him. I just saw an WIVB article that says Mark is not in favor of supporting KBC with county tax money in the long term. Take away the county, put all the tax burden on the city, and the arena will suffer.

It’s crazy to expect him to play 1C in a full time role. He is a young player with much promise that still learning his way. His skill gets him minutes at 2C but he will be sheltered at times and McLeod will likely get more minutes.

Lots of speculation here on SS. It’s the summer after 14 straight disappointing seasons.

Former coach and GM of the Olean Oilers.

Whether it is city or county or both, this information will be public. I really do not like the city taking it over, the city has enough problems to contend with, the county provided a higher tax base to pull from and the arena still fell into disrepair, and now the county is out. This is not a good situation.

Middle 6 guy with a strong work ethic and a two way game. He will play hard and make no excuses, just like his Dad. The Sabres Embedded video made him a key part of the trade. They have high hopes. He is an RFA next season.

The NHL schedule is demanding - their are practices, home games, extensive travel (especially out west), road games, and there is a need for rest - I doubt golf is a common thing during the season, even in the winter. Sure, maybe they get out a few times a season but golf is not a major factor. The hockey season coincides with the best weather in Vegas - warm sunny weather in late fall, all winter, and early spring is certainly a factor. Summer's are rough in the desert, I know from experience and my wife hated it and our kids stayed inside too much for our liking. Players pick Vegas first and foremost because the team wins, the owner is committed to winning and built a winning culture, and the Front Office has demonstrated to be among the finest in the NHL. Next, there the no state income tax, with is attractive. I am sure many of the younger players could be attracted to the big presentation that is their home games, and the nightlife which is hard for most cities to compete with. Buffalo is opposite of Vegas in every one of these factors. They can control the team culture, the Ownership's commitment to winning, the quality of the people in the FO, the facilities and the game day experience. They fail at all of it.

Sure, you can party there but Golf? You can’t golf there in the summer, it’s ungodly hot and $hitty, most of the players are probably elsewhere. The hockey season is fall, winter, spring - no time for golf.

His first season he had a very bad start, it didn't help that pucks were bouncing off of him and going into the net or that he fell down twice in key situations. In the John Scott interview he said had trouble learning Granato's "system" and playing on the left side with EJ on his right. He played pretty well after a few months and turned around his +/- from something like a -9 to a +12. I was hopeful for him in year two but his performance under Lindy was another mixed bag and his TOI was cut by the end of the season. Adams didn't want to pay out $3.3M for another year of Clifton. It took a 2nd round pick to get out of it. I did like Clifton's toughness and he made no excuses and held himself accountable in the interview. He came to Buffalo thinking he could help them take the next step but they needed (and still need) much more than a 3rd line defender to fix all the team weaknesses.

He costs $1.1M less though.

Yup, the PK forwards seemed better than the PK defenseman last season. They still did not acquire a 'stay at home" solid defenseman that they lack unless Kesselring or Timmons can play that role. We will see what they bring soon enough.

<sarcasm on> What? They are 16th of the league in cap remaining, that is a major step forward in their commitment. <sarcasm off> They can make one more decent sized move if the opportunity arises.

He got a bit more than I expected but Adams avoided arbitration. You tell us, are you outraged?

Certain kinds of talent has been ignored. Goaltending has largely been ignored with hopes that the two young goalies (UPL and Levi) can carry the load. Defense, especially team defense, has been a big problem. The Power Play was figured out by the rest of the league back in the middle of the 91 point season. Hard to believe they got worse under Lindy/Appert. And of course experienced players, which often add to a teams mental toughness, they have needed more of them in the past. So the question remains - did they address these areas adequately? We shall see. Replacing JJPs 28 goals is not the biggest problem that they have.