BillsFan4

I don’t really want to see Larsson traded. He’s one of the only true centers left on the roster, and he’s one of the only guys who plays with any type of edge/grit to their game. He’s also one of the only players that can be counted on to give a full effort every night. IMO they should be looking to re-sign him. They need more guys that can play center, not less. The rest, go ahead and trade them. Idgaf.

You were actually right, just wrong interview. He did say “some of these guys have earned the right to test free agency”. Now, he didn’t say “all of these guys” so he left some wriggle room there. https://www.buffalobills.com/video/brandon-beane-there-are-good-players-out-here At roughly the 10:30 mark of the video.

I guess it depends exactly what Beane meant when he said see what his value is on the market”. If they use the non-exclusive franchise tag, or the transition tag Phillips could still negotiate with other teams. Though using the non-exclusive franchise tag would make any other team actually signing him pretty unrealistic (since the Bills get two 1sts if they don’t match, which not matching would be a no-brainer). But a transition tag would allow the Bills the opportunity to match an offer, and it wouldn’t really restrict Phillips from seeing what his value is on the market. This year’s transition tag number is $12.3M. That’s more than I want to spend on Phillips but it’s not totally unrealistic that the Bills decide to use it (though I still doubt they do). I agree that the quote from Beane sounds more like he will let him test free agency though.

Scary situation during the 1st period of the Blues vs Ducks game last night - They called it a “cardiac episode’. I guess they had to use the defibrillator on him. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/bouwmeester-alert-and-undergoing-tests-after-suffering-cardiac-episode-and/article_e121798d-f74e-57dc-8180-477dd4518e43.html https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/radiocom/blues-game-postponed-after-jay-bouwmeester-collapses It happened on the team’s dad trip too, so Bouwmeester’s father was in the crowd. They ended up postponing the game until a later date.

There are ways around it (and they’re legal). - VPN (virtual private network). Lots of options for VPN’s. Some are free, some are a 1 time fee, some are monthly. but even the best VPN’s are only a few $ a month (like NordVPN, the one i’d recommend - $3.49/mo). Well worth it for the security (especially if you shop + pay bills online, or watch pirated streams/movies, etc). With a VPN you can set your IP address to be in any country you’d like (so you can access any gel-restricted content. You can also use it to unlock to use it to see geo-restricted content on Netflix, Hulu etc), and it totally encrypts everything so any online banking/shopping you do is always secure. It hides your identity and online activity. Your internet provider can’t even track you. You won’t get ad trackers and pop-up ads. Many benefits. Make sure you get a no-log VPN. And I’d recommend one that you pay monthly for vs using the VPN’s that only charge a 1 time fee (they are not maintained as well, but im sure would be more than good enough to watch geo-restricted content). - Smart DNS proxy. It identifies what country the geo-content is from and gives you an IP address to access it. Faster internet speeds than a VPN but it doesn’t protect/encrypt your info like a VPN, and they seem to cost about the same as a VPN ($2-3/mo). - you can simply use the free proxy server lists available with a google search. Just enter in the proxy server #. But I wouldn’t recommend this unless you know how to check the proxy server to make sure it’s legit. - you can also use a free tor browser, but I definitely would not recommend using any type of tor browser without first turning on a VPN.

Yeah I hate that. What really pisses me off is when you get to watch those 2 ads they always play before their videos (on the TSN site), but then you can’t watch the actual video itself. Usually I can watch their YouTube stuff, though.

That was hard to listen to. They’re trying to sound all informed about the Sabres, then say things like “Mittelstadt should have went back to college for a year” (he did) and “Buffalo has no cap space this offseason” (they have the 3rd most cap space in the entire NHL). They did make a few good points though.

