Porous Five Hole

Made it back to ROC from Detroit today. I understand it isn’t practical to spend an extra half a billion dollars to put a roof on the new digs for approx eight winter events per year, but that’s exactly what I want. 27 degrees outside and 70 inside. It was just perfect. Detroit was a great host, both the local sports fans and hospitality/venue staff.

Only thing is Pysyk was hurt during the off-season and will be lost until December at the earliest (Achilles injury).

The tickets were heavily discounted for this event. $30 is what they cost for the lower bowl. That’s the face value.

Not sure if you caught it, but I gave my logic on another post. But is it really an overpay? It’s kind of like…you’re getting the guarantee of a fully-developed/an all grown up and ready to play version of your prospect at or near his prime. So for that privilege, you’re definitely paying the prospect back, a premium first round pick, a later round pick, and a roster player. The closer to the deadline we get, the weaker the deal becomes. 60 games this year instead of 18 is a big difference in my mind.

Are you trying to tell me what you think it’ll take? Or what you would be willing to offer?

Welp, Bills season ticket holders are trying to vulture their Bills fan brethren.…a $30 lower bowl ticket is being listed for $225 plus fees as verified resale. And that’s the cheapest I could find in between the 15 yard lines. Most are $300+ per ticket. Enterprising? Perhaps. Crappy? You bet.

It’s. What. They. Do.

He is struggling pretty mightily. I just looked it up…Krebs has 20 AHL regular season games to his credit (all last year), and he has 20 points in 20 games. He’s in a weird spot where his development might not be best served in the AHL, but he’s not an NHL player yet either. I don’t want to give up on the guy, but I would probably send him down if they could bring in an NHL vet who could play a more physical game. The Sabres already have young guys who play his style and are more noticeable (Peterka & Quinn off the top of my head).

I understand. But is it really an overpay? It’s not that far off from the deadline deals last spring. It’s kind of like…you’re getting the guarantee of a fully-developed/an all grown up and ready to play version of your prospect at or near his prime. So for that privilege, you’re definitely paying the prospect back, a premium first round pick, a later round pick, and a roster player.

I live in ROC and plan to go. It’ll suck if I have to drive south instead of through Canada on the way there, but I don’t have anything going on and tix will be cheap…so why not?!

You’re probably looking at Savoie, a top five protected first round pick in 2023, a 3rd or 4th round pick, and Mittelstadt

Who is driving to Detroit????

Man, this resonated with me. Especially given the recent draft capital they’ve spent. The young players are coming. Make this team better now!

I think players don’t want to throw haymakers and hit a helmet visor with a bare hand.

Pilut was especially noticeably bad. I hoped he was an NHL D, but he is not.

Dan Girardi should be able to be that guy. Very frustrating. Also, it is time to split up Dahlin & Power. The ice isn’t tilted enough to warrant them playing together.

Zero points out of a four game home stand.

Torts called a guy out for poor play in this young season. Meatballs? Nothin…

The Sabres got beat by Spencer freaking Martin. A veteran of 15 NHL games and who played poorly. Good grief.

I’ve totally come around to this. Invest in this team now. The Sabres need to find a dance partner, but teams have to need first round offensive prospects and we have those. This isn’t good enough. Development is stunted when you lose six games in a row with no end in sight. It’s time.

Welp, I have been preaching patience with this squad. They are in most games. They had a hot start. Yea, that shine has worn off. I’m trying to not let the sins of the last decade cloud my judgement of what the Sabres are trying to build here, but this is totally unacceptable. The media better find Kevyn Adams in the hallway tonight and put the cameras in his face. I want to see that these losses are hurting him as much or more than they’re hurting me. I want to know he’s willing to take action before we crater to last place. Oh wait, we are already there save for Ottawa. Just totally unacceptable.

It makes such a difference when Tage is on one side and VO is on the other. And Dahlin distributing. The goalie can’t cheat toward the shooter because we have two of them. I know there’s good data to run the PP from behind the net instead of the point, but this is working (8th in the league).

Meat Wound

It has to be a hilarious attempt to drive SDS bonkers. In actuality, it was a weather thread repurposed due to the 72 feet of snow orchard park is about to get.

You’re right that Buffalo doesn’t have a clear plan toward good goaltending in the NHL soon, but I’ll take the top-end forward talent the team has drafted along with two #1 overall defenseman. Acquiring skill and goal scoring (to me) is the hardest thing to do. And there are many ways to be hard to play against…which includes being elite offensively and relentless on the puck. My opinion is that things have changed since building from the crease out. Goaltending is too hard to predict and a certain threshold of Goals Forward is required to be a playoff team. Goals are still hard to come by. While the path toward top-flight goaltending isn’t clear today, and waiting for Levi seems to be too long-term and unknown to count on, it doesn’t mean that’s the only path forward. We all want the Sabres to be great asap, but it was never the plan for the team to be in the Stanley Cup final this year. And quite honestly, the Sabres may not have a short-to-medium plan for the crease right now…but that’s OK. The current goaltending contracts are all short term to this point. The Sabres have tons of assets to make a move over the summer if this team proves ready for the next step.