mjd1001

For me, its either finish last (guaranteeing at least the 2nd pick in the draft) or go all out for wins. I'd PREFER finishing last, but I just don't think they are going do that this year. I see this team as worse case scenario a 25th to 26th place team, and BEST case about 20th overall. The problem is, I don't think they will finish last.

Positive impact? Pegula not only is a big player in Buffalo, but he becomes even larger in NY states eyes (Albany politicians) and the pull he has will be directed at Western NY. Negative? Same a above, but when the state does direct something his way (to WNY) they may say "you'll get money for one thing but not for both, now pick which you want" If the Bills get a new Stadium here in 10 years, at about that time we might be looking for a new Hockey arena or at least a MAJOR refurbishment of the current one at a minimum cost of $100's of millions. The arean is fine now, and will probably be usable by then, but a few things to consider: 1. In 10 years, it will be approaching 30 years old. 2. While nice for an arena, Some of the ones built in the last 10 years are much nicer already. 3. As or right now, how many Teams in the NHL play in buildings that are more than 5 years older than ours? 5 Teams. The Islanders and Edmonton have new homes coming, and MSG has had a nearly Billion dollar renovation. That is now, what will the NHL landscape look like in 10 years? With the Harbor centre basically attached to the arena now, I'm not sure we will be looking at a new one, but I can expect major renovations/upgrades to be happining in that time frame.

Anyone know anything about him (Danny Flynn) other than he was a coach in Moncton?

I might be in the minority, but I kinda like his game. This team in the long run is not going to be able to afford to have a full set of $4 million to $6million dollar per year studs on the blue line. Ruhwedel to me is/can be a pretty decent puck-moving D man that would be a very good #5 or #6 guy that won't hurt you much if you have to move him into a #3 or #4 role.

I agree with you there. I'm also not going to pick a logo as one of my favorites just because it is an original six team. Personally, a lot of people put the Blue Jackets logo/uniforms toward the bottom of the list, they are actually in my top 5. Chicago I have always loved. San Jose sometimes I look at and go 'eh' but other times I like. Now that I think of it, I think I'm a big fan of multiple bright colors. On the bottom of my list: I think the new Jets logo is pretty boring. The Wild might have the best designed logo, but it just doesn't look good to me. Not a big fan of Ottawa or Detroit either.

I'm good with the Ennis deal for now. Of course, if he turns into an injury prone, 10 goals a year player, we'll be hearing how Murray made a big mistake. While that can happen, so can him turning into an occasional 30 goal scorer. What is most likely, of course, is someplace in the middle. Given a big role in the offensive zone, I think 20-25 goal seasons are what we should be hoping for reasonably.

I still don't think/see Reinhart on the first line. I'd probably prefer him to stay in Juniors one more year. He will get better by attending Sabres prospect camp, training camp, playing in his 9 regular season games, etc. If he DOES make the Sabres, I am pretty sure TM and TN said they would protect him. Meaning 8-10 minutes a game, maybe some days off on the road (play him at home mostly where you can get the matchups you want), work him into power play time gradually, etc. But personally, I'd rather have him in the Juniors this year and then NEXT year play with the Sabres after 2 full training camps and development camps and 2 full off-seasons of Sabres conditioning/training.

Would have liked him to be here, but he isn't so time to move on. Now work on getting good enough to go out and beat him.

Maybe this is why Pegula is interested in the Bills. He has said over and over that Hockey is his first love....well, if Kim is wanting more control of the Sabres, maybe he thinks he can just buy the bills and 'give' them to her, to keep her out of 'his' hockey team.

