MattPie

Is it any different than GMs that have a strong preference for Canadians over Americans and Russians?

At the time the Sabres were terrible and I thought he wanted another kick at the playoffs before he retired. Trading a player only for "future considerations" seems to be used for feel-good situations. I found this in an old ESPN article: Ray goes to Ottawa, which has a league-best 94 points. "I'm excited about the opportunity to go to a contender,'' Ray said. "It's something the Sabres didn't have to do, but I appreciate the fact they did it.'' The deals also helped the Sabres decrease their payroll.

I've noticed that. Either the scouting reports are written by agents or the scouts are trying to be "nice" unless there's a glaring issue with the kids play. My guess it's the latter with the expectation that the reader understands that if they're comparing someone ranked #3 and #20, #20 may have the same attributes as #3 but #3 is just better. A little fleeter of foot, better hands, etc.

Didn't Ray ask to be traded to Ot'wa?

You better get some corned beef on that logo.

Whoops! :) I was thinking if he signs O'Connor (although rumor has it Buffalo is out on that now).

Oh, new angle I don't think was mentioned: the more people TM signs off BU, the less reason Jack Eichel has to stay. :)

You'd have to get a GM to bite on "Hodgson just needs a (nother) change of scenery". Right now, I don't think he's adding to that trade, maybe even subtracting due to his contract length.

To answer the poll: two months of looking OK isn't enough to choose the first option (and he hasn't "earned" anything), but I'm not sure I'm down with bringing a big-time UFA goalie when Lindback might be "good" either. I'm trying to think of the last time a team had a ton of success bringing in a UFA.

Thirty38, one of our resident UK posters, if friends with the guy next to you and if you hit him, he's going to hit you back. :) :)

Speaking of which, JJ, are you back to full-time Sabres now?

Eh, it'd be silly to not give someone who has played well with Eichel a shot in a position the Sabres need, favor or not. Best case he's a late-bloomer, worst he's a career (even if that career is 2 years) AHL player. Maybe he was on academic probation with Jack. :)

You like Eich, I like Eich, everyone likes Eich.

Given the last two seasons, how about:

Kinda sucks that it goes Bye, Sunday, Thursday, Monday, Sunday. two short-rest weeks in close succession.

Interesting, I'm just going on Google Translate for my info. "Two Circles" translates to, not surprisingly, "Deux Cercles". I suppose it could be some odd family or name thing, maybe archaic French, or maybe slang.

Do you really think NBCSN isn't going to play-up American-born Eichel nearly as much as McDavid? If nothing else, it drums up viewers for the Olympics. A wise man once said: go to a few wiki pages for something you know a lot about. You'll start to see mistakes here and there. Coupled with the stories of experts in their field correcting wrong information only to have someone change it back to the wrong information you need to take it with a bit of salt.

The next playoff game the Panthers should give out T-shirts that look like the seats in their barn; you don't want to confuse the Florida players.

I thought there were "special" rules about infractions after a goal is scored, am I thinking of something else?

How did we all miss this? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/21/manhole_cover_octopus_inferno/

It says 99 is retired on Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers, but I don't trust those.

I hear you. RosePie turned 8 months over the weekend and she's finally at a point where we can reasonably expect her to entertain herself for periods of time so we can get things done. Unfortunately, I spend too much time here and not anything useful.

I'd be very careful about offer sheets, as the Sabres 2016 picks may still be pretty early.

Indeed. Anyone remember which thread had all the pictures of Russian athletes?

You probably missed the whole Russian Sabrespace thing over the last couple months, kicked off by the poster formerly known as Yuri changing name to Anna Akhmatova. You'll see Russian dalliances in several posters' name history (myself included).