nfreeman

I think it's also worth noting that the Eichel extension occurred during the off-season when JBott's was first hired -- i.e. before he'd had a chance to watch the team from the inside -- while his decision on Reino occurred after a full season of play.

For those of us of a certain age: Q: What did Jerry Garcia say when he stopped taking drugs? A: "This music sucks!"

Eeeeeeeeeessssshhhh.

I too remember seeing that interview and being quite impressed with how he handled it. He was respectful but still disagreed with the questioner when needed. I also thought he answered the questions in a manner that seemed pretty honest — ie I felt like I was getting his real thoughts, not a series of meaningless cliches.

More than just interesting, IMHO. Even-strength productivity is important, and Reino has not been a particularly good ES player. He'll need to improve if he wants to cash in on his next contract. So -- you've spoken to enough pro sports owners to learn about their individual moral beliefs? In these conversations, has any of them expressed the sentiment that they are entitled to whip players for breaking the rules, to cripple them if they try to leave or to rape their daughters? Maybe it isn't necessary to use maximalist language -- or, more importantly, to default to maximalist ways of "thinking" -- when describing a given situation. Employer-employee relations aren't the same as owner-slave relations. The real world is quite different from the way it's depicted in an undergrad gender studies/racial studies curriculum.

What?

I'm hoping all 3 of those guys prove to be worth keeping. There is a good likelihood this will be the case.

I haven't seen enough from Casey yet to be very confident, but I think JBott expects Casey's 1st 2 years to be better than Reino's 1st 2 years and probably Reino's last 2 years. If not, though, I'm very much on board with a similar bridge for Casey. Interesting point on the 2nd contracts for defensemen. Both of these are also interesting points.

Do you give him the food dry, or mix it with any liquid? We give our dog dry food but frequently mixed with table scraps. My in-laws insist that dogs like it better mixed with liquid though. also: happy birthday Taro!

I think it’s a good point. Liger is right that Dahlin’s contract won’t take effect until the following year, but it will still be a big factor in their planning — especially if all 3 of them prove worthy of fat long-term deals.

And my glorious victory is sealed! This is both fair and a very good deal for the Sabres. It's a modest cap hit, they didn't reward Reino for a lousy season in his contract year, and they didn't get married to someone who might not be worth it. From Reino's perspective, he knows that if he has 2 strong years -- which he now is highly incentivized for -- he will get a huge contract next time. Good call here. Although as an occasional grammar cop, your spelling of "boku" is questionable.

I only saw the 2nd half of the game and the postgame, but I liked what I saw. Especially Dahlin. a few other notes: - very sweet finish by Eichel - I thought KO looked pretty lively. I will predict that he’ll get his timing back and have a pretty decent year, and will be ahead of Pommer in the rotation - nice hip check by McCabe plastering one of the pens’ forwards into the boards on an attempted rush - Marty spoke highly of Hutton’s puck retrieval and passing shills in the postgame, and said that it can be a big factor in taking possession in the D zone and exiting. - solid 8 pages on the GDT for a preseason game gents.

No thank you.

Quite a head of hair on Oglevie, btw:

This quote from Marty in the article caught my eye: Hmmmmmmmm.

Isn’t it kinda strange that two vets (Anquan Boldin last year and now Davis) have up and quit on the Bills early in the season in successive years?

Yikes.

Fitz really looks like Conor MacGregor in that photo.

From Garth today:

Some recent watches: Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime — could’ve been really good but not quite there. Still a B to B-plus. Ozark season 2 on Netflix — very good. A-minus. New Mission Impossible movie — solid installment of the franchise. B-plus to A-minus.

Skinner - Eichel - KO has potential. A KO resurgence is not impossible.

Starting to really enjoy this thread -- nice job GA. One thing I'm starting to appreciate more as I think about it more is that it was a pretty strong move to go out and get Skinner, who turned 26 in May, is really fast, has plenty of finish and passing skills and is in his contract year. Even if they don't keep him, I think he is going to be on Eichel's line, and that line is going to be high octane and productive.

From Elliotte Friedman today:

He does kinda spray them around, innit?