nfreeman

I fell asleep halfway through it last night but just polished the rest of it off. Awesome.

Hoss — are you a defender of the Sabres’ tank for Eichel? Just curious as to your position and reasoning.

I think the Bills will win between 7 and 10 games, with the final result driven mostly by QB play and TOs. While I have high hopes for the Sabres, it’s hard to see them jumping from a well deserved DFL finish to DeLuca .500 or better. So IMHO it’s most likely that the Bills have a better season.

A full year’s worth of TP and paper towels? I try to keep 1-2 months’ supply on hand. But you sir are a professional. I’m going to Sam’s Club tomorrow.

The Athletic’s piece on Reino was indeed excellent, but it was largely premised on what I think is a false assumption: that it is either #1RW or #2C for Reino. The #2RW slot, which I think is the right one for Reino, was not analyzed. I want Reino at #2RW with Casey and Sheary. Sheltered minutes, 2 vets, 2 guys with speed, 2 guys who can pass and 3 guys who can score.

Good post, but the bolded is simply not the case. Guhle has looked well over his head more often than not at the NHL level. I wouldn't be surprised if Guhle played a lot in the NHL this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if he spends most of the year in Rochester either.

Wasn’t that Gaustadt?

IMHO, if we want Reino to become Bergeron or Toews, and not Roy or Stafford, a short-term deal is the way to go.

FWIW, I don’t subscribe to much online print content, but IMHO the Athletic offers the best professionally-produced Sabres and Bills content available anywhere.

If JBott is indeed holding firm to $4.5MM x 2 years, then he is doing it right and I am encouraged about his judgment and therefore the Sabres' long-term picture.

Here's a terrific piece from The Athletic about Jackie Boy: https://theathletic.com/449782/2018/08/07/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-decision-making-improvements-2018-nhl-season/ Discuss.

So Coleman was chosen #15 overall 2 years ago, had 69 yards in his 1st game, 104 yards in his 2nd game and then broke his hand. Then in his 2nd year, he caught 5 passes for 53 yards in the opener and then broke his hand again in week 2. He then missed 2 months and had a few good games and a few lousy games after returning. The WGR guys had an interview yesterday with one of the Cleveland reporters, who said that in addition to the injuries, Coleman exhibited a pretty good amount of meatheaded behavior -- late for practice, bad diet, buddies with criminal elements, etc. So he could use the trade as a learning experience, or he might not. But the potential is there.

I agree with most of this, but the fair comparison isn't really the 2 FNGs vs ROR -- it's the 2 FNGs vs ROR plus whatever 3rd-liner would've played had the trade not occurred.

Season premiere tonight!

Me too. As for Kane and ROR, I feel like we have no choice but to trust JBott that those moves were needed to get the team out of its dysfunctional rut. Also totally agree with your point about the recent Sabres not at all being the team that works well together. Well, both goalies were swapped out, and The Natural will be the #1D in short order, plus a healthy McCabe and a maybe healthy Bogo will be the 2nd pair -- so quite a bit of turnover, albeit quite unproven, in our end.

Weave -- totally fair.

Disrespectful because it implies that he has a boozing problem? Or disrespectful to the liquor because Sobotka hasn't shown he's cool enough to have "Vodka" as a nickname? (Asking for a friend.)

I listened a little while ago to Skinner’s presser, which I think you mentioned elsewhere. I completely agree that he evinced zero interest in a long-term deal. Between that presser and JBott’s comments, it sounds like it has not been discussed at all. I could see it getting there, but it sounds quite likely that there will not be an extension in place by the deadline. This would mean the Sabres will have a difficult decision to make, since they will be clinging to a 3-point lead for the wildcard.

Botteril sounded last night, to me anyway, like they are pretty far apart on the contract.

I agree on goaltending and would just add that the team seems to be relying on 2 rookies (Casey and Dahlin) to contribute quite a bit. Any or all of those 3 could fail to meet expectations, with significant negative consequences for the team. Having said that, they could certainly look terrible top to bottom again and if so then Howie could and should be accountable IMHO.

Welcome and great username/avatar! Good stuff. I'd also add that both have high-end speed. And a Kessel-in-Pittsburgh outcome would be awesome.

Good poll question. Kane is 1 year older (he just turned 27 yesterday) and certainly plays a more physical game. Skinner is a bit faster and more skilled, although not by much in either category. Work ethic/locker room affect is probably a factor that JBott considered. The Canes' color guy was on WGR this AM and said that Skinner is a very hard worker -- first on the ice and last off at practice -- pretty different from Kane. I don't think we can answer the question until we see how Skinner meshes with Eichel or Casey, and how much it costs to keep him.

Whoa there. I can see Zemgus, Pommer and Larsson all being waived and would expect each to clear waivers. I think Bailey and Baptiste would both likely get picked up by someone if waived -- so probably less likely to happen (but certainly still possible). And, if TT does start with Jack, and Berglund and Sobotka are on the 3rd line, that would make it 6 new forwards out of the top 9 (along with Casey, Sheary and Skinner). No one is going to take either of those 2 unless the Sabres include major sweeteners (much sweeter than Bailey, Baptiste and McCabe) and/or take back bad contracts.

I've been thinking about where Pu falls in the Sabres' forward prospect rankings. I think it's fair to put him in a different category from Casey, who is pretty much a lock to be in the NHL this year, and perhaps from Thompson, who has 41 NHL games under his belt. If we just consider forward prospects that have had little to no NHL time, we have: Asplund Nylander Davidsson Pu Olofsson Ogilvie Malone CJ Smith YMMV, of course, but I could see Carolina preferring to take a Pu over anyone else in that grouping. He sure did in the presser last night. I liked in particular his comment to the effect that goal totals fluctuate, but Skinner consistently creates a lot of chances at ES. Dude. I like Buffalo. I don't think it's crazy or for that matter remarkable to say that it's unusual for a young pro athlete in his 20s to prefer Buffalo over LA. I certainly meant no offense.

Yet another example of why giving a NTC to a non-elite guy is a huge mistake.