Doohicksie

No way the Sabres bench their newly minted captain.

You can't "buy" a team in this new model; you have to build it through the draft. There's no way to acquire enough high-end players through free agency without bankrupting your cap, or through trades without bankrupting your pipeline. Kevyn has maneuvered the Sabres to the forefront of the movement.

There are a whole lotta "up and coming" teams that play fast and hard and are winning more than expected. I think the league is changing and teams built on the old model will be eclipsed by the new one which I think may be "every player is fast, most are skilled, non are JAGs, and they will wear you out." There are several in that category including BUF, OTT, DET and possibly even MTL in our division alone. Yes, even the Habs.... maybe.

But at least the houses are built for it. When it dips below 0°F here in Texas, pipes are bursting, even water mains freeze and the rolling blackouts start.

Nope. That's a fallacy. If you flip a coin 10 times and it comes up heads each time, is it any more likely that tails is "due"? Of course not. If anything, there is a reason why heads is favored (like maybe it's a two-headed coin) and if anything, the trend is likely to continue. Or in this case (the way I look at it) the records of the teams to date are indicative of the teams they are.

Right. End of the He Who Ruined the Room Era and beginning of the Tuch Era. I'm not saying Tuch is a better player than Dahlin; Tuch isn't even our best forward, but his arrival kind of delineated the turning of the page.

Yeah, that and the Canadian national anthem almost makes me want to move to Da Great White Nort I love it. Embrace the underdog role.

She raises a valid point that the turnaround seemed to click with the addition of Tuch.

If you look at the comments on the tweet you can see Dunleavy's already preparing for that.

Yeah, that was the Berglund... and actually ROR... forgot about that! reference. She knows the history and knows how to use it.

And that's the argument. I don't agree; I think they know he's better also. But he's waiver eligible and they wanted to give him a few games in the A.

Yeah, good point about the Covid impact. I think going into the season it was, in fact, "a fair honest college try" to get enough skilled players on the team to push for the playoffs but Covid, and Jack's injuries that year, and the 6 different goalies due to injuries, all doomed the Sabres season and opened the door for Kevyn's rebuild. After that disaster I don't blame Jack for wanting out, but keep in mind his injury history that year was a major factor in the team's suckitude.

I think we all agree that Pilut is a solid NHL level player. The disagreement we've had in this thread is that you don't think that Adams/Granato think he's that good.

First time I looked at it since the live game feed. I bet he's got a broken bone somewhere in his face: cheek, orbital, nose, something like that, and will be out for a bit, maybe a month or two. When he comes back he will have to displace one of Pilut or Bryson to get back into the lineup (most likely Bryson imo).

I think they know what you know: That Pilut is better than Bryson and Fitz. I think they started him in Rochester anyway based primarily on the fact that he's waiver exempt. A secondary reason is they wanted him to readjust to the smaller NA ice surface. Depending on how long Joki is out (pretty sure this is due to Joki's injury and not Boosh's), Pilut may very well seize the opportunity and become one of the top 6, which probably means Fitzgerald is waived and assigned to Rochester (or if he's claimed, meh) and Bryson will be the 7D but will frequently rotate in to give other defensemen rest/maintenance.

The irony is that Jack thought getting out of Buffalo would get him to the playoffs sooner because the rebuild would delay things so much, but once Kevyn was given the green light he turned things around pretty quickly. Maybe not playoffs this year, but soon. If anything, trying to feed Jack by bringing in Hall, Staal, etc., actually delayed the team's rebuild. If he had enthusiastically supported it, he could have been part of it and we might be closer to completing the build. On the other hand, Jack was just sick of the team's failure to build (understandable) and I think by the time Kevyn took over he already knew Jack wasn't part of his future build.

I think Adams/Granato see the same thing you see. It really did just come down to waiver eligibility at the start of the season. And it was obvious who the first D callup would be. His return is actually a blessing for the team; he adds the depth of a seasoned defenseman that is waiver exempt. They can shuttle him between the teams all season long.

I look at Euro hockey and it's everywhere. I think that's what the future is here. And it will become so normal that it won't even register.

So in this statement I think you're saying that 1. Adams and Granato don't understand how good Pilut is, but that 2. You do? That's rich. I didn't realize there was a Page 2 when I posted that.

Fitzgerald is not waiver exempt like Pilut is. I think that's all there is to it.

If they'd have sent him on the west coast swing, this never would have happened.

Jackie Redmond at NHL Network is on board. And that unbuttoned top button is.... attention getting. She also touches on the Berglund thing. She knows her stuff.

Get well soon, Dan!

If he's got a chipped or cracked bone in his face it will probably keep him off the ice for a bit. And as I said yesterday: Next time we see Joki on the ice he will be in a full cage helmet.

He's not really an AHL dman.