nfreeman

by the way, Fleury is 8-3 this year with a .942 save percentage.

17 games is kinda few for evaluating a GM.

Eichel healthy scratched?

Getting Brindy would be incredible.

For those ready to hire Julien -- here's how he's done in the last 7 years: 2014-15 -- missed playoffs 2015-16 -- missed playoffs 2016-17 -- fired by Boston after 55 games (26-29 record); hired by Habs; lost in 1st round of playoffs 2017-18 -- missed playoffs 2018-19 -- missed playoffs 2019-20 -- made playoffs as last team in expanded 24-team field; won play-in round; lost in 1st round of "real" playoffs 2020-21 -- fired after going 9-9 and losing 5 of last 6 games. I'd rather someone else.

It started on Black Sunday. The hockey gods were divided as to how long the punishment should last, and the moderates were able to keep it limited until Lindy got fired, at which point half of them joined the "make them bleed" contingent. Then the tank took care of the last few holdovers, who couldn't believe how many fans went along with the idiotic plan, and made every last one of them disgusted with us and determined to keep us locked in the dungeon for a generation. Then, after a time, one of them had mercy and allowed the One to sneak into the supermax prison from the Yukon, knowing that he might be able to free us before the sickness pervaded him too...

if @IKnowPhysics's plan is adopted, would Borgen be exempt from the expansion draft?

Get well soon Jake. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sabres give him a better contract than he can get elsewhere -- maybe a 1- or 2-year bridge deal so he can make a good salary until he gets back to 100%.

These are both reasonable, but still -- if the Sabres limp home to a bottom-5 finish this year, and the day after the season ends there is a presser at which Rutherford and Babcock are introduced -- would you not be excited? The (theoretically) perfect should not be the enemy of the good, especially when compared to 10 years of very bad.

I'd guess that everyone here would be pretty happy if the Sabres' organization included Rutherford at Pres or GM and Babcock at HC.

Well, teachers in NYS have been eligible for the vaccine for over a month, although that of course doesn't mean the supply has been there. One interesting question is whether they should be required to be vaccinated ASAP as a condition of continued employment, so that in-person schools can reopen in full.

Unless you have an opt-out right that I'm not aware of, that's not the reason.

I know I said it would be nuts to fire him anytime soon, but if they lose, say, 3 more like this, and they keep looking like they’ll never score another goal, it’s going to start to feel inevitable.

McCabe-Borgen are going to knock some heads.

So one of my closest friends (and as you get older, these sadly become fewer in number) had heart surgery yesterday -- aortic valve replacement. He's in his early 50s, and while the state of our medical science has fortunately advanced to the point where this is a reasonably common and usually successful operation, it's still a freaking operation on his heart in which the chest is opened and the heart is stopped for a few hours while the valve for the most important blood vessel in the body is replaced. So I was kinda worried. Then I heard from his wife this afternoon that all is good. So I'm grateful.

Fear and loathing? What fear and loathing? Do you feel the same way about all owners of yachts? How about private jets?

I don't think the Sabres are going to lie down. The jury is still out on RK, but the team shows up and competes, even when it seems likely that they would be demoralized. Now, does that mean they will get good goaltending and/or that their top guys will stop squeezing the stick? Unfortunately not, but I do think they will start scoring sooner or later. Maybe the turnaround starts tonight.

Good article. I've been saying for a while that the goalie pads are way too big. The difference between the amount of net to shoot at in the 1980s vs now is enormous. I'd rather make the goalies wear kevlar or similar body armor than enlarge the nets, but I could live with enlarging the nets. The game has really suffered.

It's way too early, but right now Hall is in the top tier of "all-time most disappointing Buffalo sports free agents." I thought he was going to be Stefon Diggs, not Ville Leino.

Just out of curiosity, where do you teach (i.e. WNY or elsewhere, and what grade), and how many days per week is a given student in school in person? I don't doubt that busing, heating/resources and mask compliance are real issues. But to say that public schools can be opened over the objections of the teachers unions belies reality in most parts of the country. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/27/960868462/dont-call-it-a-comeback-school-districts-that-never-opened-are-having-trouble-no And this: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/01/25/biden-wants-schools-open-but-teachers-unions-have-other-ideas/4165684001/

Yes -- figuratively. My point was that his team was not one of the better teams in the league, and was not in a big market, and was known for selling off its best players. That's not the kind of organization that pays its management multi-million dollar salaries.

Here's a well-written article (by an epidemiologist) advocating a full reopening of schools: https://www.vox.com/2021/2/15/22280763/kids-covid-vaccine-teachers-unions-schools-reopening-cdc?fbclid=IwAR3x0jx_X5d_mOGJNqr-Bmkl22h3AbTi9-bdXWHlI0BoMcQMJpeG4lVfCKk

I'd be pretty surprised if his job running a 2nd-tier UK soccer team paid $3.5MM per year.

Well, Okposo has been comatose since well before RK arrived, so I don't see how that one is on RK. In any case, my point was that RK is not going to get canned in the near term. If the Sabres finish the season having won 1/3 of their games everything is on the table after the season.

Eichel had by far his best season last year, his first with RK. This is a very strange season that started following a 10-month layoff and has already included a 15-day hiatus. We have played 12 games and been competitive in 10 of them. It is insane to think that RK might get canned in the near term