Lets not get carried away with expectations here. If Reinhart even makes the team this year, I expect him to be truly 'protected'. What that means is he will average 10-12 minutes of ice time per game, probably be on a 3rd line at best with veteran wingers who think defense first, and may get scratched from the lineup on the road quite a few times where Nolan can't as easily control matchups. His ice time will be limited so his 'rookie' mistakes will be limited and they can better be focused on between games in film study to correct. A few games in the press box every now and then (on the road) might be a good way for him to watch from a different persepctive also. Also, expectations for stats should be kept in check because a player, even one who is 'mature' coming out of Juniors, can be a decent player without putting up big time stats for a few years, or it may take even highly rated players 3-5 years to become truly valuable. Patrick Kane: In 7 seasons in the NHL, the MOST goals he has scored in a season is 30, and that happened 1 time. As great as he is, he IS a 20-something regular season goal scorer. John Tavares: Same as above for Kane. His max goals in one year are 31, and he as done that once. A couple times (due to injury or lockout) he PROJECTED for more, but he is also so far is his career a typical 20-something goal scorer. Taylor Hall is now going into his 5th season, he has not yet hit the 30 goal/season mark. Ryan Nugent Hopkins is going into his 4th season, he hasn't hit 20 goals in a season yet. Matt Duchene, a 2nd overall pick, hasn't hit 30 yet either. Tylers Seguin, as a 2nd overall pick, took 4 years to cross 30 goals (not to mention a lot of apparent attitude and defensive end issues in his first few years) Gabriel Landeskog hasn't hit 30 goals yet. If Reinhart takes another year in Junior and then another 2 years AFTER that to be a 20 goal scorer in the NHL, that is about what we should expect. If he does make the team but only gets 10-12 minutes of ice time per game on the 3rd line, and ends up with 10 goals and 20 assists for the year, that also isn't a bad thing...I think that is what can be expected.

I can't give specifics, but in all seriousness, the Sabres have to start to look at trading very good quantity (which they have a lot of) for excellent quality. I things hold true, it looks like the Sabres are going to have a lot of guys who can be very good #3 or #4 D-men, and maybe a bunch of guys who are going to be good 2nd liners or great 3rd liners. I don't mean to dismiss that, I'm talking about good players here....we aren't talking guys who can be great 4th liners and good 3rd liners.) So, even though it may not be popular, the Sabres have to start really identifying guys on other teams that have a CHANCE at being that first line guy, and if it takes trading a veteran and 2 very good prospects to get him, those are the moves that have to be made. You can only stockpile so many young guys where are first and 2nd round picks for so long, and some point you can't keep them all.

Maybe someone can help me with this.. Erhoff is getting bought out, but the Sabres are not waiving him. How does that work? Isn't part of buying out someone that you have to waive them?

I'd like to see Hodson stay. I won't be upset terribly if they move him, but, on a slightly better team and playing wing, I think he is a guy that can approach 30 goals per season. Going forward, I see him as a very good powerplay guy and a possible first or second line WINGER (just not a center.) As for Ennis, I'd like to see him stay also. Foligno? I don't know. I am starting to think he is a bit over-rated by fans in the area. Right now, it has been a couple of years since I have seen anything from him to think he would be anything other than a 4th liner or a guy who can occasionally fill in as a third liner. I know he is young so consistency may still come, but I also think there may be better versions of what he is in the minors or the upcoming drafts.

Long As others have said. I love hockey, but by the time the playoffs end I'm worn out.

The question should be, in 2-3 years from now, who do you think will be the Sabres top 4 D-men? If you have 6 that you think are really, realliy good, you aren't going to be able to keep them. you are not going to be able to pay top-2 or top-4 money to the #5 and #6 guys on your roster. So I think what you need to do is identify your top-4 in 2-3 years, and then anyone who is not on that list is expendable. You may say what about Injuries? or if the projection now doesn't turn out? You also have to consider they Sabres will still be bringing in even MORE prospects, and some will be D-men. I do not see at all how Erhoff is in your top-4 in a couple years from now, so my view is he should be HEAVILY shopped this offseason and get what you can for him.

Players like Kessler, O'rielly, and others are not what the Sabres should be looking for. We might want them because we heard of them, but what the Sabres really need to do is identify the players who are going to be the next ones in those positions. Think back 7-8 years ago, the Sabres identified Briere and Drury when people who knew they were but were not 'stars' in the way that Kessler and O'Riely are now. If there are any trades to be made, I want them to be for players who I am not thinking of now, but after I think about it more and more after it does happen, I like it better than when I first heard of it.

