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Kreider was an extra winger who would not have played, and barely played, without injuries. He was there for leadership. Thompson and Tuch have a lot to prove as 3 zone players to make Olympics. Thompson on wing helps his chances. If the top two are Eichel and Mathews, there is no place for Thompson as center. Also no place for 30 percent on draws. Hopefully, he will be full time winger next year. Better for him and the Sabres.

he was not snubbed. Those games were always going to be remarkably close games with mistakes needing to be avoided at all costs. Thompson and Tuch are to mistake prone right now. Cannot be trusted especially in own zone.

zero reason to believe anything will be different next year. Unknown is Norris, but even if plays 82 games at all star level we still have issues playing defense and mediocre goaltending lol, not even 1 %. I agree with you. if we run this back out no chance

Byram is a very good player. Samuelson is highly overpaid and hurt all the time. What prospects do you think should be traded. What do you seek in return?

That is fast track to season 15 of no playoffs. UPL is too inconsistent, and Levi is proving to be a good AHL goalie and a backup in NHL. We need an NHL caliber goalie signed or traded for. Someone who can play 40 or 50 games.

he is 24. no longer a young goalie. He is a small goalie. Small goalies are an extreme rarity in the NHL. Successful small goalies are rarer. Saros from Preds was already a star by 23. Would have been up sooner but they had Renne. It is malpractice by Adams that he has not trade for a starting caliber NHL goalie. Cannot win without one. He still let's in soft goals. In the AHL. He has not proven it.

There is nothing in Ruff's background that says he will be an adequate general manager. The salary cap itself is an extremely tough thing to navigate for experienced people.

Is the success rate for College coaches coming to NHL high? I dont think it is. Very different coaching boys vs coaching men.

you think an AHL goalie and a forward prospect will bring us an elite goalie? If we add another forward prospect we could get macdavid or mackinon. the rare excellent post on this board. great analysis and great opinion on the dmen.

teams like Toronto, NY, Boston etc... can charge 5x what sabres do and they sell out the suites for a much higher multiple than that. Sabres do not sell out the suites today. Sabres are only team in NHL that offer the opposing teams a free suite to use. Only team. The report i referenced was only the tickets and suites not the purchases during the game. Prices for concessions are far higher in other buildings. The losses are an all in number. Do not doubt at all they lost that much. 30 million a year when your expenses are similar to the high revenue teams, but your revenue is far below is a realistic number. Would only be worse since COVID and the attendance being so low.

If you know someone in the league you can get the gate amounts. Published once a week to the teams. Same person who shares the gate amounts told me about Pegula...

told people he lost 300 million on sabres. This was before COVID so a lot more now. Buffalo does not have corporations to support NHL team where the Gate amounts are key. Buffalo gate is around 400k while big cities it is over 2 million. No TV deal to even things out like in NFL. If he sells, odds are team moves.

who expected that? Neither has performed at a level to deserve it

Would sell team tomorrow if he could. If he sells, sabres leave...

39 assists for the number of minutes and power play time he has over a full season is not good. He is main person on PP and our PP stinks. For a long time. Maybe related to his lack of playmaking? He is poor defensively. just watch him. floats. leaves zone too early, bad at staying with a man etc... Sorry but he is a poor center. If you watch the games that is obvious. He is no longer playing center even though he is healthy which is pretty telling don't you think? He was not chosen for four nations due to this. Was not even considered due to it. Tuch too. Neither can be trusted defensively. The Canada games were all about limiting mistakes as the players were too good to give up chances. Thompson and Tuch are not players to be trusted in high level play like that. Could be elite winger with more effort in neutral and dzone.

he is a bad center. Bad defensively, bad at faceoffs, bad matching up with good centers. He scored goals but did not create for others. he is a good winger who could be a great winger with the right center.

the only player on this team who is an equivalent of a 1 type player is Dahlin as a first pair dman. We have no first line type players when compared to best players in the league. Thompson has a chance as a winger. Needs to improve consistency and 200 foot game.

agreed. MAckinon and Mcdavid are examples ofnumber one centers.

Thompson is a below average center. Gets lost in own zone, bad at faceoffs, does not use his body correctly as a big center etc.... He was never a center. He can be a very good winger, top ten even if he has good linemates, but he is bad at center. Cozens proved to be a winger as well. Ottawa will learn the hard way on that. Mayb Kulich and Norris can finally get us real centers going forward. Norris must stay healthy, and Kulich must continue to improve. so all he needs is adam oates equivalent and a Tkachuk?

he would be lost in a high-level game like that. Assignments are key and he is a floater.

when he sells the sabres might cease to exist. he would sell tomorrow if he could but there is no one who would want to keep team in buffalo. Need a new or heavily updated rink and the market is too small.

When they shrank the neutral zone, the idea was more room in offensive zone means more offense. Did not happen as coaches adapted by leaving points open and collapsing down and blocking point shots. No man-to-man D that would open areas for offense is happening. No pressure on D takes away excitement as a couple times a game D would cough up puck at blue line and lead to chances. More room behind nets failed as it turns out Gretzky was the unique talent that could create offense from back there LOL. Getting rid of two-line pass also hurts offense as players hang on the other side of the red line. When you had to worry about two-line pass pressure, again, was on D to make a play by getting past blue line. Mistakes there led to offense. These changes to increase offense have led to a boring game of power plays and one timers.

if he was out for year the amazing Mike Harrington would have broke the story....

If Harrington writes something it must be ignored.

The Montreal singer whose name i cannot remember going from English to French was always nice to hear.