Pimlach

Pa-NO-KA sounds more hockey like-than Pa-NO-cha. Lots more upside with the KA sound. I remember Chicoutimi.

Sure he can replace 26 of Andy’s games, maybe 40 at that level or better. Asking for 52 is a lot and carries a high risk, especially since we have not seen a commitment to team defense yet. Sure, they added two defenders that will help, now the forwards have to do their part. I’m pulling for the overall team play improvement that could come from another year of maturity and leveraging of off last season’s experience.

If the bold is true I will be very upset. The core needs to win right now or else they could start accepting the loses. I think they might be a few veteran players short of a playoff team as of today, but if the core players all contribute big again, and some more kids evolve and step up they could make it. Too much depends on Levi to make me comfortable and have high confidence.

Doing what you say is important and so is building a winning team. Some GMs, actually most GMs I should say, do not get to lose four years in a row. This is his year #4 and this is the year that KA should elevate this team into the playoffs The talent is there (thanks to him and his staff) and there are tons of assets to work with to address this teams shortcomings They missed the playoffs by one win last season They scored 296 goals but gave up a whopping 300 goals They were an abysmal 17-20-4 on home ice. They were 28th overall on the PK. They were dead last in faceoff win percentage. It’s pretty obvious what has to improve. I am behind KA on most of his moves and even some of his non-moves. But this is the year he must get this team into the playoffs. Getting there should be his goal and his focus. If they don’t make it this season that really is his problem, even if he does exactly what he says. The questions are did he do enough and what is left?

All the comments above mine are correct, but Lance is correct too - everyone of these guys will be competing for a spot in training camp. Murray, Weissbach, and Biro are very much long shots.

@PASabreFan is looking for Kevyn.

To me “Higher compete” means play a complete game, which includes defense too.

I am happy he wants out, that means the message was received on his benching last season. In his post season interview he said the right things, he knows he has to work on his entire game. What he tells your friend is one thing, what he tells Adams is what matters.

Why, to cover for his defensive weaknesses and then not have a strong shut down defensive line?

Maybe Kevyn is reading this and will make another move before things get started. He sure like his prospects and assets.

So, it is the concept of Juneau that you liked? Compare and contrast that with the Bob Corkum blockbuster trade.

Bocces on Bailey Ave in Amherst was once great, now it’s hit and miss, and you have to order the pizza “well done” to get it cooked right. Went to Bob and John’s LaHacienda a few years ago and was totally disappointed. Afterwards I was told they had two styles of pizza. You have to specify Cup and char pepperoni or else you get the bigger flat pepperoni, which is bland and not a true Buffalo style pie. At one time Mr Pizza (Elmwood and Bird) was fantastic. The owner has recently passed and now the quality is not always there. Just Pizza is an offshoot (one of the Mr Pizza owners left to form it), but it is now a local franchise chain so some locations are better than others. Imperial in South Buffalo is very good. I prefer to stay in North Buffalo/ Elmwood Village when I stay in the city but Imperial is worth the drive. The real La Nova, on the West Side, is very good too. Leonardi’s did not survive Covid. Shame, their pizza was really good.

Gretzky did not win them alone though. Gretzky had a better supporting cast.

Adam’s has won far less than Beane at this time. Beane has turned Buffalo into a place players will go to. Adam’s is still working on that. It’s hard to compared GMs from different sports. His record defies your comments. The Bills are a very strong team that has yet to win it all. Like lots of other teams. Sabres are on track, maybe. Let’s see them make the playoffs and win something. Has Adams done enough?

And many before him

We traded for Star players like Robert, Korab, Luce, Foligno, LaFontaine, Hawerchuck, Hasek, Peca, Briere, Drury, and you pick 29 games of Joe Juneau - that is contrarian.

He needs 2 inches and 35 pounds to be Adam Mair sized. Mair was selected 84OA, Kozak was 193. Since I have not seen Kozak play yet I will defer to your judgement. Mair was definitely a notch above Ellis. If Kozak can win face-offs and be strong on the PK he has some hope.

The kid looked good in the recent prospect camp He has skill to go with size.

Why do people think a 4th line AHL player projects to be a good fourth line NHL player? Kozak’s ceiling is Matty Ellis, who most people here mock constantly.

A contrarian-like selection.

You are missing Robert for Shack.

I left Buffalo in 1981 and never moved back because of my career - but I always visit often and every year, and I have spent a lot more time there over the last 20 years. Now retired, I summer in Buffalo. I stay there from late May to mid August. I go back several more times in the fall for Football and Hockey and to visit family and friends. May thru October is mostly great weather. Like you said, you can be outside a lot of the time. November thru April are not good at all - rain, snow, cold, grey, frozen, windy blizzards, more rain, more cold, more grey, and a very late spring that is mostly cold and wet. Some people like that - my wife calls it staying in to nest - I call it depressing. Sure, there is beauty and fun associated with winter - I used to love ice skating, skiing, etc. as a kid - but you do that without the grey and the storms and the mountains of snow. I give Buffalo ~6 months of comfortable good weather and ~6 months of bad weather. Overall I think Buffalo is a great city, it is unique and has a history and culture that should be celebrated. The city itself is far better now than it was when I grew up there in the 60's and 70's, and it was pretty dam good back then too.

I looked at that replay, which is nothing like what you first described. I can find a lot of people to blame, or I could just give Bob Kelly credit for outplaying everyone else on the ice at the time. We will just have to disagree on his career in Buffalo. Schoeny was a very solid D man and a fine leader, he was voted to play in All Star games because he was actually good and respected by players, coaches and hockey writers. He gave us some memorable and classic moments in the The Aud. His 79-80 season, playing under Scotty Bowman, is considered by some to be his best season ever and he had ZERO fighting majors that year but still played a tough policeman role. He finished 3rd in Norris Trophy votes (HoF'ers Larry Robinson and Borje Salming finished ahead of him) and he made the NHL second team All Star. The biggest knock on him to me was he was injury prone do his reckless style and his affinity to block shots (a skill he learned quickly from Tim Horton). He was traded by Scotty Bowman, not Punch Imlach, so whatever you think Punch said was irrelevant at the time. Please recall that Punch was known to pull a punch or two BTW. Here is another view of Schoenfeld's career in Buffalo that is very different from yours. https://thehockeywriters.com/jim-schoenfeld-1979-80-buffalo-sabres/

He was a very good defenseman. He was part of the teams emergence in the early 70’s. Played in all star games and made a second team all star (what other Sabres defenseman has)? He was the youngest team captain in the NHL at 22. Months His decision to cut down on fighting had nothing to go with god and everything to do with his status as a father with kids who would be watching him fight on tv. He played hard. The Flyers and Islanders both had players go on record saying the Sabres needed more players like him, not less. He is popular because buffalo fans appreciated his effort. As for your assertion that Schoenfeld was at center ice on a face off in our zone - blame that on the coach, or the ref. That should never happen were you have a defensive zone face off without all the players on the ice and in position. If that happened today Granato would be blamed. I don’t remember that and I don’t recall hearing about it until now.

Don G has earned his shot in the NHL, no? After two full season as HC he has improved a team that is on an owner enforced slow rebuild. If you, as the owner, chose to be “efficient and economical” then you cannot be in hurry. I sense that you and many others here, including me, want to see more progress and faster progress. Year 3 will tell us a lot. Granato is simply playing the hand that Adam’s and Pegula deal him. He has the respect of yhe players and many are playing the best hockey they have ever played.