JohnC

Too bad that this fool ruined you and your son's experience. I would email a similar report including the seat location to the organization. I don't understand the desire to get obnoxiously drunk to an event, inside or out, after spending money to attend the event. Out of curiosity how old was this pig, and was he with friends who were behaving just as stupidly?

Let me first state that I was not able to access the Atlantic article before making my comments. Maybe by reading the article I would be better informed and better able to comment. However, I have a different take on Krueger taking this job than you. (I may be mixing up your thoughts on Babcock with your thoughts on Krueger?) There is no argument from me that Krueger is taking on a big challenge in Buffalo. He is taking on a challenging job in a market where the fan base is frustrated and tired of being stuck for years in the muck of mediocrity. Where I slightly disagree with your view is that he is not joining an operation that is at the beginning of a major rebuild. Maybe two years ago or even last year that would be a reasonable characterization, but not this year. He joined a team that already had a core with Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner and Dahlin. And there is a second tier core with Montour and even Risto who is currently on the roster. The three players that the GM added this offseason in Miller, Johansson and Vesey are not top tier players but they are solid players who were added to a thin roster. Olofsson can also be considered an addition to last year's roster because he was brought in at the end of the season. My belief is that this team is still incomplete and is maybe a year or two away from being a seriously competitive team. But that is far from categorizing this team as being in the early rebuilding stage. This team should be a competitive team that has enough talent to earn 86 to 88 points. This team is on the upswing and hopefully by next year or so it will be beyond the fringe playoff level. That's how I see it.

Hopefully, the takeaway for the young qb is that the first drive in the second half that lead to a score is the right way to approach the game. He needs to make it a mantra to take what is available and don't force it, especially against the best prepared team in the game. His hero ball mentality has to be limited. As you noted he is inexperienced and is still learning. But what was disturbing/disappointing about his play in this game was that his footwork and passing fundamentals were lacking for most of the game. Supposedly that was what he worked on all offseason. JA is a smart guy and a hard worker. This game should be a good learning tool for him in his growth process as a qb.

I can't bring up the links. I'm not sure why??? I used to be able to do it. Maybe a setting is off? Have you deliberately sabotaged me? What I will be watching during the season is whether the team as a unit and players individually get better as the season advances. When Botterill was asked what was one of the main reasons why Housley was fired he said that the players were not getting better and they were repeatedly making the same mistakes. I don't see Krueger tolerating that continuous type of bad play. There are a couple of players that I will be closely following early in the season: Mitts and Risto. From Mitts I'm looking for steady improvement. I'm not expecting a great leap forward. And from Risto if he can be steady and smart then I will be more than satisfied with him. My belief/prediction is that the Sabres should be 10 to 14 points better than last year because of better coaching, added talent and internal development.

What put Winnipeg in a good position to sign both Laine (shorter term) and Kyle Connor is Byfuglien taking time off to consider his future. He has been in this league for 15 years and has been subjected to a lot of physical battering and mental exhaustion from playing this bruising game. While he sits out and is on a suspended list he is not getting paid so the money that should have been directed to him goes back into the team pot that allowed the organization to pay their free premier agent players. What is Risto's value on the market? Maybe it isn't as much as many of us thinks it is. Although he is a physically imposing player it shouldn't be forgotten that he was one of the worst plus/minus players in the league last year. To put it mildly he is not much of a thinking player on the ice. What this team wants to do to rejuvenate his game is to lessen his minutes and simplify his game. That puts him in the category of being more of a second pairing caliber defenseman than a first pairing defenseman. To state the obvious, the better and smarter he plays the more value he has. Hopefully, he will be more receptive to Krueger's coaching than he was to Housley's coaching. No question that Risto is a current asset for this team. The hope is that he will up his game and be a bigger asset for this team or as a trade asset to bring back a better return. He simply needs to be better.

@BillsFan4 is the person who is the accomplished one who at the proper interval reworks the thread. I'm just the slug who is in the back seat watching the others who are the main drivers.

I wasn't able to bring up the link but I have heard Krueger speak on a number of occasions. I have not been as harsh a critic of Housley as most critics because I felt that he was working with a dearth of talent. However, it is clearly evident that Krueger not only has a much more commanding presence but also so much more depth to him. If you consider both Montour and Olafsson as new players because they were late season additions this roster is going to have at least half a dozen new players. In addition, the younger players will have more experience to build on. So this roster is going through a major reshaping. Is this a playoff team? I believe that they are a fringe playoff team that should be able to vie for a playoff spot up to the end of the season. I was asked last year how far away was this team from being a serious team. I still believe that we are at least another year away from being a good team. That is not to say that we won't be a competitive team even against the very good teams. As I have said before amid the snickering backbenchers the trajectory is up.

