QCity

I think what irked me was the press conference. GMTM said he "had a lot of calls on Kulikov" but the deal didn't get done. Injuries obviously factored in, but it sounded like the bag of pucks deal was there. There's no better way to get Falk and Fedun ice-time then making the move now. Looking around the league though, it was a very quiet day. I'm 100% on board with a puck-possession style, but that dream took a huge hit when Julien went to Montreal. Down the road I think we are going to see that Bylsma was GMTM's biggest mistake. We're losing to the worst teams in the league (one is a tank-caliber team) -- we can't sit around and pretend it's just because our 2nd and 3rd-pair D are lousy.

Not my point -- they are gone anyway, may as well get something for them. A bag of pucks is still better than an empty bag. According to GMTM, today was only a "speed bump" and he has a plan.... Heather Prusak‏t @haprusak 3h3 hours ago #Sabres GM Tim Murray: I have a plan...today was a small little speed bump. @WGRZ

Heather Prusak‏Verified account @haprusak 31m31 minutes agoMore Tim Murray says injuries are no excuse but teams had concerns with Kulikov. @WGRZ Great, so now we're going to lose Kulikov and Franson (and probably Nilsson) at the end of the year and get absolutely nothing in return. Not good Tim, not good.

I'm thinking conditional 4th rounder.

If I was Terry, Id say "Sorry Jairus, my plantar fasciitis has spread to my hand, it's preventing me from signing any checks for you."

The first 18 minutes were really good.

You left out the best part, Samson is playing 3rd line wing. Haha wtf? Sabres just traded Catenacci for Bodie, a LHD. That probably means the boot for Kulikov.

disinterested?

Welp, GMTM can get on the phones and sell Gionta, Kulikov, and Franson now.

Yes, and hopefully the last. It will surely be put on hold next season because of the Olympics.

You are mistaken. Yes, there is. There is a correlation between having a front office that understands how to build a football team and having sustained success. Draft picks are the lifeblood of a franchise, and Doug "Win Now" Whaley simply does not understand this. The list of teams that have received the most compensatory picks since 1994 is pretty similar to the list of the best teams in football since 1994: The Ravens have received the most compensatory picks, and they’ve won two Super Bowls. The Packers have received the second-most, and they’ve also won two Super Bowls. The Patriots are fourth, and they’ve won five Super Bowls. The 10 teams that have had the most compensatory picks have won most of the Super Bowls since 1994, with a total of 14 titles for those 10 teams. At the other end of the spectrum, the teams that don’t receive a lot of compensatory picks tend to be bad teams: There are 14 teams that have received fewer than 20 compensatory picks since the system started in 1994, and those 14 teams have won a combined two Super Bowls. Compensatory picks have turned out to reward smart teams. The teams that have been wise about not over-spending in free agency and keeping themselves in good salary cap shape are the ones that keep getting lots of compensatory picks, while the teams that overspend in free agency are the ones that don’t receive compensatory picks. As a result, the consistently good teams tend to be the teams that consistently get a lot of compensatory picks. And the teams that consistently try to spend themselves out of last place are the ones that don’t get a lot of compensatory picks. If you can only bat .300, how do you get more hits? You have to get more at-bats.

We're complaining because we don't have a GM that understands how to build a football team in this era. This isn't a new revelation.

Saying you have a bridge QB is basically an admission that your QB isn't good enough. That type of QB serves two purposes: 1) Sell false hope to the fans i.e. remain competitive for 3 months. 2) Retain the jobs of those that are unable to find the right QB.

No. You need a 4K TV for this. It's not. The "ad disguised as an article" is confusing. It's just upscaling 1080 content to 4K for your 4K TV. They used to do this for DVDs (480) to upscale them to 720. Back then it had a little improvement, but it still wasn't as good as a true 720 broadcast. I would imagine this is the same. Edit: The first link in that article goes to a domain that immediately redirects you to a page that attempts to get you to subscribe to a YouTube channel. If this is an honest attempt at an article from WGRZ.com, then they have the internet acumen of an 90-year old grandmother, and you should never visit their site again.

Montreal is going to miss the playoffs

That report doesn't say he's 6'1"

Wouldn't shock me either. Got to beat these bad teams though, no bye-week or road game excuses. Here's a site that nicely illustrates the bye-week curse.

They have COL, ARI, NAS, ARI right out of the gate. Three games against the two worst teams. If they come out swinging, there's a small glimmer of hope. If they drop the first two, GMTM can switch to seller mode and ditch the UFAs Gionta, Kulikov, and Franson.

Chicago got stronger as the game went on, the Sabres' legs were shot halfway through the 2nd period. They needed the break badly.

I think it's a mistake starting Lehner tonight. Isn't there a stat that says goalies lose 25 pts off their save % in back-to-back games? Lehner certainly hasn't looked good the last two times DB tried this. Good to see Fedun clear, I like him as a fringe player.

16

I agree. Falk has been playing well in his own end lately. Gorges is just sad. Fedun got waived, which surprised me. I doubt he clears.

About as complete a game as they've played this season. Putting Franson on that late PP was a classic example of over-coaching, and it almost cost them. Lehner is having a fantastic month.

Seriously. These games are terrible.

Regarding the power play: O'Reilly 7 years, Ristolainen 7 years, Okposo 7 years, Eichel and Reinhart upcoming long-term deals in the near future. We're going to have a top 3 power play for the next half-decade.