Taro T

Keeps you in business. 😉

THIS season, attendance can't be "fixed" at this point. Expect it'll pick up after the Olympics, but even in a best case, it'll still be a 1/2 empty barn. But, if they bring in a goalie now or in January at the latest, attendance for next year CAN be fixed. Play competitive hockey down the stretch and DON'T raise prices next year and that combined with them getting Canadian STHers again can get them to where they were coming out of the lockout - ~14,000 per game to start the year & a full barn by the end if they play well enough to get people wanting to attend. But, they have to whet people's appetites this year or they'll be looking at 8-10k in the building even with an open border & Canadian STHers who've already paid for next year coming back.

Coming into the season, absolutely not. So much so, came extremely close to asking to get my tix treated like the Canadian ticket holders & getting them bounced back another year. But last minute decided to keep them. And it had been the failure to retain Ullmark that triggered the really low expectations. And the preseason pick was this'll be a 71 point season with them only being better than 3 other teams. So, there were NO illusions entering the year. But bringing in Subban just makes that Ullmark misstep all that more raw again. Will get over it & almost nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems, but right now that nerve is raw. The season HAD actually been entertaining the 1st month. The last 3 weeks have had nearly as many unwatchable games as truly entertaining ones. That can't continue, but yet there really is no reason to expect it won't. They could can Granato, but it wouldn't really help & likely would be a big mistake. Hopefully they're still looking for another goalie to at least get the team to Adams' sweet spot. Until they get there, there's gonna be suffering.

For the Sabres games, you either need the Excelsior pass thingy or the physical vaccination card. Photos won't work. But, the card can be laminated if you don't want to be messing it up. Expecting the Bills protocols will be the same.

And nobody on the gnashing of teeth side of this is saying the players are guaranteed irreparable harm. But, when there was even reasonable goaltending, several of these kids were showing that they were taking strides. The development goal WAS getting met. So, though from a standings perspective, this season is a waste like the dozen that came before it, at least there was something worth watching and that the fans could cling to. Now, that is gone (at least for now) & there doesn't seem to be all that much separating pick 3 OA from pick 8 OA and it takes luck to be higher than that I any case. So, we're back to just having another wasted year. It's frustrating & people are venting. But if the goal is development, it's shaping up that one won't be met as well as it should given legit backstoppers.

It's exactly as long a list. 9 each. But expecting the Sabres have a real good chance of hitting at least 10 by the end of the season. (But not expecting # 10, nor 11 to actually help sadly.)

The word is overHAUL, NOT overHALL. It's not an apartment above the tavern, it's a complete revamping of the FO. Goll durn Canuck. 😛 (Teasing. Ya know we luv ya, NS. 😉 )

To the bolded, not to quibble, but it ISN'T ALL about growth of the young players. That is one goal. The other is to add more high end prospects to the pipeline & that goal is best served by losing at present. The 2 are nearly mutually exclusive sets & there isn't a whole lot of overlap. The team was in that sweet spot for ~2 weeks after having been heavily skewed towards the development/growth role the 1st 2-ish weeks. We've now been heavily skewed towards losing the last 3 or so weeks. Nobody honestly expects a true fix to the goaltending at present. But at least venting releases the steam. It's shouting at the sky, but it's all we've got. Maybe Adams pulls off 1 more trade. Maybe Subban isn't going to miss time & Tokarski is ready to come back & the 2 can get them back into that sweet spot. Wouldn't have money on either. And honestly, expect Adams is still looking for that "sweet spot" which isn't sweet to those of us watching & the even fewer spending money on this because they're still losing in that scenario but doing so in an entertaining non-spirit crushing way. (Don't believe he wants to get back to the play of the 1st 2 weeks, at least not consistently this year. Next year, sure, but not this year.) Getting entertained for a month was good & about all we realistically could've hoped for this year. (Which in itself is a problem.) But what we've gotten the last 3 weeks has included unwatchable games - Calgary & Carolina definitely. Would include others but those aren't as clear cut. In the entertainment industry, unwatchable is a bad thing. 😉

Technically, it's 5 which comes with the ejection. But it's rarely been called that way. Maybe the league came out with another double secret point of emphasis memo as the Trocheck hit on Thompson got called that way too. (It should have been, but how often do should have and did line up w/ NHL officiating?)

