Standing Room Smoking Cigs

Yeesh.... McDavid is a game changer, better than Matthews, better than MacKinnon.... I know I sound like his agent, but this kid is all of that.... Why wait out FA, when you can get him now.... Granted he needs to go a team that isn't dysfunctional (I know we qualify as dysfunctional).... but if it doesn't pan out next year in Edmonton... it will be the biggest trade in the NHL since '88. If the pipeline is solid and you can afford to give up some.... go for for it. I just don't see Buffalo doing it. Not because I wouldn't want him here, I just think the NHL wants him in a large market favorable to TV....

BTW... thank you all to replying to this topic... I don't post often and appreciate your replies... even that BuffaloNill guy!!!😄

My bad and I thought Connor McDavid's is like my my nephew 'Conor"

I agree and Hughes would go unless he has a no trade... Edmonton would have cost value and he is 4 younger (unlike Tage who I think is older than McDavid).... Plus NJ would have to throw in Luke Hughes

McDavid will want out next year if the Oilers fail... It is really about his legacy, I don't care what anyone else says... he is the best player since Lemieux... and no he his not coming to Buffalo... I played the potential trade for him, but it was fantasy... McDavid will be in NY or Florida next year.... Don't underestimate Florida, marketing him the sportstars down there... (However, they really don't the draft capital to trade for him without gutting the team)

What would you propose giving the cap that Edmonton is facing now? They are pretty hard up to the cap.... as to value, you may trade Tage or Cozens to save 3 million for a few years, yet you'll get cost cost control for 5 plus years with the kids and draft picks.... Plus if McDavid wants out, that changes value in a cap era

No Tage... even though he'd be at the top of the list.... We don't need that karma of best players lifting a cup right after we trade them (see Eichel, O'Reilly, Hasek)... I'd send Kulich, Savoive, Samuelson and 2 no.1 to the Oilers for Nurse and McDavid

McDavid will request to be moved next year if it fails in Edmonton.... he is aware of his legacy

My point in the original post is that is so much harder to win multiple cups in the cap era. McDavid and Draisaitl are great players yet they haven't won anything. Draisaitl doesn't have the cache of McDavid... McDavid moves the needle like Messi in the hockey world today. ESPN & TNT would slabber all over themselves if he was East Coast USA... and don't think the owners of Eastern Conference teams wouldn't benefit of him being in the 7 PM game in the Northeast market. McDavid is a bottom line profit to them, playing so many games in NY NJ Philly markets... He isn't coming to Buffalo, it's the Boston, NY, NJ Philly Washington corridor

And doesn't that sink into his craw?

Hence needing a Cup now, that was non salary cap teams.... and Gretzky had quite possibly the best collection of talent around him of any team save the dynastic Canadians and well the Pens and Wings of his era.... My point is it's not easy to win a cup now let alone 4. McDavid needs a cup, he isn't getting it in Edmonton

ESPN doesn't care about the Leafs and the 26 owners in the US would rather see McDavid in the US...

Seeing the Messi effect on Inter Miami this morning. Team value increases, ticket prices for games have increased crazy. McDavid is the next Gretzky that can change the wealth of an owner of a NHL team. Better yet with media saturation today, he would have a bigger effect than Gretzky's move to LA. ESPN and TNT would kill to see him in an eastern market. McDavid needs a cup now to solidify his heir apparent to Gretzky and Lemieux. Who takes the leap?... Philly?...

Niagara Falls pizza back in the day was totally different from Buffalo pizza. Niagara had a thinner crust (albeit cup and char), more sauce, less cheese and it was spicier than Buffalo pizza, I'm aging myself but Hacienda on Pine, St. Angelo's on the Island where typical of that pizza and boy it was good...

Pizza is a WNY favorite... like wings and beef on weck. If you google buffalo style pizza, it's amazing the national reviews you get. I remember about 10 years ago Grand Island was having a 'Taste of the Island'... as my brother who still lives there explained to the rest of us via IM chat as he was going.... my other brother injected, "Oh great, 7 restaurants serving pizza." Hah!!! Then snarky brother remarked Brick Oven Pizza doesn't have a brick oven, it's the brick of the 70's style McDonalds that they took over!!! Although Pizza Amore on the Island was quite good the only time I had it about 11 years ago...

