BillsFan4

Just out of curiosity, your screen name - do you own/ride a Suzuki GSX-r? Agree about Shady, btw. I think he’s still got plenty left in the tank.

https://www.milehighreport.com/2018/5/27/17399220/denver-broncos-matt-paradis-health Sounds like his hip issues were (and/or are) pretty serious. I don’t know if it’s still an ongoing issue, or if his hips are healthy now. But even if his hips are healthy, I would imagine that a surgery of that nature carries some future risks. If it didn’t, I would think that he would have has it done sooner? Plus, Paradis is still rehabbing from that leg injury and while he should be ready to play by the start of the season, it isn’t a 100% guarantee.

Yes, they have done it for other players, especially guys who have worn a letter like ROR, which is why I thought it was interesting. That was my thought as well. I wondered if there may still be some hard feelings over the way things ended. If true, I get it. The Pegulas were damn good to the guy. When he signed that deal in Buffalo, it was the biggest contract in Sabres history (now Eichel’s is). It was a super, super player friendly deal. He got a better contract structure than most super stars do. Almost his entire contract was paid out in lump sum signing bonuses each July 1st. ROR actually has one of the best structured contracts in the entire NHL. It’s buyout and lockout proof too. If the NHL looks out for the 2020 or 2021 season, ROR still gets his entire salary (unlike most guys). Plus they went and signed ROR’s brother to that 2yr $1.4M one way deal. Even though he was a career AHLer, he got a 1 way contract so he got his NHL salary even in the AHL. The Pegulas even let ROR record at their studio (a life long dream of his), and hooked him up with some professional musicians too. Just to be clear, I am not saying I agreed with the trade. Just that I get why the Pegulas may still have some hard feelings.

I thought that it was kind of interesting that the Sabres did not do a tribute video for ROR.

bummer. 49 seconds into OT Minnesota wins it off an offensive zone faceoff. That’s a goal Hensley will want back for sure.

The Beauts game is going into overtime after the intermission. Been a really good game.

Go Beauts! Playing for yet another Isobel Cup!

Penn is nowhere near the player he used to be, and is 36. Definitely wouldn’t consider him a top o linemen anymore.

It looks like the Bell/Bills stuff was nothing more than rumors. I don’t think the Bills were ever actually in on Bell. There’s this - and then there is this - https://theathletic.com/870418/2019/03/15/it-takes-a-village-behind-the-scenes-of-bills-free-agency-with-brandon-beane/ (Subscription required for article) Its from a “behind the scenes in free agency” article that Matthew Fairborn wrote, with a lot of direct quotes from Beane and lots of info on how Beane and his staff handled free agency. So I would have to imagine that Bell info is coming directly from Beane.

May as well add this here, too. We will make this the Brandon Beane interview thread....lol https://www.buffalobills.com/audio/brandon-beane-we-re-excited-about-the-guys Beane on One Bills Live today.

https://theathletic.com/870418/2019/03/15/it-takes-a-village-behind-the-scenes-of-bills-free-agency-with-brandon-beane/ heres a behind the scenes look at free agency with Brandon Beane for those with an athletic subscription. This may not be the best place for this, but I didn’t want to start a new thread for it though, because you need a subscription to read it. Its a pretty long article. Here are a few excerpts (sorry, we’re not allowed to post more than a few paragraphs here). Its a pretty interesting read.

If the raiders go into the season with Peterman as their #2, that will mean AJ Maccarron lost his job to Peterman twice in a row, on 2 separate teams. lol

Currently, it’s Jonotthan Harrison

Manish Mehta projects Darnold to be better than Brady in 2019. ?

Awesome. Thanks for posting this! Really appreciate you typing that out. It was was a great read. I love Brandon Beane interviews. The dude is a great public speaker. I loved reading some of the details/research that went into signing Cole Beasley. You can tell Beane puts a lot of thought into the decisions he makes. Very detail oriented.

I get the Titans wanting a good backup because of how often Mariota has been injured. But Tannehill seems to get injured just as much. Maybe they just wanted Mariota to have an injury rehab buddy?

