Jorcus

Naples is not in Tuscany, Did you mean Florence? World of difference between the 2.

Quinn has the most scoring upside of any player we have. He very good at finding open ice to shoot from in front of the net, he also has the shot to make it count. He does seem to cheat up ice from the D zone too often and he has an annoying habit of rapping his stick on the ice when he is open. It's not juniors anymore the other guys will find you, no sense in telling the other team where you are. Lindy will make adjustments.

The thing I like about Kulich's game is his ability to get a shot off while under duress. I noticed that about him last year and he got a few off last night. He is the most sure thing we have as a functional NHL forward right now in the prospect pool. What kind of NHL player he becomes I am not sure. What an AHL player must do to make it to the NHL is play sound defense. I don't think I would assume he would not play on the 4th line to start his NHL journey but He could end up anywhere in the lineup depending on circumstances.

It is a scenario, but my point is that Chad DeDominicis is making projections on next years salary cap and states he is not removing any players when in fact he is removing 4 of them who are UFA's adding in Abue-Kubel that accounts for 12.5 million in salary. Even with 4 entry level contracts that's 4 million dollars out of the 7 million he thinks he has left over. We also do not know what the salary cap will be. I doubt all the replacements for those guys will be Amerks. There is a lot of work to do at the end of the season roster wise and that cap money can get used up fast.

"I love this game. Let’s say the ceiling is $92 million. As of now they’d have $32.54 million. I’ll go high: JJP - 7.5m Byram - 6m McLeod - 4m Quinn - 5m Levi - 3m That equates to $25.5 million. Leaving $7 million BEFORE ANYONE IS REMOVED FROM THE ROSTER & I went high on proj." I think he is removing any UFA from the roster Joker Zucker and Greenway in this scenario. which is 11 million. They could go but they also need to be replaced. with something.

As far as the cap goes don't we have to be forward looking? Sure there is 8-9 Million under the cap at the moment but without movement there will be Peterka, Quinn, McLeod, and Byrum to sign under RFA contracts. Any of the those guys can get an offer sheet for anything under 4.5 million for a second round pick. Add in the Skinner penalty and maybe a preemptive bump for Tuch plus whatever might happen with LevI and one might argue that spending to the cap now would cost us a lot at the end of the season. Now that St Louis has opened the gates with offer sheets It could be war next off season and second round picks for some of these guys are a poor return.

As recently as last year the Sabres thought Krebs could be a top 2 line forward. I know I heard that on WGR but I can't remember who said it. Was Granato his Champion? Maybe it was and his best hope went out the door with him. Having said that playing as defensive minded 4th liner never hurts a players development, but after Casey was shipped out Krebs did not deliver too much in a modified roll. I think they would rather keep him on the cheap and hope he finally produces some points but he is becoming a non factor.

I hate the idea of obtaining Kadri. He is a selfish POS. If it were up to me he would not be allowed to play in the NHL for some of the crap he has pulled in the past. It's one thing to play tough. It's another to be a cheap shot a wipe. He got run out of Toronto for his selfish acts, He started a war in Saint Louis with his BS on the Colorado. He has been less problematic with the Flames but almost every team in the NHL wants to take a shot at him. He does not want to be a Sabre he wants to be closer to Toronto. If this team was more mature where he had to respect the high end talent he might not go off but he could wreck whatever the Sabres are trying to build. Hard no.

I hate instantaneous trials and convictions by the internet. RIP Johnny and Matthew. Very Tragic.

