Pimlach

Landed in Houston today. Too many people, too much traffic, and terrible weather. It is 92 F with a Dew point of 78, so it feels like 102 F - on June 4th. Yuck!

Brady will hate going to Buffalo at first. His father would hate it too. His brother would rib him mercilessly. If the team were to get good next season and start winning, and if arena will ever be filled with actual Sabres fans once again, then he might change. He would like a "Sabres Mafia" type of fan base, but that might take awhile to get. He has no control over it though.

Fair. But I still feel the "if only" feeling on that lottery. McDavid is clearly the better player over Eichel, and McDavid just always seemed to be more mature and focused, even as a teenager. Would have loved him to be a Sabre for life. That doesn't mean the Sabres under Pegula would have turned out any better, Eichel was good enough to build around and they massively failed in that endeavor. As for Florida winning. I already stated they look better and I like their game. But I just do not want to see Florida win, in anything. It is time for a Canadian city to bask in the glory.

Holy Rapid Eye Movement Batman. This isn't a dream, its a full length feature film.

I like Florida better when I look at the teams and the way they play. I like Florida better when I look at the uni's. I don't really care about Reinhart, Montour, Okposo and the rest. I don't want Florida to get a Cup before Buffalo. I am fine to let Canada get one. Let's Go McOilers! I guess.

Good point on the Cup final in June. While it is still followed closely in Canada, most in the USA have turned their thoughts to baseball, golf, backyard barbeques, boating and swimming, kids home from school, and summer vacations.

I like the guy, but he needs to move on and so do the Sabres.

Great, he is not fringe. This only reinforces my case to trade him for player that fills a hole on the roster. He brings nothing new to the D core - he is a decent 4/5, but the the skills he has are similar to Dahlin, Power, Byram and R Johnson. We need to somehow get stronger and more physical on the blueline.

Which is why fringe players like Girgs, Jost, Robinson, Joker, Bryson, should be replaced. They have cap space, it cannot be that hard to improve this team.

McDavid playing well. Oil up by 2.

Amidst this squabbling, I am loving these articles and seeing the old newspapers and the ads. Laux Sporting Goods in the BLVD Mall. I used to walk or ride my bike there as a kid. Bought football equipment there. Bought an excellent Rawlings "Mickey Mantle" signed outfielders glove there too. Bought hockey sticks and plastic ends for street hockey sticks there, not to mention numerous mouth guards needed for hockey and tackle football. What a great childhood and (teen hood) memory. I played organized sports all the time, and I played pick up sports in the neighborhoods even more. We had a blast. The neighborhood games were almost every day and year round. No parents, no refs or umps, we solved our own disputes.

I agree. You always need top end talent.

Thanks for that info. I never knew that he was that high regarded by anybody. True on the Robert trade, but he also knew Robert had not hit prime yet, and Robert had more promise than Shack. He could find another Schack. Jacque Richard was a no risk rehab project. The guy had big talent, but he did not handle life in the NHL. I don't believe that he ever thought he could replace Dudley with Gratton? He got Gratton for Butch Deadmarsh in late 73. Gratton was a former FOA draft pick, he was worth a look, and Deadmarsh was not much. He traded Gratton, who was mediocre for the veteran Freddie Stanfield by Jan 1975. Stanfield had won before. Stanfield improved the top 9 spot held by Gratton, and scored 12 goals in only 32 games for the Sabres that season, which helped them immensely to get to the Stanley Cup Final series. He was wehat we call a veteran rental in today's word. But another smart acquisition. Dudley was still on that 74-75 team. Gratton was replaced by Stanfield, but Dudley was still there. Punch let Dudley go after that season because he would not pay him what the WHA was offering. All the NHL GMs let good players go, they stuck together to keep salaries down. They players all came back if they were still good enough, which is what everybody figured. Yes, Dudley was hard to replace, he never really did. Even when he came back, he was not quite the same player.

True. But when you watch the playoffs you see we are missing a lot that can only added it with trades and UFAs.

