BillsFan4

I’ve been advocating for Buffalo to acquire a starting goaltender all offseason but There really isn’t much left on the goalie market that I’m seeing. As things sit now, UPL looks like our best chance at getting league average goaltending (or better) next season. Matt Murray - refused trade to Buffalo. Husso - signed by Detroit Kuemper - rumored to be going to Washington. Plus he reportedly wants 6yrs Campbell - everyone is reporting that he’s signing in Edmonton. Gibson - rumor that he also turned down a trade to Buffalo. Has 5yrs left on his contract. Talbot - Bill Guerin doesn’t seem interested in trading him. The wild want him and fleury splitting games 50/50. Fleury also wants this. He said at his age it’s what is best. Vanacek - traded to NJ DeSmith - re-signed by PIT Georgiev - traded to colorado + signed to a 3yr deal Mrazek - traded to CHI (plus he sucks!) Fleury - re-signed by Minn. Brayden Holtby - reported that his career is over due to the injury he sustained that kept him out last season. Jake Allen - Buffalo has rumored interest but montreal reportedly doesn’t want to trade him due to the uncertainty surrounding Carey Price. Who’s even left? Maybe Thomas Greiss? Eric Comrie? Neither seem like very inspiring options. Trade for Jonathan Quick? I’d be good with that. maybe trade for Reiner or Hill? Again, not great options. I just see zero reason to move on from UPL this season. As of now he’s the best goalie on the Sabres roster. They only have Anderson and UPL under contract and that includes in Rochester too. And UPL has looked pretty darn good every time he’s played NHL games so far. He’s also looked very good for stretched in Rochester. Probably his biggest issue has been staying healthy. And again, it’s normal for goalies to take 5-6yrs to develop. Plenty of NHL goalies didn’t break out in the NHL until they were 25+. Will UPL? Who knows. But he’s actually still somewhat young by NHL goalie standards (23) and he was still a highly touted prospect as recently as a season or two ago. It’s not like he’s been terrible or hasn’t shown development. Levi and Portillo aren’t even signed yet and UPL isn’t blocking them even if they were. The chances of either Portillo or Levi stepping into the AHL next season and instantly being a full time starter are pretty slim. Chances are they’ll need to be eased into pro hockey (like pretty much every goalie we’ve ever drafted) and will start out as backups in the AHL. Or if both Levi + Portillo sign next year maybe they split the net in Rochester. Or one starts for their ECHL team in Cincinnati. Im guessing UPL is at least a full time backup in Buffalo by the end of this season though. If he’s not starting or splitting the net with someone Buffalo signs.

Yeah but UPL was BY FAR our best goalie last year in the NHL, until he got injured obviously. He had a .917 sv% which is far and away better than any other goalie that played for the Sabres last year. Anderson, who you’re seemingly ok with, had an .898%. I don’t get why you want to move on? You think we should cut the best current chance we have at getting above league average goaltending next season, which makes zero sense to me. Right now we have UPL, who has always played above league average during his (short) time in the NHL. And Anderson, who has been barely a .900% goalie the last 4 years. The Sabres have been turned down by multiple goalies. Murray refused a trade here. Supposedly someone on NHL network said John Gibson also refused a trade here. I can’t see Kuemper (wants the Grubauer contract - 6yrs, $6M) or Talbot (35yrs old, wants to win) coming here. I’d be all for it if either wanted to though! You know I’ve been advocating for them to do something in net.. But There are very few goalies even left on the market, trade or free agent. There’s no reason to cut UPL anyway. Even if he’s just rochester’s goalie (they also have no goalies under contract). I honestly don’t get your crusade against UPL. You been slamming him ever since we drafted him, and always purposely mispronouncing his name. Did he run over your dog or something? 😂

not a bad list by Mcadoo. He was pretty close. I’d put baker at #3 and Rosen last but otherwise I’d say he was right on.

I don’t really understand his theories on XRP and the “big event” either. From what I can tell, one of Ripple’s main goals is to make our current traditional banking system (specifically international transactions) more efficient and it seems to rely on our current banking system to verify+complete transactions. https://www.coindesk.com/learn/what-is-ripple-and-the-xrp-cryptocurrency/ https://cointelegraph.com/blockchain-for-beginners/what-is-ripple-a-beginners-guide-for-understanding-ripple So I guess I am failing to see how Ripple/XRP would survive if the world’s economy collapses and big banks go under (or whatever the conspiracy theory is). I would think if our current banking systems fail, so will ripple/XRP 🤷‍♂️ I’m not saying it’s a bad investment. I don’t know enough about it to say either way. But if you’re investing heavily in XRP, I would think it would be for other reasons (like because you believe ripple could eventually replace SWIFT). If you believe the world’s economy will totally collapse and a new system will take over (I certainly don’t) I would think things like precious metals would be better investments.

Afaik XRP is not backed by gold. There are some coins that are, but XRP isn’t one of them. In fact, I believe Ripple’s (the company that made XRP) CTO David Schwartz even said if XRP was backed by gold it would limit its capabilities. Here’s a list of all the current gold backed crypto: https://www.goldscape.net/gold-blog/gold-backed-cryptocurrency/ XRP not an asset backed cryptocurrency at all. It’s not really backed by anything but the company that made XRP (ripple), who’s currently facing an SEC lawsuit over what XRP actually is. The SEC is alleging that XRP is a security (not a commodity) so it should be regulated like a security, and that all XRP is currently considered unregistered securities so ripple’s owners sold it illegally. ripple says XRP is a utility coin. https://www.protocol.com/fintech/ripple-sec-xrp-lawsuit-trial and here’s more on asset backed cryptocurrencies: https://medium.com/the-capital/what-are-asset-backed-cryptocurrencies-f341d9359292 https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/gold-backed-cryptocurrency/#What_Is_Gold_Backed_Cryptocurrency

Wild just signed Fleury to a 2yr deal. It appears Talbot wants out. I believe Talbot has trade protection so I don’t know if he’d waive for Buffalo but it would be a big get if they could land him. Sounds more like Adams plan is to go bargain shopping though. First Murray and now this ⬇️ Allen is another below league average goalie but at least he’s above a .900 sv%! 😂 I would much prefer Talbot though, depending on the cost to acquire. Buffalo can’t afford to be giving up any major assets for a 35yr old goalie. If the Wild want a 1st forget it.

goalie market drying up quick. I was hoping Buffalo would go after Husso. I heard Buffalo is out on Campbell too because he wants term.

