That's No Moon

When you have Jeff Fisher as a HC don't expect a lot of offensive creativity

Listen to Artie Lange's bit on degenerate gambling. NSFW

Strauss Mann put up better individual numbers with 2 much lesser Michigan teams and is playing in Sweden right now. Available for nothing. He's about the same size as Devon Levi. Portillo wasn't going to play in Buffalo next year anyway. It wasn't going to happen. He was probably told that, as was Levi. Hence their decisions to return to school. Luukkonen is going to be the goaltender next year. They set it up this way so I don't understand why anyone is surprised about it. UPL and Anderson in Buffalo, Tokarski and whoever in Rochester. Maybe they bring in another developmental guy but probably not. They probably draft another goalie late with the intent of stashing him in the NCAA. You kind of need to do this every year anyway given the development trajectory of most goalies (read, they take forever).

Actually there are plenty of companies who are interested in working with athletes who now can without screwing up eligibility. Are there boosters backdooring their way in past the rules banning boosters yes there are but this opened up a venue for lots of people who are compliance minded to participate with these athletes.

It didn't happen this way, but players still have to be very careful who they accept gifts from. By virtue of the 80 million dollar hockey arena with his name on it, Terry is considered to be a booster of the Penn State hockey program. Boosters are still very much forbidden from paying athletes or providing them things of value even with the NIL agreement situation. Apparently he was there as a guest of the NCAA which eliminates any potential issues.

You have to have an actual NIL first and there are rules still about who can do the paying. Boosters can't do NIL deals, for example. Good. Problem solved.

Unless Mr. Levi paid for his ticket to sit up there he's got an eligibility problem.

OK, well he can then play the rest of the regular season in Rochester, but I don't think he can play in the playoffs there. Or he can just not play until the fall I guess.

So, when Power signs, the question is will he sign and play on Sunday or not? If he doesn't play Sunday there are only 8 games left in the season. He could play all 8 and not till a year off his ELC. If he plays Sunday, he can hit the magic number of 9. They could also send him to Rochester but I don't think he's playoff eligible there. They need to get their poop together or they will miss the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see Power in Buffalo and one of Fitzgerald or Samuelsson (probably Fitzgerald) go down to help them qualify since they are playoff eligible for the Amerks.

This is also why you never see players go to the locker room with skate problems anymore either. They all have spare steel on the bench and the trainer just swaps it out. Some guys swap it between periods habitually just so they always have a crisp edge.

1966?

Agree with all of this

It's complicated if Luukkonen plays well in Buffalo and Portillo also plays well in Rochester. As you said, a good problem. It's also slightly complicated if they both stink next year.

Better yet, put something in the driver's door pocket and see if you can see it from outside the driver's door.

I wouldn't be shocked and Im also not sure it wouldn't be the right move depending on what comes back. Given his age, what his contract demands are sure to be, and the wall that lots of WRs hit around 30 I don't think we want to be the team to write his next contract. If he can be turned into another WR with more years of cheap team control I think that needs to be explored.

Who have I excoriated? I don't think that word means what you think it means. Let's try it this way and see if it helps you all. Was Bylsma's team that finished with 81 points, ended the season something like 8-3-2, had a ridiculously good power play, Eichel, Reinhart O'Reilly, Ristolainen, two young goalies who looked promising, and had improved nearly 30 points from the year before "on the right track"? At the time I bet you'd have argued yes. Turns out no. Does this current team look better than it has in several years? Yes it does. Is it too soon to declare them "on the right track". Yes it is.

FFS how many actual times do I have to say that they are better. I think I've said it every single post.

I think it would be more insulting if he DIDN'T hit on your mom. FWIW, they got outworked, outshot, and outchanced by a team who played 4 times in 6 days. They also gave up 5 goals again. Was it nice that they scored on two power plays to make it closer in the 3rd? Sure. Does it change that they got worked for the vast majority of that game? Nope. It's easy to blame the goaltending but the defense in general continues to give up far far too many grade A chances. Let's see how they respond. In previous years they'd respond to the end of a long run of good by going on a corresponding or longer run of losing. They were 6-1-3 in their last 10 coming into today. In the next 10 they have 6 in a row against good teams and then 4 against mediocre to bad teams. Let's see what they do. In my eye .500 would be a benchmark. Can they be .500 over that stretch against the schedule they have. Being .500 just means beating Philly twice, the Islanders, the Devils and then just one of the Leafs, Panthers, Lightning, Blues, or Hurricanes x2. That's not a crazy bar to cross if they've turned a corner. Of course, it's also not that long since they lost 6 straight to Ottawa, Colorado, Montreal, St. Louis, Columbus, and Dallas which isn't exactly murderer's row. More important than .500 over the whole 10 game stretch tbh would be not losing 7 in a row including today because each of the next 6 games is against someone much better than them, several are on the road and in places they have not done well historically. Go 3-3 over THOSE games. I'm to the point with them where TELLING me they are better doesn't do anything for me. I'm in show me status. You want me to believe you aren't the same old crap team then you need to show me you aren't and that takes more than what they've just done, for a much longer time. They were 7-1-3 over 11 games before today. Outstanding. They were 3-8 in the 11 before that. Not outstanding. I get it, you desperately want them to be better. That's fine. You do that. They are somewhat better. I will once again acknowledge that. It is difficult to be worse than what they were. However, to declare them, "On the right track" with the gaping holes they still have on the roster and the lack of near term fixes for the largest of those holes makes it difficult to buy in. Luukkonen is going to be the goalie next year, they intentionally structured it that way, and if he doesn't pan out there isn't anyone else until at least 2023. They've already said they want Anderson back. OK fine, he can back up. Even if Portillo and Levi BOTH sign (which isn't likely IMO) neither one of them is going to play in Buffalo next year short of prime Hasek like performance in Rochester. They haven't rushed any of their prospects recently (which is a GOOD thing) why would you expect them to start doing it now with Portillo and/or Levi? The defense is atrocious apart from the goaltending and is more than a rookie Owen Power away from being acceptable.

A. you don't want someone in Buffalo as a backup, you want them getting starters minutes wherever they go. Neither one of them are ready to come in and start on day 1. B. Next year is going to be Lukkonen's turn to start with Anderson as #2 C. I think it's more likely that he's waiting for the delayed World Junior tournament in August. And yet, you did it.

Portillo would be in Rochester next year if he comes out. So would Levi to be honest. This is why I said you don't want both of them coming out of school this year. Portillo's clock is a year ahead of Levi's so, in theory, the Sabres would rather Portillo come out this year and get #1 minutes in Rochester to see what they have and have Levi coming out the following year. If they both come out this year someone is going to Cincinnati and if you are going to Cincinnati you'd might as well stay in school. Did you think the Bills problems were over the multiple times they had a good month over the course of 20 years or did it take a little longer than that?

And I'm agreeing with you and it's been for a three week period and it needs to continue

Ok, you're right. They are fixed and all is well 🙄

And it's still only been for three weeks. Immediately before this stretch they lost what, 6 in a row?

I've watched them play a couple times this month. I'm not going to argue that it isn't better. It is. It needs to continue. You don't wipe away a decade of garbage with 3 weeks of tolerable hockey. Levi is going back to school so he is 2023 at the soonest, more likely 2024.