Taro T

Yeah, he finally got to experience that playoff thing. Apparently it isn't for him.

That seems a bit unfair.

Personally expect Kesselring to acquit himself well once he finally gets acclimated to what Wilford is expecting from him. But, to play devil's advocate, Clifton by all accounts played well on the B's top pairing while McAvoy was out injured. And his stay here was, um, not good. He has the potenial to be just what this D needs. Let's hope that potenial gets reached.

Thought it was they've gone 25 games w/out losing the turnover battle. Not that they've won the last 25 times they didn't lose the turnover battle. Did autocucumber get you, or is that the actual stat?

Without Parent between the pipes, the Phlyers likely are still looking for their 1st SC victory and the Sabres go down as the 1st expansion era team to win a SC. The man was extremely proficient at getting his angle right. Interestingly & sadly, both primary starters in that '75 final had their careers significantly impacted by a puck to the eye. One of the 1st WHA guys to come back to the NHL. May he RIP.

The level of dispair stems from no significant improvements to the roster from one that ended up with 79 points and literally no changes to the coaching staff and only a couple of additions to the front office, both of whom report to Adams and 1 of which is getting his 1st taste of a role in management. Can't blame any of them. But believe there is room for hope that they're finally wrong after nearly a decade and a half of being right.

For Power, the thing that would most improve his game IMHO is getting beyond the need to hold the puck for 3 seconds waiting to find a particularly open teammate and instead just trust in his passing prowess and fit the puck into a window. It'll lead to more time in the offensive end and that combined with having a partner who seems to be pretty good in his own end should help alleviate a bit of his defensive zone issues. if he could also body against opposing forwards, not even hit them, just take away space; we'd likely like him a whole lot more than we have. Continue to build on his willingness to at least occassionally shoot the puck from outside the house which 1st arrived this last season along with all that and he might actually be a legt 3 and a poor man's 2 and all at the advanced age of 22 years old. HATE having Wilford back, because he seems to love having his guys take up space trying to disrupt passes without taking away time nor space. If you're tight on a guy, they aren't going to pass to him. Luring the pass while expecting to intercept it works for Dahlin, usually. Not so much for the rest of them. At some point you have to hope since Marty will never get canned he'll figure out that what Dahlin can do isn't necessarily what mortals can pull off.

Interesting.

Am not there yet; am actually more where the mindset was prior to Nolan's 1st year and Ruff's 1st year. Aka whole-lee-fack we're screwed. They seemingly didn't do anything to improve and teams around them on paper got better. But, in each of those years, things worked out pretty well. Can see a lot of reasons to be optimistic, but also several to be pessimistic. And on the pessimistic side, have zero faith in Wilford and Appert and little faith in UPL. BUT, last year even with all that still being the same, Ruff had them ready to go at the beginning of games. They have better defensive talent, if the talent can overcome the coaching, perhaps they can keep from giving up those early leads they should still be getting fairly regularly. Find a way to score some PP goals, even though Appert will do everything in his power to prevent it, and this could very well be a playoff team with middle of the pack or better goaltending. And they do have 4 lottery tickets. All of whom have flashed in at least partial seasons. And, as tix aren't selling, except for an out of town trip that will keep us away from 4 or so games, will likely be at a whole bunch of games, so ... LET'S GO BUF-FA-LO!!!!!!!

Fine. Apologies for entering this thread. 🍺

He hasn't been mentally tough enough to date. That doesn't mean he can't add that tool to his kit. But he'll probably need more than just Mike Bales in his corner to get it added to the tool box. Really hoping he is getting help with that aspect of his game. When he's on his game, he's orders of magnitude better than he was when he first started getting games in Buffalo. There are myriad of things he's improved when he's on; including some things like being able to go from post to post with pace and control that he'd never indicated he'd ever be able to do in his time as a pro. So, he could very well be able to add a mental toughness to his repertoire. But, until he does so, he hasn't, and it's tough to expect it though we can and do hope as the Sabres still need to find the consistent quality starter that can get them to the playoffs and hopefully take them further than just that.

He's what, 6 months removed from the operation? And he's what, in his 50's or 60's? Has he been told by his doctors that he shouldn't expect improvement from where he's at? Truly hope things get better for him and will keep him in our prayers. Glad he was able to get additional time courtesy of the selfless gift some other unfortunate soul gave him. Apples and kumquats to follow, but ... Know people that had hip replacements that it took them nearly a year to get back to "normal" but they are afterwords. Also know people that were pretty much back to full activity from that within a month. And realize that is a far less traumatic operation than what she underwent. Never said there wouldn't be a significant recovery time for Carolina, nor that she would necessarily ever be back to exactly where she was prior to her initial cardiac event. But, would personally be quite surprised if she isn't able to get back to a point where she'd be viewed as having a "normal" life (again, whatever the heck we are even defining normal as). But personally would be very surprised if Dahlin ends up suffering "long lasting effects on his mental state" due to this because his fiancee can't live a "normal" life. Will it take a toll on him in the ST? Would be shocked if it doesn't.

