mjd1001

Tampa and the Islanders, as you said, are probably the safest bets. Boston you can't rule out a major drop. Bergeron, Krecji, Bertuzzi, Hall, Orlov and Clifton are all possibly gone, and they played a major role on this team at some point. Marchand will be turning 36 later in season and he did have a slip in offensive production last year. We are all tired of predicting the Bruins taking a step back, but it is a possibility. Toronto is a great regular season team, but they are so top-heavy that all the need is a season ending injury to one of their top 4 and a half step back in goaltending and that would cause them to take a major step back. Not that you can rely on it happening, but their season can change the most with injuries to their top 4.

The islanders are not hopeless but they have a few issues: -There is virtually no help in the system. They have a few young players Isle fans can convince themselves MIGHT be good NHL'ers, but they have to try hard to do that. There really isn't anyone in the orgainzation that can be any kid of difference maker at any level. -With no help coming in from the system, how about anyone on the main roster still young and getting better? Not really. Forwards 'usually' hit their statistical peak about age 25-26, and by the age of 28 they tend to start the slide down in production. Barzal is 26 already, but he might be a bit of an overpay at 9.1m per year. Horvatt is 28. Anders Lee is 33. Brock Nelson will be 32 when the season starts. Lee, Nelson, and Horvatt are going to be the only guys on that roster next year that scored over 20 goals this past season, with no help really coming...most other guys you are lucky if they hit the high teens. Sure, they play a good Defensive game, but when it comes to outgunning any other teams, they don't have much of chance. They play a great defensive game and have great goaltending. That will keep them competitive. But the problem is there is really no reason to think they will be any better next year than they were this year, and a few reasons (slight regression due to some aging) to think they might be slightly worse. Basically, the past 2 seasons (84 and 93 points) are probably their ceiling, with little going to to push them over that ceiling.

I agree if you are talking about this heat/weather. Personally, I'd rather take a walk outside with temps in the 30's with a jacket on, the 40's, 50s, and low 60's with a light jacket on, or the upper 60's or low 70s with a t-shirt...rather than deal with ANY of this 85 and over stuff with humidity. And even the sun. Give me a mostly-to-partly cloudy day over the sun beating down on my skin heating it up even more for most of these days.

Hope this doesn't become controversial or political....but my complaint is the launch (so far) of 'threads', the twitter competitor. I tried it. I will give it a shot. but there are some major issues/complaints I have right now. -No desktop app for Windows. when working I spend half my time in front of the computer at a desk. It is SO easy to check Twitter, have the app pinned to the taskbar, click once and it opens and within seconds I'm checking my feed. Threads? Phone apps only, no desktop app at all. No way to easily check the threads from the computer at all. -Totally random posts coming up. There is no option to just read the people you follow...some algo determines what it thinks you want to read and fills up the feed with random junk from poeple I dont know saying things I don't care about. If I open 'twitter' or 'threads' to read posts by people I follow....it is now a total waste of time to scroll through pages and pages of junk from stangers I don't care about. -Search feature. There is a search. As of now you can't search topics, just users. I want to search for Sabres, F1, Buffalo ny? nope, only searches users, can't search for topics. Great we have a choice (maybe not if the userbase splinters between both apps) and I know its early, but to me they need to fix those 3 things ASAP, the first 2 most importantly, or the app is close to useless for me personally.

Bread is an under-rated part of any sandwich....and a lot of that has to do with Water. Everyone in their own city/region thinks they have the best pizza (due in part to the crust) or the best bread...or best 'whatver food' and they are convinced of it. Why? They are USED to the water in their region...the same water that goes into their pizza crust, their bread, their pasta is boiled in, etc. My wife is from NY city and has friends that are 100% convinced that their sandwiches/bread/pasta/pizza is the best in the world and anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy. Its not just their 'civic pride' though in all cases. They are used to the taste/mineral conted of that NY city water so when their food is cooked in it, to them it is the best (same thing in other regions/cities.) Its the offseason, topics tend to get off topic a bit more as there is less overall to talk about regarding the teams/players.

Honestly, I just want 3rd pair D-guys who are good enough to keep Dahlins ice time down a couple minutes a game (to about 23) and Powers ice time down to about 21 minutes per game. Having 2 great D-men so at least one of them can be on the ice for the majority of the games in the playoffs may be more important than in the regular season. Have a guy back there who can get to and move the puck out of your zone will be very valuable in playoff hockey. While you need to have your stars play a lot to GET you to the playoffs, once you get there those guys need to be somewhat rested AND fully healthy.

