mjd1001

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.

It depends on where you live, where you are coming from..etc. I kinda like(d) indoor soccer where there is a lot of scoring. Other than that, the world cup, MLS, premier league, I have given many, many attempts over the years to watch and I just can't get into it. It does zero for me, I can think of at least 7 or 8 other sports I would watch many times over compared to soccer....HOWEVER.... I agree with you it is becoming more popular. On a recent trip to NY city, we spent time in Queens where my wife used to live and took cabs all over. Local cab companies, sometimes the drivers didn't even speak english. But the one thing that stood out to me, they listened on the radio to Soccer all the time. The NY MLS team I guess. But on a lot of the immigrant community, the non-english speaking citizens of this country...they love soccer. Same thing in Florida. In-laws live in FL (treasure coast area) and my father in law is always bored so he'll talk to anyone. Strangers. The guys that cut the lawn in the comminity. He told us (and then we saw it for oursevles) that he will walk outside and say hello to them and they say 'hi' back but aren't interested in talking. Bing up soccer though...the Brazilian or the Argentine national team...and those guys faces light up and they get excited and can talk for minutes at a time to you about it.

I also remember this: Boston Bruins’ Ullmark Can’t Resist Taking Dig At Buffalo The Boston Bruins just finished a five-game road trip last week that took them through Detroit, Chicago, Winnipeg, Minnesota and Buffalo, and Ullmark didn’t sound like he did any sightseeing tours at one of those wintry destinations after stopping 40 shots in a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden on Tuesday night. “It’s the same thing. We had a long road trip and we didn’t go through the best places on Earth,” said a smirking Ullmark to NESN during some postgame comments. https://bostonhockeynow.com/2023/03/21/boston-bruins-ullmark-cant-help-taking-dig-at-buffalo/ He just might not have enjoyed his time in Buffalo and was looking to go to a somewhat larger/what-he-considered-nicer city to play/live in. Whether you agree with him or not (some will say Chicago and certainly Minneapolis are nice cities), it doesn't matter our opinion, HIS opinion matters and it sure sounds like he likes the living conditions/lifestyle in Boston vs those other cities listed, of course including Buffalo where he spent a few years. Ullmark isn't a guy who only came to Buffalo with another team and saw the airport, the 33 and the Arena, he lived here, and if this area isn't his favorite, getting him back here and happy to be here is just not likely to happen.

Agree. 80 abdsolute max but 70-76 is ideal to me.

No, not really. Many of the people who are happy about this were not saying much about it a week ago. Many that were complaining a week ago are just now saying much now. Sure there is some overlap, but don't confuse individuals with their own agenda for 'group think' of the board.

Truly allows now for the draft to focus on the 'best player available' instead of reaching for a position to 'fill the pipeline.'

I lived in NH about 15 years ago, although only for 6 months. I never knew that. If that is the case, then that might be the best example of their motto "Live free or Die".

Agree about the playing time. Just throwing this out there ,maybe he was playing though a nagging injury and just wanted some time off? I'm not too concerned about thowing him in the lineup to play. I think just being there for practices, getting to know 'some of the guys' and the coaches is going to be the short term benefit. If, IF, Rochester advances AND they are hit with a couple injuries on the back end, that is where I see him playing.

I'm agreeing about Roku. Since the beginning of 'smart' tv's, we have had a few brands across our house. Sony. A couple Samsung TV's. An LG. Our currnet TCL Roku tv is the favorite brand now due to the app system. The pictures is good enough (I can't tell much of a difference between a $500 and $1000 tv), but Roku is my favorite smart system by far.

I agree on the Stanley cup being the most sought after 'trophy'. Its a 'lesser event' than a major, but in golf you have to consider the Ryder Cup. In auto racing, among fans the "Harley Earl" trophy is pretty well known as what is given to the Daytona Winner, and with the Indy 500 this weekend, the Borg-Warner Trophy has to be near the top. But again to the points above, as famous as those trophies are in their sports, you are known as the 'Dayona 500 winner', not the Harley Earl Trophy winner. So this still goes to the Stanley cup. The Ryder cup though? The tournament is named after the trophy.