LTS

Woot. Missed most of the game in meetings. I know most people will say I was lucky and didn't miss anything. Meh. I didn't GAF before the game and I still don't. Allowing this franchise to impact one's quality of life is letting Terry Pegula win. Not a chance I am giving him that satisfaction.

Was in a meeting the whole first period. About to go into my next one. But checking in and reading the forums between (the game is on in the background). I guess the forum is more:

There's gotta be some kind of AI bot for Invision that can do this for us right?

In what time zone? The one the poster is in? The time zone the game is in? Eastern Time because that's the Sabres home time zone? This is why time zones suck.

I always drink something good to kick off the season but sadly today I will be in meetings when it starts and have to be on camera, so that won't work. I also have to go to a high school volleyball match this evening, so drinking is not the best idea either. So... since I am starting this season with a change perhaps that's an omen? yeah, I am going with that. I imagine that after today people here will be either: OR Let's hope for a lot of this from the Sabres

Tough call. I don't think I would pay any goalie that amount. From 2006-2019 the highest paid goalie that won the Stanley Cup was Braden Holtby, 2019 at $6.1M. From 2020-2024 you had Vasilevsky win twice making $9.5M and Bobrovsky win in 2024 making $10M. I don't know that I would attribute those teams winning to the goaltending superiority, but it does support a team winning the Cup with a goalie making a high percentage contract relative to the cap. Those teams also had very skilled skating line-ups as well. I don't think the Sabres are there and I think their money is best spent elsewhere.

And no longer on the precipice... I cannot stand how anyone can talk about war and then talk about the "rules". If people are crazy enough to engage in these massively destructive actions it's hard to believe they are going to care too much about "rules". It's disgusting... I sincerely hope we don't see more escalation.

I wouldn't blame the telecom industry. It's a content holder and rights holder issue. They are the ones who determine who and where a broadcast can be viewed. Sorry if some of this was covered already, but I am also watching CNN right now hoping we don't end up in a larger world war soon. Viewing Sabres Games: MSG Games Cable - if local Fubo - anywhere DirecTV Satellite and Stream - anywhere TNT Games Cable DirecTV YouTubeTV Sling NHL Network Pretty much all services with some level of additional subscription. ESPN+ is fine if you are out of market and the game is not on NHLN or TNT or any other national broadcast the NHL dreams up. MSG+ is clearly an option. Good luck with it! The only two sources I am aware of where you can get ALL the games is cable and DirecTV. Everywhere else you are going to miss some games.

Wasn't PSE dissolved last year? Is it just produced by the Sabres org or whatever organization they split PSE into or is there still a PSE that owns things?

It's simple. If I answer no that poll right now then I log off the forum and free up my calendar from watching or talking about this team. So I have to answer yes.

Unless Swayman said he wouldn't consider signing until Ullmark was gone. At which point Swayman then pulled his antics. I'm not here to say how or what happened other than to open the possibility that Boston was acting honestly and the player boned them. Of course Boston could have just dealt Ullmark and then hoped Swayman would sign. I'm not as much interested in who did who wrong here so much as I am getting full on the popcorn I can't stop eating.

As I said going into this week. The Bills had played suspect level teams and the Ravens, while starting slow, had found their mojo. It went how I expected it to go on the Baltimore side. I'm not sure I expected the offense to be as bad as it was, but it was. Yeah, hopefully they learn. Or, they're just not that good. Their defense is not a good match for Baltimore's offense, especially with the legitimate rushing threat of Henry.

When I get back to work tomorrow I expect to hear a lot more about the impacts to people in my company. We have a large group of employees in the Spartnaburg/Greenville area and it's just south of Asheville/Busick areas in NC that got hammered. Most of them had no power early Friday morning and it only got worse. We also have quite a few people in the Charlotte area and while many had no power I had yet to hear about the same impacts. I had not realized that the storm had increased in strength so much. Finally getting up to watching the news, etc. and seeing the damage. Earlier I spoke about the rain to snow ratio and talked about 13" of rain.... 30" of rain would be 300" of snow. 25 feet of snow... I know we can imagine a lot of snow if you've been in the snow belts, but 25 feet?

I'm not saying this to support any kind of stereotyping, etc. However, unless you know what the cheerleader does when not cheering, I'm not sure you can assert it's not the same thing. 🙂 For you? I am envisioning "Flow".

