Drunkard

We still could have picked Mittelstadt at 3rd. We lucked out that he fell to Buffalo in 2017. Try doing the same exercise for 2016 though. We'd probably have a player already contributing rather than a player struggling to score in the AHL.

It was said in jest. Last I checked they don't give out awards to superfans so you'll have to excuse me for not celebrating a 3 game winning streak in the back half of a terrible season like it's the 4th of July. I find it strange that you take such offense to being called a hypocrite when you're talking down to people and comparing them to drug addicts or mentally ill people though. Next time I'll just go with .

The Sabres already threw this season away with piss poor play in October, November, and December and the early part of January. Stringing together a few wins now that the pressure is off because the playoffs are out of reach doesn't mean they've turned some corner. I liken it more to trying to salvage the season from the garbage because we're not getting back into the playoffs race without winning 95% of their remaining games and even the best teams are not capable of winning that frequently. Drafting 4th is still objectively better than drafting 8th or 10th. Drafting Zadina at 4 who can contribute next season is objectively better (at the very least for the 2018-2019 season) than drafting somebody like Bouchard or Dobson who probably won't play in Buffalo for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Sure there's a chance that those guys turn out to be better but I wouldn't bet money on it. Being in favor of a high pick doesn't mean I want the Sabres themselves to throw games on purpose, sulk, or give up trying. I still want to see them improve at passing, defending, shooting, scoring, and forechecking. In a perfect world things will work out where they win some games now, gain confidence, and learn to play proficient hockey, then sell off every UFA with a pulse at the deadline, and run out the clock on this season in a prime position to pick up a game changer in the draft. The fact of the matter is that how we feel about it is largely irrelevant. They'll finish however they finish regardless of any of our preferences or thoughts on the matter so go ahead and enjoy the wins if you want. I can only speak for myself but I don't begrudge anyone for being happy about how they've played recently. I just happen to see them as hollow victories because they the bed so badly early on. I'd rather see the improvement next season before the playoffs are completely out of reach is all.

Says a guy sporting a Stallin for Dahlin account name change. You might want to tuck your hypocrisy back in because it's hanging out. We get it man, the Sabres have managed to string a few wins together and you're jumping ship. It doesn't make you better than us, though. You'll be back. The Sabres will hit a bump in the road, lose a few games, you'll check out the standings, and end up right back in the muck with us.

Maybe after July 1st when you can sign him to an extension. I wouldn't trade for him before that point.

http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/zach-bogosian-4819/ Nope, it's back loaded. The actual cash in the last 2 years is $6 million. It was signed with the Thrashers/Jets.

Nice. I wasn't sure if you'd catch that since you don't watch the show. All of the seasons, live specials, and movies are on Netflix if you find yourself at home with nothing else to watch. I'd highly recommend watching the first movie called Trailer Park Boys: The Movie first. It's about 90 minutes long and provides a solid background on all the main characters. If you like that I'd move on to the show, which has like 12 seasons now or something like that. So much hilarity, even if you don't get high on Ricky's supply first.

Ouch. That's rough. I thought water bills were only high like that in places like California and Nevada where they'd don't get a lot of rain, scarcity abounds, and there are plenty of rich people who will pay the premium to water their lawns and golf courses. I would double check with the company. If it's not a mistake, there's a chance Ricky is using water from your meter to grow his hydro-bud, Mr. Lahey.

That sucks for him and for the team. Thurman Merman was usually one of the most reliable offensive lineman. In hindsight I guess stockpiling all those picks was a good thing. They've got to replace some guys like Wood, Dareus, and probably Kyle Williams and they could definitely use some upgrades in the trenches.

$1,000! Holy ! I don't think I've ever had a water bill over $25 in my life. $45 tops if you include when I was living in a duplex that didn't have a septic system so every month there was a $20 sewage fee on top of the water bill. What is your average bill for 3 months?

And that's fine. They've been playing well lately and good for them. If it builds their confidence and proves to them that if the team is willing to pull their heads out of their they are capable of playing competent hockey, then that's a positive. I wouldn't pin my hopes to it making a difference come October though.

