RangerDave

If I was Kyle, I would be much happier winning a cup in my last season, than not making the playoffs at all to end his career, even if I was a late season rental. Certainly not as fulfilling as playing the entire season on a cup winning team, but beats packing up for my final year in April.

It's an open-ended question, so I will let you draw your own line. For me, I would draw the line at when Adams became the GM. Seems like a good place to make conclusions from. In a vacuum, I believe trading Eichel was something that had to happen due to the circumstances of his injury an dthe treatment he was seeking. I believe should not have traded Reinhart. I think Risto would have been a good component of a good playoff team, which we have not been. I don't think he made that Sabres team better. I didn't like trading Mitts either. I think each trade was made for a reason, in a vacuum. The same for not re-signing certain players. I just wonder what the team woud be now if we had kept the best of them. Was the team atmosphere so rotten that management felt they had to jettison the influencers? Could that problem had been solved another way, through coaching or bringing in mentoring players for instance? Just a thought experiment. Some will draw conclusions about managament, coaching, ownership, and/or player personalities. I don't know if there is only one thing to point a finger at.

So, should the Sabres have traded other players rather than the ones they did?

In the last couple of years, Sabres management has traded away some of our best players: Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen (?), Casey Middlestadt, etc.. My questions is, have those trades made us better? We still haven't made the playoffs, so if the object of trading players is to improve the team, I don't see that that has happened. There may be other reasons to trade away players, but it all boils down to making your team better. At least I hope it does. The question is, are the Sabres a better team now, or would they be a better team today if those trades had not happened?

How long was this dream?? That's several months of hockey you just described! 😄

When I was a park ranger, visitors would ask me all the time what the weather was going to be like. I always told them, there's a 50% chance of rain. I figured either it would or it wouldn't. And I was always right!

My wife and I just got tix to see Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band coming to the Fallsview Casino at the end of July. Excited to see one of the last remaining Beatles!

Was this the same group that had Li'l Abner and Chief White Owl? (Ow, my lumbago is now acting up!)

I agree. You are right, it does not apply to all parties equally as I stated. I was trying not to choose sides in a political battle. It does apply to many people in all parties, but at this point in our history, it is clearly dominated by one side. Thanks for correcting my hesitation. This may sound sarcastic, but, trust me, it is sincere.

I agree that politicians are awful, and getting awfuler. It used to be they strived to do what was best for the country, then (as George Washington predicted), they did what was best for their party. Now, it's down to doing what hurts the other party the most. This applies to politicians of all parties equally. And the lemmings and the rich continue their march together...

If Lindy can fire up this team like he did in this game, I am in. Watching him go over (through?) the glass to get at the opposing coach is one of my favorite Sabres moments of all time.

Maybe this is what Pegula should do. Run the team using Artificial Intelligence, since real intelligence hasn't gotten them anywhere.

If the question is, would I rather root for a team of over-achieving, hard working non-skilled players, or a bunch of under-achieving, highly drafted players, the answer is clear. I'd root for the hard working team. But, I don't want a team full of Pat Kaletas and Andrew Peters' who can't skate, shoot, and wow me either. I want a team that I believe will get better over time, not a team that has peaked at .500.

I recall one year when the Sabres were in first place in the Adams Division over the Bruins by 10 points with 5 games to go for each team. The Sabres lost all five while the Bruins won all five and took the Division title. If luck can happen against the Sabres, I can still hope it will happen for the Sabres at some point. (BTW, because of the change in standings both teams lost in the first round against opponents they were not well suited to play against, IIRC.)

I lived in Boone. Howdy, neighbor!

Where did you get kicked out on the Parkway? I worked there for 11 years and don't recall kicking out anyone named "#freejame"? 😃 Then again, I did retire in 2016...

Hey, wait! I was a Fed once upon a time.... 🤔

No, he is the next "Wahlberg".

I had season tickets to the Bills last year. I had to sell the tickets to one game when I was out of town. If I recall correctly, Ticketmaster sent me an email advising me that they had to report if I made in excess of $600 (?) above the purchase price. (It wasn't even close.)

Benson seems to hit the ice a lot. Fortunately, he is short enough that it doesn't take him long to get back up.

College does not have to end in huge debt. My wife started going to college in 2008, mostly just to get out of the house. She took a couple of classes at the community college. Pretty cheap. She eventually got an Associate's Degree, cheaply and wthout debt. Then, she found a new program at a private university that was trying to attract older people in the workforce who wanted to get ahead. She got her Bachelor's Degree pretty cheaply because of this trial program. Then she went to Western Governor's University online for her MBA. She worked hard and got it done in 8 months. Between tax credits, her workplace subsidizing some of the costs, and our two salaries, she got an AA, BA, and MBA a little over 5 years with no debt. Once she got her Bachelor's, she got a raise and got another one after getting her MBA. My job required a bachelor's degree. I got mine by attending community college and public universities. I had about $7500 in debt when I graduated back in 1985. Community college, in-state public universities, working while attending classes, tax credits, etc. all help. Not going to a private university helps the most. They are crazy expensive. Most workplaces don't care where the sheepskin is from, or what your GPA was, they just want to see that you have a degree. Her raises at work due to her degrees made our financial life so much better.

About the same as a fan on the right coast having to tune in at 10:30 pm to watch the Sabres play? I'll trade you no Monday afternoon games when east coast teams host west coast teams for a few weekend afternoon games when west coast teams host east coast teams? 🤝

Nope. Ilya Lyubushkin with the shorthanded OT winner cannot be topped.

I was telling my wife, "I can't remember the last time the Sabres..." SCORE! "...scored with an empty net. I can now remember!