Ok, there are always exceptions to the rule, but I think the new 'rule' the Sabres are apparently employing is going to be the key to their succes, much the way Detroit has done things over the years: Prospects stay in the Juniors/Minors for a few YEARS before they are up with the big club. It doesn't matter if someone is good enough to be your 4th D-man at 19, keep him developing in the minors. If you bring him up now..maybe he'll be your 4th D-man now..but he will always be your 4th D-man. Keep him in the minors and have in play in all situations (which he may not do as the #4 guy on the big club) and have him spend more time LEARNING to make his game better in practice rather than game-planning the other team...and then when you do call him up he might be good enough to be the #2 guy, not a life-long #4 guy. There are a lot of fans in Buffalo who see a guy in the minors doing well and want to bring them up right away because they "are better than the older guys", but what they don't get is they might be a LOT better than the older guys if you give them a little more time. Whoever the Sabres draft #2 overall this year....MAYBE the best thing for them is to not be a permanent member of the Sabres until the 2016-2017 season. 2 more years in Junior (with 2 Sabres training camps and development camps) or 1 year in Junior and 1 year in the AHL may make for the best long-term player.

To include it? or that is it? If that is what they are leaking because that is the minor news that is great. If the whole announcement is the Womens under 18 World championships...well....I don't know just how major that is (maybe it IS a big deal, just I don't know much about it.)

Ok, I'm not sure where to put this but I just had to vent. Just watched the end of the Indy 500. Now I do have a Hi-def scree, but it isn't the biggest in the world, and what does ABC do? The last couple of laps when drivers are passing each other and battling for the lead, they go to a split screen (making the race actually only about 30% of the entire screen) so on the other side of the screen we can see the wive/girlfriends of the drivers reacting to each pass or holding their hands together? SERIOUSLY?? Then, just seconds after the race ends, back to a split screen with the very first interview the wife of the winning driver. Just annoying.

Ok, I'm one of those people find soccer very boring, but, being the world cup, I'll watch it again. I don't have my hopes up, but maybe I'll find it enjoyable? The problem is, I'm not a fan that is going to get really into it. I will be a casual viewer....I think soccer as a sport lends itself better to the more hard-core fan.

Personally, I'd go to more games (I go to 1 every 2-3 years now), even if the tickets were double the current price, if the experience was more like a Sabres game. I want to be comfortable. I want a clean environment. I don't want to see ANY drunks around me. Thats just me. If they keep the experience the same, i'm also fine with it...I'll just keep trying to enjoy the games at home.

I must have gotten lost in the conversation, I scanned a few pages of this thread pretty quickly...I did think the post was about Grigorenko, sorry.

By points I don't think you mean 'goals and assists' As of now, through a total of of 15 AHL games (9 regular season this year, 2 playoffs this year, and 4 playoff games last year) he has a total of 0 goals, 4 assists, and is a -1. Of course, it is early in his career and I'm not sure what they are asking him to do down there.

Ok, this is slightly off topic, but you have to wonder about Crosby with some post concussion symptoms? I would say no after the numbers he put up this year in a full season (basically close to the top of his career numbers in a full year) but I have to wonder based on a couple things I heard. Toward the end of the year, and now into the playoffs, he is obviously not producing numbers (at least goals.) Now, even a 10-15 game sample is pretty small (a lot of great players go through goal droughts like that), but I it something I heard/read a few times. I wish I could find it, but during the season I read an article online where someone (a former player or scout) was slightly critical of Crosby, saying that although he was putting up numbers, his "decision making" seemed to be a bit slower. What I do remember for sure is on the 11am-noon hockey show on 590 from Toronto, the other day someone said the same thing....that his decision making was a bit slower than it had been in the past...and they brought up that after a second major concussion....sometimes players never get back to the same level of decision making they had before them. I'm not sure if that is true or not..but having read it once and then heard a different source say it later, it does make you wonder. Of course, If Pitt goes on the beat the Rangers in the Series and Crosby puts up 5+ goals and at least 10 points...none of this will be said again.

I'm more upset with the guy for what he DID in the past and less for what he said here. He should have been looked into by the NBA or fined or punished when he settled or was brought up in numerous instances of things like trying to force Black people and Mexicans out of apartment complexes he owns. To me, that is a LOT worse than saying what he said. Also, I have almost as much problem with the women in this case, to looks to have set this up intentionally get a payday out of it.