There is no such thing as carry over momentum from season to season. The offseason is too long for that to be possible. Hell, even shorter periods have the ability to cancel out momentum. We just played a team (Calgary) that had won something like 5 or 6 straight games before their bye week, then lost 2 or 3 in a row after it was over. So we're supposed to expect momentum to carry over for 6 months when Calgary couldn't get it to carry over for 5 days? That's some mighty wishful thinking there. How many times have we seen a team sweep their opponent in the playoffs while their next opponent plays a pure dog fight of a 6 or 7 game series and then the sweeping team comes out after 5 or 6 days off and just get spanked by the team who won their elimination game a couple of nights before? What happened to the sweeping team's momentum there? Gone in a week or less. While the concept of momentum may exist, it sure doesn't have a long shelf life, certainly not the 6 months many of you guys seem to be pinning your hopes to. Sure you can go through all the teams in all the leagues and find some teams that ended seasons hot and started the next season just as hot, but for every example you can find like that, I'm sure I could find one (or likely more) where the opposite happened. When you throw all the data into the pool, the idea of season to season momentum doesn't really hold statistical water. As for your other point, I wouldn't be annoyed if they had been playing like a playoff bubble team since October, but that's because they'd actually be on the playoff bubble. While the team isn't mathematically eliminated from the playoffs the way points get added to the standings thanks in part to all the loser points, they are effectively eliminated and the fact that they've waited until any hope for the playoffs was essential dead to act like they finally have a pulse doesn't inspire me to believe they've turned some corner. It means they wilted when it mattered and they couldn't find a way to actually perform until it didn't matter, hence the heroic run to 9th mantra.

He still needs talent. More talent than Larsson. He needs a passenger with skill like Reinhart who could just camp out in front of the net to screen the goalie for Kane, make a few slick passes, and hopefully knock in a few rebounds. Kane and Eichel don't belong together because they are both puck hogs. That doesn't mean he can't play better with better linemates. I just wish for once they'd try Reinhart on the third line with Kane and Pominville. It wastes Kane's speed a little but I bet they'd still produce at a much better rate than having Larsson with them. O'Reilly seems to produce at a pretty reliable rate and has for years regardless of who he's paired with. We should test that theory by sticking Larsson on his wing and see if the theory holds.

Thanks. The team was littered with high picks, even if they didn't "tank" to get them.

I agree. If he was going to put Kane on the 3rd line he should have done it when Reinhart was playing 3rd line center.

It's true. They had a string of teams to stock pile top picks around Crosby though. Fluery was a #1 overall, Malkin was a #2 overall, and I can't remember but I think they had at least one more really high pick besides Crosby. I think people get too hung up over on the entire tanking vs being a bad team. The result is the same (bottom of the standings and a high pick). Whether they got there on purpose of merely by mismanagement is kind of irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact that most of the teams who have won the Cup in the last few decades used really high picks to help them get over the hump. In the last 20 years the only teams who won without them were Detroit, Anaheim, and Boston (they had Seguin, but he wasn't exactly instrumental to their cup run).

That's on the Sabres, not the fans. Most of us were expecting a playoff push last year and even though we thought there would be bumps along the way in adjusting to Housley's new system, I think everyone was hoping for us to be a bubble team this year. I understand people wanting to put some lipstick on this pig of a season, but this year is already lost and even if we won our last 10 games of the season, it's not going to provide carry over momentum to next season.

I think this is probably about what we can expect. The $100k per point guideline generally doesn't apply to the cheaper RFA years of a player. He'll get a sizeable bump in pay,, but not anywhere near what a veteran approaching UFA status would warrant for the same production.

Ash without a doubt. Greatest show ever made.

I have zero interest in a heroic run to 9th or anything close to that. I'd prefer they finished dead last to ensure no worse than the 4th pick but I won't piss and moan too much if they manage to play .500 hockey the rest of the way, as long as they still manage to finish no better than 29th. It's been shown time and time again that momentum doesn't carry over from the previous season. If these bums still need to learn to win, they can start in October and not wait until half a season has been flushed down the drain.

They don't have to be all encompassing. I was just being combative because I don't like being told not to post in certain threads, especially by self righteous people who aren't even moderators. The joke still stands though. The Sabres seemed to have banked some serious good will over the video so between that, a 2 game winning streak, and a possible heroic run to 9th good 'ol Russ Brandon has probably earned himself an extra mulligan or two for his next screw up, whether it's another raise in ticket prices, giving away a home game, or whatever nonsense he comes up with next. Maybe he'll schedule some practices in Niagara Falls in order to further regionalize the fan base or something.

I'd bet my house on it being over.

I knew Eichel's since he scored last night and the NHL app showed his goal total. I guessed McDavid correctly, but I switched Laine and Matthews.

So maybe tough love is the key to getting the Sabres to put in more effort. I didn't watch the game but from reading the GDT last night and this morning the level of effort seems to have improved.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders would be proud.