nfreeman

More utter mediocrity, ineffectiveness and decline.

Was this KA’s regular media availability or was it a special presser for the captaincy stripping?

Good breakdown. I will be pretty surprised if KA elects to take option 3. As @Thorny notes, this would be dumb and vindictive and make the franchise look even more like a clown show. This kind of back-and-forth over 2 pages of a good thread does not make for interesting reading.

This seems OK. I probably would've preferred a 6+ year deal, as having this one end only 1 year prior to UFA makes me a bit uneasy, but as others have noted it's fairly likely that Rasmus wasn't interested in committing to this poopshow for that kind of term. This way, the Sabres have 3 years to show Rasmus that they are worthy of his prime, and he has 3 years to show the NHL that he's worthy of a top-tier contract. If both sides are happy they can sign an extension in 2 years. A lot can happen in 3 years, so I wouldn't assume that Rasmus has implemented the "GTFO ASAP" plan.

My 2 cents: - I continue to believe that the injury has been and remains an insurmountable obstacle to any kind of real trade. No GM is going to take on a $50MM contract AND part with his team's crown jewels in the face of a spinal injury that has cost the player a season and an offseason, remains unhealed and for which the player is demanding a type of surgery that hasn't been used previously in the NHL (or any other sport, apparently, other than MMA, where life is cheap). So I think it's pretty unrealistic to blame KA for, say, not getting Zegras, Drysdale, etc. for Jack by now. - Having said that, @Thorny and others are 100% correct in saying that KA is accountable for the team's success or failure. Every GM faces challenges. It's his job to figure out a way to overcome them. KA, like JB, iced the worst GD team in the NHL in his first year as GM. Everyone with functioning eyesight knew in the summer of 2020 that the Sabres needed better goaltending, just like they do now. KA for some reason has looked the other way. It doomed the team last season -- likely contributing, as @dudacek notes, to Jack's alienation and desire to GTFO -- and will probably do so again this season absent a UPL miracle. - Similarly, KA appears to have decided that Jack is part of the problem and needs to go, and not that he is part of the solution and needs to stay. We'll never know how toxic Jack's behavior is, or whether KA's decision was driven more by the injury than by Jack's attitude, but there is a strong argument to be made that a no-BS franchise center is such a precious commodity that the GM needs to figure out a way to bring him into the fold, and a failure to do so is always the GM's fault. (Although again it's possible that the decision was driven by a determination that Jack's injury means that he is no longer a franchise center.) - Bottom line: I don't think KA necessarily has screwed up the Eichel situation, but regardless of what happens with Eichel, KA is accountable for the team's results. So far he's off to a crappy start.

Dreger's tweet illustrates that some people just do not admit mistakes and like to use words like "clarify" in pretending that they weren't simply wrong previously.

More contrarian Bills takes, eh? Do you think the Bills can beat the Ravens or KC with JA playing the way he has in the 1st 2 games this season?

I agree with each of you regarding Teppo's smoothness and coolness, and I assume that like me, you believe he had awesome hair. I see indications of that smoothness and calmness in Joker. Of course, as a young player, he's not as cool as late-career Teppo was, but I still (want to believe that I) see those hints. We'll see.

I am pretty skeptical that KA will agree to the ADR surgery.

Ugly game so far. JA is playing better than last week but still only so-so. Miami is making one mistake after another.

I think there is a pretty good chance that Joker and Dahlin develop excellent chemistry, some of which showed last year, and become a high-end NHL top pairing. As I’ve mentioned previously, I think Joker could develop into a Teppo type. That’s not a classic stay-home physical defenseman, but still a very good player who could complement Dahlin very well. Lindy used to say that Teppo calmed everything down in the d-zone. I don’t know whether Joker has that kind of hockey IQ, but he might.

