SHAAAUGHT!!!

100%. He was in the right headspace to interview for a job and work as an NHL goalie, so yes, he should be in the right headspace to be tested like that. Goalie is literally the most stressful position on the ice. He has a history of handling stress badly and I would want to make sure he has developed healthy coping skills to prevent a regression in his progress.

This doesn't sound like the question of an "outdated" coach. It sounds like an interviewer asking an interviewee a question designed to see how he will handle a stressful situation - and it sounds like it may have worked since he saw something during that interview that convinced him not to sign Lehner. Robin Lehner is an NHL goalie. That is a position that comes with an incredible amount of ridicule in the press, interwebs, and sometimes in the locker room. If I'm about to invest a few million dollars on a person I'm going to test him during the interview process to see how he handles the inevitable negative BS he will be exposed to.

Robin does not seem well.

I think you gotta let Skinner be Skinner. He's at his best when he is flying down the ice with the puck on his stick, circling around the net looking for a shot or a swat, and getting on the other teams nerves. So I'm looking to draw up plays that get him the first pass out of the d-zone, and put him on a line with a playmaker and someone with speed and finish that he can look to pass to on the rush. He also needs someone big enough to scare the other team from taking liberties with him. This is why I really thought the Skinner-Cozens-VO line was going to click.

I’m a bit surprised his podcast isn’t more popular because he has some great interviews. He just posted this one today with Rob Ray.

Almost. They drafted Mike Hock instead.

It's a bit frustrating to hear him be so confident the Sabres medical staff caused further injury to his ankle. Especially when it's hard to drink a 30 pack a day and be properly hydrated. It's even harder to stay hydrated when you drink like that and play a position like goalie. And it's even harder to rehab something correctly when your damaging your body so badly every single day. Alcohol is an unforgiving temptress that unfortunately tastes delicious and goes great with food, uncomfortable social situations, and recreational drug use. So I totally get it, but it's important to be honest with ourselves on the risks associated with heavy daily use. To me it seems unhealthy living is a much more likely culprit than a poorly developed rehab plan for a sprained ankle.

I would only allow the surgery he wants with a renegotiated contract. That said, I have no idea what is allowed under the CBA when it comes to renegotiating contracts. If the Sabres were to terminate or void the contract they would have to put him through waivers first, right? And if they did that one of KAs potential trade partners would pick him up without giving up any assets. They would let Eichel get his surgery and place him on LTIR so they wouldn't even have to clear cap room this season. Then they could bring him back during playoffs like Tampa did last year. I think this is why the Sabres won't terminate the contract because he will likely be healthy enough for the playoffs, no matter which surgery he gets, so they need to get value back or else this will be called ROR2.

It really just could have been his nerves after doing so much talking in the offseason. I'm not overly concerned yet because it's only one game, but I'm definitely not happy with what I saw. Hopefully he bounces back next game with a strong showing.

Cozens appeared to struggle with the puck throughout the game. I think he had two muffed shots and another where he had tons of room and and shot it directly at the goalie. Not what I was expecting from him but it's still early in the season...

I expect everyone's compete levels to remain high this game and through season because the Sabres FO doesn't tolerate poor efforts or attitudes anymore. Just ask John 😁

I share your concern but this was a different offseason for Cozens. He was in Ontario training with other NHL'ers and I think he is going to start the season hot and with a lot of confidence. It's up to Granato and Co. to make sure they put him in a position to grow and succeed, and that depends on how well Okposo, Girgs, and +1 do in their shutdown role. I think/hope Cozens gets more key minutes on the ice than Casey does, scores around 18, and get's over 30 helpers playing with Skinner and Olofsson.

Looks like Captain Dunning-Krueger is reporting for duty...

This one feels so real already

Now that we are in football and hockey season I'm reading a lot more sports articles. A pet peeve of mine is lazy writing, especially when it comes to article titles. I thought it might be fun to have a thread where we get a little silly and predict headlines for the upcoming season that we will inevitably see due to lazy writing. I'll start: “The Kids Are Alright” - after Middlestat, Cozens, and Dahlin have a multi-point night in the same winning game after losing 6 in a row “The Bills Take The High Road, The Sabres Take the Low Road” – boiler plate article about how the Pegula’s struck gold with the Bills FO and the Sabres FO looks like a Benny Hill episode (we would also accept “Where Else Would You To Be? Anywhere But The Sabres”) “Granato Brings It Back To The Basics” – inevitable article about how the team is “overthinking” their play, which is why they continue to lose close games

This was solid. Are there triggers on the toms, or is that just a mix of reverb and double bass sprinkled in?

So I've been trying to figure out why the deal was structured with a $7.2MM final year and I have some ideas: 1) Playing for the Sabres sucks right now because the playoffs are unlikely for at least 2 years so it's going to cost us $ 2) $7.2MM is right in between offer sheet tiers of $6.2M (1st & 3rd) and $8.2M (1st & 2nd & 3rd) and these tiers update every year based on average salary - are we already preparing for Dahlin to be offer sheeted if we suck again in 3 years? 3) We can buy a 4th year from him for $7.2MM if he really doesn't want to sign and we can't move him. That basically has him playing for his UFA deal, whiles still making a lot of money, which isn't a bad situation if we do suck again Am I over thinking this with my Sabres Suck again glasses on?

This may be an unfair salary comparison due to market conditions. The cost of defensemen went up considerably this year and the cap was flat, which is going to make a lot of year-over-year % comparisons stand out for 21-22 That said I agree it's on the high side, but hopefully it gives him some extra motivation and buys us some goodwill when it's extension time...

Glad to see it done, but wish it was 5 years longer even at $8-8.5MM a year. Hopefully doesn't bite us at extension time...

Agreed. It's entertaining in the "he thinks we are laughing with him" type of way. At this point most people know trolls are insecure and/or angry people that are trying to differentiate themselves because they usually have a horrible (or no) personality. It's like, dude, nobody care's about what pisses you off about non-thread oriented stuff. Literally not one person is sitting there thinking about you, ever. I'll prove it too when he inevitably replies and I don't respond. The only way to stop a troll is to starve it...

FYI - I'm not sure if this has been posted previously, but this Youtube page has a lot of highlight clips of Sabre prospects playing in other leagues https://www.youtube.com/c/Sabresprospects I don't know who runs it but they post on a regular basis

I think we are all hoping they go long-term with Dahlin (and Joker), but with the contracts we've seen handed out to Dmen around the league this year I have no idea what it's going to cost to lock these two up for 8 years.

I'm glad Zemgus is not only playing again, but got a chance to play some competitive hockey over the summer. We need him to be healthy and playing at a high level to eat minutes against other teams top lines this season. Also, I would NOT want to be China playing against the US and Canada in that group. They are going to have a rough go of it. On a separate note, a few years ago I was flipping through the channels in my hotel room in China and came across their version of Slapshot. The two main characters had the numbers 99 and 66 and the skating was comical. I had no idea what they were saying but it had me laughing out loud for a solid 20 minutes. If I can find my phone with the video I took of it I'll post it on here at some point

Yeah, this is a fair deal for all parties involved. Hopefully we see the same for Joker and Dahlin.

At least the emoji mystery was solved https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/sabres-jack-eichel-nhl-trade-rumors-tweet