mjd1001

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.

When I was a little kid I loved Miracle whip and couldnt tolerate regular mayo at all. Now as an adult I'm flipped. I can have mayo on any sandwich, but Miracle whip I hate. Not sure why or how that flipped for me.

The less someone knows, the louder they yell. But then again, there is a large segment of the population that seems drawn to people who yell the loudest, regardless of what they are saying. We see it in all aspects of life, at our jobs, with our bosses, politics, sports, just about everywhere. The times of 'quiet confidence' are gone.

After about 25 years with my sturdy, heavy, durable computer desk, its time for a new one. I just want something in a light maple or white, medium length, sturdy, with a keyboard try or the ability to clamp on on to it. Looks decent, not something out of an industrial office. Basic. Shouldn't be too hard right? Hours of searching online I have found gaming desks that are huge. Desks that adjust in height that are motorized. Multi level desks. Desks with cable management systems built in, led lights built in. Desks where the entire top is a fabric like a mouse pad. Desks that are multi-colored. Desks where the surface is multiple pieces with a seam (or many) seams in them. Desks that cost $300, $400, up to $1000 and more. The FEW that I have found that fit what i want are usually under $100 and all reviews say to 'stay away' as they are made out of fiber board and fall apart within months. It shouldn't be this hard to get something that is both quality and somewhat basic in design.

Pittsburgh is now years away from being a legit cup contender. If they 'keep the band together' they have 1, maybe 2 year of simply contending for a wild card spot. But that franchise needs a LOT of work. They have a total of 2 (TWO!) players that were first round draft picks by them in their system (Sam Poulin and Owen Pickering). Neither was a top of the round pick, neither is even lighting it up in juniors/AHL. Most place that talk about farm systems have them ranked in the bottom 3. They have a 1st rounder this year but they don't have their 2nd or 3rd. As bad as Philly has been and in need of a total teardown, Pittsburgh might be looking at something worse, just a year or two behind Philly. The team is aging out of playoff contention and for a rebuild, there are no 'workers or tools' anywhere to be seen for that rebuild.

If, and this is a big IF, Beane and McDermott are going to be around here for 5+ more years....I wonder if they have 2nd thoughts about bringing in players that are more outspoken, more likely to be active on social media in a way they aren't comfortable with?

I have a similar feeling. I think that when he was drafted, and his first few years hear, even his 'on pace for MVP season' he was having at one point, I never really connected with him like fans do with their franchise player. If you follow the maple leafs fanbase you get a lot of the same vibes from them about their entire 'core'...they root for them becasue they are leafs and they are stars, but they aren't all that likeable to many. For example, when I was out of town and talking to people outside of Buffalo about sports, I never really felt the need to talk about Jack and say "that's my guy!", certainly not the way I feel about Josh Allen. Or I did about Hasek. Even how I did about Ryan Miller.

Like I said in my other post maybe I just don't care as much about the bills as I used to and as much as other people do. For me they are a fun diversion from life . And with football I don't like too much drama in my entertainment. I like it to be pure fun with minimal stress level. If it's something I have to think too much about or worry too much about I kind of check out of the NFL now. With that said, I'm not saying he's not a very good or great wide receiver, I just don't think he's indispensable. Teams survive and move on and sometimes even do very well when they lose their 30-year-old star receivers. I know based on your response you disagree with me and that's fine. We're not going to agree on everything.... But I really think this team needs a healthy Josh Allen who is upright and not injured much more than they need Diggs. I think they can be more successful without digs but with a healthy Allen, compared to last year were you had digs but you had Allen playing injured. In an ideal world you have both, but when players act like he is, it just rubs me the wrong way.

