ska-T Palmtown

that ... right there - Zucker telling Kulich what's what ... we need MORE!

That kinda gets at the heart of it for me. I never made it past collegiate level (wrestling ... I barely even played intramural floor hockey for the longest time), so i know it is not a 1:1 - but we were bad for a while and none of us were Chris Drury or anything like that ... but a few guys pulled out some wins and things built from there. I don't think the issue with the Sabres is talent, but a fair amount of the time there seems to be a 'hockey IQ' problem? Like, dumb plays. Careless plays that are too risky (dangles near the blueline when there is no one behind you to back you up?) and frankly not likely to work in the NHL where the talent gap for most players is not that big. So, having the smarts and the maturity to take the safe play - or at least the less risky play - is something that seems to be missing when I watch the "bad" games. I am sure there is a lot of room to argue that the really talented, well-coached (for a longer period of time), or physical teams are throwing the Sabres off and contributing to "dumb" plays, cuz when they are ON, they are ON, ask the Rags.

<SkaTchitown patiently waits for Thornster's rebuttal about how all of that is the exact description of what GM is paid a staggering amount of money to do ...>

This gives me even more pause for all of these arguments that are cast out here. There is no way that a Bruins team that is what - 2 year removed from the best record ever? - that has not had significant roster turnover - can have "a bad culture". Am I supposed to believe that between last year (they made the playoffs easily) and this year that everything they had worked for and built just came crumbling down and now their culture is trash and they are lazy?? C'mon. I have a hard time accepting that when it is tossed out for the Sabres, but the Broons? C'mon. I get that "bad culture" and "lazy country club locker room" are really just euphemisms for "no one is really pushing that extra little bit so they can start to reach the next level", but it is so condescending (not directing this at you, PF, if that is not clear), ill-informed, and dismissive.

Don't forget, since TP owns a stake in the stadium, he gets the depreciation tax-writeoffs. Not entirely sure how it works, since an NFL stadium, other than the land, is essentially worthless if you don't have an NFL team. Fair market value and other things might be tricky.

but the DRAFT PIIIIICCKKKSS!!! (that boston does not have)

The was just an article on ESPN about how rare it is for goalies to even get VOTES for ROY and Wolf might just do that. They cited that voters are crazy harsh on goalies in terms of what defines "success" - like that goalie had to get a majority of the starts for a PLAYOFF team ... i mean what playoff team is starting a rookie? (Yeah EDM did it with the good skinner, but still). And there seemed to be age bias, as many goalies are a little older when the truly crack the NHL as a "majority starter". Many signs point to Levi being a decent NHL goalie, but he definitely needs time to hone his skills.

In the broadcast Tony also mentioned something about Josh recognizing they did not have a spy on him - watching the reply, this seems correct ... and silly.

In defense of an acquaintance ... if sitting down Quinn (also, no Quinner or Quinsie or other playful nicknames until he starts playing better) to watch the video of him not doing good hockey is not working ... why did they fire head video guy Matt Smith last year?! Inquiry! I demand an inquiry!

It probably depends on the team(s) you watch? I was in Seattle last week and watched the Kraken score four goals in the second period ... and honestly, if felt like watching middling Sabres hockey. Hardly any coordinated breakouts, losing the puck at the opposition's blueline, bad giveaways, and terrible passes. The only real difference was they buried 4 out of 5 decent chances they had to score. Snipes. Banging home rebounds. None of this "square in the goalie's chest" nonsense we see game in and game out from pretty much anyone but TNT and JJP. Mother-effing Will Freakin' Borgen ripped one between the goalie's arm and body on a 2-on-1. Will. Borgen. Granted, he may have been trying for a rebound pass and snuck one in ... but still - instead we get Cozens (he does not get to be called 'Cozzy' until he pulls his head from his butt) firing a 10th grade JV weak wrister right at the logo. boo.

