Doohickie

He's a very competent NHL goalie and if the Sabres had managed to keep him, there would have been no Comrie, UPL could have had a smoother development and Levi could have spent more time seasoning in Rochester. If we eventually ended up with three legit goalies we could have traded one to fill a need elsewhere on the team. I think if the Sabres had retained Ullmark they would have made the playoffs the last two seasons. But yeah, sure, nothing to moan about.

Eh, even then, I'm not sure keeping UPL with the team necessarily birthed in the monster; it was the failure to waive Comrie to send him down right away (or simply move Levi down). One flaw I see in Adams is that he makes a promise to a player, he stands by it for too long, even when the situation changes. If you recall, there was worry that Levi would walk into free agency at the end of his college career. I think Adams promised him he'd go right to the NHL to get him to sign with the Sabres. At the end of last season that didn't look like a bad commitment, but it became apparent pretty quickly this season. I think Kevyn felt he'd made a commitment to Levi and when Levi struggled early this season Kevyn hesitated too long to send him down. Hearing what Levi has said about his time in Rochester, I think things would have been fine if Kevyn had moved him down earlier.

That proves that it's possible. He reportedly asked for the trade prior to needing surgery. It had to do with not wanting to go through another rebuild, not the injury.

Well yeah. He asked for the trade.

Eichel didn't have a NMC in effect yet. He was traded in November, 2021, and his NMC kicked in at the start of the 22-23 season.

Source for this assertion?

It's a sport.... a game. Not the Titanic. I think the worst things about the early part of the season were: Playing prospects too much in pre-season versus honing the timing of the NHL players The three-headed monster in goal The alleged focus on defense versus having the team play their uptempo offensive game All those things led to a team that was ill-prepared to start the season- no timing, chaos in goal, floundering trying to learn an ill-defined system. Okposo is a leader in the sense of working with the management to get the players onboard, but the management was too disorganized at the start of the season. For Okposo to right that ship it would have required a mutiny against Granato, because Granato was trying to do too many things at once. And Adams is certainly responsible for the goalie situation and partially responsible for the other factors behind the disorganized start.

The Stars are taking it to them, giving them no room, sound positionally, and stick checking/stealing the puck at every opportunity. I don't see it as Colorado not playing well as much as Dallas is more diligent in seizing the initiative. Edit: I think there's a lesson there for the Sabres.

I wish we had that guy who scored for the Avs tonight.... what's his name again? He'd be a great 3C.

Did you ever figure out why?

I would like to see him at 3C with Benson on his wing.

Oh, that'll work.

That, and the old Rangers Stadium is only about 30 years old and still looks wonderful. I much prefer its aesthetics to the new one, which, sure, has a roof and is air conditioned, but is a solid block of concrete.

If I give you a cheeseburger, will you go away?

Isn't that what we just kicked to the side of the road?

Well, ol' Lindy ain't gettin' any younger.

And tastes delicious both hot and iced.

That would be me. I'm just not a believer in bringing players back that have had left (or been traded from) the Sabres. I think of players like Pominville who came back an empty shell of his former self.

I think those horses are already out of the barn, more or less. If they regress we've got bigger issues than the salary cap.

Really, until very recently I would say the same thing. To paraphrase Detroit cartoonist Dick Guindon, "Every year I want to be a Sabres fan but they won't let me." (Guindon's original quote referred to the Lions.)

Well, it is a fan forum...

With the ascension of Appert to the NHL staff I'm really starting to lose faith in this regime. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" is true on so many levels with this team. But of course, we will get fooled again. I may just jump ship and throw support behind my local market Stars going forward. I never thought I'd say that. My Sabres fandom is on life support. I'm thinking one more season before I cut bait.

Well obviously they weren't going to announce Appert until the Amerks' season was done.

We've been saying that for 5 years now....