Vanek and Pominville to be inducted to Sabres Hall of Fame January 14th vs Avs

[#freejame]

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-hall-of-fame-thomas-vanek-jason-pominville
 

theme nights and promos to be announced tomorrow, too

[GASabresIUFAN]

Deserved 

[OverPowerYou]

Was already going to this game. This makes it more appealing now. 

[pastajoe]

Should be against Minnesota who they both played for, and Vanek went to college in Minnesota.

[Taro T]

37 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

Should be against Minnesota who they both played for, and Vanek went to college in Minnesota.

Minny comes to town on a Tuesday in October.  (In the 1st game after the banner raising ceremony too, btw.)

The Avs come on a Thursday in January.

1 can get Sabre fan attendence goosed by having a ceremony before the game and 1 likely can't.  Wonder why they chose the Av game.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

And, btw, it was dumb to retire Horton's # against the Loafs.  The idea of these ceremonies is to goose Sabre fan attendance, NOT Wild fan attendance.  (And, yes, Horton's widow asked for the ceremony to be held against the Loafs.  Like Cutler used to say in the meme 'don' care.'))

Edited August 13 by Taro T

[Night Train]

No Taylor Hall ?

[pastajoe]

8 hours ago, Taro T said:

Minny comes to town on a Tuesday in October.  (In the 1st game after the banner raising ceremony too, btw.)

The Avs come on a Thursday in January.

1 can get Sabre fan attendence goosed by having a ceremony before the game and 1 likely can't.  Wonder why they chose the Av game.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

And, btw, it was dumb to retire Horton's # against the Loafs.  The idea of these ceremonies is to goose Sabre fan attendance, NOT Wild fan attendance.  (And, yes, Horton's widow asked for the ceremony to be held against the Loafs.  Like Cutler used to say in the meme 'don' care.'))

It wouldn’t goose Wild attendance, but it would allow it to be seen back in Minnesota on the Wild’s tv broadcast. It’s just a common denominator between the players and teams.

And raising a banner for winning the division is embarrassing. Montreal fans must be laughing. I could see having one banner for all of their division wins with the years on it, as well as one for all the conference championships. But to have a separate one for each year is lame.

8 hours ago, Night Train said:

No Taylor Hall ?

He has to wait until after Ville Leino.

[#freejame]

50 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

It wouldn’t goose Wild attendance, but it would allow it to be seen back in Minnesota on the Wild’s tv broadcast. It’s just a common denominator between the players and teams.

And raising a banner for winning the division is embarrassing. Montreal fans must be laughing. I could see having one banner for all of their division wins with the years on it, as well as one for all the conference championships. But to have a separate one for each year is lame.

He has to wait until after Ville Leino.

If we didn’t have banners and retire numbers for minor accomplishments we would have no banners and far fewer retired numbers. It’s just the way it’s done here in Buffalo unfortunately. 

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, pastajoe said:

It wouldn’t goose Wild attendance, but it would allow it to be seen back in Minnesota on the Wild’s tv broadcast. It’s just a common denominator between the players and teams.

And raising a banner for winning the division is embarrassing. Montreal fans must be laughing. I could see having one banner for all of their division wins with the years on it, as well as one for all the conference championships. But to have a separate one for each year is lame.

He has to wait until after Ville Leino.

1. It is chicken little *****. I recognize that what Buffalo did this past season was AMAZING but...

2. ... the way to do this is to have a conference champions banner with dates. You don't stuff multiple banners in the roster for it.

2 hours ago, #freejame said:

If we didn’t have banners and retire numbers for minor accomplishments we would have no banners and far fewer retired numbers. It’s just the way it’s done here in Buffalo unfortunately. 

I hate how many retired numbers the Sabres have. It should be 4, the French Connection and Hasek. That's it. Well, at least no one else will be wearing #6 cuz we will be retiring that next to the Cup banner. 

[#freejame]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

1. It is chicken little *****. I recognize that what Buffalo did this past season was AMAZING but...

2. ... the way to do this is to have a conference champions banner with dates. You don't stuff multiple banners in the roster for it.

I hate how many retired numbers the Sabres have. It should be 4, the French Connection and Hasek. That's it. Well, at least no one else will be wearing #6 cuz we will be retiring that next to the Cup banner. 

I’d be more than fine having Hasek and Perreault being the only two numbers retired, but I can see the argument for the whole French Connection. That banner looks cool at least. 

