Drag0nDan

The stink of this franchise is absolutely rancid. I think from top to bottom no one wants to work with us unless they're fleecing us for a future star player. Agents probably hate us because of our inept management. Players don't want to play here because of plenty of reasons - Weather, Taxes, oh and we're always terrible. Stadium is soulless. It's like you will be the worst version of yourself when you play here and no one knows why. At this point? I think some heads need to roll beyond adams. I'd probably come in with the eye of - if it's challenging to attract players, how do i attract talent outside the players, and how do i improve my sales pitch to players? Scouting - Where are we succeeding and failing? Who's doing it better? Do we just poach scouts? Need to make a BIG leap in improvement here. Analytics - Big stink was made about this - is further investment needed for this to make an actual tangible on-ice impact? Development - Why do highly touted players always seem to fail here? Training staff - Youngest team in the NHL. Fast and soft, injured constantly across the board. Facilities - look around the league and see what you need to do to get in the top 10 because this is important to players.

I think they need to really evaluate why a player would want to play here. We are and have been bad for so long that the reputation around the league is incredibly poor, and hard to improve. So many players have clauses in their contract to protect them from essentially being traded... here. NYS income tax definitely doesn't help, even if the cost of living in buffalo essentially counters the tax savings in Florida or Nevada. The stadium's a heartless empty feeling dump. Training facilities are not impressive. Obviously Josh Allen's a big part of the bills success, i don't think that can be questioned. But pre-Allen, the team spent a lot of money on new training facilities, new recovery tools, and just generally on "the team". It became a destination specifically for "football players". Talking up the nightlife of a city, or weather, or whatever - you're always going to lose that battle in buffalo. But if you say to the players - you're coming here to work, and be a better hockey player - that message can resonate to the right players.

Interesting to think - make the same deal with cozens instead of mittelstadt. Wonder how that would fit with players they have here right now.

Even watching loose pucks it seems like the pucks bouncing around in our zone directly onto the opponents sticks.

The bruins won 65 games and had a 3 game losing streak at one point in the season. You just can't let this keep going. A win gets the monkey off your back, but they need to play better across the board. Pucks need to start going in the net, the power play needs some urgency, and vets need to step up.

Hopefully we can avoid the slow 20-something game start that seems to plague this team in recent seasons.

Curious to see what the board thinks for this season outside of Buffalo in the playoff picture. Lots of player movement, as well as a number of coaching changes.

Which is fine to have it in your back pocket, but getting hurt in like october affected him pretty much the entire season.

I'd personally like to see him more active between the blue lines in 5x5, and tying up those high slot follow-ups that have given buffalo problems. The only time i like to attack a PP is if they have a guy like olofsson who can get swallowed up on the wall and doesn't have a ton of confidence. Which... teams did to us pretty consistently last year.

Yeah, blocking a shot on a PK IIRC which just seems like not the best use of his abilities.

yeah i didn't look so.. i'm good there. Seems like a waste of money.

He's clearly not completely washed if he's putting up ice time for playoff teams. At the same time... i know the effort level I'm going to get is pretty low so is this just weaponizing a little cap space?

Pretty much where I'm at... there shouldn't be much of a priority to keep him, or find him ice time. He can certainly earn it, but much of what i've seen is the same. He's played 200 NHL games, so it's not as if there isn't a sample size. He's not fast or quick, effort is there but he's not particularly effective in a checking role, not particularly effective on draws, doesn't kill penalties, and his shooting and shot selection is pretty terrible. Mittelstadt wasn't a great shooter, but other elements of his game improved, especially his ability to take the puck away and keep puck possession.

I guess it would have been a better explanation for the skinner buyout?

Quinn getting hurt opened up a spot for Benson as well.

Mono was the most annoying illness. You're contagious like the entire time you present symptoms, you're tired the entire time, and food tastes bad. Even once he's feeling better and well enough to work out and play, you have to keep him away from the locker room even longer.

Mitts never found the net enough for me to want to put him as a top 6 center (0 20-goal seasons in his career). Good player between the blue lines, i thought he was a proper back checker as a center, quick decisions in traffic. He was also one of the only guys who would skate the puck out of the zone with a level of consistency. But he wasn't particularly fleet of foot, and you don't usually get faster than you are at 25. Decent shooting percentage but 102 shots in 62 games is just... too low for a center in a top 6. Didn't hate the player, but to pay him 6M or whatever is tough when his points are going to be somewhat line dependent. I don't think McLeod is an upgrade, but I think he's what they're looking for in a 3rd line center - win draws, play in any situation if needed, take pucks away, etc.

My issue with KO and Girgs wasn't their defense, it was that they were incapable as a unit of providing any level of real offensive pressure. Chip, chase, change - maybe get a high slot shot off the dump. Being a faster unit can potentially put some more pressure on the defense of teams we play, that can result in neutral zone turnovers, penalties, etc.

I personally think it's Levi's net by the end of this season for us to make the playoffs. But Quinn and JJP taking a step would be huge. Tage and Cozens getting shots from better areas will help them get some of that scoring touch back.

Its way more noticeable when you have like concerts or events that actually fill the 300s too. I find the first stairwell out of there usually just because its insanely crowded on the walk to the escalator.

These are fine improvements. But they're a long ways away from having a solid arena. In no particular order 300 concourses are insanely tiny Everything feels really dated Uncomfortable seats that rattle and are barely bolted down Cupholders that don't fit literally any beverage that you sell The bottom bleacher rows aren't even flush with the boards so you could very easily drop a phone under them Feels really steep at the top rows for whatever reason Food options are... fine? Bathrooms need... help. The whole place just feels soulless. Paint and new lighting would go a long way to improvement. It just feels sooooo minor league.

I would say Dahlin would be my choice. He's the best player on the team, when he speaks people listen, and he seems to genuinely care for the team and the entire organization (Taking in an 18 year old benson during his rookie season is a good example). He's worn the A the last two years. Is an all-star. Locked up long-term.

I don't see Tuch as captain material tbh.

How many teams are willing to move a center - with no trade protection - for futures? Most contenders aren't moving a player for picks/prospects unless they are against the cap. And even then, they might be looking for a player more than prospects. Most bad teams are basically trying to do the exact same thing as buffalo. https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active/2025/caphit/all/center?stats-season=2024

The thing that i thought was unique on his stats? 92.2% defensive zone start %. That is so absurdly high.