RochesterExpat

How did Thompson get that shot off??

whole team is right nowr

Yikes.

Sabres using the speed boost cheat code tonight.

Even if it's preseason, watching this team tonight vs two years ago is like night and day. I'd argue it's more impressive because it's preseason and players aren't just treating this like a Sunday skate for a paycheck.

I am loving this new Buffalo. ***** yeah Tage.

It's very apparent we're playing the young players in Carolina and veterans fighting for 13th F / 7th D spots.

God these guys are fun to watch. What a goal TT.

That was pretty.

What a heads up play by Mitts. Tuch got robbed.

Pretty reasonable take honestly.

2 of 6 games is pretty much standard for a starting goalie.

Didn't want to lose the anthem singer!

I am saving this and sending it to everyone next time I get asked. You did. I haven't made it out there yet, but it's on the things to do list. I saw they had Beef on Weck so it's worth the trip for that alone. When I lived in Grapevine, I used to go to Duff's in Southlake all the time. Even bought the shirt because nothing confuses my friends and family more than wearing a shirt that says "Duff's Southlake TX" on it. Smaller than adult GSD, but much bigger than a 37lb dog. The legs are longer and the bodies are shorter. I had a Belgian Malinois that was 55lbs and the coyote was roughly the same size.

(S)he's dead, Jim. They really are. It's funny because people think foxes are the cunning/sly ones, but (at least from my personal experience) foxes are a lot easier to deal with than coyotes. That's why I decided to set a snare at the crawl under. I didn't like the chances of getting a second go with a spotlight. Most of them learn pretty quick. From the trail camera, I knew she wasn't a first year pup that left the den this summer so she's almost certainly experienced people trying to dispatch her. She was 37 pounds so definitely a decent weight for a female coyote around here. Granbury so pretty close to you. I just describe it as North Central to anyone from NY looking at a map. When I was describing where we're at as North Texas people back home thought we lived in the Panhandle. It's kind of like telling people I'm from western NY and they just go, "oh so like upstate?" "Sure, we'll go with that." Of course, the inevitable next question is always "Did you go to NYC a lot?" because people don't understand the sheer size of the state or have a basic understanding of geography, apparently. Similarly, the seven year old is playing hockey out of Mansfield (yes, we really do drive 45 miles one way to practice multiple times a week). I was explaining to my parents that the game in McKinney two weeks ago was a whole day affair because it is a shorter distance for them (east of Rochester) to drive to Harborcenter than it is for us to drive to McKinney. My parents can't grasp the concept that the DFW metroplex is that big and spread out--and they've been here a bunch.

Good point. I should have said the opportunity to make the Amerks instead of going straight back to loan from Buffalo's camp.

Finally found the place under the fence the coyote is getting in at. Do you think he knows there's a camera there now? I believe this is the same one that killed my neighbor's sheep two weeks ago and killed a goat on Saturday. I've seen him by our chicken coop twice now. I feel guilty the neighbor's lost the goat because I had him in dead to rights Thursday night but didn't pull the trigger because I wasn't 100% sure it wasn't just the neighbor's new dog. It was 150+ yards at night using a red light for illumination and he was moving through tall grass. I wasn't going to pull the trigger without being 100% certain I knew what I was shooting. I watched him crossing the pasture and I moved spots to get a better view, but in doing so I triggered my motion-sensor floodlight and he booked it. Rookie mistake. Anyway, going to set a snare on the fence line and see if I can get him that way. Also, I'm pretty sure snares aren't legal in NY--so just to avoid confusion I want to add I'm in Texas where this is perfectly legal.

Kulich making it to the Amerks after saying he had no other plans than playing in Buffalo this season is a pretty cool story line for this season. The fact both Kulich and Kozak made the Amerks because of strong performances at development camp, prospect challenge and training camp is a great message for the team to be sending to other young kids. Especially with Kozak as a 7th round pick getting offered a contract at D+1, showing up strong this summer, and making it to the AHL as a result. You hope players like Mats Lindgren see that and it motivates the hell out of them (side note: he had two assists yesterday in his first game back in the WHL and his team won 4-2). I'm glad this organization is rewarding hard work and performance where they see it, but not doing so in a manner that rushes development. If this were 4 years ago, I don't think Savoie would be going back to the WHL. He is a great hockey player and looked good on the ice, but he needs another year (or two) before he should be on the NHL roster. Let him develop without rushing it. Lets not have a Casey Mittelstadt repeat.

