apuszczalowski

I think Hall was a failure because he didn't seem to come here willingly, and it felt like he was just here to get a paycheck and not work hard. That deal always seemed like the Sabres making an offer to him when others weren't willing to, and him coming here to cash a check until he could be moved somewhere else. I never got the impression he really wanted to be here

It's because the plan every season is to have the young kids progress and get better to take over the team. They never want to upgrade over the potential of one of their prospects. It's always about not blocking someone from coming up, and then when they come up it's about making sure they get time and minutes. There is no urgency to get better now because that's always viewed as potentially throwing the franchise into some downward spiral that they can never get out of, when meanwhile every other team in the league seems to be able to navigate through this.

To be fair, who doesn't play great against the Sabres?

Of course he likes the roster as it is, they always say that. The key to it is him saying they look to get better IF IT MAKES SENSE, of course in his opinion there won't be any moves that make Sense to him.......

Let's face it, they weren't going out to get someone to replace UPL or Levi. The best they were going to do was get a new backup that might be able to fill in a bit more of UPL faulters and Levi stays in Rochester. I don't see Lyons as a downgrade from Reimer, but I also don't see him as much of an upgrade unless Reimer was a huge veteran mento in the lockeroom.

The visiting teams fans taking over the arena will be cheering to see the Sabres backup goalie?

Most likely he will get one decent player at a need position, but not nearly the value that anyone else would have expected them to be able to get for a player like Byram

Welfare Christmas is back in Buffalo! As everyone else is opening up and showing off their shiney new players, we sit here with our new socks and underwear telling ourselves our gifts are better and more practical...... At least they didn't overpay for player 'X'! In a few years they won't be as good and it would end up blocking player 'Y' from coming up, gotta make sure the franchises finances staying in good standings because everyone knows the real champions are the ones that have balanced books over some big silver cup! Is he really that bad that he couldn't crack a spot at the bottom of this lineup?

Would have rather seen them make the move the Sharks made for Ned from the Pens. But Lyon isn't a horrible choice for a cheap backup

It isn't really unique, the Bills before Pegula had many saying they couldn't compete financially and until Josh they couldn't compete on the field. The Sabres used to be able to attract and sign good players, but the sabotaged themselves tanking to be horrible and win the McDavid sweepstakes. Its more about having ownership and management willing to do what it takes to compete and find great players. Vegas isn't great just because of their location, they are how they are because they were given a solid base to start from and are willing to bend the rules and spend to do what it takes to win. The Sabres do not have that, they won't work the rules to their advantage and do what it takes to get better. They would rather hope that they have hit on all their prospects and will just one day put it all together and be great

More likely the Sabres are the ones doing some crazy spending of FAs to compensate of the lack of playoffs and sign a bunch of mediocre players to big deals so their PR team can go into overdrive trying to convince everyone they struck Gold. KA would probably stay away from signing RFAs because it would cost them precious picks and would risk someone potentially doing it to one of his precious prospects....

If KA has to be a recruiter, then I can see why people have a defeatist attitude. " Well we can offer you a fair contract that will allow you to play hockey in Buffalo. But I have to tell you we might not be an attractive place to play since there's no palm trees". I just picture him as Eyesore from Winnie the Pooh sitting their talking to potential FAs

Not true He has a plan, it's to let the kids develop into superstars which will make them a cup dynasty for the next decade. It's why they won't sign anyone to a deal that would potentially make them better and block one of the precious prospects....

I don't think there's much out there on the FA market, and chances are Edmonton goes hard after the top available. I still think Levi spending another year in Rochester is a good thing, and UPL is still young for a goalie who misses a lot of time from early injuries. He could still develop into something but he probably needs a good backup who can help carry some of the work load if he has some bad games.

I agree, he should be going after all the top FAs available, it's not like this roster is good enough anywhere that adding a player of his caliber is going to make them worse. I don't see him signing here though if it's between Buffalo and some Cup contending teams, but people seem to be forgetting that he is also from the Toronto area so playing in Buffalo is still close to home for him without the pressure of playing in Toronto.

We all know he is going to do something...... That will probably be a head scratcher or just dumb

Maybe Adams is out smarting us all and he made the deal with JJP to set the market so he could get something really good for Byram?

But that's where Adams is playing 5D scrabble, he will let others up there offers with better deals, then take one of the lower unexpected offers cause it fills a need he created even though the value isn't the same. He isn't going to lose his streak of losing every trade he makes.......

I said it earlier somewhere else, Adams and this franchise would trade their cars tires to get gas money I don't think there are fans upset with Kesselrig & Doan, most just feel they should have gotten more for what they gave up, which also seems like a common thing for this franchise in taking less for their top assets. They point to making deals is to maximize your assets, and get the most you can for what you have. JJP was gone, he wanted out, he had a lot of value that should have been maximized and other assets could have been used for filling holes. Reports had the Sabres having 8-10 offers for JJP, one including 2 1sts & a roster player, another included Dobson from the Isles, the Wild offered Rossi +.......

It's close to Toronto where he is from? He gets to play Toronto a bunch of times and can stick it to them if he plays good in those games? In the last 20 years the Sabres have about the same amount of playoff series wins as Toronto? That's about all I got

Not if he is next in line for Adams job, then it makes perfect sense.....

He's not going anywhere That being said, no one (not even Tage or Rasmus) should be immune to being moved down the roster if theres better options out there. This offseason should be all about getting players that can move Norris down the roster on paper and hope he plays himself into a position where the team has to many talented options at every position. Every year this franchise seems to not want to rock the boat or block prospects and current players from moving up and just try to get lowere players to fill and improve the bottom of the roster.

Go back 15 years on here and you will find a lot of fans here complaining about Ruff and teh sabres needing change because they were sick of just making the playoffs and they needed a change to get further. Then theres the tank years where fans begged them to lose to get the generational franchise players that would turn everything around and that it was better to lose out if you weren't a cup favorite to get the better pick (getting to the playoffs wasn't worth it if they weren't going to make a long run). And we are now at the point were just being in the playoff hunt until the last day of the season would be a huge step forward.....

If theres a silver lining, the Tampa win I believe kept the Leafs from clinching the top spot in the Atlantic at the moment

Kind of surprised they didn't