This defense could be very good with Dahlin continuing to be a star. Power hopefully taking a step forward. Byram - I am not sure about yet, need to see more but what I saw was a hot start followed by inconsistent defensive play. I still don't know what Byram really is yet but Adams thinks he can pair with Dahlin, so pencil that in for now. For the second pair it's Power and who? I prefer they bring in a solid veteran, a strong and more defensive minded type of RHD for the top 4, and not count on a healthy Samuelsson. We need a guy that hits people and has a physical aspect to his game back there. Muel has never done this consistently, and if Muel can ever give us 70 games that is a bonus. We should not count on Muel though, he is likely a very solid third pair guy. Clifton should be perfect for the 3rd pair. The only physical guy back there, but he is a middle weight. Watch the playoffs, we need more strength and toughness on the backline. We have to add another vet. We have lots of candidate for spot #7, plus we can use Rochester to give us the 8th D with Johnson a likely candidate. I am very ready to move on from Joker and Bryson - neither brings the complimentary skills that are lacking on our defense.

Korab played both wing and defense with Chicago, before he came to Buffalo. He was a good defenseman with a good offensive game too, and he also played point on the PP. Thommy Abrahamsson? what a memory! He was signed from the Swedish league but was never a Sabre. Played in the WHA, had one partial season in the NHL. I just looked at his stats. He is the opposite of a Korab. 15 PIM in his entire professional career. He would have been very soft to play against in that era, and Imlach did not like soft.

Mike Foligno was a top 6 player for Buffalo. Seventh all time in points, while second all time in penalty minutes. Most if those penalties are majors for fighting. He seemed to enjoy it. Fun fact - Foligno is third all time in game winning goals.

Nice job. I would move Foligno into a top 4 line, and certainly would move him ahead of Eichel based on his time and his output with the Sabres. Foligno has more goals, more points, more seasons, and was a better captain and a better Sabre. He fought for what was on the crest. Next, I would move either Pominville or Don Luce (others might say Satan) ahead of Eichel. Again citing more seasons, more goals, more points, and they were just better Sabres. Base on pure talent you could argue a slot a Eichel. Looking at his production as a Sabre he falls short, and everything else about about him - no way.

Different era's but Marcus Foligno and Vaclav Varada could not carry Craig Ramsay's jock strap and neither should be mention in the same conversation for all time Sabres. Craig Ramsay won a Selke Trophy and he really should have won more than the one, but the league was so enamored with Bob Gainey and Montreal, making Gainey the perennial winner and Ramsay the perennial runner up way too many times. They didn't have a Selke Trophy for most of Ramsay's prime years or he would have had a bunch of them. Ramsey had 8 straight 20+ goals season. Marcus has 1 in his entire career and none for the Sabres, and Varada never scored more than 10. Ramsay played 1070 games for the Sabres, second all time. Ramsay did not miss a game for 8 straight seasons, and played and 776 straight games spanning 10 seasons. Ramsay never had a minus year in plus minus rating in his entire 13+ years. Ramsay was selected to play in an NHL All Star Game. On to Larry Playfair. Great guy, and a super nice guy, and a very tough hockey player. I saw him last summer at a Jr Sabres game and he is still extremely popular in Buffalo. Larry would be the first to laugh at any suggestion that he is a top 10 all time Sabres defensemen. Mike Foligno is not mentioned when your team wants to stress tough players? Mike Foligno, along with Danny Gare, are the best examples of toughness and skill.

Maybe so, but I cannot give him top 6 status for being great for one-half of a season and very good for 2 season. Injuries happen unfortunately.

Gare gets my vote for #1 RW. Then Foligno at #2. Robert was a much better two way player than Moligny. He is my 3rd "as a Sabre" although Mogilny has a better career overall. I could go either way on 3/4. Pommer is probably 5.

I can get on board with this, but there are guys, Drury included, that are clutch in the playoffs. I can think of Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard as a guy that elevated his normal high level to and even higher one come playoff time. Butch Goring for the Islanders has good in the regular season and even better in the playoffs. Guy Carbonneau also comes to mind.

People coming up with Power, Lydman, even Talinder. This is crazy. Bill Hajt is not mentioned., or ever mentioned, and he played great defense for 12+ years. He is 5th all time in games played. No GM or coach thought to trade him. He was really good and deserves to be mentioned. Jerry Korab was just as good as Schoenfeld defensively, and he was better offensively. Plus he wore a big fur coat.

Feels like summer and my golf game is coming around.

Every player does not elevate for the playoffs. Some wither and fade, and some find another level and elevate. We don't really know which Sabres will elevate, or if we have enough of them that will. They still need to add the proven veteran know how.