Taro T

Tradition has it that we meet at intermission on the 100 level behind Aisle 19 (wide concourse, lots of beer stands, & relatively close to most of our seats.) Hopefully more people can make it next year. Officially only 3 of us were there (w/ family/ significant others), but Inky & 11 pregamed w / us & LTS joined us for the intermissions. Good times.

An excellent question. Not directly fully addressed in the CBA. A player that practices w/ the team counts against the cap. He also counts against the active roster even if he is sent down by the 5PM daily roster move deadline for player transfers, so it APPEARS that 1 of the 3 that are in this ELC waiver exempt rotation can't practice w/ the team but don't know that for certain. Would guess that UPL will practice w/ the Amerks on days he isn't playing and the other 2 will practice w/ the Sabres on those days, but don't know that for certain. Also, don't know how the Sabres are going to handle the 4 game road trip 10 days from now. But it is nice to finally see the Sabres pushing the envelope of what the rules are rather than meekly taking the most conservative interpretation of the rules at their own expense. And a week or so ago, somebody was asking a question about the status of a player that has been waived but hadn't yet cleared waivers. (Specifically regarding Pilut being on waivers.) While in the limbo of waiting to see if they have cleared waivers, players are officially non-roster waived. Meaning, they count against the cap but don't count against the 23 man roster limit and are not available to play for the team. They also can't be traded while on waivers.

Expecting we're entering that phase of the progression where we won't see the Sabres get a steady diet of backups. Too easy. (But pretty sure his GAA was 3.38, not 0.338. 😉 )

This rotation thing works for the next 1-1/2 weeks. But wonder what the plan is for the 4 game Midwestern road trip starting on the 23rd? Are they still going to be doing paper transactions, & if not, who goes down?

Expect until at least the trade deadline that that'll be the case for any game he doesn't start.

Pretty sure it wasn't the meme.

He's 20 years old and had an incredible 3 week flash of what he'll eventually be able to do. Just needs to add man strength to his game. This is a paper transaction only.

Thomas was a late bloomer. Roloson, due to completely revamping his playing style, was a late bloomer. Hasek was not.

And with the moves not affecting whether the Sabres fall below the cap floor nor exceed the cap ceiling, can't see the league caring.

Nope. And these 3 are young enough w / little enough service accrued that they won't reach a point where they need to go through waivers to be sent down.

Win the next one vs the Jets & the current 5 game block is right where it needs to be (3-2-0). But they'll still need to find 4 extra points above 3-2-0 every 5 games over the last 42 games (8 - 5 game segments plus 2 extra games at the end) to get back to a playoff pace. Tough, but way more doable a task than they were looking at a month ago.

He definitely is playing well down there. His lack of tespect from Sabres fans isn't due to the lack of pedigree, it's due to a lack of size. He'll get an opportunity at some point, but he'll really need to be on his game when he gets it because there aren't many open spots the next year or 2 & there are a few other guys making a push as well. The lack of size & pedigree will make it tough to get a true look. He's probably very lucky to be in this organization, because management seems to be pretty good at seeing guys for what rhey can be & not what they are.

Went to a Bisons game in New Orleans versus the Zephyrs 30 years ago. The Bisons pitcher didn't have his stuff that day an they kept hemorrhaging runs for 4 or 5 innings. There were only a couple hundred people at the game because nobody in rhe south goes to baseball games in April. (Weather was perfect- low 70's, but the locals would "freeze" in that kind of weather.) So, heckling the manager was definitely heard by him. When the Zephyrs pitcher lost his stuff, he got yanked, and re-lit into the manager again. "See, Doc, you are allowed to pull a guy that stinks." Through all this, there was a woman sitting about 4 rows in front of us that kept shooting me dirty looks. After rhe Bisons pitcher FINALLY ggot pulled, the woman disappeared. Asked the lady next to me what the other woman's problem was. Oh. Pretty sure she's the pitcher's wife. Oops.

Actually would say that Dahlin is a playmaker that likes to play a physical game. And he's been that way since at least Junior. He is NOT in the Phil Housley mold at all.

Guess we'll never find out if daddy's a helicopter parent or not. That, & the # of licks to the center of a tootsie pop will remain mysteries that we may never have an answer to.

Don't know that Lyubushkin is a terrible acquisition but he has been disappointing. A lot of times D brought in as FAs/trades don't necessarily mesh at 1st, especially if there are injuries, taking most if not all of year 1 learning new systems & partners. Took Lydman 1/2 a season to mesh w/Tallinder, Scandella was working through injuries & adjustments his 1st year +, & Spacek was a healthy scratch in the playoffs his 1st year in B&G and he then wore the captain's C at the 1st Winter Classic. Just naming 3 ottomh that played well for the Sabres after shaky starts. That Lyubushkin has been paired w/ a tweener anytime he's been healthy has not helped his cause.

No, they waived Fitzgerald to make room for Jokiharju. It appears, and as usual @Brawndo had the scoop, that the Sabres will be getting UPL into games by having one of him, Quinn, or Peterka technically sent down to Ra-cha-cha so there are only 23 active players on the roster. It will necessarily make 1 of the 3 a healthy scratch on game nights. When the Sabres suffer the inevitable injury at F (or in net) that scramble will cease. No data on whether if Quinn & Peterka both start playing like they did a month ago & all Sabres are still healthy if the rotation will cease & Hinostroza or Asplund will find themselves headed to Ra-cha-cha or elsewhere. Guess they'll cross that bridge when they get there.

Monday - because Comrie was done w/ his conditioning stint & UPL had his emergency recall end & Adams didn't want to waive anyone to bring him back up. Tuesday - because UPL was sick. He was scheduled to start but couldn't go.

Yup. There is effectively no difference in when a CHL player can become a FA and when an NCAA player can. They both have to wait 4 years, but the mechanics are different. Teams hold the rights to CHLers for 2 years. If they don't sign by then, they go back into the draft & the new team holds their rights for 2 more years. If they don't sign, at the end they are UFAs. Teams hold the rights to NCAAers for 4 years. If they don't sign, at the end they are UFAs. Teams routinely don't end up signing all their draft picks. Now that NCAAers can get paid to a certain degree, the league should work it out w/ the NCAA that college players can be signed while in college to play pro hockey after they leave college like the CHLers currently sign. That would remove the angst of the fans. Not sure that the NCAA will see anything in it for their teams, so it'll Iikely be a hard sell.

Granato has been running that some in the 3rd period of games. Expect that's what we'll see.

Very doubtful. But Lemieux set the precedent that it isn't a prerequisite for the Hart.

Interesting. So, would you put Asplund or Hinostroza on the Kid Line to fill in for the one sitting? Or does Mittelstadt bounce up to that spot w/ the 13th forward taking Casey's spot?

As stated in another thread, Jokiharju is no longer on IR (actually, not counting Bishop, who doesn't really count, NOBODY is on IR). So, that explains why Fitzgerald went down. Expecting Hinostroza gets waived Thursday.

Not really. The 2 might want Casey to stand on his own w/out having his dad helicopter parenting him back into the NHL.

Posted in the Fitzgerald thread, Jokiharju is no longer on IR per the Sabres website. As of now, UPL is still an Amerk, per that website. Did NOT expect that.