I have a difficult time thinking of a use case for AI in hockey. I can think of many uses for AI outside of hockey but I can't see how you are going to use it to gain an advantage for on ice performance. For way too many years of my life I have handicapped horse races and have a good understanding of how advanced handicappers were developing AI type tools long ago to get an edge on the game. To some extent they were able to improve their chances of coming out ahead wagering but there were many things that were difficult for the system players to account for. One of the biggest issues was as much as you might know one horse is faster than the one standing next to it you really don't know how the horse is feeling that day. The best you can do is observe the paddock and the warmups but that is pretty much impossible to program and even when you think you know by observation you don't really know until they run the race. Like LTS pointed out a foot slip changes the dynamic of the outcome. There are many other factors in a race that are difficult to account for that skew results and outcomes. Hockey is like this in many ways. It's a very fast and reactionary sport. Players have to react to the conditions presented on the ice. They are given ideas of where they should be in relation to those conditions but a program can't do that for them. Maybe the program would want them to be some other place but they are not physically able to do that. It's like when a coach draws up a play during a time out late in the game. If that play does not work in the first few seconds there is no play anymore and it's back to reacting to the conditions on the ice.

Are UPIE's glasses 3D or X ray Vision?

Other than Girginsons and maybe a little bit from Okposo all the guys we offloaded were not ones who would take a punch in the face. I like the fact we got speed and am hopeful that the new players are going to do the dirty work so Tuch, Cozens and Dahlin don't end up on IR because they are the ones fighting.

It's fine if your on the Oilers but the Sabres in general had such bad production out of the centers last season that they all have to come up to be competitive. I think McCloud will produce more just by not being the 4th center on the team. At least I hope so.

I am not against the trade of Savoie. The Sabres must have felt he was not going to help us this year. I worry about McCloud's lack of production so far in the NHL. It's Obvious he was not getting top line minutes with the Oilers. This is certainly a projection pick up where it's possible his numbers can jump with different usage. I hope so because you really need better production out that center position. Well at least the team is going to look different. I will say this for the Oilers they love adding people who can score goals.

The summer olympics,

Poturalski had a tough break in Calder cup finals getting hurt the first game and was not able to play after. I was kind of hoping he would get to the Amerks. Got to love his team photo for the Firebirds. If that face does not say I play in the AHL I don't know what does. He also lead the AHL in scoring 2 years in a row although the first year was covid shortened. Tip of the hat to him. https://cvfirebirds.com/team-roster/

Nashville was an older team last year, now they are a very old team. Lots of great players, the big question is will they be able to stay on the ice. Only one skater under age of 25 right now.

I can see it now, We get Trouba and 3 weeks in he gets a 20 game suspension.

On the other hand if the Sabres don't find a use for the money they would save and keep him he might find himself in a misery box if he does not play the way Ruff want's him to. Adams has a stubborn streak, ask Jack Eichel.

Rangers looking for better draft pick may move on from Kaapo Kakko. Any interest? If it were straight 11th pick for Kakko baring other trade would seem worth it.

If Lindy is worried about goal songs we got the wrong coach.

I went looking though the December thread about what Casey's next contract would be. Most were wildly high. A few were low and a few were close but no one came closer than Berg who on December 13'th 2023 predicted 3 x 5.7. Nice!

Here is a crazy question. If a player has a no trade clause to the Coyote's does that exclude a trade to Utah?

Given Adams I only want players that want to be here speeches, does anyone think it is Skinner that wants out more than management wants him to go? There is an assumption that Ruff does not want him but maybe it's Skinner that does not want to deal with Ruff. If that's the case hopefully Skinner's agent can find a deal that gets him out without the Sabres going the full buy out route. I keep thinking about the last Toronto home game when a TO fan threw a Skinner jersey on the ice mocking the Sabres. Who did that affect the most Skinner or the management. Maybe it was both.

My concern about ejecting Skinner is who will replace him on left wing. Peterka is listed as a right winger who is playing left wing. Then you have Benson, Greenway and the unsigned Girgensons. I still have no idea why Kane would sign in Buffalo given past issues but would he play any more defense than Skinner would? Also he is listed as a right winger. Maybe left and right are more interchangeable than I think they are but it seems like it could be an issue. If you tell me they are clearing space with Skinner to get Gentzel or Debrusk I wouldn't argue with that but that seems like a very long shot. Skinners contract is like owning a timeshare you can't get out of it without losing big so maybe the best thing to do is just use it until it goes away.