Mango

The statement around Pegula is that it was reported to the league and the league didn’t do their due diligence and instead did not extend the employees (Trotter) despite previous promises otherwise. There is no defamation suit to be had because Trotter will say, “I don’t know if he said it. Neither does the league because they swept my official complaint under the rug rather than doing their due diligence. And when I tried to follow up I was blown off and then lost the contract I was promised”.

The pressure chamber for the Bills has been so heavy that one thing I love about the Sabres right now is that there is none. It’s a lot of fun. After the Monday Night game I am really looking forward to hockey.

Just for some clarification, the suit isn’t actually about Terry. There is almost a guarantee that there is no defamation suit coming. Basically Trotter reported what he heard about Pegula through a colleague and what he heard from Jerry Jones first hand to the league. He heard nothing. Nobody every called him or his source on the Pegula quote to verify despite Trotters multiple proactive attempts to follow up on his own. Trotter then started asking Goodell about various DEI initiatives publicly. Trotter then did not have his contract renewed after he was insured it would be. He is asserting that his complaints and follow up to the league are part of why he isn’t employed, and that the league didn’t do their due diligence because they never interviewed anybody about the complaints. Assuming Terry didn’t say this (for the sake of this post) and Trotter is correct here Pegula’s name is being dragged through the mud because of the League’s ineptitude, not Trotter. Whether or not Pegula said it isn’t terribly relevant to the case because the league barely looked into it. But if he did he can GTFO out of my town.

Don't mind me, I will just be over here in the corner being an absolute idiot. Cheesus. hahaha

I actually disagree here. There are two avid memories have around the Pegula's where I in the moment immediately thought "this isn't good". The first is his explanation for circumventing Ted Black and meddling with Regier "Ted Black does not have a monopoly on hockey IQ". The second was at the first game with Terry as owner. Before kickoff they brought him out and the energy was palpable. The first thing he said was something like "please sit/quiet down" and it was fairly quick after taking center field. We had spent a decade or more fearing Ralph's death and the team moving across the country. Give this community a moment to breath in safety on its grounds before you tell us to sit down and shut up. I just remember feeling so punched in the gut. We talked about it in our section with others around us. It just felt like he sucked the energy out of the Ralph. I think some of the energy around both franchises were better once Kim started to take on more control. Unfortunately that has had to change.

I understand the saltiness. Also weird he called in, not even a video. I don't love what it (might) imply about Kim. I don't take that lightly. I almost prefer, for Kim's sake, that Terry dropped the ball by not showing up and Kim's health is actually on the steep upswing.

A couple of things. Terry has been a very bad owner of an NHL team. That isn't koolaide. That is historical fact and not debatable. He bought the team in February 2011, the Sabres last playoff game was April of that year. Since buying the team, Terry has not overseen a single full season where the team made the playoffs. It has been 12 years since the Sabres last playoff game, an NHL record by some margin. The next worst NHL drought is nearly half that (Detroit, 7 years). His NHL ownership has been historically bad. Of course I know Jessica isn't leaving tennis. That was the point. We know Laura has been involved with the Bills for quite some time. There is no real heir apparent for the Sabres which is why I hope he sticks around to see this version of the team through. This is an internet message board not a collection of peer reviewed articles. The entire premise is dialogue and speculation. Until Terry stands in front of a mic and says "The Sabres are for sale" there is no smoking gun, but because there have been rumors and now a restructure, it is a worthy talking point in a (sabre)space like this.

Terry has largely been an abysmal hockey owner. He bought the team under the guise of "If I want more money I will drill another well". Only to consistently meddle. Make terrible decisions. Plus who can forget the infamous "maintain family lifestyle" slide they presented. I have to admit; if he bought the team with that tag line, drove it into the ground by his own doing, only to sell it and create uncertainty around the teams future in Buffalo, I will be pretty salty.* That said I hope he at least sticks around to see this current thing through. It would be nice if one of his kids were competent enough to take it over. I believe Laura is heavily involved in the Bills and maybe the next most competent (Jessica) adult in the family is the third ranked tennis player in the world. I don't get the sense that any of the other children are all that capable of the task. (*, I totally understand their family's current health crisis with Kim. But there has been speculation that he has been trying to sell since before that)

A lot of the time you see a team on the rise drop in prospect rating because...well...players become players rather than prospects. I put the Sabres at 105-110 points this year. That is my pass fail line. If they hit that and have the number one prospect pool to go with it.....Look out NHL!

This is where I am at. I really like this pick, but it feels like we have 10 top 6 F prospects.

