BillsFan4

I like the fit for Trubisky. I think he could be a competent starter in that offense.

Not thrilled about the amount of public funding but I’m also not surprised. Unfortunately it’s part of the cost of having a professional sports team. Especially for a small market like Buffalo that doesn’t offer anywhere near what other bigger markets could. But I’m thrilled it got done (not that I didn’t expect it to). I feel that Buffalo fans deserve to have their team locked into Buffalo for the next couple decades. Every other NY team got stadiums with public funding. Why shouldn’t we? and hey, at least we will get more enjoyment out of this compared some of the other things our tax dollars go towards.

Every report I’ve seen said they simply mentioned that a lot of other markets would love to have an NFL team (which we knew because their press guy said it to the media).

I think you have to remember that one of the reasons we are cap strapped this year is due to the pandemic. 2021 was the first time the salary cap ever went down since it was put in place in 1994. No team really planned for that. Next year the Bills are set to have like $51M in cap space (as of now).

I’m not surprised. He was paid to be our starting RT. Paying him $8+M to play guard would put him in the top 11 highest paid guards in the NFL. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/guard/ hard to argue he’s worth that as a guard.

Nice! I’m guessing his cap hit went down for this year despite the pay increase. I thought he had his best season as a Bill last year.

Nice! The way he was talking after the season I thought he was a goner.

I love that he did Eichel’s goal celebration (lift one leg, raise both arms) after stripping Eichel of the puck for the EN goal. 😂

This tells me that they are most likely drafting a punter, or signing one as an UDFA. I expect there to be a camp battle for the job.

Especially since they had to put their very beloved captain (mark stone) on LTIR for the rest of the regular season in order to get the cap space they needed for Eichel.

i actually originally typed 2 years but then erased it and wrote 3 because I thought someone might take issue with me saying 2 years. I consider it 2 years into the deal as well. But Eichel signed that deal with 1 year left on his ELC. He signed Oct. 2017 and asked for a trade summer of 2020. So technically 2 years 9 (ish) months. Boy, he was sure in it for the long haul 😂 very true. I definitely remember playing with a guys like that. I even remember their names. And funny enough, it actually got worse the older I got and the better the league. Ive also heard that about Eichel (hitting the slopes). There used to be lots of rumors about him and Bogosian.

I disagree about him putting his time in here. He requested a trade 3 years into his 8 year deal. At the time he signed that deal it was reported that he and the Sabres only discussed/negotiated a max term contract. Both sides wanted the full 8 years to show their commitment. That contract made him the highest paid player in Sabres history. I believe at the time it was also the 2nd largest contract ever signed by a player 23 or under (I know for sure it was one of the largest). At the time he signed that deal it’s hard to argue that he had earned it. His best season was like 63 points. The Sabres paid him for his future potential. Then he forced his way out before he ever really lived up to his deal. If he was doubtful about Buffalo’s future he should have signed a bridge deal instead of going for the biggest payday he could get. I would have been disappointed but at least I could have respected it. I think most fans would have understood if he said he wanted to see where the team was at in 3-4 years before committing long term. That’s what many other young players have done. Reinhart refused a long term deal here and he was cheered in his return. In fact, I can think of very few Sabres players that have been booed on their return. For me it’s about the way Eichel left. But it’s also about the way he handled himself in his time here. Looking back its hard to feel like he was ever truly committed to Buffalo. He always seemed unhappy. You always heard whispers about him being discontent. That’s despite the Sabres pretty much catering to his every wish. I always got the impression that he thought he was too good for Buffalo. His interviews since leaving have onky reinforced that belief. I, for one, am glad I don’t have to defend him anymore.

Mmmm. Those tears taste salty… lol

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/as-return-to-buffalo-nears-eichel-reflects-on-tumultuous-run-with-sabres/ more revisionist history by Eichel. Seems like he keeps forgetting that he told Elliotte Friedman that he requested a trade after the 2019/20 season - long before he was ever injured. Also, it’s odd to hear that he was mad the C was taken away from him. I honestly don’t know what he expected would happen when he told the Sabres he was done playing for them… 🤷‍♂️ maybe it was petty to take the C away before he was traded but the season was starting and I think it was more a message to the team than to Eichel. I think it was more Adams + Granato saying “we’re putting the Eichel drama behind us” as well as giving other players a chance to step up and lead.

Not surprised. The Bills needed cap space and he was an obvious cut candidate. I wish him well. I’m sure he’ll get a job somewhere. He’s definitely better than some of the o linemen that started games in the NFL last season.