Okposo is going to be named captain.

Pick #16: Noah Ostlund https://thehockeywriters.com/noah-ostlund-2022-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/

Buffalo picks Matt Savoie at #9. I like it! Scott Wheeler’s draft profile: Corey Pronman: I really like this pick! hockey writers draft profile: https://thehockeywriters.com/matthew-savoie-2022-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/

#13 overall for Alex Romanov? Wow!

Yeah the original rumor was swapping pick 9 for pick 7 and I had zero interest in that. But moving from pick 16 to 7 would’ve been worth it. That would’ve allowed Buffalo a really good shot to land 2 prospects from the top tier of this draft. By pick 16 you’ll most likely be looking at the 2nd tier of players in this draft. edit - looking at his stats and advanced analytics he was actually better than Anderson was last year.

Matt Murray nixed a trade to Buffalo. He sucks but I would’ve been happy with that trade. Boy o boy, how bad is Buffalo’s reputation if Ottawa’s (Ottawa!) 3rd string goalie (I believe they even sent him to the AHL for a stint) didn’t want to get traded to a team he would’ve been in the mix to start on? 😬

Here are the draft picks the Sabres hold in the 2022 NHL draft: 1st: #9, 16, 28 2nd: #41 3rd: #74 4th: #106 5th: #134 6th: #170, 187 7th: #202, 211 11 total picks.

I started watching all the marvel movies on Disney + last year (just for all the bass in the action scenes, explosions, etc) when I upgraded my home theater system and bought this beast ⬇️ (18” PSA subwoofer. The picture doesn’t do it’s size Justice. It comes up almost to my hips when I stand next to it and I’m 6’1”) So far I’ve watched phase 1 + 2 of the marvel timeline on Disney and all of phase 3 except for Avengers end game. That’s up next. Also just finished the mandolorian series finally. Not sure which series comes next. I’m guessing boba fett since it was teased + advertised at the end of the mandolorian.

I don’t see any reason to cut bait with UPL. Nobody is going to trade anything worthwhile for him and what would be the point in cutting him with no other goalies under contract for Buffalo or Rochester and nobody in the system that he’s blocking? Hes still only 23 years old too, which is actually still somewhat young for a goalie. Ryan Miller was 25 or 26 before he became an NHL regular. He spent 3 years in college + 3 (ish) years in the AHL after he was drafted. Not saying UPL is Miller but it’s typical for goalies to require more development and not to be ready until they are 24-25+, which is why I don’t understand Adams being worried about blocking young goalies with only a year or two of college under their belts.

I think Levi most likely signs here too. It’s Portillo that I’m not as optimistic on. This may be me reading something into nothing but a few times recently Kevyn Adams has been asked about the young goaltenders and talked up Levi and UPL without even mentioning Portillo until he was asked about him. Like I said it may be nothing but it made me wonder if he knows something we don’t or at least isn’t confident Portillo signs here. Or maybe he’s just not as high on Portillo as he is on Levi and UPL. Im not optimistic on Ryan Johnson either, though I did read a rumor recently that he could still decide to leave college this offseason. Though it just made me wonder if he’s waiting for the draft to see if he’s traded to a team he’s willing to sign with. Still hoping he decides to sign in Buffalo though.

i don’t know who they think will be ready in 2023. The only guy with any shot is UPL. The other 2 goalies they have aren’t even in the system yet and are a few years away from the NHL at very best if not longer. And both refused to sign just this offseason. They both had a wide open net in Rochester + Buffalo and chose college instead. Now one can now walk to UFA after this coming season and the other can walk after next season. It infuriates me when Kevyn Adams continually talks about not wanting to block the path of young players who aren’t even in the system and may never be, and who are a few years away at best (if not longer). Those young players haven’t earned a damn thing, especially not leaving a roster spot open on the big club for an unspecified amount of time. If either of Levi or Portillo are so scared off by the Sabres signing or trading for an average veteran starter that they choose to sign elsewhere then they were never going to be the answer in net anyway.

If his agent really did influence this article as others have mentioned above (which seems plausible), that makes me think Poyer wants top of the market safety money. I could see that being the case because he hasn’t really made a ton of money in his career and this is probably his last shot at a big pay day. But I just don’t see how it works out in Buffalo if that’s what he’s after. I think the best the bills could do is something similar to what he’s making now.

This is awesome!! I loved Mike Grier. Super happy for him!

I thought Kelly already gave Josh a football that said “passing the torch” a couple years ago? Is that the same football or a new one?

I’m trying not to overreact until we see what happens during the draft and free agency. But man, If they roll it back with Anderson, Tokarski and UPL and it goes about how we all expect it to go they are going to piss away the progress they made winning back the fan base last season.

looks like a good turn out.

That is my hope. Anderson as the backup. UPL starts the season in Rochester and The Sabres sign an actual starting caliber goaltender for Buffalo.