IF they do see UPL as the starter, and all indications are that they do, they are being pennywise and pound foolish if they aren't getting him regular sessions with a sports psychologist. He has the physical tools to be a top goalie in this league. But he sure does seem to get into his own head an awful lot and a SP could help him go a long way towards getting beyond that.

Truly not meaning to be flippant, but none of that says she can't live a "normal" life while she's here. We have no reason to believe she suffered brain trauma from her cardiac events, unlike one of the Sabres owners who will most likely never lead a "normal" life again

At least into the 00's. Don't recall how much further back it'd go.

Sorry, had missed your reply earlier. (Was not intentionally ignoring what you'd said.) It's possible. It's also possible she'll be able to do so. Guess it's a good thing her fiance is rich so she won't have to wash her own vegetables if that is an issue for her. But the quote that spurred my initial post was one that said essentially that she couldn't lead a normal life (whatever that means) and that it would necessarily hang heavy on Rasmus' mental state (apologies to the OP if those are mischaracterizations of his intent). Personally don't believe that anybody leads a "normal" life; but they can and likely will still lead a very rich and fulfilling life. Who knows, perhaps they end even closer and understand better than many of the rest of us just how precious life is because of how tremendously close she came to losing hers. No doubt it'll be difficult, but they'll have access to the best medical teams on 2 continents and they know, or should, that all of the 10s of Sabre fans that still remain are all pulling for her and sending prayers and well wishes. With his will and what she must have, her body refusing to fail for what was reported as "hours of CPB), expect her to have what we'd consider a "normal" or perhaps even extraorinary life when all is said and done; even if it turns out to not be quite as long as the average. (And personally hope she lives far into old age.) Personally expect that they'll find the positives in this tragedy and still lead that "normal" life. Life ends up what you make of it. And really am not looking to be creating strife in this thread. Apologies for any brought on.

She might. She also might not. If she does, there are alternatives available. Adoption and surrogacy just among 2. Never said she'd necessarily be able to lead what she'd envisioned as her "ideal" life. But expect when all is said and done that she'll be able to lead a fairly "normal" life.

Would guess 1 of Benson or Kulich; 1 of Östlund or Helenius; a lottery protected 1st; and 1 of Greenway or McLeod. It would be painful, but they'd end up wiht the best player today and unless Benson &/or that 1st end up hitting their ceilings the best player over the life of the deal.

Personally don't expect to see that happen unless Levi clearly outplays the other 2, but we shall see. They have set it up in a manner where he'll need to win the job. How hard they're going to make that remains to be seen, but would expect him to be between the pipes the day the Amerks season kicks off.

Though her life expectancy may be less than another woman with similar demographics to her minus the heart condition doesn't mean she can't lead a "normal" life while she's here. And wouldn't rejection of the heart happen reasonably quickly or not at all provided she remains on immunosuppressants? Don't believe there are any heart recipients in this kid's immediate circle; but do know several kidney recipients who, other than not playing contact sports, have pretty much "normal" lives.

Would be great if they could bring him in. Was hoping he was what Adams was targeting when it became official that Peterka wanted out. Will believe the Sabres are in on it shortly after watching the press conference announcing it's happened and not 1 minute sooner.

Why won't she be able to lead a normal or nearly normal (wtf we're defining "normal" as) life after this? Presumably she received a healthy heart and she is still in her 20s which is when people are at their physical peaks (unless of course they're professional tennis players, in which case you seem to reach your peak later or female gymnasts who's peaks seem to hit in their late teens 😉 ). But it absolutely is a tremendously scary story. Am glad that she seems to be pulling through and am very glad they had people around that were able to keep her alive when she was at her frailest.

Would much rather they be bringing in Tyson Kozaks when the rest of the squad isn't so green. They could realistically have 3 green/relatively green guys in the top 6 in Benson, Quinn, & Kulich. Doan is fairly green too. And the D, while not as green, is still quite green by NHL standards. With so much youth throughout the roster, would like the 4th line to have some experience for now. And do expect injuries will give Kozak another chance to show what he can do.

Likely true. But the Bills SHOULD win it. Will they? We find out in just over 2 weeks.

Interesting that they'e been running the NHLers vs the NHLers and AHLers vs AHLers and so on in camp. Pretty sure they did that last year, but they also were on a very condensed schedule. Traditionally, they've had their 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th lines / pairings in one session and then the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th in the other so they could either have NHL v NHLer or see how the guys fighting to move up do on occassion vs their own NHLers. Maybe read Heather's tweets (or whatever blusky posts are called) incorrectly, but that's how it seems they're doing things this time.