Randall Flagg

I tried to post something just like this in the Clifton thread. A sort of middle ground COULD work but I just can't fathom why anyone would be comfortable with placing that bet when the Sabres assets, league cap situation and general player availability are just begging to SOLVE the question marks absolutely In my nightmare, Kevyn starts a family business from scratch, guts through tough times and lean years to produce something on the precipice of setting up his family for generations, and then inexplicably goes cheap on something that was previously foundational to the whole thing while everyone adjacent pulls out their hair and asks: what do you even mean "risking the future?!?!?!?!" Rounding the corner on the last leg of a quest to the lost castle, approaching the moat and deciding to swim across instead of using the available drawbridge. Sure, maybe there aren't crocodiles, but THE BRIDGE IS RIGHT THERE KEVYN OH MY GOD WE SURVIVED DRAGONS SOMEHOW AND HERE YOU ARE DOING THIS

Boy have I about had it with hearing about how Adams had a bunch of things lined up that didn't culminate in anything Just don't tell me, I don't need the assurance that he's trying his best

The two guys that so many are content with playing while Levi rests ranked in the 80s and played hockey that not one person was okay with for massive chunks of the season, and I have no idea where Levi himself might fall. I hope that needing better than this and believing it is possible does not come off as mysticism. I am seeing a lot of people forget the sort of pain that Comrie and UPL provided last year, both on their own and relative to how the position is played league-wide. It's the sort of thing that can cost another year of drought. It sure did last year.

Are we or are we not supposed to use plus minus

If you would have told me we were getting Clifton last week, I would be happy with the addition but hopeful that he was brought in to drive a great third pair behind Power's new stud partner, OR that Clifton was followed with a trade for a Very Good Goalie. I would have expressed worry if Clifton was added and none of those other things seemed ready to materialize Variables include the granato factor as well as a good response to increased opportunity, no shame in being stuck behind McAvoy and Carlo The addition is very good overall and Power could also make any worries irrelevant with a big step

Meant to switch that around to a less exaggerated statement, it was not the most popular take

There are definitive signs out there that Buffalo is finally changing its reputation. Good to see

It would be very easy and plausible for the current roster to take a step back rather than forward. They need to finish the offseason. Adding a solid bottom 4 D and a bad one, while losing Quinn, is not enough.

Everyone laughed at me when I insisted he was an NHLer here

Incredibly disappointing offseason if true, and not unexpected given Adams' m.o. But I'm not giving up until the final whistle

What's the personality trait that makes you incapable of talking or thinking about anything except through how others are reacting to it, either in real life or your imagination? Because that's far more noticeable than anything else here

I mean he played really well in Colorado and NJ, 2 high flying transition teams

I love schemes

He was never leaving the Island even before the contract was signed

That is two massive OOF posts right in a row Brawndo, thanks

Several teams have done stupid things so far. The Sabres haven't yet.

I'm gonna back off on him from this point forward anyway, He's accomplished a lot and will be a good guy for the kids to talk to, and Donny tends to make players their best selves. He's a Sabre so he's my guy

This bit of information really isn't worth the caloric expenditure required to type it He is generally laughed at as one of the worst first overall picks in living memory

That's certainly A Contract

Yes, I laugh at myself for the stuff I get wrong here. I reference my takes on Tage and Josh Allen regularly, for example It wasn't a high bar to be dissatisfied with Sabres offseasons from 2015-present, people who felt that way each year were more correct than the front office on what the results would be. In preseason predictions threads I know I had a string of being within like 3 points of the final outcome several years in a row, just based on roster analysis, while everyone else was predicting 95 point wild card births and calling me miserable You didn't say anything about Adams I disagree with lol, but I'm not going to ignore what I saw from Erik Johnson because of that. The credentialism thing was about the "really, YOU think YOU'RE smarter than the EXPERTS????"

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Why would he do that (I took my honeymoon in California I understand why)

wow. good for Miles

Okposo was a good hockey player in 22-23, which cannot be said of Johnson. Johnson could fit in well here, and I'm not sweating it because of the Clifton acquisition and goalie trade (no news, just willing into existence) But I won't also pretend that I didn't see this guy look like a complete sieve on a better team than we are, depth isn't inherently good because the warm body exists

We are a good team when we choose to be lol. As for that last part, that's a good way to never have an interesting discussion about anything. My track record on this stuff has spent a decade being significantly more accurate than that of Sabres front offices. That's not to say I'm better or smarter than them. But credentialism worship is as stupid here as anywhere else.

The only thing with serious value in that pile is the first rounder. Deciding between Vezina goaltending and Devon Levi each night 82 times is probalby worth pick 26