JohnC

Your position makes a lot of sense. However, I think that playing with older and better players, even as a lower pairing player, would be better preparation for him. I also think that the better training facilities and traveling accommodations will better serve him.

Even if UPL was healthy I see Lyon as the better (safer) option in net. I hope Norris can stay healthy. He can put the puck in the net. A first line with Tage and Norris should be productive. My preference would be to include Tuch on that first line but it appears that Ruff sees it differently.

The hometown announcers were able to.

What's impressive about Mrtka is that in his brief exposure to NHL play is that when watching him you never got the sense that he was overwhelmed and didn't belong. Clearly, he needs more experience but he's a legitimate prospect who will be playing in the NHL in the near future.

You are right that he was initially rushed. And that was a mistake for the player and organization. However, it seems that is not the case now. I wouldn't be surprised if Levi ends up with the big club this season. But at least it would be after some extended play in Rochester.

Absolutely not! If you want to see more fighting go to an MMA or boxing match. Hell no and hell no again and again! If he gets dealt he will be another one of our young players thriving wearing another uniform. Let’s stop with this foolishness!

As far as moving him, absolutely not! He might not fit the preferred profile from a stylistic sense but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be a core player for us. If he was out on the market, teams would be lining up to get him. I just don’t understand the hostility to him. (I’m not saying that you fall in that category.)

As you point out, the irony is that although the GM has not handled the goalie position strategically in not having an adequate backup plan if UPL faltered, his more patient handling of Levi is in the long run (near short term) the right approach to take for the player and organization. My hope is that with a lot of game experience in the AHL that he will be better prepared when called up to the NHL. And considering how injury prone UPL is, I see that happening this season. KA is a tactical thinker in a position that calls for strategic thinking. And that narrow approach has plagued this organization for a long time.

I appreciate your comments on the disparities of revenues and costs with influence on competitiveness. We both agree on that issue. My general point is that how a franchise is managed is a component of that issue because of the impact on revenues.

The most impactful thing that the franchise/owner can do to increase revenue is to have a consistently competitive team. And I’m sure you aware that being in the playoffs increases revenue and profit margin. What’s sad to see are the empty seats in the arena at the home games. What’s even more discouraging is that it is not unusual to see a sold seat end up being a vacant seat. That’s a loss of in-house revenue. As you noted, there is no question that because of the astounding amount of tv money shared by all teams in football that hockey will never have the ability to generate such an amount of money. But it’s indisputable that this lagging franchise has lost a lot of potential revenue due to its own systemic ineptitude.

Are the Sabres in the red or black when the revenues/costs are tabulated? Just my opinion, but if the owner had a competitive team that made the playoffs, the generated revenue would be around 50% more. Save a penny and lose a dollar.

The way preseason is structured with incomplete rosters it is a challenge to make judgments on players. I'm going to be cautious in making player judgments before the season even starts. My preliminary disappointment is that I expected him after being plagued with injuries the past couple of seasons to show more spark even in the preseason. The real season starts soon so we should have a better grasp of what the real state of affairs is for this team. The unanswered question is whether the Sabres have reached the upswing stage yet. I simply don't know? That in itself is troubling.

The game was the first time I was able to watch the Sabres. You can’t take too much from a preseason game . However, what bothered me about it was a general flatness. I have been an advocate for Quinn for a while. What I found disturbing about his game last night was the lack of spark in his play. He’s one player that needs to play with desperation. He just seemed to be so pedestrian on the ice. I’m also bothered by UPL’s lack of durability. I’m aware that in the preseason you have to be cautious with players who are nicked up. But his ability to be available is ridiculously low. Assuming that Norris stays healthy, the trade for him was a good deal.

I don’t know how long Samuelsson will be out. This could turn out be a good opportunity for Ryan Johnson to show that he belongs with the big club. I don’t know how Mrtka is going to be handled. One can make a good case for a variety of options. This will be an interesting situation to follow.

If you are saying that Pegula has operated the Bills in the same way he has operated the Sabres, you are off the mark. The models to be followed are the Bills and Bandits. You hire the right staff and allow them to do their jobs. The Bills and Sabres are two different entities with two different operations. Their individual record is a testament to the quality to each of their operations. One is a success and the other is not. At least for me, the reasons for the disparity in outcomes are not too difficult to discern.

I'm not demoralized about our team's prospects for the season. I believe that if the Sabres get solid goaltending, we should be vying for a playoff spot up to the end of the season. But even if that is the case, there is no way that I'm going to credit this Pegula operated franchise as being a well-run operation. If you are a Sabre fan, the standard for success is a lot lower than for most franchises. And that is a shame. When you dumb down the expectations from a diminished fan base, it is not something to be proud of.

You don’t need to follow the national or local media to form an opinion on the owner and the organization he assembled. When all is said and done the team’s record speaks for itself. You can’t hide from it because its existence is a non-erasable fact and not an opinion.

It shouldn’t be s surprise that a long-term middling team that doesn’t do anything compelling in the offseason to change that perception doesn’t attract much scrutiny entering the season. Why bother? What the Pittsburgh Pirates are to baseball the Sabres are to the hockey world i.e. an afterthought. It’s a shame and self-inflicted.

After reading your post (same sentiment expressed by many), what I find most aggravating is the lack of urgency to make additional moves to improve. It's not to say that the deal to bring in Kesserling and Doan wasn't a good deal that improves the roster. It's just that there weren't other consequential deals. It seems to me that if KA could have added another second line player (not necessarily a star caliber player), the response/perception would have been much more positive about the roster and season prospects. I needed to see more urgency in action rather than this casual pace to upgrade the roster.

I certainly do not believe that the Sabres are a better team now than if they would have remained.

All three players that I mentioned that left have thrived in their new locations. And with respect to Jack, I have not heard of a scintilla of problems with him in Vegas. There are no "what if" games being played here. The Sabre organization under Pegula are recognized as a poorly managed franchise by everyone in the business.

My general point is that if the hockey operation was competently managed, they all would still be here. The hockey operation mishandled the Reinhart and Ullmark contract negotiations. They both would have stayed. (I believe that we both agree on that point.) However, both players ended up getting out after not getting the extension done when it could have been done. There’s no question that due to overall mismanagement we lost three good players when it could have been avoidable. That’s how I see this issue of losing players that we already had.

It’s not about one player and position. We had Eichel, Reinhart and Ullmark on the roster. Because of a lot of factors they all wanted out and got out. You don ‘t think our situation would be different if they stayed? The critical issue goes beyond particular players as it does to the overall hockey operation.

There is another issue related to this discussion of playing in the prime performance years that you are not addressing. That is players such as Tage and Dahlin are in their prime years now. And their elevated performances are being wasted with too much focusing on the future rather than the present. And don’t kid yourself not thinking that players such as Tage and Dahlin are fed up watching the playoffs from their couches instead of being on the ice.

Your guess is not my guess. I don’t think it is unfair to believe that with this current roster along with Ullmark caliber roster the Sabres should be a playoff team this season.