GDT: The Wiley Coyotes 1pm Puck Drop. Harvest Festival.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I agree that the passes are more on target, but I thought there were a number of plays today where they got too cute and made one too many passes.

True. I'd say maybe part of the learning curve. Certain players will gain confidence in their shooting and they will pick the right moments etc. Granato has to keep coaching, but it's an improvement. 

[inkman]

3 hours ago, Carmel Corn said:

Regarding the bold above....I dislike the pairing with Joki.  I wish we still had a true stay at home right side Dman to partner with Dahlin.

If only the Sabres had a talented RHD they spent years developing who plays a physical game that would pair perfectly with Dahlin.  Losing Borgen will never not be a problem for me.  

[Taro T]

12 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The affection for this team is already remarkable. There were chances to boo, but none came. (Except for the refs and the Yotes' SO shooters.) It felt like a crowd of supportive family members at a squirt game. The tiniest smart play brought cheers. You could feel the team feeding of it, especially in the third. The game presentation staff would be smart to let fans be the star.

For whatever it's worth, and it's been ~18 months & memory is a strange thing, but the building seemed louder w/ ~3,000 in it than it did with a full/nearly full building back before the world went kerplewy.  

[Doohicksie]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

Granato has to keep coaching

Coaches gonna coach.

The only player I see that's not 100% on board is Skinner.  I don't hold it against him; it seems like coaches don't know how to rein him in and they let him do whatever the hell he wants and try to work around that.  Granato is working with him I think, and God bless him, Skins seems to be trying.  But he's been a wild child for so long it's hard for him to break bad habits.

I think Skinner will get with the program and when he does he will break out of the scoring slump.

[PerreaultForever]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Coaches gonna coach.

The only player I see that's not 100% on board is Skinner.  I don't hold it against him; it seems like coaches don't know how to rein him in and they let him do whatever the hell he wants and try to work around that.  Granato is working with him I think, and God bless him, Skins seems to be trying.  But he's been a wild child for so long it's hard for him to break bad habits.

I think Skinner will get with the program and when he does he will break out of the scoring slump.

I hope you're right, but I don't think so. He will not change. I said in the off season, with the great purging, Skinner was going to be a problem and I do not know if there is a solution. We'd be a better team if we found a way to get rid of him, but I doubt there is any realistic way so we have to hope you are correct and he will eventually be on board. 

[Norcal]

10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

For whatever it's worth, and it's been ~18 months & memory is a strange thing, but the building seemed louder w/ ~3,000 in it than it did with a full/nearly full building back before the world went kerplewy.  

The crowd seems to be genuinely entertained by what they're seeing and cheering along. 

[Doohicksie]

I think Skinner's trying and I think Granato is offering the carrot so far by putting him on the top line (or as close as the Sabres have to one).

Random thought:  In the postgame someone asked Granato about putting Tage out there late.  Really.... who else is he gonna put out there?  Cozens?  I think he's too fragile.  Ruotsalainen?  It's his first game with the big club this season.  If the EGO line just came off, who else is there to put on?

And after checking:  Okie is the best FO guy on the team right now, 72.7% on 11 faceoffs, and Tage is #2 at 60% on 20.

[DarthEbriate]

15 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I hope you're right, but I don't think so. He will not change. I said in the off season, with the great purging, Skinner was going to be a problem and I do not know if there is a solution. We'd be a better team if we found a way to get rid of him, but I doubt there is any realistic way so we have to hope you are correct and he will eventually be on board. 

Monetarily, it doesn't make sense to buy him out until June of 2023 after his bonus is paid out. Then, the cap hit is manageable (especially as the cap rebounds). There will only be one bad year of a cap hit of $6M in his contract's final year (2026-27). Otherwise it's an ok 1.6, 4.6 (one year only), or 2.6. But until then -- he's not going anywhere and Granato (or next coach) just needs to get the most out of him as possible. Or -- the team needs to get good enough to send a 1st+ to get someone to take the contract.

All that said, in the next few years, the Sabres are unlikely to be cap-stressed, so Skinner can do what he does.

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Monetarily, it doesn't make sense to buy him out until June of 2023 after his bonus is paid out. Then, the cap hit is manageable (especially as the cap rebounds). There will only be one bad year of a cap hit of $6M in his contract's final year (2026-27). Otherwise it's an ok 1.6, 4.6 (one year only), or 2.6. But until then -- he's not going anywhere and Granato (or next coach) just needs to get the most out of him as possible. Or -- the team needs to get good enough to send a 1st+ to get someone to take the contract.

All that said, in the next few years, the Sabres are unlikely to be cap-stressed, so Skinner can do what he does.

Yeah, the only reason to buy him out at present is if he's one of the guys that "doesn't want to be here."  There is no tangible benefit as they aren't anywhere close to the cap but dropping him could result in them going below the floor causing them to need to bring in another overpaid guy.  About 3 years from now there's a decision to be made, but not now.

[Crusader1969]

Promised myself I wouldn’t look at the standings this year and stay away from Tankathon.  
I just want to be entertained when I watch them play. Win or lose.  
They are 2 for 2 on that count 

hope they can keep this up and we start to see the attendance rise.  
If they continue to play with this effort , I’ll be coming to support them - just need that damn border to open up! 