Not just for you - just jumping in here on the topic. Every team - even Cup champs have "replaceable" players - no team has 12 indispensable forwards. The proof is in any of the teams that won multiple Cups over a short period of time - their top 6, let alone their bottom 6 are rarely the same. It seems to me that Krebs is the kind of player that a really good team picks up in FA for cheap, sticks him at wing on their 3rd or 4th line and they look brilliant for "plugging a hole". Sometimes you just need some players that can go out and play an even +/- game for 12 mins a game while your top lines catch their breath. I won't go so far as to say it is the SAME thing ... but I have caught myself a few times wondering "who is that player zipping around and skating hella hard?" with Krebsie the same way it hit towards the end of the season two seasons ago with Mitts. Maybe something has clicked with Krebs and he is now a 3rd or 4th line "effort" guy on a very reasonable contract (on a team with oodles of cap space - sigh) - he is never going to be your 'go to' center, but if he can attain and maintain 'serviceable', he moves way down on my list of worries.

how DARE you look past the first definition result that the crappy google AI gives you!! 🤣 My client (who is also me) agrees to the terms as such: All use of "amendable" where "amenable" belongs will stop and "amenable" shall henceforth be beyond reproach for the meaning proposed by @Thorner. Pleasure, as always.

Can we all agree that this word was misused in the original post and it has now propagated to an alarming level ... unless everyone is trying to say he can change the results. Honestly, not even the 'correct' spelling - amenable - is also wrong? 'Amenable' meaning agreeable, not 'accountable' or 'responsible'. If I am picking the wrong nits and @JohnC wants to say he did mean to say GMKA can correct the results, I will formally withdraw my complaint.

maybe they had watched "Buffaloed" on Netflix as research for the game?

Is that the era when the Vezina was automatically awarded to the tendies from the team that allowed the fewest goals against?

Granted I was watching on my phone on a plane - but I thought Quinn was noticeable for neutral to good reasons for a large portion of his ice time yesterday. He get powerplay time and was out there for the 4-on-3 OT, so obviously Lindy still likes what he sees. I feel like Quinner (Quinny? Quinser? Quinsie?) has really cut down on the slow plays and error plays the last few games. He seems to be "going with the flow" a lot more lately and I think once he pops, we'll see the Quinn we saw last year.

I have not attended either Vegas or Nashville, but a coworker has and said this was just a smidge below Vegas, fwiw. I have shockingly few NHL games in my adult life (left Buffalo in 1993 against my will, but I was 15 and had no say in the matter, lol), so I have primarily attended 'Hawks games out in Chicago. My coworker bugged me to go to the Kraken game and I have to say that I may try to get to games whenever I travel now (which is not too often, but should end up including a Caps game at some point).

Is this a good place to put my review of the Seattle Kraken's Climate Pledge Arena experience? Out here for work and went to see the BJ's v Kraken game on Tuesday. The arena is spectacular. The in-game experience has a hollywood production value feel to it. TWO 360 degree score boards, full projection scenes on the ice surface, additional drop down screens between scoreboards for MORE video surface. The use a modified Nirvana song as their goal song ... smoke and fire ... 2-minute long 2nd and 3rd period intro videos. Craft ciders, amazing food options. Arena was probably 80% full and the concourses never felt crowded. The first period was atrocious - it looked like two over-70 beer league teams going through the motions. It made me think of all the angst over the Sabres' effort levels, and was all prepared to write a dissertation about effort levels across the league. Then, whatever Disco Dan said to the Kraken between periods had the Kraken absolutely FLYING in the second period. So ... yeah, no idea what Buffalo's problem is, lol.

Can the Sabres please stop doing this? I don't want to over-state his impact, but right Zucker appears to be a huge positive influence on the group. An actual veteran who has played on successful teams before. As long as his good play is not a repeat of Early Season Pomminstein 2.0 - it does make a certain degree of sense to try to retain him at least one more year. Or, at the very least, not write him off, yet.

It is 'psychological size' - and you nailed it. If he does sit in on meetings and offer up his opinions, some will soak those up without even realizing it. Sure, some will be too afraid to contradict the Big Boss, but others will hear him say things and make them their own opinions without even intending to do so. Some will actively take his love for X-player and use it to curry favor, other will take his opinion as gospel and never even think to question it. It can be a HUGE problem for organizations with opinionated leaders who carelessly speak opinions as facts to weak or more naive staff members.

One thing I have noticed is every time a Sabres forward realizes he is gonna be the first forward back, they turn on the jets ... no more leaving the D out to dry!

If I say "yes" for sure - I'd be putting you on. I think i heard somewhere that it was the case ...

i like how lafferty followed that Rags guy all the way to the box telling him to watch his back. Isn't the back official usually on penalty watch?

I could get used to this:

Sorry, was not trying to imply you were being a d-bag ... it just struck me as an odd player to chose since it has been well documented he had a physical ailment. I can see how you were just comparing their mutual odd tail off of on-ice production. Yeah, I meant to imply he has looked better compared to the shite he has looked like in most games prior.