BillsFan4

Good punt by Corey B. there. Had to be about a 50 yarder...

How was that NOT holding?!

Lets go buffalo!

looks like both bailey and baptiste cleared.

Yeah, I know the 2 options are build new or renovate (obviously...lol). But that wasn’t what I was pointing out. I was saying that Murphy confirmed that it is down to 2 sites - the current location of new era or downtown buffalo.

I don’t think it’ll be too long before Pilut is back up. He showed a lot of promise. He just needs to clean up his d zone play a bit and learn when to take risks and when not to. I do think he will eventually be a full time NHL defenseman though. A bit surprised Guhle made it. I thought he struggled all preseason, outside of the last 2 games. I just hope he’s not sitting in the press box for weeks at a time. I’d much rather have him playing big minutes in Rochester if that’s the case. Love that Nylander and Thompson appear to have made it. They both earned it, although I still could have seen it go either way (since they did struggle at times and have plenty to work on). Glad Tennyson is being sent down. I was not prepared to live through another Tennyson experiment to start this season... lol. And I really hope Bailey and Baptiste make it to Rochester. I actually thought that maybe Bailey did enough to stick on the 4th line for now. I’d be pretty bummed to lose him. Baptiste was basically invisible in the games he did play, so no surprise there. But I’m still hoping he makes it through waivers. He’s definitely better than he’s shown this preseason. I could see a team taking a chance on either one though, with the speed they have. With the way the NHL is trending, speedy wingers are more popular than ever.

There was a good interview with Mark Murphy (Packers CEO and buffalo, NY native) in the Athletic. He briefly touched on the Bills stadium plans. https://theathletic.com/556140/2018/09/29/packers-ceo-mark-murphy-holds-court-on-playing-days-growing-up-a-bills-fan-and-his-front-office-work-in-green-bay/ (sub. required) It’s interesting to hear him kind of confirm that it’s down to 2 options (as many had speculated) - build a new stadium downtown or renovate New Era.

Totally agree. Dahlin is a cornerstone player and likely the best defensive prospect to enter the NHL in years. Maybe even since Potvin. I think he will be our long term #1D and maybe even a generational defenseman. But I just like to temper my expectations for rookies. Especially with how bad the Sabres have been, and how young Dahlin is, and the fact that he’s playing on the smaller North American ice. I have very high expectations for him in the future. I just don’t want to set the bar too high for this season. If he could put up the same 39 point rookie season as Ekblad, I’d be thrilled. But I don’t even expect that because Ekblad was already a man at 18yrs old. He was very physically mature for his age. Dahlin is still a kid. He said himself he just entered puberty within the last year or two. His coach said that last offseason was the first one that Dahlin could implement a proper professional training regime (due to not being physically mautre enough before that). And Dahlin said similar himself - “I have practiced hard all summer before, but I hadn’t really entered puberty so I haven’t been able to build up muscle the way that I have needed. It will be important this summer to build up my muscle mass a bit”. https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2017/4/25/15337912/rasmus-dahlin-2018-nhl-entry-draft-prospect-development-interview-coach-frolunda-ronnberg-johansson I am always like this with every rookie though. I always like to have lower expectations. I just want want to see Dahlin developing properly. I don’t care about point totals as much as I do his overall game. But if I had to put a number out there, I’d say that I’m expecting at least 20-25pts. Anything more than that is gravy... (assuming his overall development looks on track).

I hope you’re right, but I wouldn’t take that bet. 47 points would put Dahlin 2nd in scoring, in the entire history of the NHL, for an under 19 defenseman. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/stats/all-time-season?position=d&age=u19 Housley is #1 with 61 points. The next closest is Bobby Orr at #2 with 41 points.

There is just no possible way to know. Just because all 4 QBs takes in the top 10 will be starting by week 4 doesn’t mean it’s a great QB class. I mean, who knows, they could all flame out in 5 years time... We have a LONg way to go before we can even say that it’s better than many QB draft classes over the years that have produced good starters.

It’s the old Hartford Whalers Jersey. The Carolina Hurricanes were originally the Hartford whalers before they moved to Carolina in 1997. Its not an E, that shot is showing it sideways. Here’s the logo - https://goo.gl/images/97XZoC It’s a “W” with a whale’s tail above it. The negative space in between forms an “H”. It’s cool to see them honor their roots. I’ve loved seeing all the retro 3rd jerseys coming out this year. It brings back memories for me.

