Porous Five Hole

Peters got the Vegas trade right, but I presume that was because he’s so close to the Tuch family (he billeted Luke). Kind of a layup.

Look y’all, you tryna tell me Pegs said something racist to a journalist, but said journalist never wrote a word about it in their publications? C’mon now.

UPL got through a season, 42 games, without getting injured for the first time since his OHL days (18-19). Maybe being healthy heading into the offseason he can build off of that and progress…but I am not a UPL believer. Unless the plan is to start Levi in Rochester (I am guessing it isn’t), I expect UPL to hit waivers on cutdown day and be claimed or sent to ROC. BTW, between Buff and ROC the Sabres have six goaltenders signed to NHL or two-way deals. Something has to give. Comrie is the easier choice due to UFA status at season’s end, but it isn’t my preference.

On Sabres Live yesterday, UPL was interviewed and he was asked what on the ice things he worked on this off-season. His response was to have his feet a little more narrow in his stance (and something else, but I forget). After saying goodbye to UPL, Biron said he thought UPL’s stance was too narrow to begin with. 😂 So either Marty would be a bad goalie coach or the flaws ain’t gettin fixed.

Tomorrow seems like an excellent day to announce a contract extension.

I used to feel this way, but no longer believe the nhl product is diluted. Scoring is up, everyone can skate, there’s no more staged-fighter roster spots, and there are more euros than ever further enhancing the rosters. The last two expansion teams are getting approx F8 or D4 from teams and making playoff runs. I think there’s a lot of talent out there and another 22-25 nhl players isn’t diluting anything. Also, in the past I believe I incorrectly blamed talent dilution on 1) defensive coaching systems, and 2) the penalty rule book & officiating. While these problems still remain, everything else I mentioned above is still trending positively and it’s due to talent.

Yes, I was just trying to say that it doesn’t smell right to me to I intend to withhold judgement.

I just want to make sure I have this correct. The chain of the alleged communication goes like this? Pegula -> NFL media reporter -> Trotter in a Zoom meeting -> Trotter's attorneys. And this was over the course of a three year period? And the media reporter Is unnamed? And there are no repercussions to Trotter if this is false? Given these circumstances, I am going to abide by innocent until proven guilty.

To be fair to the fact that this a results oriented business, it’s fair to point out what went wrong. Josh felt pressure that wasn’t always home. Four turnovers is inexcusable. It’s hard to explain. Gabe was not noticeable. The Bills safeties taking turns bailing out and playing defense with ten guys didn’t go away with Frazier going away. And the Poyer/Hyde combo didn’t look fast to me. James Cook didn’t break a single tackle all night. The Bills put themselves into third and long too frequently. No more runs up the middle on second and long please.

The sky is not falling. Throw week one in the trash. Some positive takeaways: Buffalo contained Quinnen Williams and the best defensive front in football. The Bills pass rush was good tonight without Von. Benford looked great. Diggs was good against an excellent Jets secondary. Credit to Dorsey for moving him around the line of scrimmage to create mismatches. Kincaid secured all of his targets. Am I trying to focus on positives? Yes. Just some of the things to build on going into the opener. Losing a winnable game in week one sucks, but it doesn’t define a season. It was a really weird game.

The Manningcast commented on that Josh was avoiding pressure that wasn’t to him yet. And his pass locations to his receivers were a touch off. I am hoping this is because he was shaking off rust. And let’s be honest…the Jets D is elite. But this was still embarrassing choking away a lead to Zach freaking Wilson. An early season loss like this hurts, but it can also re-dial guys in. I expect a much better Bills team at home on Sunday.

I’m not making any excuses for the Bills, but am pointing out that a ton of good offenses were very rusty for week one. This bleep show can get easily forgotten with a good drive here.

I am speaking for myself, but I interpreted the comment to speak to the role of the player and not their ceiling as a player.

I love this song.

I’m high on Krebs, but after listening to a James Patrick clip on ATW, I’m not so sure. Patrick said the NHL can define your role for you. And Krebs has been defined as a bottom six core guy who should be excellent at killing penalties. Maybe there’s more room for him to grow, but there’s no room on our top six for him. Hopefully he embraces the role Patrick talked about.

“Five Hole drafts their way to the bottom of the league” Ouch.

When Spectrum pulled ESPN off their lineup last week, I did not expect the stand-off to go as far as it has (today and beyond). Typically, Rochester is not considered local enough to get the local affiliate broadcast. I could be in trouble for MNF and the home opener. Normally I would just go to the bar, but I have daddy duty that night. I might have to 🏴‍☠️, but it’s a lot less fun watching on an iPad.

I was very much looking forward to voting 15-20 points, hard skating, defensively responsible play and injury. It was a gimme and it made me laugh out loud at the poll last year.

I would prefer later on Wednesday if that works for the group.

8pm work for everyone? Last year the draft didn’t even last 60 minutes, so it won’t end too late.

I’m guessing that since Klein doesn’t need to clear waivers, they cut him and told him to hang out in his car in the parking lot for a bit. This way, they can put someone on in-season IR and buy an extra roster spot on the 53 for at least four weeks.

The reason why I don’t agree with this is because it ignores the material item of Kim’s unavailability. If she doesn’t get sick, you don’t automatically come to the same conclusion. Right? Pretty easy to armchair this one given the PSE organization has been without its leader for 12 months. Tim Graham is a smart man. He wrote what he wrote intentionally. He could have written that Pegula is divesting from the non-core businesses and left it at that. Or concluded that the businesses priorities changed without Kim at the helm. But that isn’t what he concluded. He insinuated that Kim’s business acumen was the chief problem. Then he cited 716 and Tim Hortons (completely ignoring Covid consequences on the restaurant industry). That’s why I said he chose violence. For the record, the article continues: ”An unspoken aspect of this series of business moves is how decisively Terry Pegula and Roth have come to the conclusion Kim Pegula’s biggest business ideas have proven unviable. Unable to work after a debilitating cardiac arrest last year, her creations and closest allies continue to vanish from the company. Kim Pegula was the driving force behind PSE’s creation. She also brokered a deal in 2017 for her and her children to purchase 70 percent of Raccuia’s ADPRO Sports, which was sold this month to Legends, the same company to which the Bills have contracted much of their new stadium’s business, including PSLs, sponsorships, merchandise and concessions. PSE previously sold most of its restaurant businesses, most notably the showcase (716) Food and Sport to Southern Tier Brewing Company in 2021 and its Tim Hortons location in 2020. Other entities from the PSE portfolio, including the Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League and the Black River Entertainment, will essentially remain unchanged with their respective leadership still reporting to Roth.” Ok if you don’t think that was unnecessarily harsh, but I think it was a cheap shot given my context above.

I don’t know if this is relevant to your post because it was such a small scale, but it supports your point. The Buffalo Beauts were so well-run in comparison to the rest of the league that it created a league-wide player strike to get what the Beauts players had for everyone else.

There are a couple different ways to communicate this and Graham chose violence.