deluca67

2 points banked which is the most important thing. The Sabres need to bank as many points possible, especially early in the season when other teams are finding their legs. Leafs are up tomorrow, the Sabres will be the team playing back to back. It will be interesting to see how the Sabres react.

Flyers don't seem to have their legs here in the 3rd.

Ambulance drivers?

The 25 seconds the Sabres played a man short while they had a power play is preseason mistake. Considering the quality of play we will likely see over the first couple of weeks it will be very difficult to get a real good read on where Grigorenko is on his development. They should have just sent him back to juniors and bring him back next season with a full training camp.

Now here is the GDT we all know and love.

40 minutes of hockey that has looked a lot like what we saw yesterday. Some decent hockey and a lot of choppy play. Has the look and feel of a preseason game so far.

That's sad, he really should have taken better care of his finances. :rolleyes:

Didn't they increase the seating capacity?

Looks like a 6-0 win over the Red Wings has jumped the Blues to the top of the Sabre Space power rankings. I'm going to go off the board and say the Panthers beat the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals.

IMO, it seems that Pegula's love for Regier and Ruff is stronger than his desire to win a Stanley Cup. If this team misses out on the playoffs again this season Ruff and Regier will still be here. Actually, I don't see any scenario where Pegula would fire either, even if the Sabres missed the playoffs the next three seasons.

This season is going to look a lot like last season. Buffalo will be battling with Ottawa and the third place team from the Southeast Division for the 8th spot; Rangers, Penguins, Devils and Flyers are locks from the Atlantic. Boston is a lock from the Northeast. Tampa and Florida are locks from the Atlantic. Teams that can make the road even more difficult for the Sabres are Winnipeg and Carolina, they can make it five teams battling for one playoff spot. Some Sabres predictions: By game #30 there will be a goaltender controversy with threads that will make the Political and Gun Control threads seem like love-ins. Villie Leino will be a healthy scratch by the end of the year fueling thoughts of a compliance buyout. Cody Hodgson will lead all centers in scoring. Pominville and Vanek will lead the team in scoring. Tyler Myers will have a bounce back year. Ehrhoff will be getting some mention in regards to the Norris Trophy, just not outside of Buffalo. Another member of the infamous "Core" will be traded at the deadline.

The answer is 8.

This can't be a game day thread, 24 posts in and no one is blaming the officials. :P So, who exactly did Philly piss off at the league offices. Philly has three games in the first four nights. After watching a ton of hockey yesterday one thing is clear, expect anything and everything. Philly is coming off a tough home loss to Pittsburgh, I would expect an angry and focused Flyers team this afternoon. Coupled with a Sabres team dealing with the distractions of a season home opener, I'll say Flyers win 4-2.

Jarrett Stoll is a Steve Ott type player. Gritty forward that would give the Sabres more size and toughness up the middle. You're not getting him for Leopold. Sekera? Maybe.

If you match up the two time lines, Teo's "online relationship" and PA's disappearance from the board, there is only one conclusion to make. :flirt:

I'd take three more Vaneks over three more Pominvilles. Not a put down of Pominville, I just prefer Vaneks 30-40 goal potential. It's remarkable how close their career numbers actually are with goals slanted towards Vanek and assists slanted towards Pominville. Vanek's +/- is skewed by his one +47 season so I would consider Pominville to have a bigger edge then he has statistically. Power Play and Game winning goals go to Vanek by a big margin.

As much as Darcy has frustrated me in the past, I have to concede he is not an idiot. I think Regier is smart enough to let the season dictate which direction he will go. This is going to be a Helter-Skelter ride over the next few months. Hopefully Regier is ready for anything and everything this mini-season is going to throw at him.

I am not proposing a trade here, this is just for conversation purposes only. Keep the flamethrowers turned off. O'Reilly vs. Ennis is an interesting comparison. Ennis is 1 1/2 years older than O'Reilly and has played 96 less games. O'Reilly saw a huge jump in his production,it doubled from year two to three. Ennis also had his most productive season at age 21, of course the injury last year makes it hard to do a full comparison. People know me, I am no fan of prorated stats so I can't give Ennis credit for goals & points he didn't score. Looking at the two side by side most would favor O'Reilly due to the size, especially considering the Sabres history of being on the smallish side. If you're willing to give a little on the offensive talent side to add a little more size up the middle there could be an argument made for the value of a trade like this. It would a trade similar to the Roy/Ott trade. Conceding that O'Reilly is more talented and not as physical as Ott.

Coming off a Lockout do we really want to get in on a player in a contract dispute? One thing to take into account when discussing trades is that with only one week of training camp teams are going to have no idea what they really have. The Sabres may be the best example of this. We won't know the extent of their need at center is until we see what Hodgson, Ennis and Grigorenko are able to bring this season. In a 48 game sprint, I am less inclined to move picks or prospects. If there is a season that Regier should be hands off, it's this season. Emphasis needs to be on the Sabres younger players and figuring out exactly what we have here. I would like the Sabres to treat this partial season as a 48 game preseason to the 2013-2014 season. Get the answers needed in order to move forward as a contender.

I believe in that strategy, I have 6 forwards that I can play in different positions. It helps make sure you have the maximum number of players going on a given night. I see Waratahs has a similar strategy with 7 versatile forwards.

My team is primarily made up of Eastern Conference players, only 3 of my 16 picks from the West.

9 works. Who wants to trade? I'll trade future considerations for future considerations.

Ruff lost Adam when he pulled him from the top line and forced Leino into that spot against Philly. That experiment lasted about ten minutes.

It was, maybe it's too soon.

Any idea what the cost would be, contractually?