Taro T

If Allen has a long career, IMHO he's close to a lock for the HoF. He's already got a bunch of records for combining passing & running stats. Playoff success will make the difference between being a 1st ballot HoFer and a guy that has to wait 3-4 years. Fouts is in the HoF but never made it to a SB. Marino is in & only got to 1 SB very early in his career. Kelly was in on the 1st ballot but never won the big one. And scoring a TD EVERY SINGLE time in the playoffs will be an impressive bonus card, too.

Another possibility might be Broadway Knitting Mills. Apparently they've moved to North Tonawanda, but back in the day they would do that sort of work. Expecting the Sabrestore would do that for you, but they'll likely be pricy & are just going to sub it out to someplace like BKM.

And Vegas might very well miss because they lost in regulation in Buffalo. It's a long season & everybody but the 2 worst teams have collected at least 2 points every 3 games they play. Nobody but themselves to blame if they can't be prepared to play teams that are just outside the middle 1/3 of teams in the league.

Don't see why not. Working in our household.

To the bolded, presuming you are assuming there is still a team in the AZ desert when he reaches FA. My expectation is the same, but that would be one way he doesn't get there. 😉

True. Plus, the great run could to a degree be due to losing having no appreciable consequences for the team. Individuals players, maybe, if they aren't learning from mistakes, but for the team there weren't real consequences to losing. With where the Sabres currently are, a 21 point improvement is very much in the realm of what's possible. Will it materialize? No data, that's why they play the games.

Playing intermittently is another way of saying he isn't getting a regular shift. 😉

Being 30 points better would be a huge ask. Fortunately, they'll only need to be 21-25 points better. So, if they win their last 2 games this year, they'll need to find 3 extra points each month to be on a playoff pace. Not nothing, but with a real goalie tandem very realistically possible.

Yep. A Dallas regulation win puts LA and them out of reach for Vegas & gets the Preds in as well as they'd have the tiebreaker over them.

OK, so my understanding of it was right the 1st time. 🍺 Tough way to lose. At least it seems you no longer have to worry about them folding. Get 'em next year. (The Sabres rallying cry. 😉 )

No, it wasn't. Actually find your vantage point of only looking at whether the Amerks have a SLIGHTLY better chance of making the playoffs on paper vs running w/ the team they currently have w/ no guarantee of making the post season even w/ the roster moves you've suggested to be the simplistic view. But, hey, poe-tay-toe, pah-tah-toe. 😉 Demoting a player getting a regular shift on an NHL team's top pairing could do nothing good for that player. (Not saying it would ruin him or anything like that, but why send him down when he's literally the 2nd last of the D on your team deserving of that?) Well, how about Krebs. He's playing very well in a variety of different roles from 2LW through 4C. IMHO, you gain more from seeing what he can do in these myriad different roles than you do having him setting up guys that have been having issues finishing lately. (Only speaking of the Amerks games this kid actually saw, either in person or on TV.) Which leaves Fitzgerald. A more plausible case could be made to demote him, but if you then later wanted to bring him back up, you've now wasted your last non-emergency callup. And you still have to explain to him why he's getting sent down even though he's been OK playing regularly in limited minutes in the NHL. Should Adams have sent any, or all of them down, he only gets to bring ONE of them back up. Which 2 are you pulling for 2 weeks from a lineup that has won 5 of its last 6 games? And none of that even begins to consider the fact that the Amerks have not been getting good goaltending down the stretch and sending those 3 down wouldn't guarantee wins either. Any potential repercussions to that? Any to having the Sabres end on a losing skid rather than going out very likely having won 6 or 7 of their final 8 after missing the playoffs for the 11th straight year? How many fewer fans show up these last few Sabres home games knowing there was no Samuelsson nor Krebs in the lineup? It all goes against everything they preach about doing things the right way and earning your ice time. It also tells the guys currently in Ra-cha-cha that they flat out aren't good enough to beat a last place team w/ out help. (Turns out they aren't, so why are we sweating them not getting an opportunity for a play-in against the best team in their conference? 😉 ) And they still aren't out of it yet. It seems Toronto doesn't want to make the playoffs either. Pretty sure we won't see eye to eye on this. Have a good evening. 🍺

Bjork will return because he is under contract & nobody will take him. Doubt he gets a regular shift though.

