Free Agent Frenzy! Oct 9, 2020

[tom webster]

3 minutes ago, Radar said:

Well I hope Pegula gets busy drilling another well. This one has gone dry. I'm ashamed I ever drank his kool aid

There have been 76 contracts with a total cap hit of $108M so obviously Buffalo isn’t the only team making depth signings while waiting for the big deals to fall.

[Shootica]

Did Adams gave a media availability scheduled for today? I've heard nothing.

[apuszczalowski]

15 minutes ago, tom webster said:

There have been 76 contracts with a total cap hit of $108M so obviously Buffalo isn’t the only team making depth signings while waiting for the big deals to fall.

Yeah but those probably aren't the only moves those teams have made, or they are teams that didn't struggle to make an extended playoffs this year after missing out for a decade.....

[Scottysabres]

15 minutes ago, tom webster said:

There have been 76 contracts with a total cap hit of $108M so obviously Buffalo isn’t the only team making depth signings while waiting for the big deals to fall.

I'm still with the Pegulas Tom. He's made glaring errors in management hiring to be sure, and some of that is reflected in the on ice product.

His passion however is unquestionable. He'll figure it out.

[Radar]

6 minutes ago, tom webster said:

There have been 76 contracts with a total cap hit of $108M so obviously Buffalo isn’t the only team making depth signings while waiting for the big deals to fall.

Do you think we will be in on any of those big deals? I really don't. Depth signings? That's one thing we can do. Anyone could draft two elite talents. The problem is apparently getting players that choose us. That's why I think trades are the only way to get someone in here and with so many NTC that further limits possibilities. Sorry but I think Pegula has lost any credibility as a hockey owner he may have ever had. Hope I'm wrong we'll know by the time hockey is played again. PA was right on our owner . I'm just a little late coming around to believing we may have the worst owner in the league. Nice enough but not to smart.

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

Yeah but those probably aren't the only moves those teams have made, or they are teams that didn't struggle to make an extended playoffs this year after missing out for a decade.....

None of the top 6 forwards has signed yet.

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, Radar said:

Do you think we will be in on any of those big deals? I really don't. Depth signings? That's one thing we can do. Anyone could draft two elite talents. The problem is apparently getting players that choose us. That's why I think trades are the only way to get someone in here and with so many NTC that further limits possibilities. Sorry but I think Pegula has lost any credibility as a hockey owner he may have ever had. Hope I'm wrong we'll know by the time hockey is played again. PA was right on our owner . I'm just a little late coming around to believing we may have the worst owner in the league. Nice enough but not to smart.

All I know is they were a goaltender away from competing for the playoffs with a nucleus under 25, but yeah, woe is us,

[apuszczalowski]

4 minutes ago, tom webster said:

None of the top 6 forwards has signed yet.

And there is probably interest from more then half the leagues teams in those players.

 

4 minutes ago, tom webster said:

All I know is they were a goaltender away from competing for the playoffs with a nucleus under 25, but yeah, woe is us,

In a shortened year where the playoffs were expanded to include more teams

Yeah, let celebrate almost making the playoffs in a year where even more teams were making them......

[Radar]

Just now, tom webster said:

All I know is they were a goaltender away from competing for the playoffs with a nucleus under 25, but yeah, woe is us,

First. If you can't make the playoffs in this league you're not a good team. Second Terry Pegula and Kim have overseen what by most accounts seems to be a chaotic and rudderless operation. He's proved you can't just buy a hockey team without good management. He inherited the best we've had since he's owned the team. I hope I'm wrong and your optimism is well founded.

[tom webster]

2 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

And there is probably interest from more then half the leagues teams in those players.

 

In a shortened year where the playoffs were expanded to include more teams

Yeah, let celebrate almost making the playoffs in a year where even more teams were making them......

No, they would have been a legitimate, top 16. You can keep looking at it like all one team, I prefer to look at it as a team on the rise. 
 

[apuszczalowski]

2 minutes ago, tom webster said:

No, they would have been a legitimate, top 16. You can keep looking at it like all one team, I prefer to look at it as a team on the rise. 
 

And you can keep living in a complete fantasy world

They missed the playoffs in a year where the league expanded them to include extra teams, how would they have been a legitimate top 16?

[tom webster]

Just now, Radar said:

First. If you can't make the playoffs in this league you're not a good team. Second Terry Pegula and Kim have overseen what by most accounts seems to be a chaotic and rudderless operation. He's proved you can't just buy a hockey team without good management. He inherited the best we've had since he's owned the team. I hope I'm wrong and your optimism is well founded.

This isn’t the 20 team NHL were 16 teams make the playoffs. Have the Pegulas made mistakes, sure. But they have a passion that’s unmatched, and I believe, they have a team headed in the right direction. If you don’t fine but make sure you look at what’s happening around them.

