JohnC

I'm not intending a political tinge to my response but for someone who is involved in the medical profession you are way out of step with the mainstream medical profession on Covid. You seem to be making the point that a complete lockdown that would have had devastating economic consequences was the only alternative to arresting this virus. That is a false narrative. If more people would have simply followed the basic guidance such as wearing a mask, social distancing, washing hands etc. the situation would now be less dire although still fraught with danger. It's surprising and troubling that someone involved in the health business has allowed political influences to permeate the science associated with public health issues. With respect to your comment about your head in the sand compared to figurative sand it is puzzling and makes no sense. Do you know what petty nonsense isn't? More than 300,000 people dying and still counting and the losses to their families.

The Diggs acquisition goes beyond a transaction for a terrific player. It represents a front office and organization that has from the start laid out a play and then has systematically implemented it. If the front office would have acquired Diggs a couple to a few years ago when our qb situation wasn't stable the receiver's talents wouldn't have been as maximized as they are now. By getting him this offseason entering Josh's third year when he was more prepared and the team was more complete demonstrated a wisdom where this team was and ready to go. Let's hope that the hockey organization can exhibit the same level of astuteness that the football side of the Pegula business has demonstrated.

Your comments on where Ullmark was as a player last year are fair. But as you noted he has improved every year, and it is his progression that I am counting on. There is also the context that our goalies played in. The soft goal that is let in is greatly magnified when the team struggles to score. On the other hand when a soft goal is allowed on a team that has a better ability to score can more easily overcome the soft goal. So the goalie limitations aren't so apparent and consequential. Or to put it in arithmetic terms the plusses elsewhere compensate for the minus at the backstop.

You've identified two players who will be key players this season. I thought that last year Ullmark made the jump up and looked like a # 1 goalie. When he got hurt this team wasn't the same. He needs to continue on with his progression. Playing on a line with a genuine 2C should put Skinner in a position to succeed. Having a quality second line isn't something we had last year. The Sabres have had a recent history of starting off strong and then taking a plunge and not being able to regain its footing. I'm sure that was due to a lack of depth. It appears that we have added some depth that will give us a greater margin for error.

Glad you are feeling better. This had to be a tough and frightening experience to go through. Just curious but does being infected a factor in if or when you should receive the shot when it becomes available?

I'm a bit confused with your response. Assuming our goaltenders remain the current tandem do you believe the Sabres are a playoff team? I'm not disputing your position because I'm not sure what it is? I acknowledge there is reasonable justification to each side of the issue. I believe the Sabres will qualify for the playoffs with our current goalie tandem. As like you I believe with the added forwards and with internal improvement I consider this team good enough to be a playoff team. They are not in my mind a Cup contender but they do have enough talent to be in the playoffs even with the more challenging alignment.

The fun part about talking about a highly speculative trade is that you are placing a value on the player you are offering and also the player you are trading for. How many different values have been assigned to Risto over the years in a speculative trade and to the targeted player in the receiving side? On this site there were numerous values place on Reinhart for an imaginary deal. That in itself is interesting. This is good bar talk at the keyboard without the imbibing and slurring of speech.

I'm responding to your post with respect and no antagonism. I appreciated the private exchange we had on this issue outside of the public board. My position is that the Covid issue is a health and also a political issue. They are inescapably intertwined. It's not impossible but extremely difficult to discuss this issue of how it has been handled and where we are with it without the tinge of politics. My recommendation then and now is to move it out of the hockey site and put it on the political site. In that way there isn't a necessity to police comments on this turbo charged topic.

What's shifting is that the virus contamination is everywhere and getting worse. No location is sufficiently clean. I'm aware that the players don't like the idea of playing in a hub but for the short term it might be the best option. If you look at the college and even the pro ranks few teams have been able to avoid the plague. What do you do if a player/s in the very abbreviated training camp becomes infected. Then what do you do? If there is a quarantine then the roster is sidelined. If a team is sidelined how do you rework an already tight schedule? This is a challenging situation with no easy answers.

What would have done something to limit (not stop) the spread of the virus was to wear a mask, social distance and wash one's hand. When public health issues get politicized you get the disastrous results that we have been and still are now getting. Even with the roll out of the vaccines it is important to continue following the basic guidelines. When the tools in your tool box are not used you end up with a health calamity. It didn't have to be that way.

If the opposition doesn't respond to dirty play with hard checks and tougher play then that's their issue and problem. If the team is too soft then roster changes are needed. Soft teams don't win in the NHL. Hooligan teams also don't win because they lack the discipline to be a winning team. Being a tough team has little to do with fighting.

Fighting isn't a deterrent. It is more likely to put your team at a disadvantage. The rogue and undisciplined player who checks another player from behind is likely to be called for a penalty. Scoring on the PP is a more beneficial response. Fighting isn't allowed in the college game and the Olympics. It hasn't hurt their very entertaining games. Fighting is like a smokestack industry. It's out of date and irrelevant to today's game. Tough and hard nosed hockey has little to do with hooligan hockey.

I got a better response: Throw a good body check back.

I don't think it will because in an abbreviated season you are vying for playoff spots with teams you are repeatedly playing. As like in the playoffs where fighting usually declines you don't want to put your team in a short handed situation because of a lack of discipline. What I also believe (opinion) is that the level of intensity will be more evident from the beginning of the season to the end because more teams will be bunched up competing for points in the standing.

