nfreeman

I saw Ralph Kruger drinkin' a piña colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.

Alrighty, Mr. Poopy-pants, we're trying to enjoy our day here.

So far it's a pretty good Friday -- still happy from that win last night. It occurred to me as I was arriving at work this morning that for the first time this millenium (literally!), all of my sports teams might be good this year.

Serious question: shouldn't this be the song that is played in the arena at the end of a home win? Either when the final horn sounds or when the game has been locked up (e.g. via ENG)? With the crowd joining in for "RaaaKruuuuuuuuu"? It would be awesome.

My only concern about the ice time last night is that I am skeptical that McCabe’s body can handle consistent high-minute usage given his injury history. I am fine with sheltering Dahlin a bit and am totally on board with him not playing on the PK. Your Ferrari might be able to pull the tree stump out, but others are better suited for that job. I was pleasantly surprised by how well and in control the Scandy-Joker pairing played and if they keep that up I am fine with them getting plenty of ice time. Go Sabres.

Great game tonight and great GDT boys. Hutton was terrific and made a huge save on the PK that was discussed up thread and another with about 1:10 to go in the 3rd that was also critical. They looked balanced, fast, much more skilled on D and in the middle 6 and well coached. If they keep it up at home against another young fast team looking to move up the excitement will start to build. Go Sabres.

JB should be fired immediately for this.

I like the choices.

Yessssss!!! Now please release X.Benedict and DeLuca67 from the dungeon so they can start posting again too.

Merged in a desperate attempt to confine the SDS (Sobotka Derangement Syndrom) to a single thread before it consumes all of us.

Before he's played a single regular-season game for the Sabres? No, sir, you may not. But feel free to do so in November.

My reasons for optimism: - I like RK, and I believe that the Sabres have enough talent that what is now holding them back is almost entirely between the ears. The right coach can IMHO instill the necessary level of focus/confidence/intensity/buy-in/consistency/esprit de corps, in which the Sabres have been sadly lacking, and I think RK is very likely the man for the job. - Quite a few hockey people seem to respect RK too. - Mike Bales, the new goalie coach, had very good success in Pittsburgh and Carolina. Goaltending is the biggest area in need of improvement and IMHO both Hutton and Ullmark are capable of at least mid-tier performance. Between Bales, RK and an improved D group, the goalies will get what they need and will improve materially over last year's poor 2nd half. - The D will be much improved in both personnel and coaching. The Kid is a year older and stronger, and even if he's not ready for Norris contention, he will be more than a little better than last year, when he was pretty GD good. Add Miller, Montour, Joker, a more experienced Pilut, a ticked-off and better-rested Risto with something to prove, a better depth guy in Gilmour and better D coaching from RK, plus more confidence arising from better goaltending, and this unit will be quite strong. - The additions of VO and MoJo into the top 6 give the Sabres a much improved 2nd line, and dropping Mitts and adding Vesey to the 3rd line could result in a much improved 3rd line as well (a low bar to clear, to be sure). I am reasonably confident that TT will force his way into the #2 RW or #3 RW slot by New Year's, which will also help scoring depth. - I think The top PP of Eichel, Reino, Skinner, VO and Dahlin will be very strong. - Before Eichel got concussed last year, he was emerging as a monster. If he stays healthy, with Reino in a contract year on one wing and the FNG sniper on the other, there is a good chance that he forces his way into true elite status. If nothing else this will be entertaining to watch. So -- there is good reason for optimism regarding better coaching, goaltending, defense, scoring depth, power play and top gun production. Go Sabres.

I have been happy with the HD quality on Fios. Also, as @IKnowPhysics points out, the subscription to Center Ice on Fios includes nhl.tv, so you can watch the games online or on a roku or similar device if you are away from home (same for the NBA package if you are so inclined). This is a great perk.

JB is 100% accountable for the results on the ice. If they stink again this year, I will be fine with firing him, although if they show real improvement that doesn’t get into the playoffs I will probably be against it Sheary had 2 5-on-5 goals and 1 ENG in a 46-game stretch between Nov 10 and the end of February. That is a terrible season, regardless of whether he added some numbers during garbage time.

I don’t dispute that Vlad was terrible last year. I just think that Sheary was pretty bad for most of the year too, and that the difference between the 2 is not significant—and certainly not substantial enough to justify the anguish around here regarding playing one vs the other on line 2. As for whether JB should’ve brought in another good forward — I know I’d be happier right now if he had traded Risto for, say, Ehlers. But I don’t think that caliber of player was available for Risto, and I wouldn’t have been happy if he had traded Risto or other valuable assets for a lesser return. A good FA forward on a good contact (like Mojo)? Sure, but that guy has to be available and willing to come here.

I think Sheary last year was at or below replacement level. Not materially better than Sobotka.

I don't think the spread between Sobotka and Sheary will be even close to an important factor in how well or badly the Sabres do. Again, it's not like we're playing Sobotka over a good RW.

Oh, the refs, the refs! Any data to support this assertion? (Just kidding -- I know the answer.)

While you're right that it was indeed the tallest dwarf, they were still 3rd-worst in the conference that year. It was much more of an insignificant blip than any kind of indicator of an effective strategy. So -- is this the last crappy season that it will take for you to admit it was a mistake? In any case, the tank did not deliver a winning team, or even a "generational" player, so it's hard to see how it did what it was supposed to do.

You've agreed that after a certain number of additional crappy seasons, you will admit that it was a mistake, right? Is this the last one?

Negative. The most obvious one -- and the stupidest, and the most destructive, on several orders of magnitude -- rhymes with "skank." Moreover, there have been many other moves this decade that were materially worse than starting this season with Sobotka as #2 RW, including, just off the top of my head: - Keeping Darcy - Leino - Rolston - Trading a #1 for Lehner - Trading McNabb and 2 second-rounders for Fasching - Nylander - Grigorenko - Trading ROR for a pupu platter - Relying on Mitts last year - Relying on Hutton/Ullmark last year and this year

God bless them.

Well, I think decisions about lower-order items like Sobotka's playing time (14 min per game last year) vs ERod or whoever else might've replaced Sobotka played a small role in their suckitude, but were dwarfed by much more important factors like coaching, goaltending, lousy franchise-wide talent level, tank hangover, etc. I think the bolded needs to include the concept of "relative to the alternatives." Playing Sobotka over ERod isn't like playing him over Mike Bossy. I'm nowhere near as optimistic as @darksabre about them having a good October, but I am pretty confident that if they have a lousy October, it won't be due to Sobotka playing over ERod.

The amount of sturm und drang around here about Sobotka is close to unprecedented. It's almost 100% likely he either won't start on the 2nd line, or that if he does the experiment will be over by the end of game 3. Millions of bytes of data on this board will have given their lives for nothing.