That Aud Smell

i never know what these mean.

Joker, possibly? Bryson?

Mittelstadt was part of that vibe too. So moving two of those "fellas" may be enough to re-orient the culture, if not overhaul it.

with any luck: Fare thee well to The Chill Bros era.

i've liked the player. so, this is fine - i suppose.

F**k yeah - this thread has become the Old Guys Lounge.

I was gonna say - Metcalf makes me think of certain things, but being a sticky-hands, catch-everything guy isn't one of them. But he's definitely a player who would fill needs that the Bills have. (In some ways, he'd provide the Bills with a proven NFL player who already does what the team wants Coleman to do.) I think those resources would be better devoted to acquiring help on the D-line.

Thanks for the post! Adams as GM is frustrating and confusing, for sure. How was the Matlock episode?

This is my concern. Agreed.

Same. And I had biases that prevented me from seeing it for a while (the dude looks the part — plus the whole Whitehorse thing). Then it started coming into focus - first sharply and then suddenly. He is a low IQ player.

The Cozens contract has all the hallmarks of a dewy-eyed fan having handed it out. Hmm. You don't say?! I have memories of Pegula's believing too much in Gaustad too, soon after he bought the team. I seem to recall Pegula liking Gaustad more than his skill set (and age?) warranted. Terry goes off vibes -- both when it comes to people in management and the players themselves. This worked out tremendously well with Allen -- if what I'd read is to be believed. I saw reports that Beane slightly favoured the more traditional, polished prospects (Mayfield? Darnold?), but that Pegula had caught a vibe with Allen. In the end, it probably didn't matter as the Bills were (probably?) never moving up high enough to get either of the top-2 QB prospects.

I saw his advanced stats from last night. WOOF. Those numbers were then compared with what Cozens did against the Panthers a little while back. WOOF WOOF. The kid's absolutely lost. Regrettably, he needs to become someone else's reclamation project. Shame on Adams for pegging the guy to be more than he was prepared to be, or possibly more than he's capable of ever being. In any case, his development and role with the Sabres are fubar'd.

That's not the threshold of my concern. They're talking daily. What are they talking about? Seems more than fair to infer that they're having daily give and take about evaluating talent, building an NHL roster, etc.

Sheeyit - I think I thought Sawyer was a hockey guy? Also, yes - Craig Patrick.

there was some member of the old guard from Pittsburgh who was floating around early on. i remember seeing him at a STH event. i can't recall his name. he was a hockey guy. he always seemed lightly engaged.

It was Harrington from late December that I had in mind: The problem here, as hard as it may be to believe, is really not palm trees or taxes. That’s just the soundbite gaffe the GM made in an otherwise legitimate answer about the Sabres needing to earn their respect to recruit players. ... what’s missed is the most important takeaway from the news conference: Adams speaks to Pegula every day. It’s well-known by those of us who cover this team but lots of you probably needed to hear that in the open. There’s your organizational red flag, the siren wailing to signify the real problem here. Pegula loves hockey and loves the Sabres. Anyone who says he doesn’t care about them because he’s now an NFL owner doesn’t understand what makes him tick. Pegula is a season-ticket holder dating more than 40 years ago. Hockey − and not football − is his first love, even though he might be two months from winning a Super Bowl and doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Orchard Park of winning a Stanley Cup anytime soon. ... Pegula has long refused the model of having a president of hockey operations because he likes the direct line to the GM. The results say it’s a 14-year mistake he needs to rethink, even if he’s still spooked by whatever version of events you believe happened 11 years ago with Pat LaFontaine. Pegula needs more veteran hockey minds, just like his team needs more veteran players.

Hmm. There was something fairly concrete recently -- where some of the chatter here was like: "huh. well there it is." This is a fair and sober point. I get so frustrated at times - I lose sight of the forest. I recall the theory/inference -- perhaps from you @tom webster -- that the Sabres got Adams in part because Pegula felt let down/burned by following what conventional NHL wisdom advised him to do (several times) and that he wound up turning to someone he knew, liked, and trusted (a common theme for Pegula (and, if we're being honest, a lot of people)). Edit: OTOH, reading Harrington's piece -- referenced below -- reminded me of how the entire organ-eye-zayshun is (arguably) understaffed and, to the extent it is staffed, it's staffed by people with limited and dubious credentials.

It absolutely matters whether and to what extent Pegula’s involved in hockey ops. There were fairly recent reports intimating that Pegula was dug in deep on evaluating amateurs, prospects, and pro personnel. Now it’s being suggested he’s a miser who’s out to lunch. Interesting stuff — for me.

This is interesting. Where did we recently see it reported that Terry insists on staying closely involved in hockey ops?

Defensible, I suppose. Just such a weird vibe given how Pegula’s managed to destroy the Sabres franchise.

wth is going on here, man. you a PR flack or sum?

It might just be the days getting longer and the recent thaw, but I'm enjoying watching the Sabres play well - even if the odds of them getting into the playoff mix are so remote. I'll dissent from one consensus I see upthread: Samuelsson remains a boat anchor for whomever he's paired with. I started counting poor decisions and/or poor execution on his part and then just stopped -- too many to track -- especially so when things got dicey late in the third.

Sabres rolling to start the 3rd.

"every consequential moment. you always think they're gonna live forever, right? but they're not. nothing will. and that's okay. it's good. you're a winner if you feel it. you're a winner if you see it. somewhere along the way, if you see it -- for a second. and you don't have to remember forever. you never will. but if you see it for a second, man. you've won." https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGTWtQxuY6E/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Further to my post above. Give the clip a watch. I love this young man's artistry (though he's probably not as young as I'd imagine). And, since I'm here, here's the song he's talking about. Buffalo forever.