I got into it recently in the Athletic comment section with someone saying not only are all of our retired numbers worthy, but Schoenfeld and Ramsay should have their numbers retired too. It’s crazy how low of standards some people have. The same people will tell you it doesn’t matter if we win a Super Bowl with Allen because we have had sustained success that kept us in Buffalo and that it doesn’t matter that Levy and Kelly couldn’t win one of four. It’s a defeatist Buffalo attitude that is pervasive throughout the entire city. 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, pastajoe said:

It wouldn’t goose Wild attendance, but it would allow it to be seen back in Minnesota on the Wild’s tv broadcast. It’s just a common denominator between the players and teams.

And raising a banner for winning the division is embarrassing. Montreal fans must be laughing. I could see having one banner for all of their division wins with the years on it, as well as one for all the conference championships. But to have a separate one for each year is lame.

He has to wait until after Ville Leino.

It would goose Wild attendance in the building and you'd likely be one of the 1st to decry how embarrassing it is for the Wild fans to have such a showing in the Sabres barn.  Nobody in Minnesota is going to care about that game regardless of whether the entire '81 North Stars roster is feted; it's the 2nd week in October and the Twins and Vikes are both playing and the Gophers (likely) won't have been eliminated from Big (base something other than) 10 by then either and it'll take at least another week for all 10,000 lakes to have frozen over.  Priorities.

And whether you or anybody else finds it embarrassing for the Sabres to raise the Division banner to the rafters, fully expect the Sabres to disagree with you.  And they aren't going to have pregame ceremonies at both of their 1st 2 games in October.

[pastajoe]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

It would goose Wild attendance in the building and you'd likely be one of the 1st to decry how embarrassing it is for the Wild fans to have such a showing in the Sabres barn.  Nobody in Minnesota is going to care about that game regardless of whether the entire '81 North Stars roster is feted; it's the 2nd week in October and the Twins and Vikes are both playing and the Gophers (likely) won't have been eliminated from Big (base something other than) 10 by then either and it'll take at least another week for all 10,000 lakes to have frozen over.  Priorities.

And whether you or anybody else finds it embarrassing for the Sabres to raise the Division banner to the rafters, fully expect the Sabres to disagree with you.  And they aren't going to have pregame ceremonies at both of their 1st 2 games in October.

So you say it will increase Wild attendance and then say Minnesota fans won’t care because they have other priorities. 🙄 I seriously doubt there are many Wild fans around Buffalo. And they don’t need any reason to try to boost attendance against a top team like Colorado.

[#freejame]

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-2026-27-theme-night-giveaway-schedule
 

nothing too crazy as far as promos are concerned. Dahlin bobble head and S&P shakers for thanksgiving are the highlights 

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, pastajoe said:

So you say it will increase Wild attendance and then say Minnesota fans won’t care because they have other priorities. 🙄 I seriously doubt there are many Wild fans around Buffalo. And they don’t need any reason to try to boost attendance against a top team like Colorado.

You do realize that the Minnesota fans that likely would show up in person in BUFFALO are not likely the same fans that will be WATCHING THE GAME ON TV IN MINNESOTA AND THE DAKOTAS where the Wild's games are locally broadcasts to, correct?  So, BOTH statements can be true.

There were a fair # of Minny sweaters in the stands for the OT game they played last year.  Now that there are 2 Folignos on that squad to go along with Hughes and Kaprisov there likely will be a fair amount of Canadian hockey fans (who want to watch top players play, regardless of what team they play for; and have no particular attachment to the Sabres) and also Foligno fans that will want to come in to watch that game.  Seeing a ceremony to boot would likely spur more interest from those as well.  So, yes, you would be increasing attendance at that game of Wild fans/ people not cheering for the Sabres by making that the SHoF induction ceremony game.

Also, you do realize that the Sabres DON'T charge the same price for each particular game, right?  Newsflash, they have about 5 different prices they charge based upon opponents and when the games are actually played.  And as it turns out, they're charging about 50% more for that Avs game than they are for that Wild game.  You SURE they have no reason whatsoever to need to try to goose the attendance at that game on a Thursday night in January while the Bills hopefully are still playing?

[pastajoe]

35 minutes ago, Taro T said:

You do realize that the Minnesota fans that likely would show up in person in BUFFALO are not likely the same fans that will be WATCHING THE GAME ON TV IN MINNESOTA AND THE DAKOTAS where the Wild's games are locally broadcasts to, correct?  So, BOTH statements can be true.

