nfreeman

Yes indeedly. As for optimism/pessimism: for the first time in a while, I'm feeling somewhat sunshine-and-kittens-y. Reasons: - I like TT and think he will continue to improve. - I think dumping TT would've been idiotic, and I find the Bills' avoidance of an idiotic move to be encouraging. - I like McDermott and I expect the Bills to be a better-coached team than they have -- and games often turn on a handful of smartly- or stupidly-executed plays. - I like the fact that McDermott appears to have quite a bit of authority that would otherwise have been held by Tweedledum (RB) and Tweedledee (DW). - I expect the defense to improve from terrible to at least middling. - We are due for Watkins to stay healthy. - It looks like the Bills are going to take steps towards bringing in a credible #2 WR (by which I mean someone better than Woods, whose departure I will not mourn). I think TT, a healthy Watkins and a good #2 WR will surprise a lot of people. We'll see.

Very nice. Good move by the Bills IMHO. They should still draft a QB high though, and keep doing so until it is 100% certain that they have a franchise QB. But I'd guess they'll draft a CB to replace Gilmore.

it's starting to feel that way.

Welcome, and keep it coming! I generally agree with this post, except that the bolded part is, I believe, the crux of the issue in GMTM's mind. He needs Kaner to prove this summer that he can behave himself.

I am not ready to throw in the towel yet on Nelson. I think he has good hands and good feet. It's not impossible that with time he can get his split-second decision-making to an NHL level. Some defensemen take longer than others.

There's always the possibility of Kaner beating Gudas to a bloody pulp.

Best case: Kane behaves himself this summer and signs an extension just before the opening of next season. It's a pretty reasonable possibility.

That one had plenty of great moments, but IMHO Who's Next was their peak. As for D prospects: he's most likely not a this-year signing, but 2016 3rd-round pick Casey Fitzgerald is a sophomore at BC who played pretty well for team USA in the World Juniors this year. He has 20 pts and 42 PIM in 33 games. He is on the small side at 5'11", 185 lbs, so another year in college is probably the right move for him at this point.

Yes indeed. I also think that seeing the results of various choices that are made at the ownership level inevitably takes more time than we as fans would like. When TP bought the Sabres, he made the (IMHO gentlemanly) decision to give the holdover management team another shot. He didn't want to be the heartless raider who came in and fired everyone -- he wanted to see what they could do with more resources supporting them. After 2.3 or so seasons, he realized that it wasn't working, fired them and brought in a new GM, who is now finishing his 3rd full season on the job -- one of which was a tank year. (And while I and many others disagreed with the decision to tank, certainly many supported it.) It's certainly possible that GMTM will prove out not to have the right stuff for the job. And it's fair to say that Darcy should've been cut loose by TP immediately. But I don't look at TP's ownership of the Sabres and think to myself "this team stinks because of bad ownership."

Congrats Flagg! Excellent choice -- I think you will have plenty of good career options.

Congrats AA! Those first couple of months are pretty rough, but being a father is a great, great thing. I like the name, although I would echo Aud's cautionary words -- there is a surprising number of people that will be ill-mannered enough to criticize the choice. Congrats to your wife as well!

Good to see you sir!

Interesting. I didn't see this reported anywhere. Do you remember who wrote it? I hope it's true. I really like Kane's game, I like the idea of him converting feeds from Eichel and being Eichel's bodyguard for the next 5-6 years, and I like redemption stories.

I agree that they need a good defenseman, and I wouldn't be shocked if they trade Kane to get him. They do have 2 good assets in addition to Kane, though: Nylander and their #1 in this year's draft. I'd rather trade either of those than Kane, and a budget-conscious team like Anaheim might prefer those assets to Kane as well.

I found the following Kane items from GMTM's public statements this week quite interesting: 1. In his post-deadline presser, GMTM, when asked about Kane, used the phrases "on the ice" or "off the ice" at least 4 times. 2. In his interview the following day with Bulldog, GMTM threw out 8 years x $7MM per year as a Kane contract proposal that, for GMTM, would be NFW. 3. In the post-deadline presser, GMTM intimated that a summer deal with Kane was unlikely, and made it sound like it would be after the start of next season at the earliest. But in the interview the following day with Bulldog, he backpedaled and said it was possible next summer once deals with Eichel and Reino were done. I think I read those statements to mean: - GMTM thinks there is still a real possibility that Kane will be unable or unwilling to walk the straight and narrow, and isn't interested in giving him a big contract on July 1 and then praying every morning next summer that the phone doesn't ring with news about Kane getting arrested. - GMTM isn't sure there will be cap space available to keep Kane. - GMTM isn't going to publicly commit at this point to a "we're keeping Kane no matter what" position. ...which leads me to: - there is a greater than 50/50 chance that Kane is traded on or before the deadline next year.

I completely agree with all of this except moving Kane for the defenseman. The Sabres need to be able to find that defenseman without losing Kane, who is a key piece. And it was a great post by dudacek.

Seconded! Very nice.

Actually, this isn't nearly as dire as what I thought you and We've were hinting at. I thought you were referring more specifically to Jackie boy. Frankly, after pooping the bed vs Colorado and Arizona, it's hard to argue with your actual theory quoted above.

Oh, man. We've has voiced the concern that dare not speak its name. How can we go on?

Whoops -- sorry about that. My mistake.

Here's a Netflix find: "Terriers." It's an FX show from a few years ago that only had one season -- so 13 episodes. Beach bum private detectives in San Diego. My wife and I both liked it.

I feel like we're in a Seinfeld episode here. If you make $1000 in one business and lose $400 in another business, you can, in certain circumstances, write off the $400 loss against the $1000 profit and thereby pay tax on the net of $600 -- so you end up with about $350. But if, instead of losing $400 in the 2nd business, you break even, there is no writeoff and you pay tax on the full $1000 -- so you end up with about $600. So although in the $400 loss scenario you are better off having the benefit of the writeoff than not having it, you are still substantially better off in the break-even scenario. What specifically are you suggesting as regards political capital?

yes indeedly.

Interesting. I too would not be surprised if Kuli is re-signed.

Regarding the equity: TP spent $189MM to buy the Sabres and a substantial amount immediately thereafter on capital improvements. If you include operating losses he's probably in for at least $250MM at this point. There is really no way to know how much the team is worth now. I'm confident if the team were put up for sale subject to the condition that it could not be moved, there wouldn't be many bidders. Regarding write-offs: I have no idea what you mean. The tax benefits for operating costs are by definition much less -- in TP's case probably about 70% less -- than the actual cash spent. Regarding political capital -- again, I have no idea what you mean. Do you think TP has some kind of economic synergy due to the existence of WNY expats around the country? How many of those do you think they are? What exactly is the economic benefit to TP? If you think TP has some kind of plan going here to turn the Sabres into a cash cow, I'd love to hear some specifics. Because I think it's pretty clear that he has more cash than he knows what to do with, so (like many of us would do) he bought his and his wife's favorite sports teams and he's throwing money at them in the attempt to restore the glory days.