Good. Send him to the NFC. It would be one less good young QB in the AFC.

That AFC west is going to be brutal! Im kind of torn on how I feel about this. As much as I don’t like having yet another great QB in the AFC, it definitely hurts the Chiefs more which might actually help the Bills.

really curious to see the full trade details.

Well, I guess that puts an end to all the “will Aaron Rodgers leave Green Bay” drama. At least until some other QB gets paid more than him again… 😂

Yeah I know. But I still feel confident enough that Terry wouldn’t let money get in the way of hiring someone he wanted (like a Babcock for ex.), or signing a good player (they offered Dahlin a max term contract this past offseason, for ex.). + Their pay cuts came at a time where the NHL was facing a completely unprecedented situation. Now I’m not excusing them. I think they went too far and I’ve been a big critic of all the cuts in spending. This offseason was comical with basically every player getting a vet minimum $750k deal. (I think I kept a running list of them here) But if I’m honest about it I also kind of understand where the Pegulas are coming from. They’ve been bleeding money on the Sabres for a decade. The team’s been operating in the red many of those years. They’ve been a cap ceiling team almost every year with one of the biggest and highest paid scouting depts + front offices in the NHL and it’s got them year after year of bottom 8 finishes. They knew Eichel + Reinhart + Risto all wanted out so why be a cap ceiling team in a rebuild year? But that doesn’t excuse the massive cuts to hockey ops. I definitely thought they went too far. They have built it back up some since then but the scouting dept. still seems small and they don’t have as many overseas scouts as other teams (which I think is a mistake). The Sabres do seem to be building a top tier analytics team though, hiring what have widely been considered some of the top analytic minds. It appears they’re building a scouting dept/system somewhat similar to Carolina’s where they rely on a hybrid scouting/analytics system to draft. I’ve been skeptical, and still am, but I will say despite having a smaller scouting department than Murray or Botterill, the early returns on their drafts actually look pretty good so far. Obviously way too soon to tell though. I guess i’m just reluctant to change ownership groups. The devil you know and all that… Plus I have some hopes that the Sabres might actually be on the right path and I’d like to see some continuity and to build something for once. I’d think a new ownership group would want their own people. When I look around the NHL I don’t see many good teams that got good by changing their GM + coach every 2-3 years. I look at teams like Colorado - Sakic was damn near fired in his 3rd or 4th year on the job because Colorado had struggled. Then you started seeing his plan come together and now they’re s powerhouse. Where would they be if they had aborted the plan after 3-4 years? Same with Winnipeg. They struggled for years under Chevy and Maurice after a rebuild. Then in year 5 it turned. LA is another example. They’ve stuck with Blake and you can see his draft + develop plan coming together nicely. I mean, I guess it’s not a sure thing that the Pegulas stick with the same regime either. Their track record certainly doesn’t lend much confidence they will. But I think they might simply because Adams is “their guy”.

he has been buying up all sorts of property in Buffalo. https://www.wgrz.com/article/money/business/developer-douglas-jemal-continues-to-buy-up-buffalo-wny/71-7cfe3cb8-e0c9-4719-b7da-ea2448b7c44f and he says he loves a challenge… 😂 But he has nowhere near the net worth of Pegula ($150 million). I’d be very very nervous that we’d be headed back to the Golisano days of extreme penny pinching where the profit margin was always the #1 concern. Personally, I don’t know that I want the Pegulas to sell. not sure I buy this rumor anyway. It’s from some random Buffalo fan Twitter account with like 100 followers. There has been a lot of smoke about a sale though.

i wasn’t aware of the World Cup rules. The NHL was the best comparison I could think of. But I mainly watch football and hockey, so… lol

Personally, I think this would be the best way out of the proposals I’ve heard so far. At least for the playoffs. I like how the NHL switched to no gimmicks in the playoffs. Game is tied? Play another full period. Obviously the 1st goal still wins but that works because puck possession is so fluid. I think the NFL should do something similar in the playoffs. Just play another full quarter. Then we’re not talking about gimmicky rules being the reason for a win/loss. If you guarantee both teams a possession, I don’t know if it eliminates the controversy. Like for ex, say the Bills get the ball after KC scores. They score a TD of their own. Then KC gets the ball back and kick a FG to win. I think we’d still be talking about how KC won because they won the coin toss.

Man, I sure hope this still holds true when next season starts! Mainly because it would hopefully mean we’re in a much better spot WRT the pandemic than we were (as a state/country) last season. 🤞