nfreeman

@GASabresIUFAN-- I brought up the Eichel tank mostly to distinguish it from the "mini-tank" approach that is the subject of this thread, as I think the 2 situations are qualitatively different.

McCabe was also well improved over last year, although that perhaps was more of a bounce back than development. And Skinner and perhaps Pilut exceeded expectations. But I agree generally that JB hasn’t covered himself in glory.

Season 4 of “catastrophe” on Amazon Prime starts on Friday. The first 3 seasons were outstanding IMHO. Solid A.

Well, the ROR, Kane and Scandy trades should be included on the list of major trades, and none included the Sabres parting with futures. Don't go over to the dark side my friend. They will get it right one of these years. In the meantime Dahlin and Eichel, not to mention your favorite Kootenay alum, will provide plenty of good moments. While I agree that they have been much more entertaining this year than in quite a few years, the percentage of stinker, not-in-the-least-entertaining games has steadily increased over the past couple of months to its current slot well north of 50%. I also agree that getting too upset about a lousy hockey team isn't rational. However, notwithstanding the venting that many here are indulging in, I think most here have perspective. To relate it to your entertainment point -- what's more entertaining than the euphoric, live-and-die roller coaster of playoff hockey? That's what everyone wants -- not to complain about not winning the Cup -- just to enjoy moments, like, say, when Drury tied game 5 vs the Rangers with 7 seconds left in regulation and Max won it in OT. I want that again. I want to look forward to the game all day and watch it on the edge of my seat and then post here for a couple of hours and then go to bed exhausted and thrilled. And in November I thought I was getting that this season.

OK, so it's been another really disappointing season. The first couple of months included a number of thrilling moments, very competitive and exciting games and real hope that they were back to relevance or at least in the ballpark. The last couple of months have been awful and pretty much on a long downward slope. With 13 games left, the Sabres are currently tied with 3 other teams for 7th-worst record, with 69 points (heh). There are 2 teams with 65 points and 2 teams with 72 points. So, depending on how the rest of the season plays out for the Sabres and the other 7 teams who are between 65 pts and 72 pts, the Sabres could end up anywhere between 5th-worst and 12th-worst. The 12th-worst team will have an 8.2% chance at moving up to the top 3 in the lottery and a 2.5% chance at #1 overall. The 5th-worst team will have an 26.1% chance at moving up to the top 3 in the lottery and an 8.5% chance at #1 overall. The Sabres, at 8th-worst overall via tiebreakers, are currently at 19.0% and 6.0%. The Sabres have lost 5 in a row and are 2-6-2 in their last 10. I and many others firmly, wisely and correctly opposed tanking for Eichel. My reasoning was simply that it usually doesn't work, and the tanking team usually ends up stuck in the basement. I think I've been vindicated. Having said that, I am OK with the Sabres losing out at this point. This isn't like burning a bubble team to the ground with the plan of scooping up a franchise player and quickly rebounding to contender status, which is what they did last time. This year, they tried to win for the bulk of the season and it didn't work. They know that they have some good pieces in place and many other areas for improvement. This is about throwing away the last 15% of a disappointing season in order to improve the prospect pipeline, perhaps substantially. Unlike the Eichel tank, I don't think there is much downside here. I don't think 4 or 5 more wins in their last 13 games would meaningfully impact the team's psyche, and I don't think there is a material difference in the prospects for next year between finishing 6th-worst and finishing 12th-worst. In a somewhat analogous situation, the Sabres won a bunch of games down the stretch the year they drafted Risto -- and the spread there between winning and losing down the stretch became the spread between Barkov and Risto. So I am officially OK with a mini-tank.

I liked "Barry" and am planning on watching season 2.

Beasley IMHO is good to very good at his role — ie small slot guy who gets open and has good hands. It’s far from clear that Allen has the vision and accuracy to exploit Beasley though. Brown seems like a capable deep threat. There are promising reports on the center and the tackle. We’ll see. McD and BB need to have a better summer than they did last year.

Certainly plausible but far from definitive either way.

The still photo at the bottom of your OP? I do not think that remotely constitutes evidence that Nelson couldn't see the hit.

I will take a contra position. It's pretty likely IMHO that the coaches have access to replays/camera angles that show Nelson having a good view of the incident. It's also 100% reasonable IMHO for Howie to expect Eichel's teammates, especially a rookie defenseman, to go in guns blazing if Eichel is hit hard after the whistle. This isn't about manhood, or blaming this season's collapse on a lack of fighting, or mistaking toughness for talent. It's about protecting the franchise, giving a crap about your team and your teammates and doing what a real hockey team does -- and NOT avoiding difficult situations because you are playing out the string. If there is a hit like that on Crosby, Ovechkin, Pastrnak, Matthews, etc -- would their teammates not respond?

I read somewhere that the Sabres are currently 7th-last, which gives them a 20% chance of moving up into the top 3 in the draft. That would be a decent consolation prize, but still wouldn't add much optimism for next year IMHO.

Well...

You know it's been another disappointing season when one of the polite Canadians gets irritated. And that's without anyone pointing out that Reino has been lousy since getting moved back up to the top line.

I expect Howie back next year too, but outings like the Colorado game sure don't help his chances. They looked like they had spent all day in the cannabis store and wanted to get the game over with so they could go back.

What's "a real thing?" That "the refs" in multiple sports treat Buffalo's teams differently than they treat other teams? Really?

It’s been a while since we really had a good blame session regarding those dastardly refs. They always seem to pick on us and make our teams lousy. They even make it look like the crappiness is overwhelmingly due to mismanagement! Effing refs. It’s always them.

Hutton? Why?

I generally agree with @GASabresIUFAN, but would just add that I'm not sure when Nylander's waivers/contract situation will force the Sabres to make a decision on him. Until then, I don't see any reason to unload him -- although if someone wants him in trade as part of a package for a good player, I'm fine with that too.

I enjoyed Season 3 of "True Detective." Solid B-plus. Also: my wife and I have been binging "Schitts Creek" on Netflix. Pretty funny comedy with a number of SCTV alumni. B-plus to A-minus.

Chara does not belong on that list IMHO.

I thought Mitts was completely useless last night and for that matter committed a lazy frustration penalty in the offensive zone. I really hope JB isn't counting on him as the 2C last year. ERod isn't the long-term answer at 2C but has emerged IMHO as a pretty good player that the Sabres should keep. I'd slot him in as the #6-#8 forward once the Sabres are good. ERod was much better than Mitts last night (and, just 'cause I'm feeling ornery, I'll point out that he was better than Reino too, who did zero other than one excellent shift in the first period and who had an awful shift in OT). If the 3rd line next year is ERod-Sheary-KO, who is on the 2nd line? 3 new guys?

Does this mean you don't want the Sabres to give him that contract?

Well, Matthews got a fat extension this year (over $11.5MM per year), so Toronto did figure out how to pay him. I'm sure you're right that they'll have to lose some guys due to cap constraints, but I'd be shocked if Marner were one of them. He's too good to let go, and he's restricted.

How did Tavares force his way out? He simply left in free agency. I don't see any problems arising for Toronto from having both Tavares and Matthews. Having Crosby and Malkin hasn't been a problem for Pittsburgh -- it's been their foundation. While I generally agree that desperately swinging for the quick fix isn't the answer, I don't think bringing in an expensive center is necessarily a quick fix that is doomed to failure. It all depends on the player. Duchene may or may not be the guy, but in the abstract, a center who is good enough to be a #1 on many teams and who would play pretty much the same number of minutes as Jack sounds like a potential major difference-maker to me.

Congrats TB!!