MattPie

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).

Two points: after this season (and losing to the Pens that last game), you can't just expect fans to flip the switch and be in playoff form. You have to cheer hard all season to keep the momentum up. Winnipeg is also in the playoffs for the first time since the team has been back (2011). The old team was in the playoffs their last year in 1996. Playoff hockey after a 19 year drought (and no team for 15 of those years) is different than (as someone posted) a game-82 shutout of the last place team.

, you made me look. It's not, but apparently it translates to "any" in Uzbek.

Well, that should consign EDM to the lottery for a few more years.

More likely scenario: same premise as you lay out, except Buffalo wins the draw for second pick. Buffalo fans complain that Buffalo is picking #2 again and should have won #1. There it is (I may have missed earlier ones). I've been waiting for someone to bring up "we had the best chance" when the field has by far the best chance.

Marty.

Lost one for Auston? Frostin' for Auston?

Aw, man. There's a place in Portsmouth VA that makes them, but sadly the work that took me down there a few times a year has dried up.

Playing this one straight: The league limited the numbers down to 1-99 by 1998, and retired 99 in 1999. Otherwise, I'd go with pi, both for the obvious reason and being an irrational number it suits the fan-base well. :) I don't think it's actually reserved, but I can't recall a non-goalie wearing it.

I was coming to this thread to say something about that thread. Clearly, we stupid-thread prognosticators have nothing on reality.

I think it set in during the partial lockout year. I think that's when the pattern was all too clear and needed to be changed in any fashion. I always though that I'd rather see an OK to good team every year and that the losing season would be terrible but these last two haven't bothered me nearly as much as I thought it would.

More to the point for me isn't roster size, but specialization. There's at least 20 specific positions in football for the "usual" plays. Even picking in the teens you might be getting the best Guard or 3rd-best WR in the draft.

Oh, to be young and unencumbered again. :) There was that Christina Applegate show...

LGR, beating me to the punch once again.

Sawatdi Khrap.

I can't tell whether the folks talking trades for McDavid are in Stage 1 (Denial) or Stage 3 (Bargaining).

I watched an episode or two but didn't get back to it. That's on me though, I tend to group stuff on Netflix into three groups: stuff I want to watch, stuff that's suitable to have on while I'm doing something else, and stuff that the wife and I might watch together. Mixology is in the third group, but we rarely have time to watch anything together.

So, when the lottery odds were 25% for the last place team (all 20 years until this year, I assume), the last place team won 5 of 20 times? Interesting! :) I think it would depend on the draw, right? If it's the pick-4 or daily number, they used 3-4 machines because numbers could come up more than once (3141, for instance). On this one, the 11 had to go back into the hopper so it wasn't eliminated from the subsequent draws. I guess it would be the same for the big lotto, since numbers could only come up once there too.

Essentially, this discussion boils down to: at 26, is Lucic really on the downward trend, or is it situational with the Bruins this year? Lucic in the past has shown some really strong play, but so have a host of players shown a couple years of "good/great" and then never get that magic back (think Marcus Foligno for those 25 games with Ennis and Staff). Making calls like this are why GMs get the big bucks. The follow-on discussion is, "Is what the Sabres give up worth what Lucic brings now on an already-crowded LW?" I can't say I recall much that Lucic did in the Buffalo v. Boston games this year, but that's not saying much. I'd pass, personally. Good Lucic is a sure upgrade to any Sabres LW not named Kane (and maybe even him, too). This year's Lucic is a 3/4 liner, whom you generally don't pay nearly that much or give up assets to get. Interestingly, Lucic has 3 fighting majors this season. That's one less than Foligno, Weber, and Strachan, and five (!!) less than Chris Stewart.

I'd say anything approaching where the Hawks and Pens are now is fine, even without the Cups. No Cups would be disappointing but there's a lot of chance there so I can't rightfully blame the tank if the Sabres are constantly in the hunt but bounces or injuries always keep them out.

Agreed. With the alternate reading, player sees that the puck clearly was in but play continues. Player knows that none of this counts so skates over and commits some egregious offence to someone on the other team. (PK Subban slash, McSorely, etc.). When it's ruled a goal, that can't get erased.