BillsFan4

The Aud was such a cool place to watch a game. You could see the ice so well. I remember the first time I watched a game from the 300’s there as a kid. I can vividly remember how steep it was. Pretty sure I was scared of falling. lol I spent a lot of time in that place over the years.

Right?! I said the same thing. He is in year 2 of an 8 year deal he JUST SIGNED. He only wanted a max term deal in buffalo. It was reported Eichel and the Sabres didn’t even discuss any other contract lengths. I see absolutely no sign of eichel wanting out. In fact, just the opposite. He seems to have fully embraced Buffalo and the captaincy. Merper, you need to let this obsession (with Eichel leaving) go. It’s just getting weird at this point.

They are slowly turning things around. I hope it continues.

That’s a pretty good guess. I hadn’t thought of that.

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2019/12/10/stars-fire-head-coach-jim-montgomery-due-to-unprofessional-conduct/ Stars fire head coach Jim Montgomery ‘due to unprofessional conduct’ Very vague, leaves you with more questions than answers.

100% agree. If this is true Belichick should be suspended, and not just for a game or two.

If this is what actually happened, they should be very seriously penalized. As I said, I’ll be anxious to see the actual video (if it’s ever released).

I’m anxious to see the actual video. If they are blatantly filming the sideline then I won’t buy this excuse. But if it truly looks incidental then this will be more believable. Regardless, it’s a pretty terrible look for a franchise already busted for something similar.

Darby getting lit up in the 1st half.

? oops. Just seeing if people were were paying attention...

I was hoping to avoid looking like an idiot, but you just had to quote me before I fixed it, huh? ? (just kidding) But yeah, for some reason I thought he was from Alaska. He’s from the Yukon. At least I was close geographically... lol

Nice to see 2 recent Sabres draft picks make the initial roster (Johnson and Samuelsson).

4 minute segment. Good stuff! I was legitimately curious to see if our coaching staff could devise a game plan to slow down the Ravens (something even Belichick struggled to do), and I’m happy to say that they did it! I was very impressed by the Hills defense on Sunday. It’s a shame the offense couldn’t do more because that game was there for the taking. Even though we lost, this game left me feeling like the Bills are truly close to being a true playoff contender. And they have tons of cap space this offseason to continue to improve the team. Its impressive that they’re where they're at with $25M in cap space to spare this season and $90+M next season.

https://theathletic.com/1444829/2019/12/09/we-wanted-to-get-a-win-for-him-sabres-make-sure-ralph-kruegers-return-to-edmonton-was-a-positive-one/ ‘We wanted to get a win for him’: Sabres make sure Ralph Krueger’s return to Edmonton was a positive one (athletic subscription required) good article. I really enjoy Krueger’s relentless positivity and belief that you grow by facing + overcoming adversity. The Sabres may be his biggest test yet (as far as staying positive and overcoming adversity). But he said he wanted a challenge, so... The author goes on to say that since the Sabres November slide, the Sabres are 4-2-3, which is a .611 points percentage that would have ranked seventh in the NHL last season. And that their 14-11-6 overall record is good for third place in the Atlantic Division. Eichel has definitely taken a step this year. He seems to have really embraced his role as captain/leader. Like the story about trying to get Vesey his 1st goal, or giving Dahlin pep talks on the bench and telling him what a big part of the Sabres future he is. And obviously his play on the ice has been outstanding, even his 2 way game this season is noticeably improved. He seems to have taken Krueger’s words to heart about improving his defensive play.