To add to what you are saying most of the fights are contrived in that the participants agree in advance to engage in this out dated foolishness. The charade is stupid.

That injury was very disappointing. I wanted to see how he would do getting a lot of playing time. Would it show that he was a promising player or that he still was physically overmatched? I think with this year's offseason training regimen he would be more ready to become a contributing player. Is he a second line caliber of winger? I'm not sure. If he becomes a solid third line player at least he would be a contributor. This is the season where he needs to establish himself.

Your list and categorizing of players in the disappointing and bust categories leads me to be cautiously optimistic. There are a few players who have the ability to dramatically leap above your less than stellar rankings. In the disappointing category it isn't unreasonable to believe that Hall, Montour and Miller to play a lot better than they did last year. I expect a healthy Hall to make a quantum leap forward playing with Jack. For whatever reason it seemed last year that Montour never got comfortable playing on a Krueger coached team. After a year under his belt with Krueger he should have a better understanding of what the coach wants out of him. I have the same reaction for Miller who was a wasted player on the roster. He should be a third pairing defenseman who gets steady playing time. With Tage the expectation is that he has reached the physical development point where he is physically equipped to withstand the rigors of the NHL. He obviously has skills but it has to translate into production. He is going to have the opportunity to earn a more substantial role than what he has had. Is he ready to seize that opportunity? Skinner is a player who was a big disappointment last year. Not all of it was his fault. He simply didn't have enough of a supporting cast to allow him to utilize his scoring talents. With the addition of Staal he should be in a better position to showcase what he is capable of. Maybe the biggest X factor for the team on your bust list is Hutton. Were his eye issues the reason for his plummeting performance? I'm not sure. So far it seems that the organization is willing to stick with him as a backup (subject to change). As many others have pointed out that is a tremendous risk that the organization is willing to take. And as you have astutely pointed out much of the roster is in the 23-30 range. So the hope is that there is a natural progression from the younger players and plenty of young veteran players who are still in their prime and not at the stage of declining performances. There should be improvement but will it be enough?

Your response makes absolutely no sense. What does checking have to do with fighting?

Fighting is stupid. It aught to be banned out of the sport. There is no fighting in the Olympics and in the college ranks. And that elimination hasn't hurt the sport. Other than the pugilistic sports it is not allowed in other sports. Football, basketball, baseball and soccer don't allow it. And there is plenty of contact in those sports. Concussions are now a concern for most sports. So why allow fighting when it increases the risk of head injuries? There is no longer a need for goon behavior in the sport. The Neanderthals in the sport and audience need to enter the modern world and find another activity to seek a vicarious thrill. It needs to be ended.

Thanks for the response. It clarifies the issue for me. My concern about the situation dealt primarily how it affects Cozens. Overall, I'm glad that Cozens had the opportunity to play in the Junior games and hopefully grow from the experience. But for the short term it sets him back a little with his roster positioning. He not being available for our camp and the early part of the season should open up an opportunity for some other players. The player who I will be watching is Arttu who has been playing in Europe. So he might be a little more advanced coming into camp than some of the players that he will be competing with for a roster spot and role.

Is there a required quarantine for players coming into town from outside the country? And if so will players such as Cozens and Quinn miss training camp because of the travel and quarantine requirements take away from the training camp period.

I have no problem with him on the third line. As I have stated before I would rather have Reinhart on the first line with Jack and Hall. If Olofsson earns a second line assignment then more power to him. You compete for your ice time and role. That's how it works. So in general we are dancing to the same music. Where I somewhat disagree with your position is that I believe that Olofsson has more potential to expand his game than you do. I'm not wedded to a player's role. Let's just see how it plays out.

We are in accord that ES goals are more difficult to accomplish. My hope is that Hall returns near to the form that earned him a MVP trophy a few years back. And a lot is riding on Skinner getting back to his standard sharpshooting form with the addition of Staal who is a legitimate 2C center. Hopefully, with an increase in goals it will take some of the pressure off of our less than sterling goaltending. In other words magnify your assets to minimize your liabilities.

There is no qualifying on that issue. More goals are better than less goals. And it is more than probable that Olofsson is going to be at a minimum a third line winger, and maybe a second line winger. And it is not out of the realm of possibility that he start off on the first line or periodically be inserted on the first line on select occasions. So he will be getting plenty of ES time. As you acknowledged he has an exceptional quick trigger shot where he can convert set-ups not only in PP situations but also at ES. I also separate myself from those who believe that he is primarily a PP specialist because I do believe that he has a little more expansion to his game that will allow him to be on a line and get plenty of ES time. This is somewhat of an associated issue but I'm hoping that Tage and Olofsson will step up and help to provide some sorely needed secondary scoring. If you ask me whether Tage or Olofsson will earn a second line role I can't say for sure but I won't be surprised if one of the two do.

As I previously stated I don't care what line he is on. I have not argued to put him on the first line with Jack. On the contrary I have argued to put Reinhart on the Jack line along with Hall. When all is said and done what matters are the goal totals whether they come from ES, the PP or even the PK. When you look at the scoreboard it shows the goals scored regardless how they are made. I would value a 30 to 40 goal scorer playing on a lower line over a first or second line defensive role player whose purpose is to balance out the line. You are creating a straw man with your extrapolation argument. When I am discussing the issue of Olofsson I'm focusing on the issue of value associated with his goal scoring ability regardless whether it comes from the PP or ES. That's the point.