I was hoping for a bit more on the back end. Free agency or a trade...I really had my hopes on ONE player a bit better than what the Sabres got. Maybe Johnson or Clifton will be a better fit on the Sabres and they will turn out to be good? Unless something else big is going to happen in the trade market, it looks like slight improvements to the back end plus the young guys getting one year better are the order for this season. Might be good enough to get them into the playoffs.

Zero interest in him. I'm not even sure he would be any better next year than a healthy Comrie (I still think Comrie played through some injury woes even when he came back) or UPL. And to give up anything for that? I posted this in another thread about him, but the last time he had a 'good' year, Jeff Skinner was in his FIRST year with the Sabres. And even that year was 'good', not great.

I tend to agree. I still think the team/coaching staff is pretty high on Jokiharju too, at least more than many fans are.

They are trying to win the off-season in the hearts of their own fans.

I don't have much of a preference in terms of who they sign in FA...meaning no one specific I really want. I just want them to do something soon so we have something to talk about...and hopefully it'll be someone we can easily convince ourselves we like....ideally a vet (but not too old) D-man.

I haven't commented yet, but after reading the comments so far... -Some seem to think he has a chance of making the team with Quinn being out. I think there is virtually no chance of that. -I like reading that a lot of sites/pundits say he should have/could have gone higher. That is good. I'm not a big fan of the way they describe his style of play. I mean, nothing wrong with great vision, hard work in the D-zone and one of the best playmakers in the draft. Its just me, personally, I like wingers sho may be lacking in those areas IF they are kinda fast and kinda big at the same time, or just plain fast.

People who don't know how to do their job correctly and then they blame others. Just this morning I was driving in NF and there was road construction. I was heading west on a one way street (that was done to one lane) and came to an intersection. There was cross traffic in both directions. So, no police directing traffic, but instead 3 construction guys standing in the middle of the intersection 'trying' to direct traffic. I wanted to keep going straight. The road ahead of me wasn't blocked. I saw cars pulling off of side streets onto the road I wanted to go on. Yet apparently I wasn't supposed to? The construction guys were not really paying attention to the traffic, mostly talking to each other while waving their arms and pointing at cars. So the guy in the middle pointed at me and then started waving both arms up and down, almost like he was flapping his wings. I have NO idea what he was trying to do, so I entered the intersection and rolled down my window. He came up to me and started yelling at me that I could only go left or right. Like mad yelling at me raising his voice. So, other cars were on the street in front of me I wanted to go straight on. There was no construction vehicle there. And he was half paying attention to traffic and using some hand/arm waving signals that I have never seen anyone use to direct traffic, and he got mad at me and came up to my window yelling at me because I have no idea what he was trying to do? My complaint of the day. Pay attention to traffic, not your coworkers. How about actually POINTING in a direction that someone can go?

I thought that would be the most unpopular choice, but I kinda agree with you. He is at a point where a pretty big jump statistically, while maybe not likely, isn't out of the question with him.

I said about a month ago I would be OK with the status quo PLUS 1 legit top 4 D-man and another prospect D-man for Rochester who is good enough to play for the Sabres in a pinch. Anything else, a big goalie move being what is a big topic right now on this board....isn't that big of a deal for me. Just get a legit top-4 Dman and bringing back the rest of the gang is fine. Girgensonss and Okposo aren't likely to be here next year, certainly not both of them, so the young guys will get their shot eventually. If they force their way on to the team early by being light-out in a good way in camp so be it.

I know this was not directed at me, but I feel the same way (I am not eager to make trades and if its not a clear 'win' I'm likely not interested -- at this time). Why? I think making trades that you might not win, taking chances for something that might be a big reward....those type of deals I could get behind when your team is really 'stuck in the mud', so to speak. If you are going no-where or have an attitude in the room that needs to get changed, go ahead and make some big changes. However, I feel good about the direction of the current team. I LIKE the players on the current team. I think there is a chance that all of the goaltenders on the roster play better this year and that Levi could be a long term solution and he is here already. I think if you made NO moves (which I do not want NO moves) the team would still be better if no major moves were made. With that said, I want a move for a top-4 D-man and if that means trading assets (including a former 1st rounder) than that is what I'd be comfortable with.

