BillsFan4

Tre!!

Damn, what a catch.

A bit too high on that throw. Too much time to get to the ball. Well, let’s see what Duck looks like against our D.

Our OT’s are getting lit up so far.

Good job by gore to fight for that 1st down.

What a throw.

Best thing for him, IMO. This was long overdue, but there were a lot of injuries so that’s probably what held things up. Hopefuly he can go down to rochester, regain his confidence and come back to Buffalo later in the season and actually add some offense (but I’m fine leaving him down there all season if a call-up isn’t warranted or needed).

Wow, I knew his best friend had died from being shot but I didn’t know the circumstances. I can only imagine how traumatizing it was for foster and everyone else involved.

Omg, that British guy that said “may as well move my family” (to watch Bills games) has me laughing. Bills fans, man... we’re a special breed. ?

I thought they deserved the win today.

And I thought 2 of the 3 calls were pretty questionable (Risto+Mojo). I feel like the refs were kind of letting the crowd call the penalties for a minute there. I love when Buffalo is executing Krueger’s system like they were in that period. Ifs so much fun to watch.

Eichel keeps his point streak alive! 16 games! And olofsson pots his 14th of the season. He’s definitely in the Calder running as of now.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001087443/article/long-overdue-bills-ready-for-sunday-night-return Sorry if this was already posted. Long overdue is right. Hopefully the Bills take advantage of the opportunity. Normally I’m worried about the Bills ******** the bed when they play in prime time (and that’s still a slight fear), but, after that thanksgiving day performance, I’m more excited than anything this time to see how they do.

You’re right about buyouts. They only happen in the summer and there’s only a short window (that usually starts June15, or 2 days after the Stanley Cup is awarded, whichever is later). And no way in hell I send a 2nd with Bogosian (I believe they already traded their 3rd for Vesey). He’s off the books after this season. It is not worth one of our top 3 round picks to dump 1/2 a year worth of salary. Sabres are still trying to build depth in their farm system, they can’t go giving away 2nd round picks to clear 55 games of salary. Bogo’s cap hit is lower for an acquiring team now due to the season being 1/3 of the way through. I think you look for a salary for salary trade with another team. I’d look to make a swap for an underperforming forward on an expiring deal (there’s a # of them around the NHL). https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/ufa/

I agree with what you’re saying to an extent. Bogosian is a good dude, does a lot in the community, is a leader on the team, etc. I fully understand he’s in a contract year and that he needs to play as much as he possibly can (somewhere) to show that he’s actually healthy and capable of staying on the ice. I don’t at all resent him for asking for a trade, or for wanting to play in every game. It could be his last shot at a decent UFA contract. I get that he’s a leader and its tougher to lead from the press box (and when you’re not considered an integral part of the lineup). I get that he’s prideful and that this was the 1st healthy scratch of his career. But, there’s a way to handle trade requests and healthy scratches IMO. Every other player that was scratched this year showed up at the game to support their team/teammates and watched from the press box (where they act somewhat as scouts for the team during the game, and also get to self-scout a bit). No other player requested a trade after a single healthy scratch (though I get Bogo’s situation is different than others). But the trade request isn’t an issue with me... it was making it public. By having his agent (Darren Ferris) immediately leak the trade request to his (Ferris’) good buddy Darren Dreger, it put the GM in a tougher position IMO because it takes away even more leverage. Now not only does botterill have too many defenseman, he also has a malcontent veteran who let it be known publicly that he wants a trade. It also causes a distraction for the rest the rest of the team, who were all finally starting to play better again. Now they have to deal with questions about Bogosian wanting out. Especially Eichel, who calls Bogosian his best friend in the world. You could see the effect it had on Eichel last night when he was asked after the game about Bogosian. If Bogosian wants out, fine. No problem. I just wish he would have handled it a bit differently. But maybe he did it to put pressure on Botterill (though I doubt it works. It took Botts like 6 weeks to trade Beaulieu, and he was scratched much of that 6 weeks).

https://theathletic.com/1455534/2019/12/12/wheeler-final-thoughts-from-team-canadas-world-junior-selection-camp/ Wheeler: Final thoughts from Team Canada’s world junior selection camp (Athletic sub. required) He says Cozens and Newhook were the 2 players that have stood out the most to him. Had to post this replay of the Eichel goal. Unreal.