It’s a small thing to take away from the game, but it’s important and worth saying. Quinn and Power are both patient enough to hold the puck and wait for a play to develop, but they’re also aggressive enough to take a shot if one presents itself. Neither are overly trying to force a bad pass or force a bad shot—the most common rookie mistakes. More interestingly, I’d make the argument Power is ahead of Quinn at this point as far as the maturity with his play is concerned. That’s remarkable considering the Jack has a lot more professional experience. I can’t stress enough how promising it is that we’re seeing this level of maturity from both of them already. Love it. On an unrelated note, I really like Asplund. I kind of want to get his jersey.

Obligatory:

I was wrong by the way. Sorry 😞 This is true if you are offering a contract between 1 and 5 years in length. Robertson is reportedly holding out because he wants $ and term both. It's safe to assume that Buffalo is going to offer him the max term (seven years). Offer sheet AAV is calculated on the lesser of: - Number of years offered, or - Five years. When calculating a contract of 6 or 7 years, you will use 5 years for AAV. This dramatically changes the ranges in which Buffalo could offer sheet Robertson. Buffalo can afford to offer $10.5+ AAV because they currently hold the required draft picks. That's a contract value of 5 * $10.5m, or $52.5m. On a six year contract, the real AAV on a $52.5m total contract value would be $8.75m a year, but for the offer sheet AAV calculation it's still $10.5m. On a seven year contract, the real AAV on a $52.5m total contract value is $7.5m a year with the same $10.5m offer sheet AAV. Therefore, assuming that Buffalo would offer sheet a contract with 7 years of length, Buffalo could offer him $8.5-9m a year which is a reasonable amount, and they would still have the necessary draft picks to pull it off. Of course, getting him to sign it and Dallas not just matching it are entirely different stories. Of course, none of that is going to happen because real offer sheets (not just petty actions by owners) never happen. But I did want to correct the record and admit to my error. I didn't realize that about offer sheets. They just don't come up very often...

I'm assuming he meant $1-2m more than what Robertson signed for and I don't think that's an unreasonable ask.

DG has talked about pairs multiple times and referenced Skinner and TT as an example of two players with good chemistry. There's virtually zero chance they're not playing together at the start of season. TT established himself as the play driver on line one last season. Skinner has long since established that he's not a play driver and I think one of the points of contention he had with the Hockey Terrorist. It's fortunate the two of those have great chemistry. I think DG is using the preseason to measure Tuch's ability to drive plays on lines with more finesse players. Tuch was never put in that position in Vegas because he was somewhat buried in the depth chart. My $.02 on the lines and what DG is looking at specifically: [Quinn-Thompson-Olofsson] is, frankly, an evaluation of Jack Quinn's NHL readiness by placing him next to two established NHL players, and a secondary look at the Thompson/Olofsson chemistry. DG likes to challenge young players. Putting Quinn on the "first" line is pretty much perfectly in line with his philosophy. [Skinner - Mitts - Tuch] is a decent line on paper but it will only work if Tuch can drive the plays because neither Skinner or Mitts will fill that role. I think Buffalo is still evaluating Mitts at center vs wing. More importantly though, I think they're looking at Tuch's abilities to drive plays independent of TT. Tuch was never put in that position in Vegas because he was somewhat buried in the depth chart. [Krebs-Cozens-Peterka] this is like the EA NHL line of mixing a power forward, play maker and sniper/unicorn. Cozens played with Peterka in the first preseason game and Peterka looked much better in Game 1 than Game 3, so this could an evaluation of chemistry between the two. I also think this is to compare Krebs vs Peterka's readiness for the NHL since Krebs has not played well this preseason. If Krebs is going to end up on wing during the season and Peterka shows he's more prepared, we might see Krebs in Rochester. Unlikely but possible. [Asplund-Girgensons-Okposo] is probably the real 4th line with the possibility of Asplund/Okposo moving to the third line and Hinostroza slotting in on the 4th. Regardless, this is a decent shutdown line that will likely outscore most other 4th lines the NHL. May as well start getting reps in now. [Bjork-Savoie-Hinostroza] is basically who is leftover at this point. Bjork isn't likely to make the roster. Savoie will play his 10 games at most before being sent back to juniors. Buffalo knows what they have in Hinostroza and don't really need to evaluate him in the lineup per se. I would suggest that at least one benefit of this practice line is Buffalo is evaluating Savoie's speed against Hinostroza's. Both are Ferraris on the ice. [Samuelsson-Dahlin] probably the opening night 1st D pairing. Just getting reps in. [Power-Jokiharju] is probably the opening night 2nd D pairing. Just getting reps in. God I hate this pairing. [Bryson-Fitzgerald / Davies-Lyubushkin] is just evaluating if there is any chemistry in D pairings for the 5th/6th spots. Considering I think Bush has played very well in the preseason and they just signed him, I'm guessing this is really a fight for the 6th spot.