He came closer than I thought he would. I think he will be back up soon enough. Also, sometimes moves like this are made until another corresponding move can be made - like in this case, maybe trading Larsson/Girgensons etc. so they don’t lose them for nothing on waivers. I do think Asplund needed some time in the AHL though. He played great at times, and then at other times looked a bit confused (as to where he was supposed to be on this smaller ice, or who he was supposed to be covering etc). Some time in the A will do him good. I bet he will be driven as all hell to get back up, too (which should hopefully rub off on everyone in Rochester). I guess he was pretty desperate to get to North America and had been begging the Sabres to bring him over for a couple years.

About damn time he was signed. He is way too good to have gone unsigned that long.

Well... that was even uglier than I thought it would be. It was basically our AHL team vs their NHL team, so I expected that they’d lose. But still.... I didn’t like seeing all the confusion and blown assignments. It looked like a classic Sabres stinker. One of those where all game, Buffalo is basically just chipping the puck into the neutral zone and letting the other team set right back up on the attack. It felt like Pittsburgh spent almost the entire first period in the o zone. Then buffalo woke up to start the 2nd, scored a goal and looked like they might make a game of it. But Pittsburgh scored and pretty much took over the rest of the period. Then again in the 3rd buffalo showed a little life, but it was once again short lived. It’s understandable that that they were outclassed, talent wise. But they were completely outclassed, system wise too. Buffalo looked like a junior team out there - just running around completely disorganized.

Damn. Brutal for both teams. Ducks really needed Perry to have a bounce back year, and now that’s impossible. And Columbus... losing their best defenseman for roughly the first month of the season. Seth Jones has really come into his own and is becoming one of the better defenseman in the NHL. Losing him is a huge blow. Hopefully he’s able to make a speedy recovery. I feel for Columbus with everything going on. They finally put together a good team and now it’s looking like they may lose 2 of their 3 best players (Panarin and Bobrovsky) during/after this season to free agency, or a trade by the deadline, since neither seem willing to re-sign in CBus (heard Bob wants the same as Price - $10.5M per, otherwise he wants to test free agency, and that Panarin is just unwilling to sign right now for any price).

I think Guhle was probably always slated to start the year in Rochester unless he really blew the coaches away in training camp + preseason. But yeah, I think he’s sealed his fate. At this point, It would shock me more if he WASN’T in Rochester to start the season... Mittelstadt has had a very disappointing preseason IMO. I could definitely see him in the AHL to start the year. Or maybe they’ll give him some NHL games to start the year and if he stills looks to be struggling, send him down then. I believe the clock has started on his ELC no matter where he plays. That could potentially be the thing that gets him a look in the NHL to start the year. But I think hes he’s probably be better off starting in Rochester at this point. It’s kind of hard to say he’s legitimately earned his spot (definitely not at #2C, that’s for sure), and I hate handing kids NHL jobs they haven’t earned. Berglund likely starts at 2C, and maybe Sobotka at 3C is my guess. Both have been better than Mittelstadt this preseason, IMO. I wonder where where they view Bailey and Baptiste? Both need to clear waivers to go to Rochester. Rodrigues too, but he’s earned his spot IMO. I think bailey has shown enough as well, to at least get a bottom 6 spot to start the year. Baptiste, not so much... big game for him tonight.

That they got ANYTHING at all for him is shocking... lol. I think the guy got flagged every time he stepped on the field.

Yep. How can you even play football if that is a personal foul? May as well just make it flag football then.

Congrats on a great career! I like that he will be taking on a small part with the Sabres. I am hoping that it’s in some type of player development role. I think he could really excel in that type of job, and could be a very valuable resource to our younger guys coming up. Edit - just listened to the full press conference. It sounds like he is taking on a player development role down in Rochester

It is going to be glorious when their dynasty ends. Their fans are soooo spoiled.

Wow. It’s pretty cool that all 4 QBs from the top 10 of this draft are already starting by week 4. This could be quite an interesting QB draft class to follow.

It was only cramps, so I would imagine he will be fine for next week.

If Bulaga is out that would be huge for Buffalo, especially with a banged up Aaron Rodgers. Their backup tackles suck.

I actually think it was out D line coach, Bill Teerlinck, who came up with that 3rd down rush package. I heard him and a couple players talking about it.