I'm reading and following the Diggs story/situation, but its more of a curiousity. I have posted here before that I have no idea why, but the Bills have gone from my childhood love (season tickets, never miss a game no matter what, know the entire roster, etc) so my #3 or maybe #4 interest in sports. So I'm curious about the story, but it doesn't bother me that much because I don't really care enough. With that said, I still have an opinion. I don't think this team needs Diggs. They need a healthy Josh Allen and I think Allen played most of the 2nd half last year hurt. He was all-world, MVP caliber for the playoffs in 2022, the first half of the 2022-23 regular season...then he gets hurt and doesn't look the same the rest of the year. Now, Diggs is stuck with the Bills and the Bill are stuck with him due to his contract...and YES, he is a very good player and on the field makes the team better. But personally I'd rather he wasn't here doing stuff like this....and the money you paid him you did something else with (Hopkins? for example) and you go forward with a Healthy Josh Allen. Maybe you take Diggs money and invest in a much better OL so Allen is much less likely to take hits in the pocket and stays healthy). Again, I know this isn't an option right now, but i'd rather have a healthy Josh Allen with a little more time in the pocket throwing to a WR unit without Diggs....rather than having Diggs and Allen being banged up a bit more and with a bit less time throwing to him.

Not to mention expansion teams don't have to worry about selling tickets or selling merchandise. If an existing team hasn't been relevant for a while, you might get signings like Taylor hall or other players to try to not only make the team better, but to get some fan support behind you. That can be a recipe for disaster. Expansion teams don't need to think about making money because they can take the long view and fans are still going to show up for a couple of years....and owners love revenue.

Interesting. Maybe, maybe not. Think of this Vegas team without Eichel. But with Tuch, Krebs (on a low line), $5m more in cap space (and what they could do with it) and possibly a major deadline aquisition they could fetch with the 1st or 2nd rounder they gave the Sabres. Points like this are what message boards are for.

Have an exhibition game there. Exactly where I do not know.

I think they made it easier for the expansion teams, but their success is more a different strategy they are taking than expansion teams in the past. It seems over the past few decades most expansion teams went in with the idea they were doing a 'full rebuild', not wanting good players an instead going for all youth. Vegas and Seattle didn't do that. In fact they had an advantage over existing teams becauser they could build their team with all guys in or entering the prime of their careers. With an existing team, the nature of being around for decades and constantly trying to compete means you have some guys past their prime, some in their prime, some young guys not there yet. If you look at Vegas and Seattle's roster, they built their team to have a greater percentage of guys in that 25-30/32 year old bracket than existint teams are able to. Maybe teams in the past didn't do that because the NHL made the expansion draft more restictive. BUT, with more/better players being available now, having a salary cap league AND this strategy, it makes it easier to attempt the 'win now' route. Vegas needs to win now. They are starting to 'age out' of their prime years with many of their players (4 of their top 5 paid forwards are over 30, and 3 of their top 4 D-men are 32 or older). Seattle? They are about to entier their 'prime' window and likely stay there for 3-5 years at least.

The last time Gibson had a good season, Jeff Skinner was getting used to the Sabres as his 'new' team. I don't want a goalie that hasn't been anything but average-to-below average since before the Pandemic. No thanks.

Maybe I'm reaching here, but if you can do that it might be an advantage. We know opposing teams do pretty intense scouting of opponents, knowing each players tendencies and weaknesses. When most of the league has guys on the 'right side', it can be easier for opponents to adjust to. Give them a different look, and it may be to your slight advantage. Kinda like the theory of a left footed punter in the NFL puts an opposite spin on the kicked ball that guys catching it aren't used to. The same may be that 2 guys on the Sabres back end that don't play 'positionally' like most of the league, or even retrieve the puck differnently from the boards or make their break-out passes slightly differently....maybe, just maybe that can give you a 'slight advantage against teams that have to scout you slightly differently than everyone else. I know that might be a reach, but try to take any slight disadvantage you have and see if you can turn it into an advantage.

If all else is equal, I think the lefty-righty thing might be a tie-breaker, but sometimes I think fans put too much into it. It was either Adams or Granato, or both, that said that at least one time this year, that to them its 'nice' but certainly not the top thing they look for. Especially with Dahlin, he is all over the ice. Especially without the puck he roams all over that you can pair him with either a lefy or righty and I don't think it matters much. Maybe Power will get to be the same way eventually. To me, how good the player is overall and how they may/may not work with a paing partner is way, way more imporant than if you have an equal number of lefies and righties. Vegas has probably gotten the most consisent play out of their backend this playoff series, and 3 of their top 4 are lefties (Theodore, Martinez, and Mcnabb) and 4 of the 6 guys they carry game in and game out are lefties. Dallas was also a top defensive team and while they had 3 L and 3 R in their top 6, a lot of games they had 2 L paired together and 2 R paired together. Boston was the best Defensive team in the league, and when Grzelyck was in the lineup they went with 4 of 6 lefties also. So yes, if you can get that even mix that is great, but the exact player, the 'fit' might be more important.

