nfreeman

Ya think?

Kuli also had a much bigger role in the RS for Fla than Pysyk. And look what happened to the Fla GM that traded Kuli for Pysyk. Serious question: as between the two of them, who do you think will get more ice time next season? Separately, the work "Pysyk" is giving seizures to my phone's autocorrect.

Regarding Anaheim's RFAs: I think good organizations wait this type of situation out and don't make important decisions before they need to. Guys get injured, guys backslide, guys explode and hit another level -- Anaheim will be able to gather plenty of additional info before they have to make contract decisions on their RFAs.

So I guess Petey's recent troubles at the peewee tournament didn't cause him to change his twitter wallpaper, eh?

Well, Lindholm and Vatanen cost $10.1MM in total. How much do you think Fowler will cost? More than $6MM? I think $16MM for a strong top 3 D group is pretty reasonable. In a vacuum this is true but Anaheim (and Minny) have real leverage in the sense that they have the option, if Vegas demands too much, of making a hockey trade for what will almost certainly be a handsome return. So if, say, Vegas demands a first-round pick in exchange for not taking exposed defenseman X, Anaheim has the option of trading defenseman X for, say, Nylander and a #1 next year. Anaheim will certainly let Vegas know this, and Vegas will have to decide whether it prefers to settle for a #2 pick from Anaheim instead of zero. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, to be sure. I just don't think Anaheim is in an unescapeable corner.

Except that Kuli's coach trusted him with over 25 min per game in ice time in the playoffs, as Ekblad's partner (21 in the RS), whereas Pysyk had 18 min this year on the 3rd pairing of a non-playoff team.

Well, yes, Pysyk's stats were superior to those of a guy who joined a new team, was hurt in preseason, missed almost half the season and never found his game -- but that's an awfully generous usage of the word "superior." As noted elsewhere, (i) Pysyk was the #5 defenseman on a crappy team this year, (ii) Kuli had a much better year in 2015-16 for Fla than Pysyk had this past year, and (iii) Fla just traded for Pysyk a year ago and isn't going to bother to protect him in the expansion draft.

Hodgson's rebate has zero to do with a cap hit on a Gorges buyout. #Hammymath. Separately: here are my general thoughts: - Anaheim isn't trading for Kane. They are an internal budget team and will not add a big-money forward that is about to become a UFA. - I think it's much more likely that Anaheim pays Vegas not to take one of their defensemen than it is that they trade one in a hockey trade. As a related point, the possibility of them paying Vegas not to take one of their guys means, IMHO, that the price for getting one of their guys in a hockey trade will be quite high, and, if it's Fowler or Lindholm, will likely include TWO of Reinhart, Nylander and this year's #1 (or one of those items plus other valuable assets if it's Vatanen). - The same is true for Nashville and Minnesota -- i.e. they are likely to proactively work something out with Vegas, and not to get cornered into having to trade a good young defenseman. The same should be true of the Islanders, but they are chronically mismanaged, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if they butchered this too. - Much of this will depend on whether the Sabres will expose Bogo in the draft, whether Vegas would rather take Bogo, Moulson, Ennis, Zemgus or Ullmark, and whether the new GM can or will pay Vegas to take Bogo. If I'm Vegas I'm taking Ullmark or Zemgus unless the Sabres' GM gives me, say, a 2nd-round pick to take Bogo, Moulson or Ennis. - There's a reason Pysyk isn't going to get protected, one year after FLA traded for him.

Oh, thank you. Connolly had one of the best single-game performances by a Sabre EVER in that game. Ah, what might've been.

The trades were the tip of the iceberg. People "hate" DW -- or, more accurately, think he was a lousy GM and deserved to get canned -- because during his tenure as AGM and then GM, the team was terrible-to-mediocre every single GD year and became an NFL laughingstock. Tell me: do you think DW should've been retained? If so, why? You don't prefer bald, unsupported statements that fly in the fact of both facts and logic?

So you think TP should've specified XGMTM's mistakes and deficiencies? Would that be an honorable or professional thing to do? Has an owner ever done this in any sport when firing a GM? And how did TP throw PLF under the bus? What exactly did he say? Or are you just lashing out in yet another fact-free tantrum because the rich guy hasn't given you what you want, when you want it? Yes.

Who else? Who else?

I bought mine on ebay last year. My recollection is that there were quite a few available. You of course have to live with the inherent risk of buying on ebay, but I have found that if you stick to sellers with 100% positive feedback, and plenty of feedback as a seller, it's generally a positive experience -- and probably safer than buying it used elsewhere.

I have a Surface Pro 3 and am pretty happy with it. My understanding is that there isn't much difference between the SP3 and the SP4. One caution: quite a few SP3 users have reported problems with battery life (and mine isn't great either) -- so if you buy one used, I would suggest grilling the owner about this point. Good luck.

Very interesting. Thanks.

That song (which is great, IMHO) is actually by Meredith Brooks, not Alanis. Speaking of which, I heard they are both interviewing for GM.

Things are falling apart up here at mission control.

That was a poorly piece by Graham.

The concept of Pysyk as a possession-driving, defensive-zone-exiting, offense-starting, accurate-passing, puck-carrying, difference-making, analytics darling unappreciated diamond defenseman in whom the primitive barbarian GMTM couldn't see the value and shipped off for the unskilled, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing old school Kulikov.

Stranger Things was great.

Well, I think my position is and has been that the tank would result in the Sabres being materially worse off than they would've been sans tank. That's not the same thing as saying we are certain to end up like Edmonton -- although I think the Edmonton scenario is more likely than the Pittsburgh scenario.

Thank you sir. While I admit to frequent pessimism about my hometown teams, I also think (i) the facts have generally borne out this view and (ii) long-term, both teams are in about as good a position as could reasonably be hoped for -- i.e. secured in Buffalo with a committed, deep-pocketed owner. More broadly, and more importantly, I think pretty much every day is a great day to be alive.

Well, I think it's possible to think both things -- i.e. that the tank was a mistake AND that there is reason to be optimistic for the team's prospects next year and in the long term.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I agree that any Buffalo discount will be negligible. If they want to keep him, they're going to have to pay the market rate -- ie at least what KO got.

Geez. It's like no one ever hired a GM that didn't work out before. May I remind you two poopy posters of: - Eichel - Risto - ROR - Reino - Kane - Okposo - McCabe - Lehner - Nylander - #8 overall pick in draft next month - RJ - No internal salary cap - State of the art practice and conditioning facilities - Unlimited resources for scouting, assistant coaches, etc. - Burning desire by ownership to win and willingness to spend whatever it takes to get there - Dedication by ownership to downtown urban renewal, with tangible accomplishments already Next year's team will almost certainly be significantly better than this year's team. Quit feeling sorry for yourselves. It's a great day to be alive.