Exactly. McDermott likes to have a veteran in every meeting room. That’s not a bad thing, even if it raises some stupid “average age of the team” number some (of the more negative) fans like to obsess about.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/02/11/shad-khan-playing-outside-the-country-turned-out-great-for-the-jaguars/ Shad Khan: Playing outside the country turned out great for the Jaguars

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2020/2/11/21133661/buffalo-bills-star-lotulelei-agree-to-restructured-contract-ensuring-he-stays-on-the-team-in-2020 Cap hit: 2020 - $8.35M (was $10.1M) 2021 - $10.5M (was $10.85) 2022 - $8.95M (was $10.85M) Dead cap: 2021 - Dead cap: $5.2 million Cap savings if cut: $5.3 million 2022 - Dead cap: $2.6 million Cap savings if cut: $6.35 million

I think someone hacks his account to mess with him. I’ve seen that happen before and then later in the comment section he’s complaining about being hacked. But who knows, that dude definitely has some serious issues. I mean, honestly, who would dedicate so many years to constantly posting negative about buffalo (of all places)? It’s actually kind of sad. I imagine he’s probably a pretty miserable, lonely person.

I don’t think he trashed Buffalo. Amari Cooper made it pretty clear he has no interest. Maybe that’s what he was thinking of? They had Hooper’s and Cooper’s comments together in the article, so he may have just confused the two. Here are Hooper’s comments - https://theathletic.com/1569231/2020/01/29/are-the-bills-shaking-the-siberian-stigma-it-depends-what-matters-to-nfl-players-in-free-agency/ (sub. req.) And here are Amari Cooper’s comments -

That dude has been trolling Buffalo in the comment sections at PFT and PHT for a long, long time. I think he posts comments on every buffalo article without fail and has done so for years and years and years. Seriously. Years. He’s very dedicated. I don’t get how anyone could have that much hate for any Buffalo team. It’s not like we’ve been very good.

Sucks to lose but I can deal with that loss. The start wasn’t pretty. Couple iffy goals. But the team rebounded nicely and never gave up. They really poured it on in the 3rd period. That was the best period of hockey they’ve played in a while. Dahlin had a heck of a game too!

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/olofsson-joins-the-sabres-on-the-ice-for-saturdays-practice Olofsson back at practice. Great news! Sounds like it’ll still be a week+ before he starts playing in games.

He was excused from the game today for family reasons. Andrew Hammond is the backup. I don’t know if that was the reason for the move, but they are totally capped out. I believe they are actually $3M over the cap and using LTIR space. Edit - just looking at capfriendly - https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/sabres Yeah, they are using $3.6M in LTIR relief right now.

I enjoyed that interview. Thanks. This was the next YouTube video that played after the interview. I didnt know Wade played the drums (about 1/2 way through the video). He’s actually really good!

I didn’t blame the fans. I just said that I can see why it would be easier to play on the road right now. Yeah that wouldn’t surprise me. This team needs massive changes. There are too many mentally fragile players that just give up and start hanging their heads at any sign of adversity.

I guess I didn’t word that very well. I just meant that they seemed more relaxed and confident away from KeyBank arena (at least last night), and that it doesn’t surprise me that they’re more confident on the road than they are at home right now (with all the booing and “fire botterill” chants and even protests in the plaza at their home arena). I didn’t mean that they are motivated by negative backlash, but that it’s having a negative affect on them when they play at home. Maybe they’re cheating/pushing too much to score for the fans like Krueger said after the game. Or maybe they just get in their own heads too much at home due to the quiet atmosphere at games and all of the booing. I can see where it would be easier for them at the moment to play on the road.

This guy just can’t take a hint, can he...? ?

Nice win last night. Rangers made it interesting at the end, but the Sabres hung on. I’ll take any win they can get at this point. Anything to help them build up their confidence and stop this thing from going completely off the rails. They did look like they had more confidence + jump on the road tonight, which isn’t really surprising with all the negative fan backlash right now. They played a simple, structured game. That’s what they need to do at home, too.

Here’s some of AB’s quotes from that interview, for those who didn’t listen. https://theathletic.com/1588486/2020/02/06/antonio-brown-despises-juju-has-love-for-ben-roethlisberger-and-explains-why-he-left-the-steelers/ (sub, req.) The entire interview changed when the host brought up JuJu. AB’s voice and whole demeanor immediately changed. He got very upset and it led to a long rant that pretty much lasted the rest of the interview. It seems pretty clear that he HATES JuJu. Here are a couple comments on Big Ben -

I think he forgot the “apology” part of his apology tour... ?

