nfreeman

Like so? Skinner-Eichel-Pommer Sheary-Mitts-KO Berglund-Erod-Reino Zemgus-Larsson-Sobotka I'd be happy to see how this works. But I think Pommer may be out of gas already.

FWIW, I've seen Howie repeatedly refer to advanced metrics in his interviews. He definitely takes them into consideration in making his decisions -- he just doesn't base his decisions on them exclusively -- which is probably wise.

As to the bolded: no. As to his stats being overweighted to the PP -- this is fine for the regular season but bodes poorly for his effectiveness in the playoffs. I would finish off the bolded sentence with "...sufficient to justify a fat long-term contract." Since the Sabres have Reino on a relatively cheap short-term contract, and since JBott and Howie have spoken repeatedly about how his is part of the long-term solution, indicating that he was not part of the locker room dysfunction of prior years, I see no reason to move him out. UNLESS, of course, trading him yields Nylander or Nick Leddy or other clearly superior player whose current team needs to move him for whatever reason. That is a pretty low probability but not impossible.

OK -- what's your suggestion?

I can live with Berglund coming in for ERod, but would rather see the checking line reunited and the bottom 2 lines look like: TT-Sobotka-Pommer Zemgus-Larsson-Berglund

Berglund gets healthy-scratched and then is on PP1?

Looks like you're right -- IMDB says: (I was probably just mis-remembering what John Turturro said.)

Awesome. Does anyone know who's in the band?

And it was a shortie! Connolly was sooooooo good that year.

If we're all very, very lucky and well-behaved, the hockey gods might smile on us enough at some point to give us another season like that one. Unforgettable.

From the Athletic today: https://theathletic.com/650631/2018/11/13/down-goes-brown-which-of-this-early-season-success-stories-could-be-on-the-verge-of-a-plunge-down-the-standings/

So, speaking of Spike Lee movies, I attended a pretty cool event the other night -- a screening of "Do the Right Thing" hosted by John Turturro. He gave a short speech before the movie and did Q&A afterwards. I hadn't seen the movie in full since it came out in 1989 -- well worth seeing if you like Spike Lee. Anyway, at the end, when the credits rolled, I was pretty surprised to see that the character Buggin' Out, who had a pretty big role in the movie: ...was played by none other than Giancarlo Esposito -- now best known as Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. John Turturro mentioned, btw, that Esposito's father is Spanish. Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

Also — pretty nice to see Dominik and Andreychuk in attendance! (Although I think I saw that attendance was only in the 15K range — seems like it’s going to take a while for the city to really jump back in.)

So does anyone know why TT started over Berglund last night? I.e. was Berglund banged up? Or was he just a healthy scratch in favor of TT? As I mentioned in the GDT, I don't think there was much if any loss of effectiveness in the checking line last night. Larsson and Zemgus were both quite good and TT did fine too. If Berglund was healthy-scratched, that would be twice this year, right? And the Sabres have him under contract for 3 more years after this season?

I thought TT played reasonably well vs TB last night. Between that, Howie's recent statements about TT and the fact that TT is still in Buffalo, I'm going to predict that TT does not get sent down anytime soon.

I thought she was pretty good too, and I was glad to have the NBCSN "B team" last night, as I find Emrick kinda annoying. Separately: - Holy mackerel the difference in goaltending this year vs last year is ginormous. Lehner would NEVER have kept it together in the 3rd period and delivered that win. - I didn't think Reino had much impact on the top line but I did think his departure from Sobotka's line had a big negative impact on that line, which was the Sabres' least effective line last night. - I thought TT did fine on the checking line, which was still pretty effective last night. KO took some of TT's shifts at the end, but I thought that was just to have a veteran there while the Sabres were trying to seal the win. - Beaulieu played less than 10 min -- I wonder if we'll see Nelson next game. (Risto: 28 minutes!) - Stamkos had multiple great scoring chances. Most nights he cashes at least 1. - Bottom line is that the Sabres aren't going to win many games when they get outplayed like that for the better part of 2 periods while trying to nurse a 1-goal lead against a top-echelon team. And TB would definitely manhandle them in a 7-game series. OTOH, for a team trying to dig their way to respectability from DFL 3 times in 5 years, it's a good win if for no other reason than it builds their confidence in Hutton and in each other.

Some of us already know, while others also know but don't wanna admit it.

I don’t think we’ve seen nearly enough from TT to come to any kind of conclusion on him. And while I’ve been pleased with the effectiveness of the forecheck produced by the checking line, I wouldn’t say that they’ve even approached the point where subbing TT in for one of them is NFW.

I don't mind McGuire, but I find Emrick pretty annoying. He's knowledgeable and passionate about the game, which is great, but he needs to talk about 30% less IMHO. Separately -- here are a few items I'd like to see tonight: - Good goaltending -- Hutton played well for much of the Canucks game, but allowed 2 poor goals - Reino ending up back with ERod and Sobotka, and either Pommer or TT with Jack and Skinner - TT showing some offense - Sharp, smart play in the D-zone, esp. from Risto -- otherwise TB will make it hurt - Eichel looking healthy and rested

Well, I'd probably bet on Pommer to win a race between the 2 of them after a couple of days' rest. But not in the 3rd period of an NHL game, which is what matters. In any case, I did not intend to slight Reino in my post -- just the opposite, in fact. I think Reino is fast enough, and he's certainly skilled enough, to play with those guys. I just think it's better for the team for Reino to be on a line where he gets the puck more in the offensive zone, especially in his office below the goal line. I think inevitably he'll get the puck less, and have fewer chances to make plays, if he's up with Jack and Skinner. Overall, I think swapping Reino for Pommer will, I think, hurt ERod & Sobotka's line more than it will help Eichel and Skinner's line. Eichel and Skinner don't need Reino -- they just need a non-gassed Pommer.

Hmmmm. I feel like Reino kinda gets lost when he plays with Jack and Skinner, and that his talents are better used with ERod and Sobotka. I think Jack and Skinner need someone like Pommer (but with younger legs) -- i.e. smart, fast, knows how to get to an open spot down low, and sure-handed to light the lamp when he gets it.

Taking the kids and the dog to the park on a sunny, crisp fall day.

FWIW, I don’t think Reino took any shifts at C in place of Jack. I like having Reino there as a “break glass in case of emergency” option to replace Pommer on that line when a spark is needed. But I really want C.J. Smith or TT to seize that spot from Pommer permanently, as I think Pommer’s legs won’t last.

Excellent thread. GA — agree, and those were 3 key pieces of GMTM’s team, at that. I’ve noticed a few lousy goals allowed by Hutton, but very few 3rd period killers of the sort that Lehner let in on the regular. So I agree that his teammates trust him more than they trusted Lehner, but they have good reason to do so IMHO.

He's a big scary bear.