I wouldn’t be too sure about that... This is the guy that targeted and personally recruited 33yr old Dan Girardi (to play top 4 minutes!). If you’re not familiar with Dan Girardi, he’s the defenseman the NYR bought out a year or two ago. He was one of the analytics communitys favorite whipping boy. His advanced stats were beyond awful. His goals above replacement stats ranked him 297th out of 301 qualified defenseman... and on top of that just looked like crap to the eye test, too. Old, slow and shot. A guy the NYR were healthy scratching. Steve Y personally called/met with and recruited Girardi to Tampa. He was asked about the absolutely awful underlying analytics at a press conference after signing Girardi. He said “we use our own analytics” and “we feel Dan can play against the best players in the league”. There was a lot of smoke about Tampa being hot after Risto at the deadline. IMO it makes a lot of sense. Top 4, 40+ point right handed defenseman will always be in demand around the NHL. Plus tampa has a number of UFA RHD this offseason (4 of their top 6 defenseman are UFA. 3 of them are right handed D), and Risto is a cost controlled asset for 3 more years. And Tampa also has some guys coming due for big deals (Point this year) plus Kucherov’s big extension kicks in. And they have a ton of assets they could potentially part with. Risto to Tampa makes a ton of sense from Tampa’s point of view. It only makes sense from our POV if we get a huge haul. Otherwise there’s no way I send our current #1RHD to a division rival that’s already a powerhouse.

Plus Mitch Morse just seems more like a buffalo guy t9 me than a NYC guy (well, technically NJ but you get my point...). He kind of said as much.

I had not read that the Jets were only willing to give $10M the first year. If you are getting it from that tweet, I guess I interpret it differently than you. Maniah Mehta said in that tweet that “the Jets were comfortable in the $10M per year range”. The Bills paid him $11.125M per year. So, technically $1.125M more per year, but close enough. lol I can see how it can be interpreted it differently though

I was just passing along what I had read/heard. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/joel-quenneville-ready-willing-coach-early-season/ This has been reported in other places, too. There are quite a few teams that need head coaches - Anaheim, St. Louis (if they don’t hire Berube full time. They haven’t yet), Philly, Vancouver, Edmonton, LA, Ottawa (obv. not an option). Plus more teams that may be looking - Minnesota, Detroit (esp. if they hire Yzerman), Devils, Blue Jackets, Colorado, Florida I could see him picking a bunch of those teams over Buffalo. Nearly all of them have been better in recent years. I guess it’ll all depend on the teams that show interest in him, what they say their plans are for the team, and how much they are willing to pay. He is going to be looking for top dollar, which is one place Buffalo can maybe get a leg up. I am am not saying it’s impossible to land Q. Just that I doubt the Sabres will be at the top of his list if he isn’t looking for a rebuilding team.

Lol, right? They were willing to make CJ Mosley, a good ILB but not among the top tier IMO, the highest paid ILB by nearly $5 million. They clearly weren’t willing to walk away no matter how high the price got. They basically gave him a QB contract ($85 million). But they werent willing to make Mitch Morse the highest paid C by $125,000...., who I’d argue is in a higher tier at his position than Mosley at his (it’s easier to argue Morse is a top tier C, than Mosley a top tier ILB). I am actually very very happy that the Jets didn’t decide to get into a bidding war over Morse though. Good thing the Bills locked him up before Paradis made his decision, otherwise that may have been what happened. Mike Maccagnan seems desperate as hell to try and keep his job.

Good for John Miller! I guess theres always that one team willing to pay.... Coincidentally, it’s the same team that gave Bobby Hart $21 million! lol I really do wish Miller well, though. I thought he kind of stopped working after his first year or two, but hopefully he learns from it and gets back to playing decent football.

They were comfortable in the $10M per year neighborhood... well, isn’t $11M in the $10M pee year neighborhood? Makes it sound like the Jets are spending judiciously in free agency or something. “Oh, the Bills went $11M. We ere only comfortable at $10.5. Better walk away....” I mean, they gave a friggin ILB $17M per year! ($5M higher than the next closest ILB). They clearly refused to walk away no matter how high the price got. I highly, highly doubt they walked away from Morse over $1M (and if they did, they’re idiots). I’m guessing Morse chose buffalo.

feel for the guy

I am so sick of this team. They are so damn fragile. They play a pretty good 1st period, then the Pens come out pushing in the 2nd and Buffalo just epically collapses once again, only this time even worse than normal. Any hope from earlier in the season I had, that there may actually finally be a light at the end of the tunnel, is long long gone. I am usually a pretty positive guy, but I am having a hard time finding any positives anymore. This team just looks years away from being competitive at the moment. I have to believe Housley’s job has possibly been put in jeopardy by this recent slide, no matter what Botterill says. But if they do move on from a 4th coach in a row after 2 (ish) years, they absolutely Have To getnit right. I’d want a good veteran coach, assuming one would come here (Quenneville supposedly said he doesn’t want to go to a rebuild, so...). We can’t keep making changes every couple years. But something has to give here. I can’t see them bringing back the coaching staff if the season ends with this current slide.