This is a topic that keeps on coming up. It is short-term thinking by the sabers or maybe the NHL. I'll bring up a few people... My daughter and her boyfriend who are in their middle 20s, two nieces who are in their middle 20s, and a nephew who is in his early 20s. Those are the people in that age bracket in my life who have now moved out of their parents house and are living on their own. Every single one of them was a fan of the sabres growing up, and went to games, and watched them on television. My youngest nephew as a teenager had a collection of sabres jerseys. I verified with my nephew and niece when I saw them last over the holidays but none of them have traditional cable television where they get the MSG network, so none of them watch sabres games anymore. They are still fans of the team, but they don't go to any games, buy jerseys anymore, and they want them to do well but they watch the games much less than they did when they were readily available. My nephew was more of a sabres fan growing up but now he's more into the bills.... Why? He can watch all the games. I'm sure it's not the same with everyone in that age group, but to me it's obvious that to make a little bit more money with your cable television partners, you are shutting out a large segment of people who are going to be less fans of your product, buy less merchandise, and is there overall interest drops go to less games.

It is the same in nominal terms. Whether the cap goes up is the thing you have to decide if the nominal makes it worth it. The point of my post is do you break the contract down the way you do knowing the nominal, but not knowing the other things. Plus for me, I guess the numbers being as high as everyone is throwing out there, those numbers are good for Dahlin, I'm not sure sure for Power. I think Dahlin has a higher likely ceiling than Power. My personal opinion is Dahlin is/should be in the Norris trophy discussion every year for the next Decade. I think Power, while very very good, might be more likely to be 'all star' caliber, but a notch below Norris caliber.

Doing the math...3 at 5.5 is 15.5 total 8 at 8.5 is 68 total. If you do the 8 year version instead of the 3 year bridge you are basically deciding to pay 52.5 million for the remaining 5 tears beyond the bridge. For those saying 8 years at 8.5...mathematically you are saying that instead of 3 at 5.5....you would take that 3 at 5.5 and add on 5 more at 10.5 per year after. I'm not so sure I would sign him for 8 at 8.5....IF 3 at 5.5 is an option. I might just take the 3 at 5.5 and then re-evaluate at the end of that deal, not thinking that it will cost MUCH more than what it would be if you broke it down. Again, if those are the options, we are throwing out a lot of guesses at the moment.

I hope so. I like Power a lot and as a young rookie for a D-man, he played great. But from what I saw, great FOR A ROOKIE. He wasn't playing at an all-star level yet and he has the tools to be a great D-man but his play wasn't close to a guy you can say is a lock to be a Norris candidate in the future. He is good now. VERY good for his age. He has the tools to be great, but by no means is he a lock (yet) to be a top 10 d-man in the league.

Not a buch of open spots, but a bunch of young guys that have future NHL potential that us fans are speculating on where they are in the organization is what I meant. While few of them may make the team, I think it'll be great to see who is paired with who (among the young guys), how much time they get, how many preseason games they get. How the coaches talk about them. How late they stick around in camp. So you are likely correct that few of the young guys will make the team, us as fans should have a lot more visibility of just where they are in the organization.

This is why camp is so much fun/so important this year. The Sabres have a bunch of young guys that could be ready for the NHL or might be a year or two away. For fans, it's going to be an opportunity to see what the coaches think of the talent level and development of all these young guys we are just speculating on.

That seems like a typical message board offer. "Give me one of your good players and I'll give you 3 things that each have 10% the value of what you are giving me." VO may have more value than that, but Career AHL guys and 3rd round picks are not things that net you legit very good NHL players.

Not really. Is he "done"? maybe. I also think having a bounce back season isn't out of the question. The issue is, a 'bounce back' season is a possibility, not a certainty. AND he is going to be 32 at the start of this season...which for a D-man isn't always all that bad (D-men seem to mature a bit later than Forwards and stay 'good' for a bit longer than forwards), BUT I'd be OK with an older-stay at home type guy, not an offensive puck moving guy on the back end who is aging. And its not just age. In the last 10 years he is like 7th or 9th in the entire NHL in tersm of time on ice...lots of miles on the tires with him.

I'd be interested in knowing the Metrics used for the categories. Climate. For all those jokes about Buffalo weather and for the people who think it is the WORST Place in the USA (maybe all of North America) to live...yet behind Buffalo in climate is: Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Denver, Montreal, Minneapolis, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. It almost looks like the 'climate' rating is how many degrees your average temperature is away from 70 (in either direction) during the hockey season.