nfreeman

This is as wrong as wrong can be. He became a caricature sometime in the late '80s-early '90s, but the first part of his career was magnificent.

I'm with ya there.

I think the Stones were much, much better than Zeppelin (of whom I was not a fan).

If there is a spot open, I would love to join. If so -- is there a list of the rules anywhere?

Yes, and it must also be said that the offense looks better this year under Lynn than it did under Roman.

I would love to come but almost certainly will be on a family trip that night. If there is a change I will parachute in. You guys are going to have a great night.

TBPhD -- if you want to get a little goofy and have a strawberry daiquiri for lunch, that is fine, but you can't keep positing the same joke every 15 min. Tom W. -- I'm happy with win just like you are, but I'm not sure it puts the Bills on the same level as the Pats, or that it vindicates Whaley. I'm also quite sure the difference between the Bills and the Pats is more than just getting lucky on Brady. In any case, that was a great win for this season, for Rex and for TT, who looked great In multiple areas, IMHO.

Classic Brandon-Whaley-era Bills debacle.

The Patriots are 17th in total D (yards/game), 18th in pass D and 10th in run D. It sure would be nice to have Watkins, or an alternative better than Woods and Goodwin. Maybe TT will find Clay tomorrow.

This thread is why you're supposed to look both ways before crossing the street.

Interesting. Assuming early reports of some improvement by Moulson are accurate and he keeps hustling, he'll probably get a shot with those 2 at some point, unless Ennis or Kane both looks great with them and stays healthy. And if not those, 2, with other skilled forwards who will create chances for him. Last year he was pretty much always a step behind the play and thus unable to use his finishing skills. If he really is quicker this year (which, it must be said, is unlikely at his age), there could be a resurrection.

Seems consistent with "better to give the young guys lots of minutes in Rochester than to ride the bench in Buffalo" approach.

Jerry Butler, before he got hurt, was unstoppable. And Moulds was close. Yes indeedly.

FWIW, I think Watkins has star quality when healthy -- but that qualifier to this point has swallowed the "star quality" ...uh...quality. So he isn't a star, because a star plays, and he doesn't play enough. And who has our brilliant GM brought in as a strong #2 WR, because this situation was highly foreseeable by the end of last year? That's right -- he's brought in no one! Just like he did at QB for 5 years until Rex made him bring in TT! (BTW, I still like TT,.)

DDB on Nelson: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/kulikov-to-make-debut-as-sabres-host-leafs/c-282275086 Although I've been defending Franson upthread, it's quite possible that DDB sees a 3rd pairing of Gorges and Franson as just too slow to cut the mustard -- and that he likes Nelson enough to bump Franson.

Franson isn't a good skater, and he's not a top-4 defenseman, but he'll do fine in limited and protected 3rd-pair minutes and on the #2 PP. Remember that he missed most of last season. Give him some time to get re-adjusted to NHL speed. More importantly, Franson's 10 min or so of even-strength ice time per game against the opponents' 3rd & 4th lines aren't going to be where the Sabres' season is made or broken. The top 2 pairings are much more important -- and the Sabres' top 4 guys all have significant question marks associated with them.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nephew Boom!

Some people refer to that person as "my niece."

I am so sorry iTinSn. God bless you and your family.

Good post. Kulikov's role with Florida kinda evolved into a #2 at the end of last season, but it was mostly by default -- he certainly wasn't the Seabrook to Ekblad's Keith. He'll probably be the #2 here as well but it's above his natural station. I'm still kinda holding out hope for a trade for one of Anaheim's defensemen. If that doesn't materialize, we're left with the hope that McCabe takes major steps -- which isn't gonna happen this year. Risto is the most likely candidate to provide the Sabres with a #1. It's a lot to hope for, especially this early in his career. I can't really think of any true #1s who have changed teams recently -- other than Weber and PK, who were traded for each other. Before that -- maybe Suter going to Minny in FA?

Woo-hoo!

I think if Franson is heathy he will surprise a lot of people around here and have a pretty decent year.

The Cap Center was a terrible arena. And there was no upper bowl -- just one huge bowl that wen up forever -- which was a big part of the problem.

Flagg -- great chart. One question: is the quality of teammates metric limited to the player's team, or is it league-wide? I.e. does Risto's red color mean he's playing with the worst guys on the Sabres, or the worst guys in the NHL? It's also worth noting that the chart really indicates not how productive each defenseman is, but rather how heavy and difficult of a workload he's bearing. So Gorges' chart probably doesn't look that much different from Risto's -- but no one would argue that Gorges should get a $40MM contract (leaving his age out of it for this purpose).

While I don't always agree with pi, I think (i) his avatar is so eye-bleeding that it naturally makes others here hostile to his takes and (ii) more to the immediate point, there is a bit too much jumping the gun here on the "Risto is great" conclusion. There are at least 40 defensemen in the NHL who are better than Risto is right now. Will Risto get into the top 10 in the next few years? I sure hope so, and he's got the tools. But it's far from certain.