There were a fair # of Minny sweaters in the stands for the OT game they played last year.  Now that there are 2 Folignos on that squad to go along with Hughes and Kaprisov there likely will be a fair amount of Canadian hockey fans (who want to watch top players play, regardless of what team they play for; and have no particular attachment to the Sabres) and also Foligno fans that will want to come in to watch that game.  Seeing a ceremony to boot would likely spur more interest from those as well.  So, yes, you would be increasing attendance at that game of Wild fans/ people not cheering for the Sabres by making that the SHoF induction ceremony game.

Also, you do realize that the Sabres DON'T charge the same price for each particular game, right?  Newsflash, they have about 5 different prices they charge based upon opponents and when the games are actually played.  And as it turns out, they're charging about 50% more for that Avs game than they are for that Wild game.  You SURE they have no reason whatsoever to need to try to goose the attendance at that game on a Thursday night in January while the Bills hopefully are still playing?

It’s ridiculous to think the arena is going to be overrun by Minnesota fans. If the Sabres are playing well there won’t be many tickets on the secondary market anyways. And the status of the Bills will have no impact on a Thursday night game against Colorado. You’re really reaching now.

[Taro T]

16 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

It’s ridiculous to think the arena is going to be overrun by Minnesota fans. If the Sabres are playing well there won’t be many tickets on the secondary market anyways. And the status of the Bills will have no impact on a Thursday night game against Colorado. You’re really reaching now.

Sabres don't care about 2ndary market sales.  They care about primary market sales.  Making the ceremony a part of a game on a Thursday in January WILL help them sell that out.

And if you ever actually went to Sabres games, you'd know that the barn is far fuller AFTER the Bills season is done for most all midweek games than they are before the Bills are finished.

[...]

Okay, can't resist the joke. Dear Universe, it's only a joke.

 

Will they suspend the 50/50 for the night?

[Porous Five Hole]

20 minutes ago, ... said:

Okay, can't resist the joke. Dear Universe, it's only a joke.

 

Will they suspend the 50/50 for the night?

I BET they won’t 

[msw2112]

1 hour ago, pastajoe said:

It’s ridiculous to think the arena is going to be overrun by Minnesota fans. If the Sabres are playing well there won’t be many tickets on the secondary market anyways. And the status of the Bills will have no impact on a Thursday night game against Colorado. You’re really reaching now.

There's potentially a big difference between "boost in" and "overrun."  I suspect they might sell a few more tix to Minnesota fans if they had this ceremony against Minnesota instead of against Colorado, but I do agree that, either way, the place won't be "overrun" by Minnesota Wild fans.  Minnesota is simply too far from Buffalo for large numbers of fans to travel for a mid-week regular season NHL game.  I'm sure some hockey fans in nearby Ontario who like the Wild, transplanted Minnesotans, and a small number of Minnesotans who happen to be traveling east at that time would buy tickets.  I guess we'll never know....and I'll sleep OK at night notwithstanding.

[Taro T]

41 minutes ago, ... said:

Okay, can't resist the joke. Dear Universe, it's only a joke.

 

Will they suspend the 50/50 for the night?

Why?  With 26 hopping in the pool, they could have a record payout.

[pastajoe]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

Sabres don't care about 2ndary market sales.  They care about primary market sales.  Making the ceremony a part of a game on a Thursday in January WILL help them sell that out.

And if you ever actually went to Sabres games, you'd know that the barn is far fuller AFTER the Bills season is done for most all midweek games than they are before the Bills are finished.

If they start the way they finished then most of their games should be sellouts. You’re basing attendance during the Bills season on the Sabres drought seasons, which will be different this year. If you were correct then it would make more sense to have a ceremony when they need to draw attendance. And I have gone to Sabres games since the 70s, likely before you were born. So drop the smartass attitude.

[dudacek]

8th (Pominville) and 11th alltime in points

10th and 5th in goals, 8th and 17th in games played.

Worthy picks for this particular honour. 

Count me among those who would have limited jersey retirements to Dom and Gilbert.

 

[dudacek]

Looking at the all-time list, Ras needs 64 points to tie Danny Gare at 500 and 10th place on the all-time list. 48 assists to tie Housley for 4th all-time.

 

[dudacek]

Thompson starts the season 12th all-time in goals. He could move into a tie with Vanek for 5th with 254 this year by scoring 41.

[dudacek]

Alex Tuch ended his Sabre career 21st on the all-time goals list, tied with Jack Eichel.

He’s 29th all-time in points, sandwiched between Tim Connolly and Andre Savard.

His 360 games played ranked 65th, just behind McKegney, Peca and Dumont