Drunkard

I agree. If the Reinhart at center experiment is already over then our top 4 wingers need to be Kane, Pominville, Okposo, and Reinhart.

Someone just needs to record an audio tape saying "Don't do that" in Russian 1,000 times then and just play it on a loop for him while the game is going on then.

If they want him to learn by watching they should play another game on the tv (Minnesota, Anaheim, Nashville, etc.) in the press box. He's not going to learn how to play the right way watching our guys.

Who is telling you that you can't be upset? I don't think any one is happy with their play so far and you can easily tell by the general feeling of this board. Most people fall into a handful of categories: 1. Pissed off 2. Near suicidal 3. Apathetic 4. Unjustifyingly Optimistic 5. Taking the wait and see approach I toggle between 3 and 5 personally. The team is a hot pile of garbage so far but it's really early. If they still look like this in November, I'll be worried, but then again I'm not spending any money towards the team right now (no Center Ice, no tickets, no merchandise) so it's much easier not to lose my over their garbage play. As for what you can do about it as a fan there's really only a few options. 1. Vent about it on here (accomplishes nothing) 2. Vent about it on facebook, twitter, other message boards, etc. (accomplishes nothing) 3. Write a sternly worded letter to the team, your Congressman, or whomever you think will pretend to care (accomplishes nothing) 4. Stop spending money on the team (accomplishes nothing in the short term, may force changes in the long term or might just hurt the team financially) 5. Take the optimistic approach, keep supporting the team financially, and hope this is just a rough patch (accomplishes nothing) In a nutshell there's really nothing the fans can do, besides voting with your wallet.

So they're moving Reinhart to wing but keeping him on the 3rd line? Woof.

That movie is awesome and will be 100% what I blame my future heroin addiction on when I reach my senior years.

Hey hey HEY! We can't have this kind of level headed reasoning around here. You've either got to be completely pissed off, near suicidal (the true fans), apathetic, or unjustifyingly optimistic. Pick a side my good man.

Yep. They tanked the right way or whatever nonsense from what I remember from the talking heads. Then they got rewarded with the lottery win. Must be nice. Can you imagine how different things would be if Matthews were a week older though? The Coyotes would have him instead of the Leafs so we wouldn't care if he was still lighting it up the way he has and Toronto would have had to settle for Laine or Puljujarvi. Still great prospects but you know they've gotta prefer how it went for them. I doubt their Nylander wouldn't look nearly as good for them if he was forced to center their 1st line without Matthew there.

It's not an issue of affording it. $150 is actually a great deal when you consider it covers 75 or so Sabres games (82 less the handful of Sabres games I'd already get anyway when they play on NBC Sports, NHL network, or the Canes since I live in North Carolina). The simple fact that I was spending money on a product literally added to my anger. It's like paying for your own misery. Which is fine if you're into that kind of thing, but I'm not the ball gagger wearing type. Once I stopped spending the money on it though my stress/anger/whatever you want to term it reduced big time. Or maybe the tank broke my spirit as a fan, even though I supported it and I was convinced it was the best way (definitely not the quickest) to avoid the perpetual cycle of mediocrity. I think we can definitely agree that we've managed to avoid mediocrity though. A lot of improvement will be needed just to sniff mediocrity.

He's just gonna gold plate it. Silver is for losers anyway.

Feigned outrage and nonsense that a crappy team sets a bad example for children won't do anything but generate some meaningless platitudes from the PR department. The only message that will do anything is empty seats and the erosion of the season ticket waiting list. Same here. I got the free center ice preview for a week with Directv and I watched this train wreck for 3 games. I won't be shelling out a dime to watch any extra. The Sabres and Bills stinking up the joint used to have a negative impact on me personally, but ever since I stopped being financially vested in both teams it's amazing how them both sucking has significantly less impact on my mood. I can post here all day without the mass hysteria bumming me out one bit but when I was shelling out $150 to watch the games, I'd get pissed off to no end.