Adams at this point is right to hoard prospects, better yet he is signing them, especially the Russians and setting a rotation of not just another guy(s) to fill the roster. After now what 12 years of missing the playoffs, I'm willing to stay the course for another year even if comes up short of playoffs. Adams is not long for the GM job, he'll be moved up to a Sabres Shanny job and Karmanos will be the next GM.... as it should for success going forward... We look at the all the prospects we have and are impatient to get to that next level... yet honestly.... the new front office installed is still "prospects" in terms of years with the Sabres in meaningful decision making jobs. The Sabres have mastered tanking... and well it was a great job... they're still trying to master a not a rebuild,.. but a new team without the benefit of a 2000's era expansion draft. This team will be good for a long time... They are plugging in the defensemen that will help the kids we have, and are right to assume UPL and Levi will mature and stop the the goaltending by 'Hey can you suit up, you look like a goaltender' we have had. Adams has never struck me as I want the credit kind of guy... he seems to really seem invested in building a special something that will last a long time. Also I think Adams is aware of the Detroit model (Jimmy D and Holland) of 25 years of playoffs, 4 cups, you build, you accumulate... you trade after success and you become a destination for those who want a day with the cup... Whelp... I said my peace...I'll post again n about 3 months!!! (No I'm not Adams agent!!!)

Yeah... I don't get it... 2 defensemen means we have to move a holdover. Joki is probably best value moving forward.... Bryson and Stillman are not going to get a return. The kids in Rochester will be pushing in the next 2 years. So do we move Joki, Olofsson for a goalie?...

Don't really care if Eichel or Reinhart wins. However, if Eichel is kissing the cup, it's gonna cause mass panic in Edmonton this summer. We certainly didn't lose it when Eichel was traded, we knew it had to be done. Now imagine if your team with the best player (and the 2nd best player also) who hasn't even come close to winning or sniffing the cup, sees Eichel go from a what could be termed as a no win situation in Buffalo, to a Cup. Yikes, at least Gretzky won cups before he forced his way of Edmonton. I for one, could the see the Canadian media going into all sorts of conniptions over this.😃

I tried both. But went back to Spectrum because of MSG... (I really didn't at the time like watching the Sabres suck... and well they did suck)... It costs a lot more but I'm back into watching the Sabres. I get the Sports package on Spectrum which gets me all the ESPN channels and their associated college networks... Golf Channel (which every December... in the midst of darkness and lack of warmth, I love seeing the beautiful weather of South Africa or Australia)...NHL Network which shows games. I also get the Spectrum Entertainment package, because at my age, I find myself watching old MTV videos and TV shows from my youth... I also get ESPN+which allows me to watch the CFL... My phone is also Spectrum and now I'm thinking as I write this I might be a shill for Spectrum!!! Hah!!!.. No shill, but I guess at age, cable is my comfort zone... Damn kids with their newfangled streaming things...

Philly is going to be a hot mess tearing everything down... which they should (although... Buffalo being the poster boy for hot messes... ) Hart is only worth a 3rd and a middling prospect or an Olfosson that will play for Philly through the rebuild... The Flyers are going to bad through the next 3 seasons....

I don't know going all in on an outside goalie is the end all for the drought. I have to look at Jack Campbell in Edmonton as a warning. Campbell didn't cost Edmonton drat picks, prospects... but they spent some serious cash against the cap. He certainly wasn't worth 5 year/5 Million AVG this year. That contract will also drag on Edmonton as they are hard up against the cap. Bobrovsky wasn't playing the down the stretch in the Panthers late season run to make the playoffs. Adin Hill was 4th on the depth chart in Vegas. Far better to get a top 4 defenseman if you're considering giving up assets. The Sabres can absorb giving up 2 to 3 goals a game, giving the their offensive talent... it is the top 4 defensmen that are going to make the difference in wins and losses in my opinion.

Quite a pedigree on the defense... 3 first rounders (2 at number 1) and a 2nd... if we are penciling in our top 4 defensemen, next year or the year after... This team is setting up to be a dynasty if they can figure it out... Sunny days ahead....

Agreed... but then again he'll always have that gambling cloud. Vanek will never get a "I make a decision" based job in the NHL, too toxic... He may want to go the Mays/Mantle route and represent Seneca Buffalo Creek as a hobknobber and greeter, because that is probably as close to a job at KBC as he's going to get... Or , maybe there will be a European remake of 'Blazing Saddles' and he could play 'Mongo' like his fellow athlete who had a gambling cloud.... Alex Karras...

I have no problem with Levi/UPL combo next year... It's bringing in a top 4 defenseman, that will define the season going forward. For all the wringing of hands about goalies... we need another Muel to compliment our Dahlin/Power... the top 4 will average if (and a big if, giving injuries) 45 - 50 minutes a game... The weakness of this decade long rebuild seems to always be centered on goaltending, and honestly there's validity to the quality of goalies that were here, but our defensemen have been horrid in this stretch and the offense did them no favors... I can envision a Ullmark/Strayman in our goalies if we get that 4th defenseman...

I ate paste as a kid.... my go to was Elmers'... peeling it off my hands... no dipping sauce like blue cheese, just paste... yum... Elmer's.... then years on I got a tat of the "fierce black mallard... noblest of all beasts".... only to find out the mallard was in fact a drake.... I'm embracing the nonsensical post and the replies.... but please what I can't accept is that Ginger got more tail than Mary Ann... Mary Ann was deceptive and probably funner to be around.... Mods... may close this reply... but.... I'm laughing now...