Is this Major Overall the superior officer to Captain Underpants? Quite an impressive visitor to their Berg. 😉

Good ####ing luck w/ putting together a string of wins if Dell & UPL are the keepers over the next few games.

It did. But only because his 1st year started when seasons normally start. Granato's didn't start until 1/2 way through October. Both their teams turned into pumpkins when November rolled in.

The heck w/ that. Win all 6 & get a week off. 😉

Bandits looked very good last night. The kid who went to Albany is going to be a force. Smith still has it & Vinc still excellent in net. And the biggest shocker of all: Gurtler did really good at pbp. Guess old dogs can get taught new tricks.

Maybe Anderson wouldn't have been interested in coming to Buffalo, but my guess is that they could've gotten him in town even w/ Ullmark. (We'll never know who was right on that coun't, so am willing to agree to disagree on it.) But that makes Dell the guy that isn't brought in & Tokarski is the #3 at best & likely penciled in as the 4. A tandem of Ullmark Anderson would be serviceable & unless all heck broke out, Tokarski would never be playing more than 2 of every 5, which he's shown is a manageable workload for him. And if all 3 went out & they were down to bringing in Subban due to injuries (or maybe even Dell at that point), there is a different vibe w/in the team & they likely do suck it up & find another gear for a game or 2 to get that guy through to having one of the others back. My 2 cents. Totally speculative, but seems reasonable to this kid. YMMV.

In a vacuum, it's a great thought. Problem is, though they're trying to battle through it, & they truly are trying to do that, their defensive play has gone to absolute garbage. Realize that Granato isn't focusing on defensive play because offense is harder to teach/ work on, but it can't be completely ignored IMHO. And as long as they get the goaltending they've been getting they will develop bad habits & continue to reinforce them unless they take the focus off the offensive game. Either or both of which work against the stated goal of "development." Had Dahlin not quit on a single play or had the last game been watchable, probably wouldn't be venting so much (if at all), but both happened in the 1st game after Granato Adams "addressed" the goaltending that he still hasn't addressed since getting hired. Maybe the smart players realize it's going to be a seriously uphill slog & they're a little exhausted from 5 in 7 days (& 6 in 9) & because of that are letting us see just how bad this can get over the next 2 months of a still compressed schedule.

They absolutely should be rolling the 3 pairs (provided Butcher isn't part of 1) as at this moment they have 3 3rd pairing tandems. Would be nice to see them start to specialize the F lines rather than having hodgepodges playing all ES situations as well. At least until they get out of this funk. (Realizing, their scoring isn't in a funk, but the overall game is.)

Firing him at this point simply re-re-re-resets the clock on getting this righted. Really doubt he gets canned any time earlier than after next season & that only happens if next year is as horrible as this one is shaping up to be and he hasn't taken a legit crack at fixing the goaltending. These guys desperately need a few day break after that 5 in 7 & 6 in 9 stretch, but this is as big a break as they get prior to the February shutdown. Provided they aren't getting their psyches irreparably damaged, & they likely aren't, this team is looking to be in good shape 2-3 years from now. Problem is, we've been there for at least 7 years & this collapse is becoming a bad movie that just won't end. Totally get the frustration. Am fully on that train. But just don't see any way canning him today helps in any appreciable way & it could very well put us in even worse shape.

