BillsFan4

Okposo, but No Eichel in the photo makes me think he’s telling the truth. Like you said, I don’t expect he’d be lying about this. It also sounds like it’s just one of many not so flattering Jack Eichel stories. on a somewhat similar subject, I don’t think Eichel has been made available to the media once since his post-game interview in Buffalo. Wonder why… 😂 They weren’t going to make him available after that Buffalo game either but I guess Mike Harrington was pretty vocal and Eichel ended up coming out.

what an entitled douche. Criag Rivet was there with the Jr. Sabres (a bunch of 9yr old kids) and after the game he took them down to see Jack Eichel. Eichel walked out from behind the curtain, saw all the kids & parents, rolled his eyes, went right back behind the curtain and never came back out. He didn’t sign a single autograph. Kyle Okposo ended up coming out and signing autographs for 20+ minutes.

I think we have our future starting goaltender in the organization already. Devon Levi has been incredible in college this season. Like, one of the best college seasons for a goalie ever. He’s tied for #2 all time. Jim Howard is #1. Erik Portillo has actually had a really great season too. I’m hoping the Sabres sign one, or both, as soon as their college seasons are over. They’re probably at least a couple/few years from being NHL starters but I’m pretty confident at least one will be. I feel stronger about Levi than I did about Cal Peterson. They’ll still need a veteran for next season. I’m assuming UPL will be one of the goalies but I hope they bring in a starting caliber goalie to compete with him, or to be the outright starter.

I hate that Woods was traded to Tennessee! He was always one of my favorite Bills during his time here. He definitely makes the titans a better team. I’d have loved for Buffalo to trade for him but knew we didn’t have the cap space.

I’ll miss his contributions on the field, and his toughness.

Nice interview. Thanks for sharing! Knox seems motivated to build on last year. Excited to see what he does this season. It was Interesting to hear how motivated he was by Beane’s comments. It makes me think Beane purposely made those comments to motivate Knox. Or at least in part. I do think the Ertz interest was legit. But we all know how calculated Beane and McDermott are. I’m sure motivating Knox was part of Beane’s goal.

Really like the fit. Nice signing Beane! He’s had a pretty great offseason so far.

Really nice OT win last night! That’s two nice OT wins in a row. loved the hustle. If this team keeps playing with this identity I am confident that they’ll win the fan base back. I know myself I’m starting to get sucked back in 😂

Yeah Mittelstadt has been a disappointment for sure. But I think he was brought up way too early. He was barely over a year removed from high school hockey when the Sabres signed him and put him right in the NHL (burning a year of his ELC for 8 games). I honestly don’t even know what they saw in that one college season he played to make them think he was ready for the NHL. He had a pretty good season, not great (he wasn’t even in the top 100 in points iirc). There were a lot of games where he looked overwhelmed by the jump in competition from high school to college. Apparently, the Sabres saw that and said “hey, let’s give him an NHL contract!” 😂 I thought Mitts looked like he was finally figuring it out at the end of last season after Granato took over. I was so excited to see what he would do this season. But it’s basically been a lost season to injury. I think he’s been starting to look better lately though. As you said, they aren’t getting anything (worthwhile) for him. May as well just keep him and hope they can develop him. Olofsson’s season was also derailed by injury. You can tell he’s still not 100% by the velocity of his shots. The reason I wondered if they’d possibly trade Olofsson is because he’s RFA at year’s end and I think his QO is $4 or $4.1M. They may not feel he’s worth that, but could always try to negotiate a multi year deal for less.

Hope this has nothing to do with Bates (leaving).

Meh. Whatever. He’s a #6-7 defenseman. I was expecting maybe a 5th, or a 4th if some team was desperate for a bit more toughness. A 6th seems a bit light but I guess that’s just what happens when you trade with the Panthers 😂. Seriously, I think Bill Zito has won every trade he’s made. I really like what he’s doing in Florida. If nothing else at least this trade opened a spot for Owen Power, who should be joining the lineup in a few weeks. Im sure we’ll see a few more players traded for mid/late picks. I’m hoping someone wants Eakin! The Sabres don’t really have any premium assets to trade at the deadline. Id say Hinostroza is probably the most valuable UFA they have. Hopefully they’ll use their cap space to pick up a couple additional assets that way. I’m just hoping they don’t sell low on guys like Mittelstadt and Olofsson. Both are still trying to come back from injury. I can’t see any team offering anything that would make a trade worthwhile.

I heard right after the trade that he planned to. Glad it wasn’t just a rumor! He seems all-in here.

I still think Whaley could be a good personnel guy in the NFL. He has an eye for talent. But from what I’ve seen of him I don’t think he has the right skill set to be a GM. I know he has to deal with all sorts of meddling from Ralph Wilson lifers so it wasn’t all on him but seeing how he operated vs. Beane… yeah. No contest.

I like it, assuming he doesn’t cost $7+M against the cap. Anxious to see what they do with his contract (if anything).

Great win last night! I fully expected another butt kicking but the Sabres had other plans! 😂 IMO these are the types of games where you can see the growth of this young team.

just a reminder that Tim Murray drafted this kid and Jason Botterill decided he wasn’t even worth offering an entry level contract. He was just traded for TWO 1st round picks and multiple prospects. I know some here feel that Murray was the worst GM ever, but I’d say Botterill was right there with him, if not worse. At least Murray made a few good moves and draft picks. At least he had a vision for the type of team he was building.

It doesn’t really make much sense to me. I don’t really see what one has to do with the other. Beane was so emotional after missing out on a #2 RB that he decided he absolutely had to sign a future hall of fame defensive linemen…? 🤷‍♂️ I think Beane has wanted Von Miller for a while (as he told us) and when Von was interested in signing here Beane made it a priority.

Every good young QB in the AFC? Sure, why not… 🤬

Bummer. I was really intrigued by him.

True, but that usually doesn’t happen with the Sabres. In the past how-many-ever seasons it seems like they got worse as the year went on. They’d get hot early then when the pressure was on they’d cave and usually finish out the season pretty poorly. This is the first time in recent memory where it seems like the team is getting better as the year goes on instead of worse. I definitely agree about next season. They need to show real improvement in the standings.

Rodgers a week ago: News today: boy I can see why he took such issue with the reports of his new deal 🤦‍♂️ figured the reports were mostly accurate. I figured he was just being nit-picky and looking for attention. next we’ll hear him say he still didn’t “sign” a new deal - he printed his name. 😂

Bummer.

So I flipped on NFL network and they were showing Chandler Jones in a Bills jersey and said “sorry (other team that’s interested) he’s signing with the Bills” so I immediately start scrolling Twitter but then I realized that it was just the end of a segment where they were predicting where the big name free agents still available would sign. Damn it! 😂

I’m still hoping for Ryan Fitzpatrick 😂 (seriously though, I am)