Doohicksie

But doesn't every AHL team lose mature prospects and gain new ones that need to adjust every year? I think Rousek will be an early callup. I think he looked fantastic during camp.

Yes, and....?

If you lose it, just google "map of Connecticut superimposed on North Texas"

I have ESPN+ and I have ESPN basic (with my Spectrum subscription). I think I get ESPN2 with Spectrum as well. So when I look at my account in the ESPN app, it actually shows two logons: One for ESPN+ and one for Spectrum. I bought the sports pack on Spectrum to get NHL Network and it includes a bunch of stuff but ESPN U is apparently not one of them. (It used to be that in our area, the only way to get NHL Network was to purchase the top tier of Spectrum programming which was stupid expensive. I forget how much the Sports Pack is, but I want to say it's about $5 per month..)

You mean they need their injured players back; that would do it. But more is better.

I recall trying to watch college games on the ESPN app and being told I didn't have an ESPN U subscription. That was my first inkling that ESPN+ doesn't, in fact, include all ESPN content.

Yeah... not sure. By "on demand" you mean viewing after the game has been played (reruns)?

I would guess a 37 pound coyote is nearly the size of a German shepherd; they tend to be skinnier for a given frame size than a domestic dog, innit?

Yeah, you might have told me Granbury in the past. That sounds familiar. What threw me off was when you said North Central Texas; I was thinking further west. Show people this map of Connecticut superimposed over North Texas... that might give them a clue. It shows Granbury and Mansfield too. I live in Fort Worth; my son and his wife live in Plano (upper right). It's a solid hour+ drive to see them. Oh, and I've mentioned going to Buffalo Bros near TCU to watch the Bills games, right?

As I recall, last season ESPN U was *not* part of ESPN+ subscription.

Bear in mind that Mitts was the 1C last year coming out of camp. Cozens may surpass him but for now Mitts is the senior player.

I'm not so strong in my assessment of Bryson, but I think I'd rather see Pilut there than Bryson.

I think JJ makes the team over Bjork. I can see the reasoning of keeping Bjork as a true 13F- a guy who will only play in the event of injury- but I think JJ will get a roster spot and 13F will be rotated around the vets to give them maintenance days. I do agree that Pilut will be on the roster, and possibly in the top 6 in place of Bryson.

In a training camp interview, Andy pretty much said he was preparing to earn his time but he expected to be challenged for it, and if he lost out he'd be okay with that because it would mean the team overall was better. I expect UPL to start in Rochester but I also expect he'll be up with the team for good eventually this season.

Not expecting Anderson to be the one that "hits" but he's in the group so I included him. If he can provide 16 quality starts (3 goals or fewer) in 20 games, that would be great. Where I'm hopeful is that Comrie will hit in that he is ready to take the next step and can handle a starer's work load, and that UPL will hit in that he can be this year's "Comrie" as an emerging goalie in a backup role.

Maybe you're right. Let's see how they are after a 6 game winless streak.

Not really. He needs at least one of Anderson, Comrie and UPL to hit, preferably two. I think UPL is very close to being a good NHL goalie, even a starter or at least a 1B. If Comrie can carry the water and Anderson doesn't suffer any early injuries, I could see Comrie as 1A, Anderson as backup, and eventually UPL filling a 1B role, looking something like Boston's Ullmark/Swayman tandem. If Andy stays healthy the Sabres may trade him at the deadline (if he's agreeable) for draft assets to a team that needs help in goal going into the playoffs.

10000000000000000% disagree that the culture is changing slowly. It changed. This is a different team culture than what we went into last year with. I think @PerreaultForever's concept of culture includes not just the attitude of trying to be better, but also an attitude of expecting to win every game. I think both are aspects of culture, and compared to the Jack years of cliquey locker rooms, the culture has clearly changed, but while the relationships are better, @PerreaultForever also wants to see that firm belief that they can win every game before he calls the culture change complete. I think they "hope" to win every game, but don't "expect" to win every game at this point, or if they expect to win, that expectation is still pretty fragile. So in a way I agree with both of you: The culture has clearly changed, but it's still a work in progress, subject to setbacks, and far from complete.

So which are they? They want to be the team of the last 28 games no doubt, but we'll see how they come out of the gate. Will they stumble or will they come out the way they ended the season? I think most observers not tied to the team believe they will stumble. The long suffering fan base is hoping for a continuation of the late season surge. That's really the question for this season and we'll all be watching closely for an answer.

North Central Texas as in.... Wichita Falls area?

That warm rush is you peeing your pants. Please go change.

/not jest

More importantly, they won the faceoff, which they did more often than not: Krebs 1/2 50% Quinn 1/3 33% Cozens 10/15 66% Hinostroza 2/2 100% Thompson 9/16 56% Asplund 4/10 40% Savoie 5/9 56% SABRES 32/57 56% Nice to have the advantage at the faceoff dot, eh?

Oh of course. He'll figure it out.