[klos1963]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

To the 1st bolded, don't know but know personally 2 that did. 😉

To the 2nd bolded, why wouldn't we count on Canadian fans to be a large part of the audience minus the border closing?  The rink is ~5 miles from the Peace Brigde.  Fort Erie is LITERALLY across the river.  There are MANY Canadians that live closer to the barn than many people in Erie County and ~1MM that live closer to it than yours truly lives.

And, it is pathetic but there are caveats to that.  1/2 of the STH base were allowed to defer their tickets to the following season with no penalties nor repercussions (because they can't come to the games even if they wanted to do so), that in itself cuts 6-8k out of the attendance base.  And come early November there is a natural goosing of the attendance on the way when Canadians can buy single game & partial season tix.

And personally am still shocked how dumb the Yotes (& Swamp Cats management too) were in building/moving into barns that are so inaccessible to significant fractions of their fanbase.  But don't see how you can say 1/2 your fanbase doesn't refuse to show up to games when you state that 1/2 of them live a Ra-cha-cha to Buffalo commute away from Glendale and you then state people won't want to make that commute.

I didn't state that half of the fans lived across town, but quite a few do and and it's a pain in the butt drive during the work time commute. When they built the arena in Glendale that part of Phoenix was growing fast, but recession hit and things changed. It's not the higher income area it was expected to be, but it still could have succeeded, the arena area is a great place to hang out before and after events. They just needed to get about 3000 more fans per game. Unstable ownership had a lot to do with how things are now.

[nucci]

5 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Promised myself I wouldn’t look at the standings this year and stay away from Tankathon.  
I just want to be entertained when I watch them play. Win or lose.  
They are 2 for 2 on that count 

hope they can keep this up and we start to see the attendance rise.  
If they continue to play with this effort , I’ll be coming to support them - just need that damn border to open up! 

Nov 8

[Stoner]

• I like the arena. I always seem to agree with people who rail on it as some dump. But it's fine. I didn't see crumbling concrete, missing cup holders or whatever the usual complaints are. It's clean, easy to get into and out of the scoreboard is good enough, the sound, etc. (and the lighting was tremendous; I was seeing names and numbers I never saw before, unless the flaxseed oil is finally kicking in and straightening out my tear film). What more do we want? I can't see putting $400 million into it. I know, things are expensive. Maybe replace the seats? Redo the atrium? Maybe it only took 25 years, but I had a nice fuzzy feeling about the place yesterday. Isn't that the time frame for feeling nostalgic about a building?
• The Seneca Building (Seneca One?), the modernish skyscraper by the arena skewered in Leino's T-shirt or poster or whatever, was looking handsome with its new brown exterior.
• I think I might like the new arena host. She interviewed a fan for the trivia contest. He answered a simple, "Where are you from?" with, "Well, that's an interesting question. I'm from Denver, but I used to live in Rochester." She was right there with, "What is this, a podcast?" Lots of laughs in my section.
• What the heck was with the delay after each shootout attempt?
• Live band is a great idea. You can imagine how that could be a fantastic feature if the Sabres ever make that thing they used to make a lot, again.
• Snippets of RJ calls during the intermission were cool. I always used to like the "live" RJ calls after Sabres goals. It wouldn't work quite as well anymore, what with the circus in town and stuff.

[PromoTheRobot]

Cody Eakin fan art

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mjd1001]

44 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

• I like the arena. I always seem to agree with people who rail on it as some dump. But it's fine. I didn't see crumbling concrete, missing cup holders or whatever the usual complaints are. It's clean, easy to get into and out of the scoreboard is good enough, the sound, etc. (and the lighting was tremendous; I was seeing names and numbers I never saw before, unless the flaxseed oil is finally kicking in and straightening out my tear film). What more do we want? I can't see putting $400 million into it. I know, things are expensive. Maybe replace the seats? Redo the atrium? Maybe it only took 25 years, but I had a nice fuzzy feeling about the place yesterday. Isn't that the time frame for feeling nostalgic about a building?

Maybe they put some money into the Arena in the last year or two then, because when I was there 2 seasons ago all that stuff you didn't see was there.  Broken cup holders, worn out and disgustingly dirty seats, pitted and cracked concrete, and other stuff that was mentioned in other threads.

While certainly not a 'dump', it is well behind the amenities, and just general maintenance of many of the other Arenas around the league, even the ones that were build about the same time (Phillly, Boston, and others).  Again, maybe in the last 2 years they put a good amount of money into these issues, because when I was there they were very apparent.

As you said though, $400 million into it...what would it do?  Ultimately you need a good sheet of ice and a place for fans to sit.  I'm not sure putting a lot of money into it to make the current building 'nicer' is worth it.  They should be focused on the 'little' things that are cheap or free to make the fan experience better. A new Arena host that is good?  Good start.  Getting rid of that awful old goal song?  Another plus. You mentioned a live band? If even 10% of the fans like it then it is a great idea.