Not sure if the 2 teams ahead of the Sabres play each other, but presumably if all 3 win out the Sabres would stay in 9th. Those are the only 2 the Sabres can catch. (Could technically catch the BJs, but prettysure they have the tie breaker. Detroit & Otters are the only 2 that can catch the Sabres. So, Sabres pick will most likely be 9 w/ 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, & doubtfully 12 possible. Guess that 13 & 14 would also be possible if both lotteries are won by the long shot teams. (Or at least 12 & 13, as pretty sure the BJs are out of reach.) And, answering your actual question, w/ 2 wins, the Sabres will end up w/ 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13. (14 if somehow they have a tiebreaker over the BJs which pretty sure they don't & teams w/ worse odds both win the lottery.) Vegas pick could give Sabres 15th best pick through to 32nd pick. The best the Cats pick can be is 27. It could also fall as far as 32.

At least 2 of the 3 bats we have flying around our backyard survived the winter. There's a 4th one that comes around on occasion, but haven't seen that one tonight either. Still in the 70's* at nearly 9PM. Hanging out listening to Soul Asylum & Del Amitri out on the deck w/ the puppy sitting by my side. Awesome. * It's supposed to be 52 Tuesday w/ possible snow overnight. Welcome to Spring in WNY.

So, a couple of Sabres supporting the Bisons. Nice. Will take one of her please.

Anderson & Hinostroza might have brought back reasonable returns (meaning better than a 5th round pick each). Would rather have them contributing to "meaningless" wins down the back stretch. Hard pressed to seeing any other UFA bringing back a return worth mentioning. Doubt even Pysyk would've brought much back.

Just playing Devil's Advocate here. What if they already know what they have with him, public votes of confidence not withstanding?

But where would Pekar & others be in a Taylor centric alternative universe? Some, like him looked very promising. Not so much anymore.

Maybe. But right now, there are only 3-4 legit prospects in Ra-cha-cha. (Forgot about Biro. Maybe if he pronounced it Beer-o. 😉 ) And only one possible prospect, Fitzgerald, is in the NHL. Expect they'd all have developed under Tails as well. Expect he might have kept a couple others growing as well. No way to know on that front. It's saying something that Appert & crew didn't mess up those guys. But except for Biro & maybe Casey, they all were/are expected to be NHLers.

Definitely 100% should've kept Taylor. But who are "all" these prospects you speak of? There are 2 Amerks that'll be on the Buffalo roster on day 1 - Quinn & very likely UPL. Peterka will be up before Christmas, but not sold on him making the Sabres out of camp. There are others like Murray, Ruotsalainen, & Laaksonen that will get looks when the Sabres have injury issues. Maybe Rousek rises up? But Pekar, Weisback, & the rest might not even get injury callup duty. Quinn looked very ordinary the games yours truly was at. And Peterka didn't standout as he had on TV either. A lot of legit prospects - at least 2 goalies, 1 D, and 4 F's were either in college or Europe. The Amerks used their best (they're finally healthy again) but it wasn't good enough. Guess we miss out on our annual rite of spring - getting thrashed in the 1st round by the Marlies.

Neither Anderson nor Tokarski was coming down. Neither Sanderson nor Fitzgerald was going to score any goals to help them outscore the lowly Monsters. Krebs might have helped as maybe his springing 2 more breakaways last night might have gotten them 1 decent shot off a breakaway. But they needed finishers or a goalie. Neither of those are Krebs.

NO goalies that small in the NHL? Your friend doesn't watch many Preds games does he? Levi's ceiling is Jussi Saros, whom he's actually 1 inch taller than. PS - didn't say he'll reach thatceiling, just that it's a lot higher than that scout says it is.

Bummer. Misunderstood your earlier post about winning by 2 goals to move on. D'oh! Must've been a wild 3rd if there were 9 goals scored in that frame.

The the 1st 2 sentences, that must be it. To the Panthers, wouldn't be at all surprised to see them tripped up by the Caps or the Pens should they get a great game from their goalie in Game 1. The Cats are riding so high right now & have such a penchant for falling behind big early in games. Could definitely see a Bolts BJs 3 years ago vibe working there.

Speaking to an agent about a player he represents that doesn't play for your team would be. Speaking to that same agent about a player he represents that plays for you wouldn't be. There's a lot of gray involved.