I'm confused. The last time the Sabres fans collectively chanted the team got mad and would not salute the crowd. Do we want to fire the coach already?

Get to see my son play college hockey today. .. granted only club, but he had basically quit hockey after HS opting instead for club baseball when he was at Bonaventure. Now he's at Fisher and his buddies got him to play. I love hockey so much more than baseball.

or... not. This will be like an all-star game.

Will Keeso be mic'ed up so everyone can hear his chirping? NSFW then... I'll show up to support the Jims. 🙂

100%. Moreover, A's or not on the sweaters, those players were clearly providing leadership on the team and would continue to do so. Getting a letter is a reflection of what they already do. With regards to work ethic, there's no saying that these players didn't have a problem with how things were last year. But, they had a coach they had to work with and we already have heard how Ruff operates things more stringently than Granato did. I would imagine having a coach letting little things go would make it rather difficult for the leaders on the team. Of course it's speculation, but I have a similar situation where I work right now. My boss is all over the place and talks a big game but when it matters he forgets stuff and people get away with putting out a poor product. I also manage people under him. I am routinely fighting his leadership to try and make sure people are not taking the easy way out. I don't always win. Let's just see what a coach with a more detail oriented attitude and a new leadership group can do with this team.

I love Sabretooth. Always have. Gritty became a favorite right away. He was amazing in his Abbott Elementary episode.

I work with quite a few people in Florida, GA, and South Carolina. One employee was mandatory evacuation in St. Peterburg and had already seen the flooding begin. Crazy stuff and I am sure what I will hear today will make yesterday seem tame. They were also talking about two more storms following close behind. I suppose the positive is that these aren't higher category storms. Still, the amount of rain that falls in these lower category storms is a bit unbelievable. They talk about rain:snow ratio as 1:10. I can't imagine the 130" of snow that would have equated to when I was down in Tampa during Debbie. We are intimately familiar with 77" of snow at Orchard Park... add another 53"? Hooooo.

I have to imagine Samuelsson is as wacky as hell in the room. My son is probably the foremost expert on Sabres Players' Instagram and he loves Samuelsson's account. He's witty as hell. He's probably pretty good at de-escalating tensions while still maintaining a standard of play. Yep. Goofy glue is important. I'm happy with the choice. I think he'll mature even more into the role as he is still quite young. But there's no denying his passion. He also has that awkward humor about him that just... works. It's a smart marketing move to use Buffalo's most favorite athlete to introduce him. Allen is the embodiment of all fans championship hopes right now. Using him certainly elevates the message. It doesn't change their ability to succeed on the ice, but if Dahlin can become the Sabres' Allen... I think we'll all be happy.

It does. It's happened to me and certainly others have acknowledged it over time on here. I took pretty much a year away from the forum entirely. It's not easy to realize it but when you do and you can make the changes it really helps. Good on you for recognizing it and taking strides. I seem to have conflicts when all these pre-season games keep happening to I have the luxury of not having to decide if I will watch it. I'm ready for the season, especially now that the captains have been named.

I am not being argumentative just for the hell of it.I t is your opinion. Everyone can have one. Everyone can choose how much merit they want to give the opinion and ultimately disagree. So be it. My goal was to determine what made someone an effective center first and foremost. Secondary was an attempt to quantify how to achieve a top 15 ranking on something other than opinion. Any discussion based on pure opinion generally ends up with everyone being right.. unless someone wants to change their mind. That's okay, that's the point of subjectivity. I was attempting to measure of objectivity. Another way to look at it is to compile a list of centers and then determine if there are 15 of them you would put on your team before Thompson. So I'll attempt that: MacKinnon, McDavid, Matthews, Draisaitl, Crosby, Point, Stamkos, Barkov, Hughes, Kopitar, Eichel (despite my personal feelings), Johnston, Eriksson Ek, Bedard, Kyrou are all centers I would consider taking over Thompson. Others in consideration: Larkin, ROR, Jarvis, Aho, Suzuki, Pettersson. I have nothing against Thompson, I just think the one's I have listed I have more faith in. Could be the inconsistency of Buffalo versus other teams and I want to be wrong. Can't read it as I don't have a NYT subscription.

A notably different, albeit probably quite interesting, experience.