No worries. Mittelstadt will show him how. Unfortunately we have to wait at least a year for him to grace us with his presence. Until then, I'll have to cuddle up next to my Casey Mittelstadt night light and dry my tears after every loss on my Casey Mittelstadt jammies.

Actually the Kane, Eichel, and Pominville line is the only one that can score whatsoever through 3 games. We need to decide if we want to keep them together since they are the only ones producing for us or if it would be smarter to break them up in hopes that splitting those 3 up can help to get the other lines going.

This just can't be true. I have it on good authority that Eichel hates to lose and something something carry the team on his back with his undeniable will or some such. I guess we'll have to wait for the real savior, Casey Mittelstadt, to come and save this team. Just another example of his laziness I'd venture.

That was supposed to say put Kane on Reinhart's wing.

I'm fine with him being versatile down the road, but he's already shown he can be productive on the wing and he needs to cut his teeth as an NHL center by predominantly playing center this season. I'm sure most of us can agree that we're not likely to win the Cup this year (new Coach, new System, still waiting on some of the kids to replace the cap anchors, etc.) so this is the perfect time for him to play center. I'd rather get him acclimated to playing center now. I don't want to stick him back on the wing for months with little to no time at center and wind up being force to put him back at center during a playoff push (or actual playoffs) because of an injury to O'Reilly or Eichel.

All the more reason to put Kane on Eichel's wing.

Thank you. That's our best chance to ditch Moulson then. Pay him his $1 million bonus on 7/1/2018 and trade him to a cap floor team where he can count for $5 million on their cap and they'll only have to pay him $2 million. We may need to include a 3rd or 4th round pick, but it would be worth it.

I'll go with Ristolainen.

Do signing bonuses get paid on the first day of the league year? This year Moulson's base salary is $3 million with a $2 million signing bonus so depending on when the bonus gets paid his actual money paid still equals his cap hit. Next season his base salary is $2 million with a $1 million signing bonus so if bonuses get paid on the first day of the league year or something like that, we may be able to get a bargain bin team to bite after we pay his bonus.

And that's all fine. I'd rather lock up our blue chip guys early rather than try to nickel and dime them early in their careers only to be forced to give them some huge deal at 27 where we're stuck with Moulsonesque production and an anchor contract in the final years or else watch them walk as some other team gives it to them. This approach essentially locks him up for his entire prime. I'm not going to just pretend that Eichel is some huge bargain by only getting $10 million per season until he actually proves to be worth it though. He's been a good player for us so far, especially for his age. He hasn't been $10 million per season good though and even he has admitted as much. It's like the fans are so desperate for him to be good that many people are trying to convince themselves that he's already worth that kind of money. We want him to be as good as McDavid or Crosby or just a half tier below that but he hasn't proven it yet. Hopefully he will because given the contract he just signed he's gonna be with this team for the next decade. For the record, I'm glad he's signed though. I think he'll be overpaid at the beginning but hope the contract proves to be a bargain by the end of it and I think it will. It's not a bargain yet though by any stretch and he won't be a bargain simply by being a PPG first line center.

I don't think the Sabres got Eichel for cheap at all. If he played this season and put up 80+ points and then signed for $10 million per then I'd probably say we got him for a discount. $10 million per season based on the two seasons he has played for us isn't a bargain right now, even though it could potentially become one. You know who's got a bargain of a contract? Mark Schiefele. $6.1 million for a ppg 1st line center who will be in his prime for the duration of the contract. I'm hoping we can lock Reinhart up to a similar deal and he turns out to be just as productive.

He won't. Why would a 26 year old UFA sign only a 5 year deal when guys in their lates 20's and even early 30's sign longer deals? He's not going to leave that much money on the table.

I don't think he accept a low ball offer on term or money. I'd offer him something around the Okposo deal ($6m x 7 years) and hope he accepts it. If he wants significantly more than that I trade him at the deadline for the best offer available.