Saw Rick Springfield a few years ago (think it was in Artpark in Lewiston) where Tommy Tutone opened. At one point Springfield was doing a mix of songs and threw in a line from '8679309' and then said in the song "everyone thinks that one is mine but it isn't, it's Tommy"

Draft needs to me really isn't about needs but strategy: -First round pick, best player available. Probably applies to 2nd round pick also. -If there is ANY goalie you think has ANY kind of potential, take one in the later rounds. Prospects of all positions wash out, but goalies drafted in the later rounds have a much better chance of becoming quality NHL players than other positions players do in the later rounds. -If you go heavy with Forwards in the early rounds, take some D in the late rounds. Heavy with D early, take some forwards. Keep it balanced. The NHL draft is always such a gamble, the above is all I really like to see each year. Management/scouting of the Sabres (or any team for that matter) knows hundreds and hundreds of times more than I do so you have to trust them, just stay within the above boundries and I'm happy.

No. I don't really have much of an opinion of Hellybuyck...I mean is he good yes. But as a player/fan, I don't have anything for him. Levi? I like him as a fan, I like his attitude, I like how the fanbase has already connected with him. So just as a 'fan', I'd rather have Levi.

No express lines at many local stores. Tops sometimes, Walmart its a big problem lately. Walmart has the do-it-yourself self scanning checkouts, maybe 6-8 per store and they can open up more. But I've been there more than once now where I hit a time of the day where the store is busy, and the line for those self-checkouts can have 5-6 people waiting. The problem? What if you (me, anyone else) has only 2 or 3 or 5 items? There is NO express line. So all of those people in front of you that have carts full of groceries and aren't all that good and using the self checkouts...you have to wait behind them to buy your couple items. Personally I never had a problem at Wegmans with this (yet). Tops on a rare occasion. Walmart it happens pretty frequently. If you are going to have all those self checkouts, can you make at least ONE an express line?

This it the key. Anytime really, but come playoff time, if you have a dominant D-man, he can control the game as much as, often times more than a great forward. If Dahlin gets any better, you have a guy what can retrieve the puck from his own zone and get it out without many turnovers all by himself if need be. Control the game from the back end. If you can get the puck, control it and get it out effecitvely from your own end and transition through the neutral zone it will be very hard for the opposing team to mount much offense. Picture both Dahlin and Power getting a bit better than they are now. Basically in the playoffs or any key game, ONE of them is on the ice at virtually all times even strength. Hard to play against that.

Could be a whole thread on its own: Hard to see Boston not falling. There is really no way with they getting older they can repeat this season? I don't see Detroit ascending THAT far. When I look at their roster and prospects, sure they can get better but I see a lower ceiling on that team than others. Florida it depends on where you think they are Ascending from. Presidents trophy last year, cup finals this year...hard not to overall put them at a very high level already. Montreal should be ascending for sure. Just they are a year or two behind Buf/Det/Ottawa. Toronto has to really be an incompete. It looks like the D-unit and goalie situation might/could be almost the same as this year, and the 'core' is mostly jut entering their prime. BUT, do they make any major moves and shoot themselves in the foot? And the rest of the forward..you need to fill out 2/3s of the entire forward group this offseason. I don't think they are falling yet unless they self-inflict a wound this offseason. Eastern Conference offseason this summer should be one of the more interesting in recent memory.

I don't know, Maybe? From this forum and some friends/relatives/coworkers that I talk to that is not the Vibe I get. I find many/most interaction I have where the possibility of Kane in Buffalo is brought up leads to at best an eye roll and at worst a 'no way in hell do I want to see him on this team.'

Zero interest in that trade for Hellebuyck. None. I wouldn't give up half that much.