[Eleven]

Three AHL signings so far.  I realize there may be more to come.  I am not impressed as of this moment.

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

And you can keep living in a complete fantasy world

They missed the playoffs in a year where the league expanded them to include extra teams, how would they have been a legitimate top 16?

They were six wins out of the final spot, with below average goaltending that contributed to the historically bad penalty kill. 

[Eleven]

1 minute ago, tom webster said:

They were six wins out of the final spot, with below average goaltending that contributed to the historically bad penalty kill. 

Six wins--12 points--is a lot to ask with 15-ish games left; don't forget that they'd need a lot of other teams to lose, too.

[Radar]

2 minutes ago, tom webster said:

This isn’t the 20 team NHL were 16 teams make the playoffs. Have the Pegulas made mistakes, sure. But they have a passion that’s unmatched, and I believe, they have a team headed in the right direction. If you don’t fine but make sure you look at what’s happening around them.

Like I said. I hope you're right and I'm wrong. One thing you're right about is they've made mistakes. The passion part? I don't care about. I know he's gone into squirrel mode since things have gone south and the media started questioning.

[Curt]

9 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Three AHL signings so far.  I realize there may be more to come.  I am not impressed as of this moment.

Rieder is an NHL player.  He is fine as a depth signing to play 4th line/13th forward.  Not that that should impress you.  It’s mostly a bunch of nothing.  Hopefully more to come.

[apuszczalowski]

7 minutes ago, tom webster said:

They were six wins out of the final spot, with below average goaltending that contributed to the historically bad penalty kill. 

There was only one team that finished less then 10 points ahead of them in the standings (Montreal finished with 71 points to Buffalos 68, Florida had 78 points and were 11th)

The realistically had one team they had a chance to catch (Montreal) in order to make the extended playoffs.

Right now they have done nothing to improve on that below average goaltending with options becoming even fewer to find someones whos more then a 'hope' to be an upgrade...

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

There was only one team that finished less then 10 points ahead of them in the standings (Montreal finished with 71 points to Buffalos 68, Florida had 78 points and were 11th)

The realistically had one team they had a chance to catch (Montreal) in order to make the extended playoffs.

Right now they have done nothing to improve on that below average goaltending with options becoming even fewer to find someones whos more then a 'hope' to be an upgrade...

OK, six wins and they would have been even with the Islanders who rode their goaltending to the conference finals. My point continues to be that they are very close and their nucleus is mostly under 25.

[apuszczalowski]

3 minutes ago, tom webster said:

OK, six wins and they would have been even with the Islanders who rode their goaltending to the conference finals. My point continues to be that they are very close and their nucleus is mostly under 25.

And if they lost 3 more games they would have been tied with Ottawa for 2nd worst team in the East (which also makes them the 2nd worst team in the NHL)

[tom webster]

3 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

And if they lost 3 more games they would have been tied with Ottawa for 2nd worst team in the East (which also makes them the 2nd worst team in the NHL)

They lost like six or seven games at the end when the wheels fell off on that toad trip where they were playing Jonas Johansson (sic) in goal.

There was more to like then not last year. I know some people are just predisposed to ignore that until proven wrong. I look at it on a year by year basis and don’t hold the last eight years against this squad.

[dudacek]

I gotta give Webster some support here.

We aren’t good, but we are only a few players from being competitive.

And some of those players - Staal, Joki, Cozens, Thompson, and especially Dahlin -  May already be here.

An above-average goalie would have meant 5-10 more points on his own.

[Curt]

3 minutes ago, tom webster said:

They lost like six or seven games at the end when the wheels fell off on that toad trip where they were playing Jonas Johansson (sic) in goal.

There was more to like then not last year. I know some people are just predisposed to ignore that until proven wrong. I look at it on a year by year basis and don’t hold the last eight years against this squad.

The 2019-20 Sabres were the best Sabres team since the tank.  That’s pretty sad, but I think it’s true.

[apuszczalowski]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I gotta give Webster some support here.

We aren’t good, but we are only a few players from being competitive.

And some of those players - Staal, Joki, Cozens, Thompson, and especially Dahlin -  May already be here.

An above-average goalie would have meant 5-10 more points on his own.

You could say almost all teams are only a few players away from being competitive though

What goalie left on the market is going to give them 'Above average' play to get those points? There the possibility of a trade to get one but thats also going to take away from the team. We are hoping Stall still has something left in the tank, and that Tage Thompson becomes a somewhat NHL caliber player

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

You could say almost all teams are only a few players away from being competitive though

Yes. And almost all those teams get those players.

At least they do if Jason Botterill is not their GM.