Thorner

Everyone is saying the same thing tbh. There isn’t a single poster suggesting the team make a trade they feel is bad “just to do it”. The entire thing is arguing a straw man

Because most recognize that the easiest hack to winning later… *is* winning now. Our collective mindset was so perverted by the tank, I think. It still clings on. The “be bad now, to be good later” line of thought was a bill of goods sold and purchased and revealed as a lie, time and again you lay the first brick. You win a little bit first. You make the playoffs first by any means necessary, THEN sort the rest out. We were stacking bricks on a philosophical ideal and acted surprised when it collapsed

Not NECESSARILY re: Kreiderrrr, and If Adams can’t make a move he can’t make a move, but if we are sitting here looking at how swell his now-roster trades and signings are looking, and re: this summer, we do seem to be doing that of late, I can’t for the life of me understand why we wouldn’t want more. They’ve been the key to the positives How old is Zucker? 32? The thread is full of comments that he’s too old. We are far far more likely to be bit by youth than old age in our current format we are absolutely on the brink. The brink of a playoff berth. That’s the goal, now

“At least a few years from being cup contenders” the sabres aren’t a few years from anything. They are only a few years away from *what they MAKE happen*. Our two best players far and away are solidly in their prime RIGHT NOW. in a “few years”, Thompson will be in his 30s and his prime will be past. saddling ourselves with that type of thinking necessarily is a mistake. When the Jets made the playoffs in 2018 they were “ahead of schedule” in making the conference finals. Haven’t been back since. We JUST appear to *maybe* be getting away from “this year wasn’t about winning, anyways” and we are itching to sign up for another “woah woah, slow down” window? You make the playoffs and you see what you can do. You don’t want to trade for “fading” players, regardless. But if a player is going to be better, right now, and not drop off a cliff in the immediate future, than whatever future assets we are dealing out, it’s worthy of consideration. The improvements we saw this year aren’t from waiting: they are coming from the moves we made out of a sense of urgency

“W.C.K.A.H.E.D.?”

Who’s drawn more than he’s committed this year

The gains we are seeing are mostly from backing off on some of that willful suffering and instead converting some future assets to win-now components. I take the exact opposite lesson tbh

That’s kind of what I was getting at up thread. Ya, maybe this team this year ends up being the best team I’ve even seen in Sabres sweaters, ever….but we’ve spent so incredibly long in the desert I don’t really see the need to envision the team as exceptional simply because we find ourselves to no longer be “historically bad”. Anecdotally I almost feel some need reminding those aren’t the only two options, which we sometimes around here seem to pinball between. We’ve been trying to draw comps to 05-06 since we moved beyond it If this IS the best Sabres team ever…great! I’m still focused firmly on scraping out a playoff spot. That would be awesome

I mean, we are pacing for a total currently that usually falls well short of the playoffs..and the perception is it’s the highest point of Adams’ tenure, no less - and I’m not saying it’s not. I’d agree being cautious right now makes a world of sense. It’s pretty wide open: I could see us pulling away a bit, falling back a bit, or battling out in this range for a full 82. The metrics/data right now doesn’t lend itself to easy projective conclusions re: this season, imo

05/06, yup

Our fourth line hasn’t been good at much of anything, but I agree. Like I said, having 4th liners that can elevate in a pinch is probably the very last place you’d expect to find “depth”. That would be a luxury

It’s true, those guys haven’t been great. I’d imagine, though, that “this guy’s actually pretty good” being found even on down the lineup to 12th/13th man would be one of the final places depth would manifest

I love TNG series but for my money there’s no matching the original series. Kirk or bust for me. I also always rank Wrath of Khan first. Except my last rewatch. Into Darkness is an unheralded triumph imo. Yes, not something you hear a lot. The crazy thing with Wrath, and I just watched it yesterday, is how it grows in staggering power the older you get. Ultimate dad movie. The themes of age and “not going quietly into that good night” are ridiculously poignant The cinematography is a vibe and quite special

I’ll believe it when I see him get his deserved Norris nom

I just have a massive passion for that type of sci-fi. The old fashioned corny space exploration stuff. Sign me up all day I’m currently on IV: The Voyage Home in my Trek rewatch

The Matt Leblanc version isn’t even that bad

It’s so stupid

It’s a good point. On the one hand, injuries will continue to be a factor. I generally caution against “once we get our guys back” logic in that a) rarely if ever do you have all the guys and B) often guys missing games have a proclivity to miss more games to your point, Tage specifically being the guy that’s out creates some potential, there. On the other hand, the Ewing affect across the board with him gone has been good on the other, other hand and to your point again: McLeod has been simply awful metrically the more he moves up the lineup. Even getting him back into a second line role would help a lot metrically

Yet another board “main character” who burned bright, and burned quick

And it’s something I think potentially serves us even better in the playoffs. I get that many are concerned with how, say, our physicality holds up in a playoffs environment and that’s certainly fair: personally I’m super excited to see how much ice time we can monopolize with 2 or 3 of our D men

16th in the league right now, 8th in the east by points %, and Boston is 17th and 9th. Pretty fun tbh results are reasonable so far: we are in a playoff spot, that’s all I ask - - - the underlyings suggest caution.

It’s insane not only how good Rasmus Dahlin is, but how underrated he is, not just league wide, which I get, but around Sabres quarters as well. Once again finds himself at the top of our scoring list, as a defenceman, in second right now. But he does that WHILE being the best defender on our team, and playing the most minutes. While wearing the C. He gets piled on re: that C when we lose, what about when we are stringing some wins together? Does he get credit for leadership? MVP far and away Averaging a whopping 24:45 per game. Next closest Sabre is over 2 minutes less

How much would you trade for a wood-chuck Tkachuk if a Tkachuk would chuck-wood here?

So we aren’t cursed forever?