JohnC

What’s a CT license? I don’t know what I’m congratulating you for but it’s obvious you worked hard for it. 🍺

Don’t forget the Doan add in the deal. It also addresses the roster construction issue by adding a more physical and less finesse style of player to the roster.

You make an excellent point that even if JJP was the best player in the trade, by adding Kesseiring it improves one of the team’s main weaknesses. It goes to your point about roster construction.

I read your post and it brought me back to my childhood when my Italian immigrant relatives, including my mother, would watch wrestling on TV and curse in Italian at the bad guys and the referees. To them, this was real. Their favorite wrestler of course was Ilio DiPaolo from Abruzzi (sic), Italy. He owned a successful restaurant called by his namesake. It should be noted that Buffalo was on the wrestling circuit with regular capacity crowds at the Aud.

He should have been playing the wing where the center handles the puck more and is the primary decision maker for the line. He was misused to the point where his assets were underutilized and his liabilities were accentuated. This is another example of many of bad coaching and a lack of flexibility and creativity on their part. This is the point that @mjd1001 keenly makes in a prior post.

There was a period of time during the Wilson ownership of the Bills where the attendance took a steep drop because there was a prolonged period where even ardent fans recognized that the franchise was not considered to be a serious franchise. That malaise happens not when there is a year or two downslide but when it is extended and when there is a belief that the ownership is not seriously invested in winning. To me, that malaise has happened during the extended tenure of the owner of the Sabres. The dichotomy between the football and hockey franchise with respect to how the fan base responds is noticeable to me. The football's fanbase is as rabid as ever while the hockey fanbase has steadily eroded. You would never see any fanbase take over the home field in football while it has happened when Toronto takes the ice against Buffalo in our own arena.

I don't know on what lines Quinn, Kulich and Benson will end up playing on. Even if one, two or three of these players end up on the top two lines, or not, I expect all three of them to have more goals than they had last year. Will these players make any headway? (Your question.) Of course they will. The issue then becomes how much so? I'm counting on Quinn to make the biggest scoring leap. (Recognize many others don't believe so.) The issue to focus on is not the goal scoring. The more substantive issue relates to the goaltending and blue line unit. I'm more comfortable with our blue line than with our goaltending. That will be the determining issue for success or not.

Cops get free coffee and Tim Hortons get added security. Punks and thieves are inclined to avoid the establishment because men in uniforms who drive cars with lights on the roof frequent the place.

Some women are assss kickers and others are ball crushers!

The female president of the HOA in my development asked if I would serve to be the sergeant-at-arms. I said I preferred not to. She told me that if I didn't volunteer to serve that she would kick me in the nuts over and over until I said yes. I immediately said yes. 😀

My brother recently had a claim with GEICO. When it came to the car rental coverage that he thought he had they simply finked out and told him that he didn't have the coverage. The insurance industry in general are scammers.

I have had two back operations so I know what you are going through. The key to live a life of no pain is to stay in shape and be aware of what you can and can't physically do. When I had my first operation I was told by my department that they wouldn't be able to keep me on. I told them to give me the time to rehab and then make a judgment on my ability to perform my duties. I got to the point that I was working out three hours a day to get to the fit point. (Not suggesting you need to do what I did.) A healthy lifestyle change adjusting to your back condition will do more for you than pills will do for you. Swimming and biking, stationary or are great activities for people with back issues. Good luck.

Iconic feat in wrestling.

What's so dismaying about this owner is the unwillingness to have serious hockey people run the franchise. For the most part, he has clung to second-rate organizational structure staffed by many second-rate hockey people. There is an ingrained stubbornness to TP that is hard to penetrate. The hiring of KA to be his GM was bad enough. But keeping him in that position after 6 yrs is beyond odd. Most people are willing to give some forbearance to a new owner in the learning-curve phase after buying the team. However, when you are in your 15th year of ownership and still haven't demonstrated a much better understanding of the business you bought into, then how much can there be left? Is adding Jarmo to the staff a good sign that he is willing to get away from his insular approach to ownership? I'm not sure because I don't know how much influence he or even Karmonos has. It's become such a drag to watch this same self-sabotaging behavior continue to exist within this failed franchise.

Not signing him when his contract was running out and he was willing to sign an extension was a clear sign that being fiscally tight was how this franchise was going to be operated.

It’s going to be an interesting camp. There are so many different approaches to take in constructing the lines. What is apparent in this Roslovic discussion is that by bringing in another second/third line player it offers a lot more options when putting together lines. KA needs to bring in another forward before camp begins.

If acquired, let him compete in camp and determine whatever role he earns.

We all don’t know what the full story is about his disgruntlement because we are not insiders. What we do know is that he was determined to get out and had a contract status where he was going to be a UFA in another season. So he was dealt. I thought the return was fair and the added players should be contributors. It’s not a surprise that even well run franchises have some players who prefer a change of workplaces for a variety of reasons. It’s part of the work landscape. I have no ill-will towards him. I preferred to keep him but it didn’t work out that way. So be it. My attention is now on Kesserling and Doan.

My stance is not incongruent with how I view the state of the team. I simply have a different view on some of the young players that many others do. I'm very high on Power, Quinn and Benson, especially when it comes to their potential. I'm not referring to long-term potential as I am to their play in the near future, including next season. That's the source of the disagreement. I believe these players are not the source of failure but rather the source of our future (near future) success.

I wonder what his relationship was with the other players, especially the veteran players like Zucker and Tuch? Did they try to counsel him on the importance of playing a more responsible defensive game? There was a game on TV in which Rob Ray commented on a play where the other team scored. The Sabres were stuck in the defensive zone with the opposition controlling the puck. Peterka was nowhere near the forward he was supposed to be covering. He was off wide along the sideboard when the player went to the net and put in a rebound shot. Rob Ray replayed that play a couple of time and pointedly noted that the scorer was his responsibility. I liked JJP and wanted him to stay a Sabre. And from what I read so did the GM. However, he was determined to get out, as have a number of our better players. It just seems that persistent losing can be dispiriting causing more players to want a change of scenery.

I have a dramatically different take on the area hockey market. It is a fertile hockey market that has been laid to waste by an owner who has crushed its potential due to hideous incompetency. The fan base has steadily been shrinking because of his foolish stewardship for a generation. Fans who are unwilling to spend money on a lackluster team/product are the ones who are showing good judgment.

If you believe I’m a supporter of KA, you have grossly misread my posts about him. I’m almost as contemptuous of him as I am of the big boat owner.

Do you believe that either Quinn, Kulich, Power or Benson will be traded before the season starts? I don’t.

It’s not about hope. It’s simply that we have different judgments on players.

Helenius is not off- limits for me. I’m not dooming anything. If one believes that the young players you listed will be better players next season and thereafter (as I do), why would I want to see them dealt?