There are 6 tweets total. Click on the tweet to see them all. Perfect answer from Ralph Krueger IMO. Also, Vogl says that Bogosian wasn’t seen at thursday’s game - We don’t know all the details, but from what I’ve read I feel like Bogosian isn’t acting very professional about a (well deserved) healthy scratch.

2 goals for Eichel! 15 game point streak. And I believe that moves him into 2nd (past Ovechkin) in the entire NHL in goals scored. And I believe it moved him from 7th to 5th in points. And of course as i’m typing this, Nashville scores.

? He plays terrible, is healthy scratched one time and he wants a trade?! ? Honestly, I feel like he’s doing buffalo a HUGE favor. I figured they’d try to re-sign him even though he’s a total pylon now because “leadership”.

More Galchenyuk rumors. Said the price on Galchenyuk is not as high as you’d think for a former #3 overall pick. He said he thinks the price is very reasonable, but he didn’t know if both teams could get the cap situation figured out (Pittsburgh May not want to take back salary and Buffalo needs to send salary in any trade). ???? ?

https://theathletic.com/1447038/2019/12/10/gluttons-for-punishment-seven-first-year-coaches-discuss-buzz-challenge-of-new-gigs/ Gluttons for punishment: Seven first-year coaches discuss buzz, challenge of new gigs (Athletic sub. required) This is a really interesting read. Here’s some of Krueger’s answers: I love the answer in bold. This job was/is definitely a heavy lift. Lets be honest, it’s right up there with Edmonton as one of the toughest coaching jobs in the entire NHL. I feel like the Sabres have never really been able to fully recovered from the tank years and the losing culture that developed because of it. For all the good it did in bringing us our stars like Eichel and Dahlin, it dug Buffalo a heck of a hole. The team was torn down to the studs in a very short amount of time. It was almost totally stripped of any veteran leadership and any semblance of a winning culture Buffalo once had left with them. I think that’s why you see many team keep some of their veteran players around through a rebuild (Pominville, for ex., would’ve been a great guy to keep). I feel pretty safe saying that the rebuild strategy wasn’t executed all that well... ? Anyway... my only real point is that there is a lot of baggage that comes along with this team. I don't think it was realistic to expect Ralph Krueger to solve all of the sabres issues in 30 games. November was brutal. I almost checked out. But I’m feeling hopeful again lately. The Sabres have been trending in the right direction lately. I just hope it continues. I’m sure they’ll be more bumps, but hopefully they won’t last nearly a month... Somehow, Buffalo is 2nd in the division. So they’re still in the race!

Nice Buffalo News article on Krueger - https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/10/buffalo-sabres-ralph-krueger-switzerland-iihf-world-championship-patrick-fischer-peter-zahner-nhl-news-2019/ Ralph Krueger changed an entire country's approach to hockey. Next: Buffalo. I’ve mentioned Krueger’s time in Switzerland before so I won’t repeat everything I’ve already said, but he’s a huge reason for their sustained success and the world wide respect for the Swiss hockey program. Krueger said he wanted a challenge. I’ll post another interview on that in a minute. I respect that and love that mindset.

Lot of coaches fired this season. I want to say this is at least the 5th since the season started.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-jim-montgomery-firing-hockeys-latest-bombshell/ He’s a UFA at year’s end. $4.9M cap hit iirc. I’d be ok with taking a shot on him if the price was cheap. Like a swap of one of our UFA to be defenseman. Not sure if that’s realistic or not. I have no idea what the Pens need.

That stuff about Eichel and Krueger was awesome. Thanks for sharing.