I’m over the Eichel stuff. He needed to go. We needed him gone. Everybody is better for it. FWIW I was at Britesmith the other day and a guy at the bar worked with a some kids org. He paid Eichel for a kids event and Eichel was “THE WORST” Sabre he ever worked with. He regularly bids on player appearances at kids events. He did the absolute best minimum at the bowling alley. Jack and Reinhardt spent most of the event drinking in the corner alone.

They are pushed against the cap, with a mediocre at best prospect pool, and one of the oldest rosters in the league. They have peaked at squeezing through the first round of playoffs. They have enough talent to be good, but if nobody internally has a viable plan how to rebound from their current set up they need to bring somebody in who does.

It’s funny you mention this. I was just in Buffalo last weekend staying at a friends place on the lower west side. We were indulging in some of the devils lettuce and hanging out on the porch when I decided to order a pizza. Just Pizza was listed as both closer and 30 minutes quicker than La Nova, but came a full hour late, missing 2/3 ingredients, and was half cooked. Short story long, I had the same issue at their biggest rival. Haha.

A lot of boys on the team that need to become adults and grow into their adult bodies. Physicality is a big reason why I liked the line shake ups at the end of the year. Every shift there was somebody on every shift who made that line tougher, with a skill player or two that made them smoother. Not to compare the two, but the Pens had a lot of success splitting Malkin/Crosby. I would have no issue with those lines being our core going into next season, and putting Tommers back as 1C situationally.

Admittedly I haven’t listened yet. But I think there’s likely an agreement that the Sabres need to be a more physical and stronger hockey team. The discussion around hits are whether or not that’s a good metric. They’re almost separate conversations.

I agree with you. I am totally guessing but probably a few factors. - Bryson..... - Joker - Rumor has it Dahlin might be a little banged up and has been carrying this defense seemingly by himself for 80 games now. Probably an accumulation of some guys sucking and Dahlin being exhausted. Somebody has to play those minutes

That comment wasn't lost on me either. It wasn't pried out of them either, no "how does he like the team?". Just a pretty simple "Welcome to Buffalo" and they offered a "Thank you. We love it. The people. The team. etc."

I am hoping we don't need it. The team showed enough this year that fans need to start showing back up. I no longer live in Buffalo, but I hope fans show up to send this team off for the season and say good bye to Anderson. They deserve it.

I was in NYC yesterday for work and shotgunned an extra night to catch the Devils game where I was lucky enough to meet and spend some time chatting with the Levi's. I was in the lower bowl but the opposite side of the ice, so I wandered to the Sabres side for warm ups. It was me and maybe a dozen Sabres fans or less. I notice the woman in front of me has a blue 27 jersey on. I politely wave and say "Welcome to NJ Mrs. Levi. Your son is maybe my favorite person in the city right now" Mr. Levi walked up behind me and chimed in with "He is her favorite person in the city too". We talked for maybe 10-15 minutes. They were remarkably kind and down to earth people. They love Buffalo. Levi is loving Buffalo and the guys in the locker room. They raved about the people. They don't anticipate Levi switches his jersey number. It hasn't come up once in conversation. I mentioned 27 is the same as Tre's and the Tre White Goaltending Academy. They didn't know anything about it, but they loved it. They proactively said that Devon would love to do a sequel commercial with Tre and Marty. So if you see or hear anything, know where it came from! I didn't want to blow up their spot so we had a pretty casual conversation, but it was funny; more than a few Sabres fans while walking past commented about how they (the parents) bought Levi jerseys as if the parents were just normal Sabres fans.

I totally agree with you. I was disagreeing that you thought the FO wouldn't be able to help themselves and will sign him. I think GMKA passes.

I am on the same page. Except I think the line in my head is 35 games, but hope he proves to be able to handle more. A few weeks ago I thought it was a slam dunk he would spend time in Rochester. But I don't know how they do that at this point. He is by far the best goalie on the roster today. But maybe they want to bring him along with Savoie, Kulich, Johnson? Which isn't the worst idea I guess? Anyways, I would put resources into bringing in a netminder who can is better that is substantially better than what we have already seen from Levi and make him chase him all season for the starting job. Top Levi out at 35-ish games, but hopes he proves to have the chops to take the starting goalie be end of year.

The dust has settled, I am out of NJ. What a wild season of ups and downs. This was the most fun I have had watching a hockey season in a decade, so thank you Sabres. As the team gets better, my standards will change just like they did with the Bills. But for now I really enjoyed this ride. Go Swords!

2:49 left in the 2nd. Sabres outshooting 24-18. But NJD has 16 blocked shots to Buffalos 4. A significant part of this game.

I’m not giving up hope. Just trying to do my 1/7th.

It looks like me being here is bad luck, but there isn’t enough time for me to get home.