Edited October 17, 2021 by mjd1001

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, mjd1001 said:

Maybe they put some money into the Arena in the last year or two then, because when I was there 2 seasons ago all that stuff you didn't see was there.  Broken cup holders, worn out and disgustingly dirty seats, pitted and cracked concrete, and other stuff that was mentioned in other threads.

While certainly not a 'dump', it is well behind the amenities, and just general maintenance of many of the other Arenas around the league, even the ones that were build about the same time (Phillly, Boston, and others).  Again, maybe in the last 2 years they put a good amount of money into these issues, because when I was there they were very apparent.

As you said though, $400 million into it...what would it do?  Ultimately you need a good sheet of ice and a place for fans to sit.  I'm not sure putting a lot of money into it to make the current building 'nicer' is worth it.

Certainly byut what Vogl made it out to be.

[Thorner]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Cody Eakin fan art

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is he making an appearance on the show Rugrats?

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Is he making an appearance on the show Rugrats?

Wild Thornerry"s but yeah.

[thewookie1]

5 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Wild Thornerry"s but yeah.

He was in that crossover movie with the Rugrats

[Stoner]

[PickaPecaPickles]

On 10/17/2021 at 9:41 AM, PASabreFan said:

• I like the arena. I always seem to agree with people who rail on it as some dump. But it's fine. I didn't see crumbling concrete, missing cup holders or whatever the usual complaints are. It's clean, easy to get into and out of the scoreboard is good enough, the sound, etc. (and the lighting was tremendous; I was seeing names and numbers I never saw before, unless the flaxseed oil is finally kicking in and straightening out my tear film). What more do we want? I can't see putting $400 million into it. I know, things are expensive. Maybe replace the seats? Redo the atrium? Maybe it only took 25 years, but I had a nice fuzzy feeling about the place yesterday. Isn't that the time frame for feeling nostalgic about a building?
• The Seneca Building (Seneca One?), the modernish skyscraper by the arena skewered in Leino's T-shirt or poster or whatever, was looking handsome with its new brown exterior.
• I think I might like the new arena host. She interviewed a fan for the trivia contest. He answered a simple, "Where are you from?" with, "Well, that's an interesting question. I'm from Denver, but I used to live in Rochester." She was right there with, "What is this, a podcast?" Lots of laughs in my section.
• What the heck was with the delay after each shootout attempt?
• Live band is a great idea. You can imagine how that could be a fantastic feature if the Sabres ever make that thing they used to make a lot, again.
• Snippets of RJ calls during the intermission were cool. I always used to like the "live" RJ calls after Sabres goals. It wouldn't work quite as well anymore, what with the circus in town and stuff.

I've known her for some time. She's been doing stand-up for about 8 years now--funny as heck!  I was curious how she'd do since her humor is NOT rated P.G....

[Stoner]

16 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I appreciate the chuckle, but to me this scene on Washington St. was more poignant than comical. It's Game 2 and already the world has wadded up and discarded the Sabres. Even the leaves aren't paying much attention. Well, just the one that decided to get all up in Hagg's grill. (It fell off a nearby thorny tree.)

If I was DG, I would show the team this picture and tell them this is what the universe and the hockey gods have cooked up for them. Then I'd tell them, in my best Perreault, let's go beat those ***** frogs! (Check.)

[Drag0nDan]

On 10/16/2021 at 10:43 PM, inkman said:

If only the Sabres had a talented RHD they spent years developing who plays a physical game that would pair perfectly with Dahlin.  Losing Borgen will never not be a problem for me.  

I just don't see it.  He's 25, has played 14 games, and wasn't particularly good in them.  He's never scored a point in the NHL.  Maybe he's a late bloomer, but everything about him suggests he's a bottom pairing guy.  Not someone I'd pair with my best player. 

Would've been nice to get something for him - but they got significantly more for risto/reinhart than they would have for borgen, so they made the right move.   Protecting him by trading a player with a pick then also comes with the loss of a prospect (also, seattle didn't do this with any team in the league).  They also basically replaced borgen in the lineup with pysyk (whos probably better today), and actually saved money somehow. 

What would you have done differently?  

[inkman]

17 minutes ago, Drag0nDan said:

I just don't see it.  He's 25, has played 14 games, and wasn't particularly good in them.  He's never scored a point in the NHL.  Maybe he's a late bloomer, but everything about him suggests he's a bottom pairing guy.  Not someone I'd pair with my best player. 

Would've been nice to get something for him - but they got significantly more for risto/reinhart than they would have for borgen, so they made the right move.   Protecting him by trading a player with a pick then also comes with the loss of a prospect (also, seattle didn't do this with any team in the league).  They also basically replaced borgen in the lineup with pysyk (whos probably better today), and actually saved money somehow. 

What would you have done differently?  

Traded Miller and Kept Borgen. 

[Drag0nDan]

21 hours ago, inkman said:

Traded Miller and Kept Borgen. 

Miller wasn't protected though.  They protected risto, dahlin, and jokiharju.

The Seattle Kraken made no trades for concessions in exchange for agreeing to select certain unprotected players.  

Edited October 19, 2021 by Drag0nDan