K-9

I think we are still seeing that among the better teams in the league. It’s just so hard to play against teams rolling four lines that are all tenacious on the puck.

Clearly, the only solution is to sign Ryan Reaves and his 10 minutes of hell he dishes out to opposing fourth liners each night.😂 I don’t think we need a solution for adding toughness at the moment because that is not our most pressing need currently. But feel free to send KA a letter about it. We are done here.

The only “idea” you floated in our exchange was that I don’t want toughness on my team. I not only answered that “idea” I took the time to quantify it as well. So yeah, I most certainly did provide an idea of my own. You’re welcome. But I get it; it’s hard to further the argument of Reaves making opponents “earn” it when he is only playing 10 minutes a night against 4th line opponents who would have a tough time “earning” it, regardless.

Not opposed to adding toughness at all. I’d just prefer that it was getting more than 10 minutes of ice time vs. the opponents’ better lines. But good for Reaves, he really makes those opposing 4th liners earn all of the negligible points they'd struggle to get anyway. 😂

Yep. He’s making those opposing 4th liners earn it for every one of those 10 minutes of ice time he’s been getting a night. 😂

Like I said, I prefer players who want to be here for more reasons than just the money. Ultimately, giving him more money was the only way Ullmark was gonna stay in Buffalo. What happened in the negotiations prior to that point mean nothing to me in that equation. I don’t blame Ullmark nor do I blame KA. There’s no fault here. But if money was the only factor in getting him to stay, and it appears that it was, then good riddance, imo.

If I understand what I’ve read in this thread correctly, it wasn’t just a question of KA matching the offer; he had to top it in order for Ullmark to stay. Buffalo just wasn’t preferable at X; it had to be X plus. I prefer players who want to be here for reasons other than just money.

As soon as we found out that it wasn't enough just to match Boston’s offer and that Ullmark demanded a premium to stay in Buffalo on top of that, I was glad he left. That would have been a terrible precedent for KA to set and I’m glad he is smarter than that.

Per the bold, what’s the deal with NHL contracts? Can KA renegotiate Tage’s deal?

It would be great if Cozens, Dahlin, et al were willing to take a discount. But it’s important to remember that Tage didn’t take a discount when he signed his deal.

Yep. It is interesting that Tage is under paid strictly in retrospect.

Tage being underpaid by millions to players with comparable stats has absolutely ZERO bearing on what Cozens, Dahlin, or any other player on the team negotiate in the future.

Yes, he did. He was on Chris Weidman’s podcast this past summer and while he was ranting about the injustice of it all, he said that the Sabres medical staff told him he could have the replacement surgery and then abruptly changed their minds. That was never the case.

You’re missing the point. The point is he lied about the advice he was given by the medical staff. Glad it worked out for him, but he didn’t need to lie about it just to further his own PR agenda; he could have just left it at the difference of medical opinion that it was. And BTW, given his results with the cervical fusion procedure, I’d say Kris LeTang was right, too.

Will Eichel be off IR by then?

Very happy for the crowd that attended tonight. Way too many lousy weeknight efforts the last 12 years.

So I’m thinking when was the last time we scored six in a period and then thought, oh yeah, we did it last week against the Blue Jackets. This phucking team.

I wonder how Casey would look away from Casey. Oh wait…

You haven’t watched too many Sabre third periods I take it.

Mad skill!

Timely!

Bryson blows.

Aye, aye, aye, aye, your mother swims after troop ships.

No signs of a pulse, doctor. Might be critical.

Any time these knuckleheads wanna wake up and play hockey is ok with me.