LabattBlue

I lost my dad in December, and while he lived a much longer life than Mr. Ullmark, it is never easy to lose a parent. They are in my thoughts and prayers.

This team needed an overhaul, and Adams made ONE trade the entire off-season. Easy to sign a bunch of mediocre FA’s(outside of Hall) as he doesn’t have to deal with other GM’s looking to take advantage of a very very very green GM. Let’s see how he does making a deal when the going gets tough.

Any game on NBCSN, I flip it on at puck drop, channel surf for 18 minutes between periods, then change channels as soon as game ends. ...actually I do the same for most Sabres games on MSG. 😂

I hope for the best for Linus and his family. 🤞

😂. I’m sure I will ease my way back in to watching them. I guess the last 10 years have done a number on my love for Sabres hockey.

Glad that they won. I figured with Hutton in net, they would get bombed. Three games in and I’ve already lost interest. 😂 I did flip over to the game a few times just to check the score...and one of the time I did check, the Flyers scored! 😞 Pretty sad that I found Everybody Loves Raymond reruns more interesting. 😊

So Skinner is not playing the system well enough to deserve anything more than playing on the 4th line, but well enough that he isn’t in the press box? C’mon Ralph aka Super Motivator...if you want to send him a message, put him upstairs...or would this make the Pegula’s look bad for signing off on this huge mistake of a contract?

Hahaha. There should be Chet and Muffy cutouts. Her with a book in her hand, and him trying to close a business deal with the person next to him.

If I’m still around in 5 years, we’ll see how well you did with this prediction. 😂

I think the whole McDermott “leader of men” stuff led dumb and dumber to thinking RK could fix the Sabres because of his leadership/motivational skills. Here is the skinny...in a game of QB roulette, the Bills picked Allen, and he is going to make Beane and McD look great for many years to come. Not that they are terrible, maybe just not the next great GM/HC duo ready to be knighted.

Two games against Philly and then two more at Washington. 1-5? 0-6?

I’m going to ignore the Sabres play as I don’t want to get so angry one game into the year. One maddening thing...the removal of the ice level broadcast mics made it impossible to hear the whistles. I don’t know if this has been a problem in other games around the NHL?

Good thing there is no crowd there because it still would have been eerily quiet. Not a lot to cheer about that period.

Let’s Go!!!!!!!

I’ll be interested to see if RK’s system continues to neuter Dahlin, or will he be allowed to carry the puck more, and be a greater force in the offensive zone.

You mean practice? No actual NHL regular season games?

When Skinner is given an extended chance in the Top 6, then I will be glad to change my stance on RK. yes, my opinion of Pegula is out there, and no, I don’t expect it to really happen, but it is a frustrating waste of 9 mil in cap space as it stands today.

Normally I agree. I don’t want a meddling owner...except when your HC is an idiot and can’t see how ridiculous his handling of Skinner is...who also is the 2nd highest paid player on the team for more years than any of us want to think about.

RK is wrong in his handling is Skinner. Pegula approves Skinner’s monster contract and Pegula approved the hiring of RK. Now Pegula needs to tell RK that Skinner needs to be in the top 6, no matter what.

Not sure if this was posted, but for comparisons sake, here is last years opening night lineup... Eichel Girgensons Johansson Larsson Mittelstadt Okposo Olofsson Reinhart Sheary Sobotka Skinner Vesey Dahlin Jokiharju McCabe Risto Miller Scandella Ullmark Hutton

That would be nice...unfortunately in almost all cases, you either have a mean streak or you don’t.

Are any teams going to start the season even with a couple thousand fans?

More changes to scoring post-draft? I know changes were made to goalie stats, but now scoring stats have also been downsized? 😞

...but you also have to put players in position to succeed, and putting a very good goal scorer with scrub 4th liners is not utilizing Skinner correctly.

I know there has to be some level of buy in from the player in terms of two way play, but you’re always going to have some skill guys who aren’t great defensively. RK needs to figure it out. A $9 mil player in the bottom six in unacceptable...especially since you already are saddled with a $6 mil player also in the bottom six.