A good amount of Botterill’s picks are trending in the right direction. You can’t expect to see 2nd-7th round picks in the NHL a year or two after their draft. That is unrealistic. If you look at every team in the NHL, it is pretty unusual for 2nd+ round picks to play in the NHL so quickly. Even mid to late 1st round picks often take 2+ years to get to the NHL. Most mid round prospects take 3+years to hit the NHL. Heres a nice breakdown of his first 2 drafts - https://www.diebytheblade.com/2019/6/19/18691578/buffalo-sabres-jason-botterill-first-two-nhl-draft-have-shown-early-promise Botterill’s first two drafts have shown early promise His drafts have been pretty strong and it looks like he could have quite a few hits outside the 1st round. Guys that look like potential NHL players or are at least trending in that direction: From 2017: Ukko Pekka Luukkonen (goalie of the year) Laaksonen (totally unknown 3rd round pick that’s blown up since g drafted), Jacob Bryson (4th round, played a big role in getting his team to frozen 4), maybe Davidsson, and even Weissbach (his last pick in ‘17) had a surprisingly good d+1 season but I’m not sure I’d give him NHL potential yet. From 2018: Samuelsson, Pekar (fan favorite), too early to tell on Cronholm and Kukkonen but they’re trending up for sure. As far as ROR, 1 player doesn’t prove anything, and it certainly doesn’t prove that Eichel will want out. Sure, if this losing goes on for years then I can see it. But as of now I see zero signs he wants out. In fact, I’d say just the opposite. I think he has fully embraced this team/city and his role as captain, and is dying to bring a winning team to Buffalo. I’m sure not going to worry about it for now when there’s zero signs that it’s an issue. I mean, he’s in year 2 of an 8 year deal he just signed (at the time it was the 2nd highest contract ever signed for a player his age) . And he only wanted to sign a max term deal with Buffalo. They reportedly didn’t even discuss any shorter contract lengths. Both sides wanted to commit to the Max term. With ROR it was obvious from his 2nd season that he was unhappy here. But he had already put up with a bunch of years of losing in Colorado before coming here. He was in his 7th NHL season when he came to Buffalo and had only made the playoffs once in 6 years in Colorado. I think next season is when you’ll see more drastic changes to this team. A ton of cap space and a bunch of roster spots open up. Buffalo has $35+ M in cap space and as of now they only have 10 skaters + 1 goalie under contract for next season. A few are RFA’s so they’ll be back, but we have 7+ UFA’s so that’s potentially 7+ roster spots opening up. Changing a roster in the NHL is much more difficult than in the NFL. Every contract in the NHL is guaranteed and cap space is at a much higher priority (especially since it doesn’t rise nearly as fast as in the NFL). Im not saying that I’m totally happy with Botterill or anything. I’ve posted numerous times complaining about him and the Sabres in general. I’m not at all satisfied with where this team is at and want changes/additions. But I don’t want moves made for the sake of making moves. I don’t want him to force a bad trade (like with ROR). So, for now I’m willing to be patient and see what he does this offseason. It appears his plan is a slower rebuild, which honestly should have been done the 1st time around. But the Sabres hired an ultra-aggressive GM that blew through all the picks/assets that had been collected. Really, I wish Botterill had been hired the 1st time around. You’re supposed to hire the patient GM at the start of the rebuild, THEN the more aggressive GM to come in if/when the team needs changes and/or to be put over the top (though Tim Murray was just a bad hire, so with hindsight I obviously wouldn’t want him to be hired at all...lol).

Yeah he’s been outstanding, especially considering he was playing with bad hips last season. He has the corrective surgery, misses like 5-6 months and steps right back in without missing a beat. Definitely one of the more exciting prospects in the Sabres pipeline. Im thinking that it’s more likely he gets a full season as the Amerks starter next year and a chance at the backup role the following season (when Hutton’s deal is up). But I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get some games next season if Hutton keeps playing like this and/or there’s an injury.

See! I feel like this happens any time I say something nice about the Sabres during a game. Should I try saying something bad before the 3rd starts? ?

After that 1at shift by Edmonton I thought it was going to be a long night, but then the Sabres just slowly took over the period. I hesitate to compliment them because they always seem to make me eat my words, but that was a good 1st period. They were playing the way Krueger wants them to. I love when they play like this... Hopefully they can keep it up.

Wow, both McCabe and Mittelstadt healthy scratches tonight. Good! Both deserve to be sitting. Hopefully it’ll do Mittelstadt some good. He really should be in Rochester. Maybe once Thompson is back he will be? I think he needs to get his confidence back and going to the AHL could help.

Defense!!

Daring call. If they miss on the 2pt conversion, it’s now a 2 score game instead of a 1 score game.

They deserved better. I thought that was a questionable tripping call. All did was pivot 45 degrees. He didn’t even lift his stick off the ice. The Vancouver player skated directly into his stick and tripped. It was an unfortunate play, but not a trip IMO. Not the Sabres best game but I’m Proud that they battled back 3 separate times. Down 2-0, tied it at 2-2. Down 3-2, tied it at 3. Down 5-3, tied it with 58 seconds left. Hutton was awful though. At least 3 questionable goals IMO. He’s definitely in his own head, I think. He’s lost his last what, 10-11 straight starts or something like that? and I read that it’s really been getting to him. It’s hard to not feel like buffalo wins tonight with Ullmark in net.

Tied at 5 with 58 seconds remaining!!

Tied 2-2 right now. I almost turned it off myself, but they suddenly got their **** together about 5 minutes into the 2nd. I don’t know if it’ll last, but at least it’s a game right now.