From everything that I have read our GM is willing to deal Risto but he is asking a lot, more than only Ehlers. Analysts such as Daren Dreger and Elliotte Friedman both have recently said that the Sabres are asking a lot for Risto. Would I be open to trading Risto for Ehlers for an even exchange trade? I would because he would be a genuine second line forward addition that this team needs to build a credible second line. I just don't see this deal materializing.

Curtis Lazar is another example of rushing a highly drafted player to the NHL to the detriment of his development. He was a high scoring prospect who was not close to being ready for the NHL. Although he has struggled he seems to have maintain his confidence and exhibit some resilience. The attached link is a column by Bill Hoppe with The Buffalo Hockey Beat dealing with Lazar and this development issue. http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-curtis-lazar-confident-after-rediscovering-scoring-touch/

This is a Paul Hamilton WGR link regarding Gilmour. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-gilmour-making-good-impression

This was the right move for his development. Next year he will be on the Sabres' roster. I believe that eventually Mittelstadt will be a good player. Cozens will be a better player. He is going to be our long term second line center.

The below link was a column focusing on Mittelstadt by Bill Hoppe from the Hockey Beat. This link was taken from the hockey side of TBD. It appears that Mittelstadt won't be starting off as our second line center because he hasn't earned it. What will be interesting to follow is how Middelstadt develops under Krueger. I get the sense that players are not going to be entitled to roles but will have to earn their positions under this coach. http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-casey-mittelstadt-believes-he-can-thrive-in-ralph-kruegers-system/?view=getnewpost

I hope you are feeling better and the stones are passed. Last year, I got a phone call from my brother who was in agony. I rushed to his apartment to provide some assistance. He was in excruciating pain. I told him that he needed to go to the emergency room because whenever there is such internal pain it can be a life and death situation. He stubbornly said no and said that he would call his primary doctor in the morning and see what he says. I told him that he is going to tell you to immediately go to the hospital. He called and the doctor told him to go to the hospital. It turned out that he had stones. They gave him some potent pain medicine and told him to see a urinary doctor. He eventually passed the stone. As you can attest this stone blockage can be excruciatingly painful. I hope that very soon this issue will be resolved and you will be in good health. I wish you the best.

I did try some links for the other games but it didn't work out. I appreciate your effort but I'll either listen to the game or pursue other options. Thank you anyway.

Is it only going to be shown locally? The last time I turned on to a game on MSG it was blacked out for out of town viewers.

The below link is Paul Hamilton on WGR talking about the final roster. He made some interesting comments on Tage Thompson and talked about a Laine deal. He also made the point that he would rather see the younger players getting a lot of ice time in Rochester than marginal minutes with Buffalo. This is an 11 min. segment. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/09-25-paul-hamilton-howard-and-sal

Ever since he grew that porn star mustache he has been acting up.

Condolences.

The credit card case that I opened started off as a small time case. As the case developed it got bigger and bigger and went from a lower court to a higher court case. It turned out to be a multi-state case that resulted into numerous raids. Part of the crew of the ring leader took deals by turning on the ring leader. I'm confident that once the jail bird gets out that he will return to the same business that got him in the joint.

You are a provocateur.

Easy for you to say my friend. I was hacked and ended up with someone (probably from a foreign country) using my credit card numbers to purchase $12, 000 worth of airline tickets. When the security people tried to notify me the phone call was blocked. This happened shortly after someone stole my credit cards and took my house key out of a locked locker at my pool. Within an hour over $4000 worth of merchandise from a variety of establishments were purchased with the cards. It took over two years for this case to go to trial and result in jail time for the ring leader of this organized gang/network to be sentenced to jail time. So I have a good reason to be cautious.

This link is a column written by Bill Hoppe from the Buffalo Hockey beat. It focuses on Rodriques and his versatility. This team desperately needs to address its secondary scoring deficiency. He and Sheary can skate but can they finish? http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-evan-rodrigues-confident-after-showcasing-versatility-last-season/?view=getnewpost

My security protection often gets activated on the Buffalo News page and links. The alarms go off as if the house is on fire. It's gotten to the point where I fear clicking on to the BN.

The attached link is a Buffalo News article written by Mike Harrington. It was taken from the hockey side of TBD. It focused on Mittelstadt and his effort to find his way. Harrington conjectured that it appears that Cozen is destined to be sent back to the juniors. https://buffalonews.com/2019/09/23/buffalo-sabres-nhl-casey-mittelstadt/?view=getnewpost

In this case I think the organization was hedging its bets. When Incognito was focused he was arguably our best lineman. However, when he started to show signs of trouble the team was willing to risk keeping him on with the hope of a return to normalcy. If it didn't work out then the cost of a release would have been less costly. Everyone knew about his mental health issues and his intermittent erratic behavior. Under control he was a good player. Not under control he was disruptive. The organization wanted to protect itself with a smaller contract. It was a wise thing to do.