What a pathetic effort. Once they got down 2-0 it was like they started feeling sorry for themselves or something. They didn’t snap out of it until they scored in the 3rd period to make it 2-1, then suddenly they woke up and started giving a full effort again. Where was the urgency before that? Maybe if they had given that type of effort the entire game, they wouldn’t have been down by 2. Detroit hadn’t won a road game since Dec. 13th. They hadn’t even scored a goal in over 4 games ffs! I am so done with so many players on this team. They are so damn fragile. They need some Major changes.

Came across this article - https://www.diebytheblade.com/2020/2/5/21123483/should-the-buffalo-sabres-move-on-from-jason-botterill Should the Sabres move on from Botterill? ‘The 2020 offseason is the ideal situation for a new general manager to come in, and immediately put their stamp on the roster’ I thought this was an interesting question. The author says that he has not earned the opportunity and I thought he made some pretty good points as to why. I decided to look at his roster moves since he’s been here. I am not looking at the draft, only free agent signings and trades. His drafts look ok so far but it’s too soon to tell (for the most part). His moves: (not counting the draft) -Scandella -Pominville -Sheary -Hunwick -Elie -Wilson -Hutton -Chad Johnson -Beaulieu -Sobotka -Berglund -Thompson -Skinner -Montour -Jokiharju -Vesey -Miller -Frolik -Johansson -Pilut -Pouliot -Josefson -Griffith I may be forgetting some (feel free to point any out that I forgot) Looking at that list - good: Skinner, Jokiharju, Pilut, Johansson, Montour maybe? -Skinner was a good move, but supposedly we were 1 of only 2 teams on his NMC (Toronto being the other, who had no cap space to add him). Still, credit where credit is due. It was a good trade. -Joker trade looks fantastic. He took a bad 1st round pick by the previous GM and turned it into a valuable asset. Joker looks like a top 4, with potential to even possibly be a #2 d man for years to come. Great trade (so far...). -Pilut is a good signing, but I don’t think Botterill was the point man. Iirc, I believe Steve Greeley was, along with their head European scout. But again, you have to give botterill some credit. -Johansson was a nice signing for the price. Everyone was happy with that move. -Montour looks good, but it’s hard to judge. He’s being used all over the place. We haven’t seen him in a consistent role with a consistent partner. Guhle hasn’t exactly lit things up in Anaheim and the 1st ended up being late in the draft. So overall it looks like a decent trade. No real complaints. The bad: ROR trade was just brutal. Maybe Thompson or Johnson turn into something and make the trade look better. But as of now there’s no real argument that Buffalo did well in this trade. And you can’t even say “well, we wouldn’t have been able to trade for Skinner” because Botterill took back almost an even amount of cap in the ROR trade. The rest of the list is a whole lot of ‘meh’. I get that some of the moves were to add some cheap depth and I don’t have an issue with that. Plus, you have to take into account the Sabres cap situation at the time of the signings/trades (I couldn’t really find accurate cap info for 2018 or 2018). But looking over the list, it doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence that he’s going to suddenly fill out the team this offseason with better performing players. https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/02/06/buffalo-sabres-detroit-red-wings-sabres-fans-sabres-live-stream/ This article makes some similar points: There are also some pending RFA’s to make decisions on - Reinhart, Olofsson, Montour, Ullmark. The article also mentions that the Sabres can’t afford to keep starting over. So, do you bring in a new GM (that doesn’t know the roster/players)? Or do you stick with the current GM for one more season and see if he’s finally able to fix this roster? I can make an argument for a new GM, and I can also see some of the merits of giving Botterill one more offseason to make improvements. Botterill has done a pretty good job revamping the defense. I’ll give him that. But the forwards are a mess, as is the goaltending. I will say this - the Pegulas know what goes on behind the scenes. They know if there were trades/signings he could have made (etc). If they feel strongly that he’s still the guy for this job, then they need to stick to their guns and not cave to fan pressure. Eventually they have to allow a GM some time to build a team. I’m just not sure if that GM is Jason Botterill... Ray Shero being available is also tempting. If they do move on from botterill, I hope they bring in a competent veteran GM to at least get this thing back on the tracks. No more rookies learning on the job, at least right now. They can’t afford to waste any more of eichel’s prime.