Eleven

And here we are again.

He was the best part of the portion of the debacle that I saw.

I thought I read Tuesday in some tweet somewhere but my mind is all over the place today.

Once Nelson comes off IR, don't they have 23 already?

Well, for one thing, if the Sabres are keeping Skinner, Draisatl's salary is going to be a problem, and for another, Chiarelli isn't in Edmonton anymore. I don't mind trading Scandella, but the Sabres aren't going to get the same return for him that they would for McCabe.

The Sabres are thinner at RW than at LW for next year, and of course Draisatl isn't happening.

I think the time is *perfect* to trade McCabe, and not because I undervalue him, as some do. I think he's a very solid defenseman. The Sabres are soon going too have nine defensemen on the roster. Two are untouchable. Six won't bring much of a return, but the Sabres still can make three reasonable pairings out of those remaining eight. And with his salary and RFA status? McCabe would fetch an actual NHL player. A top nine forward and very possibly a top six. No, I am not interested in trading him for prospects or draft picks. Find a team that needs a defenseman and pluck a RW from them.

Fair enough. Retracted!

What you mean to say is that you can't explain it. Stick to the point. There is a Botterill thread for Botterill things.

Don't leave the winning streak out of the overall record unless you also want to leave losing streaks out of it. Tell me, other than follicle production, how Quenneville is superior to Bylsma. Have you looked at the rosters with which Q underachieved in Saint Louis? He needed a freaking all-star team to do anything.

I am going to end up putting my head into my bedroom wall, I swear. And that's problematic, because it's brick (the wall, not my head). Thorny, you know me better than to take one or two sentences out of a seven or whatever paragraph post and try to twist it.

But I thought that was a product of locker room culture? Or is it team identity? Or the coach? Or the menu at Chef's last weekend? Or whatever? IT IS THE ROSTER. GEEZ. THEY ARE YOUNG AND LEARNING.

The fact that he can crack the roster is.

The words out of Saint Louis and Colorado would be the same. He's another Bylsma; I've said this before. Give him a picture-perfect roster, and sure, he'll go far. The impatience in this thread is amazing. Housley is making mistakes, no doubt. He's starting the wrong players, he's not making sensible lineup changes, and he doesn't know what a timeout is. But this season NEVER was supposed to be about playoffs; it was and is supposed to be about progress. And so far, it is. Lots of you all got dreamy during the streak. Those of you who were here after '07 know exactly where the "fire the coach" chant gets you: nowhere. We read it for six years on this board, and, like I always wrote, the problem was the roster, not the coach. We're four new coaches in now. The last coach to make the playoffs remains the one whom everyone wanted to run out of town (and who eventually was run out of town). But now, the roster is a little different. It is young, and improving. Mittelstadt is a rookie, FFS. Everyone is screaming about how we don't have a true 2C, and half of those people loved it when the Sabs drafted him. Let him grow! Ullmark is a first-year "real" NHL-er, too. Dahilin, rook. Thompson, near-rook. Also, HOUSLEY, near-rook. Think that through. I don't want to be in this endless "fire the coach" turnstile/time machine. You all have no suggestions as to anyone better, we've been through enough coaches, and nothing changed. Drop it already.

Can some team please claim him so that it is certain that he never, ever, is in a Sabres uniform again?

Championship table looks nicer now.

He's a rookie.

@spndnchzWhat was it like watching from the Sabres' suite? Who was in there?

Tonight's feature was The Dirty Dozen, again, which I had not seen before. A few points: --Telly Savalas's character has to be the early model for Hannibal Lecter. --A German double bassist playing with a French bow instead of a German bow in WWII? Come on. NFW. Even I played with a German bow mostly, and I'm just some American who never was in a war. --I hated watching Jim Brown's career end with a tackle for a loss. --Wladislaw was an amazing character. There is no way I would have known that was Bronson. --It was nice to see the good guys win, after last night's movie and tonight's Hutton situation.

Well, then. It was Cool Hand Luke last night; I'm not sure what it will be tonight, but goodnight.

Stats say it's nearly time to make the pull.

Yeah, I deleted quickly, but not quickly enough.

Rasmus Ristolainen might be the best player on this team right now. Just think about it for a minute.

Yep. Hutton should be the backup; Ullmark, the starter.

Why I love him.