MattPie

Yep. Slow down a little and put a solid, fundamental tackle on the guy and wrap wrap him up (don't try to launchhim into the stands with a big hit), and the game's over.

I'm sorry to hear about your wife. Do what makes you happy. They're a west team, so it wouldn't be hard to root for them wholeheartedly unless they're playing the Sabres their two games a year. And any wins against east teams helps the Sabres (in the non-carrion standings). If some day you find you'd rather see the Knights win against the Sabres, that's fine too. Just don't come over here and prattle on about the Knights constantly when that happens. ;) I kinda do this in the NFL with the Eagles, as much as I root for any team in football these days. Being an NFC team, they almost never hurt the Bills by winning plus they hate on Cowboys, Redskins, and Giants which is easy. That being said, I've paid almost zero attention to the Eagles this year, including the playoff game yesterday (only watched a few minutes), where I spent more effort on the Bills.

I think it's been summed up, but two more examples: if XGMTM had traded the Sabres' 2018 1st for (I don't know, say) Duchene last year what would the reaction be at the time? Probably good; we all thought/hoped they'd be on the playoff bubble this year or better, but from the looks of it, that's going to be no worse than 5th overall. Similar with Edmonton. On the flip side, Toronto's 2017 1st would have had a ton of value in 2016 (the year they tanked), but ends up being around 20th pick because of their great year.

Guys, it was one game. One that he was amp'd up for his first start in awhile. I hope and want him to be the solution, but let's get 2-3 games before we anoint.

Absolutely. I *never* eat Taco Bell any more because the food isn't even close to being worth the aftermath.

Most of my site is now working what's called 9/80 in our vernacular. I work 4 9s per week (roughly, we do flex time as well so it can vary), and 8 hours every other Friday. Today was my Friday off which coincided with RosePie's first Friday in Preschool. MrsPie and I lived it up; CostCo and Panera.

Taco Bell: never again. Life's too short to eat terrible food. Mighty Taco: half a step up from taco bell.

I agree. There just doesn't seem to be a way to eliminate it from the game without fundamentally changing it. Hockey can at least be played without massive hits and fights. The dinosaurs will complain, and something may be lost from the game, but it'll still be hockey.

It's certainly dampened my enthusiasm for big hits in both hockey and football. I did think, man, I'm hope Tyrod isn't going to be messed up for life at the end of the Bills game.

I'm available if there's a trip to the maldives in the bargain.

I seen what you did there.

Matty Mo has 3-15-18 in 14 games in the AHL.

Spectre / Meltdown, and vendor's inability to give clear concise answers and microcode.

I do, I was at Flappy's on Seneca and Transit IIRC. Pominville was on the PK, got the puck away from OV, and potted the SHG. I thought it was the around Thanksgiving or Xmas though; although at that time I was in Buffalo a lot so I could be wrong or mixing games up. Ah, you're right! The fact that I found that in like, 30 seconds; what a fascinating modern age we live in.

Team cohesiveness in Rochester?

This is ridiculous, no one builds a passenger railroad near an active volcano.

I'm confused, the WC was at home already!

I'd rather finish 9-7 or 8-8 and not ruin yet another 1st round QB pick. I'm all for playing the long game here, not making decisions that hamper the team in 3-4 years.

I read something awhile back about a "green burial" movement. None of this embalming and burying you in a hermetically sealed box, just do a normal wood or canvas bag and done. There are concerns about all the embalming chemicals getting into the water table.

What are the odds the Sabres can keep the season series to under 10 GA?

I have almost no confidence any QB that's in a position to be taken in the draft this year by the Bills will be better than Tyrod. As people above have pointed out, I don't think any FA QB will be enough of an upgrade that they're worth their salary+Tyrod's dead cap hit. I think you draft this year, have NewQB backup Tyrod and learn the ropes, and go into 2019 with (hopefully) your long-term solution. The Bills have rushed too many QBs into the league and it shows.

If that were the case, every time the Sabres call someone up, that player should suddenly be nearly the best guy on the ice, no? The gap between the AHL and NHL is big. Matt Moulson had zero points in 14 games this year in Buffalo, and has 18 points in 13 games in Ontario.

By all reports, Housley's system preaches skating speed, so slower players aren't a natural fit there. That being said, I don't think his speed is that bad, there's just a ton of dysfunction going on so it's tough to figure out which parts are system issues, player talent issues, or malaise issues. I'm still not sure there isn't a fair bit of Bylsma-hangover though; I see a fair number of passes from the defending zone to the far side of the neutral zone which sounds more like last year than what was hoped for this year.

Outside of this, the only other merit-based system would be going with a relegation/promotion based system (as European hockey and soccer(football) leagues do). Make the "National Conference" with 16 teams, and their championship is the national. The last two teams in the National have to play winners from other conferences to be in the national conference the next year. BTW, Penn State should in the middle-PA conference, 10 levels down from the national playing teams like Mansfield Tech and Harrisburg A&M (I made those up). They can win their way back up in 15-20 years.

Even he plays lights out, he'll go back down when Lehner is off IR. Having a good Amerks team is probably more important for development than him getting NHL games in at this point.