LabattBlue

I don’t care how tough the division looks on paper, if the Sabres miss the playoffs again, it will be a huge disappointment.

This! Unless the NHL owners are willing to absorb the losses of their AHL affiliates playing in empty arena’s, I can’t see a way there will be an AHL season.

Here’s hoping the Sabres stream some of the training camp sessions, or at least the two planned intra-squad scrimmages. No need to have Peters and River blabbering, just give me the video feed.

I used to be in "Blue", and then dropped out. If there is enough interest, I would be willing to takeover duties to run "Blue".

With no AHL until 2/5 at the earliest, what happens to all the training camp players who don’t make the Sabres roster or taxi squad? Workout on their own? Rochester coaching staff?

So did I read this earlier, Kucherov can be put on LTIR to get them under the cap, but come playoff time, he can come back and play? If so, that’s a joke and the NHL needs to address that.

I'd like to be optimistic, but with the numbers on the rise, and no bubble(which the players were never going to agree to and I can't blame them for that), I see covid reaking havoc on this already shortened season. Don't get me wrong, Sabres hockey on TV basically every other day will help January and February move a little faster....so for my sake, I hope the season can play out with as few hiccups as possible.

Well...clearly the German bubble has some leaks. If any Germans test positive tomorrow or the next few days, the whole team should be sent home.

Hate the idea. It’s a bush league move for a professional big 4 US sports league. 👎👎👎

What happens to AHL teams at that point? Do they just become independents who sign players not under contract to NHL teams? I wonder if they could still afford a handful of guys who make the $500-750k salaries? Anyways...interesting concept.

It wouldn’t help with fans at games, and I’m sure non-sports fans would be up in arms, but I’d be in favor of allowing players and other game day staff to get vaccinated before training camps start. It would be less than 100 vaccinations per team, so for the whole NHL it would only be 2500-3000 total. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, knowing how many doses are being produced. It would at least allow for an uninterrupted season.

I’m guessing Florida, Winnipeg and Arizona are below us?

I’m surprised no AHL teams haven’t opted out...unless their losses will partially be covered by the NHL or the owners of the NHL teams they are affilIated with. No fans = No revenue for AHL owners

I knew what the term “taxi squad” meant in regards to sports teams, but never knew the origin, until I just googled it... Coach Paul Brown invented it when he wanted to keep a group of promising players who didn’t make the roster. He didn’t want to get rid of them completely, so owner Arthur McBride put them on the payroll of the taxi company that he owned. Alas, the term “taxi squad” was born and would ultimately be adopted by the NFL.

Thanks! 👍

Bryson entering his 2nd pro season, Borgen his 3rd.

We are only 27 days away from ending what may be the worst year any of us will ever go through. Fantastic!

Are Borgen and Bryson exempt from the expansion draft next year, or does it matter if they play X number of NHL games they play this season. The reason I ask is that they are arguably the best blue line prospects that are in the pipeline.

Fancy stats say one thing...he still flunks my eye test. I will watch him closely in 2021, as it is clear now that he isn't going to be moved.

Unless there is a compliance buyout on the near horizon, which they could then use on Skinner, no way do I want to sign Hall to a long term deal, no matter what kind of season he has in 2021. Without the buyout, that would be 18 mil in cap hit, on two wingers who are both rapidly approaching 30, both on long term deals. Thanks to Botts(and the Pegula's), the Skinner contract will be painful for many years to come.

Not that I want anyone gifted a spot in the lineup, but my biggest fear with Arttu Ruotsalainen is that if he doesn't make the team and is assigned to Rochester for seasoning, he goes running back to Finland. Hopefully he either blows them away with a great training camp, or the NHL teams are allowed to have an expanded roster due to Covid circumstances.

Tampa has a serious cap problem, and there are 7 teams with 8+ mil in cap space that have to be licking their chops knowing that Tampa has to do something big...unfortunately the Sabres are not one of those 7 teams. 😞 With Sergachev signed, they have 19 players under contract, already over the cap limit by ~2mil, and still have to sign Cirelli and Cernak...and even then, they only have 21 players accounted for.

Not to be a smartass, but at what age will he become a generational talent? Dahlin was projected to be the best defenseman coming out of the draft since Potvin....you don’t see that quote thrown around in recent months.

Unless the Sabres plan is to try and win every game 6-5, I don’t see how they make the playoffs. The goaltending and defense(as it stands today) is the same as last year, and those groups were average on their best nights last season. Also, call me skeptical, but I don’t think Hutton’s problems last year were his eyesight. I think they fell more in line with...he sucks if you need him for more than a few games.