To the bolded, at this point for the players, there are no acceptable/productive alternatives. Adams could continue the search for an acceptable goalie & ideally actually find the price acceptable & pull the trigger. It would be like a drowning man being able to grasp onto the life preserver thrown to him for these kids. There is absolutely nothing any of us or even Adams can do to change the fact he lowballed Ullmark & then only brought in a retirement contemplating 40 yo Anderson & a his best days are past him Dell as the plan B. We're just shouting at the sky right now. But, at least it's something. 😉 Watching Dahlin quit on the SH breakaway & then just look at the rafters as the rebound got passed to the trailer that was ahead of Mittelstadt was gut wrenching. He's really friggin' close to breaking, if he hasn't already. Don't believe that's a permanent condition, but how much "developing" is he going to undergo with that mindset. Adams chose 2 mutually exclusive goals this year - lose while letting the kids "develop." He was walking that tightrope while Anderson was healthy. Without Anderson & now without Tokarski, he's nowhere near the rope and neither Subban nor Dell are going to be the net he needs. (Positive Dell can't be. 90% sure Subban won't be able to be that either.) IMHO, he needed to put more emphasis on the development goal & have preferably a better plan B or at a minimum a realistic plan C. Considering he lowballed Ullmark, not sure there was even a plan A. Agree that players shouldn't be given built in excuses to fail. Really wish Adams hadn't set them up w/ a massive one this off-season. Anderson hasn't played since the 1st game in November. The team didn't crash hard until the Calgary game. (Yes, they were losing before that, but they were in all the games until then. Since, not so much.) So, IMHO, they didn't just accept the losing & quit. But, as others have said, you can just take so much of an untenable situation before losing hope. Adams misjudged how untenable a situation he'd created by not addressing the goaltending. There's a lot of stuff to like about what he's done. But this is a MAJOR failure 2 years running to date.

Minnesota down big against Detroit at the 1/2, but it's Detroit, so there should've been no panic. With 6+ minutes in the 3rd, they get a TD to make it 20-15. Rather than simply kick the PAT, the Vikes go for it & fail. This puts them in position in the final 2 minutes of needed to go for 2 to get to a 6 point lead. They fail that as well. So rather than having a 6 point lead had they kicked the 2 PAT'S, they have a 4 point lead with 1:50 left to play. BTW, Detroit has a rookie kicker in his 1st game. Of course Detroit goes down the field & scores on 4th down as time expires. Had it been a 6 point lead prior to the 4th down then the kicker needs to actually perform to keep from going to OT yet again. Friggin' Chargers of the NFC find another unlikely way to steal defeat from the jaws of victory. NEVER go for 2 before the 4th Q unless you're down by at least 24. It nearly ALWAYS bites coaches in the bippy.

Perhaps. But when healthy he's pretty much matched or bettered MacKinnon's stats on an draft year/age based comparison on typically significantly worse teams. He's also had arguably the worst coaching in the league during the bulk of his tenure.

So, he's going to be Crosby or McDavid when healed? Doubt that highly. MacKinnon when healthy? That's who he's always been when healthy.

If you're right that Adams didn't know what caliber of a goalie Ullmark would be, then he needs to recuse himself from all goaltending decisions in the future. He's been peripheral to the team at a minimum during Ullmark's entire time in the Sabres system and was running the team his last year there. He had all the data necessary to make that assessment. If he couldn't figure it out, Lord help us. Thing is, really believe that development IS roughly as big a goal as the stealth tank is. But by not having competent goaltending the dichotomy of the 2 goals can't be bridged IMHO. And that development goal is on the verge of being torpedoed. (Hopefully that's overly reactionary to the past 3 games, but expecting it isn't. The fear is that Dahlin's the canary in the coal mine. Still hoping, but not very hopeful at present.)

During the season? No, it did not. Pilot walked because he didn't see a path onto the Sabres not because he didn't want to be a Sabre. He walked because he wanted to be a Sabre but couldn't get there. TOTALLY different to your scenario.

On the Ullmark negotiation, Adams made his "final" offer to Ullmark & Ullmark told him that he'd sign it unless it was beaten. There was almost no way THAT offer wouldn't be beaten and it in fact was. Ullmark worked out a better deal w/ Boston. To get Linus to remain a Sabre at that point, he now needed to top this better offer. Had he made the Boston offer before FA hit, then Boston would have had to top that offer, rather than the other way around. Really not sure what's confusing/controversial about that. And, it's pretty obvious that the plan was for a stealth tank. But it's also pretty obvious that Adams underestimated how the lack of goaltending would affect the play of the rest of the team. And it was predicted that it would be worse than he expected and that it would stymie the declared season goal - development. And your fear, as we'd expected, seems to be bearing out frustratingly predictably.