I've never liked Pysyk's game. When I watch him, I don't see strong defensive play, contributions to offense, speed (although he is nimble on his skates) or any particular knack for getting the puck out of the d-zone, despite his analytics supporting the view that he's good at doing so. I think he's a player that demonstrates the limits of analytics -- i.e. a guy who puts up good numbers in certain analytics categories but ultimately doesn't help you win games or contribute much in any important area of play. He'll be fine as a 7/8 defenseman, but I'd greatly prefer, say, Samuelsson or Butcher in the top 6.

Let's keep vaccine discussion out of this thread please.

OK then.

This is really the scary monster that's hiding under the bed, innit? I don't think it will end up being the case, but still.

Let's chill out a bit in here please. There is nothing wrong with criticizing the Bills -- they deserve it based on that crappy performance on offense yesterday -- but there's a way to do it that isn't as obnoxious as some recent posts in here. Thanks.

My 2 cents, having attended the game: - we lost but it was a great day. It was supposed to rain but didn’t, everyone was very psyched to be back and in a great mood and the stadium was LOUD. - JA was lousy again, for the 3rd game in a row, including the last 2 playoff games. He made some good throws but missed a bunch of them. I’ll say it again: the best teams get elite QB play, and the Bills aren’t going to beat good teams if JA doesn’t raise his game. - I also agree with those upthread criticizing the coaching, in particular the offensive play-calling. Dabol got way too cute a number of times. There were also a couple of times in the 1st half where they should’ve gone for it on 4th down. - on our way into the stadium, we saw, walking in as a group, Cozens, Mitts, Quinn, UPL, Samuelson, Okposo and a couple of others who looked like Sabres but whom we couldn’t identify. Nobody really stopped them or gathered around them. UPL and Samuelson are big dudes, and Mitts and Quinn are pretty solidly built, but Cozens looks skinny. - about 6 min into the 1st quarter, some dude sitting in great seats passed out, threw up all over himself and was carried out by security along with his sloppy drunk girlfriend. Not sure why anyone would waste Bills tickets on a total blackout like that. All in all a fun day. I sure hope they look better next week though.

First game in 2 years for me, and I’m going with my son, brother and niece. Holy mackerel I am freaking psyched.

I would guess this is pretty accurate, and is why I would've liked Jeremy and Sal to have pressed the PSE guy on this point. Just the end zone club seats though, right? I think the sideline club seats are below grade.

I go to the stadium once or twice per year (except last year -- another wonderful aspect of 2020). Certainly it's much smaller and less fancy than the new stadiums, and produces much less revenue, and the bathrooms are disgusting, but that's not the same thing as being structurally unsound. My point upthread was that if there are in fact structural issues, I'd like to understand those a bit more. As far as that goes, my understanding is that the stadium being partially underground -- which I think is pretty unique among NFL stadiums -- substantially helps its structural integrity. "Current life-span has been exhausted" is not a reason -- it's just a repetition of "we need a new stadium" using different words. As for "high cost to maintain current stadium" -- this is what I would've liked more discussion of. Why are structural reinforcements needed now? Have any independent engineers agreed with this assertion? How much would reinforcements cost and how long would they take, and how would this compare with the cost and time associated with a new stadium? We didn't get any of that.

I'm sure the NFL wants it, but TP is the person who will profit the most from it. I would've liked to have heard RR discuss that aspect of the project, especially under some cross-examination. I've also heard, for the first time this year, allusions to structural weaknesses in the upper deck. I'd like to hear PSE's explanation of how urgent that is, how much it would cost to simply reinforce the existing stadium, etc.

A ton of goalies change teams every summer, including this one. KA has sat out the game of musical chairs for the last 2 years. It’s not acceptable.

Awesome. Being a parent is really GD hard but also a fantastic experience. Once he/she sleeps through the night -- and you should drop the hammer at the 3-month mark IMHO -- you are in the clear. Congrats.

Serious question: do you not think they would've brought in better goalies if they were trying to win?

Indeed. Let's try this one again boys. (Hysterical crapola has been moved to its rightful home.) You're a good man for believing in humanity, but I think you are incorrect here.