Drunkard

It makes them both part time centers with O'Reilly doing all the heavy lifting. It means our franchise center that seemingly everyone is on board with paying $10 million a year to (or more) needs to be sheltered by another guy and we're still not utilizing our players fully because they should both be centering their own lines (along with Reinhart). If guys like Larsson and Josefson are both playing center so we can partially waste the talent of guys like O'Reilly, Eichel, or Reinhart on the wing then something is wrong. I agree with you on Reinhart though. He should be kept (even if they only see him as a winger) and if we need to move bodies we should start with the players who are in decline or will be declining shortly. Okposo is a great example. His production will likely start to decline in a year or two. The last few years of his contract are going to be Moulsonesque. We can all hope some cap floor team will be enticed by the cap hit > actual salary but that will only help if the player is still productive. Moulson was marginally productive last year and we're still stuck with that cap anchor. I just don't see any floor teams busting down our door next year to save that $2 million difference between his cap hit over the final year of his contract.

Never mind your football credentials. Did you have any stories of succeeding in unrelated fields such as wrestling or bible camp?

I'm on this train of thought too. I don't think we'll add anything but if would be great if a competitive team suffered a string of injuries and we were able to offload somebody like Gorges to them. I don't think it will happen until closer to the trade deadline but there's always a chance.

That's fine. Eichel is just a center in name only then to make people feel better and O'Reilly is the actual center.

It's basic hockey. When the other team has the puck your center is responsible for picking up the 3rd forward of the other team while your defensemen pick up the other two forwards and your wingers pick up their defenders. Playing defense is much easier for a winger than a center. Since O'Reilly is far and away our most defensively responsible forward it would make zero sense to waste his talents at wing just to put people who aren't as good at defending (Eichel and Reinhart) in his place.

Moukson broke the 30 goal threshold 3 times in his career. Okposo never has. Moulson is 33 and way past his prime. Okposo is 29 and will soon be passing his. It's inevitable.

Since the Sabres are likely to match anyway the best way to screw Buffalo over would be to make a 4 year offer sheet. That puts Eichel into UFA status at 25 even if the Sabres match.

That's a complete waste of O'Reilly. He's the best defensive center we have on the roster. It would be smarter to put Eichel on O'Reilly's wing than the other way around. The better move would be to have all 3 of them at center (O'Reilly, Eichel, and Reinhart).

The Sabres would most likely match so the compensatory picks are sort of irrelevant. That team would be screwing us over though because it would allow Eichel to become a UFA at 25 instead of 29 like he would if we were to lock him up to an 8 year extension. How often does taking one for the team really pay off though? Sure you can point to Crosby and their cups but I'd venture to say if he was signed to $10.7 instead of $8.7 the difference in whatever 4th tier player they would have had to give up in exchange for another young gun on an ELC would be immaterial. Tavares signed a sweetheart deal to stay on the Island and where has that gotten him? They've wasted that savings overpaying for other players like Ladd and Clutterbuck. Do you really think Eichel wants to take less than he could reasonably negotiate just so we can continue to overpay for slugs like Moulson or Gorges? I think anyone expecting some sort of hometown discount will be disappointed.

Blasphemy! No one compares to Casey Mittelstadt. He is the alpha and the omega.

He'd be smart to take the gamble. Even if he did struggle or suffer an injury he'll still be able to command a high salary. If FXGMJB tries to low ball him he can always hold out for an offer sheet. Some team with no center depth will be more than happy to offer him a 4 year offer sheet for big money. Sure the Sabres can match it, but that would make him a UFA at 25.

We just have to wait for Mittelstadt to get here and save us. He'll blow past Eichel and O'Reilly as #1 center on our depth chart while also supplanting Ristolainen as our #1 Defensemen. I hear he'll also replace Lehner in net during shootouts, while curing AIDS in his spare time. So it has been written. So it shall be done.

My bad, man. It wasn't obvious to me. I can't really compare on cigarettes either though because I've been smoking for 20 years now including my younger drinking days and my current drinking days. I've cut back a lot on my smoking (from a high of around 2 packs per day to just under half a pack a day on average now) but the minute I crack a beer I go back to smoking cigarettes at a fairly steady clip. They just go so damn well together. If/when I eventually quit smoking though I hope that it lessens my hangovers as well. That could provide the extra motivation to give up the coffin nails for good.

Smoking pot or cigarettes? I've dabble with the reefer on and off over the years through my teens to the present. I've noticed that when I mix the two (beer and weed) that I get extra inebriated but my hangovers are pretty much tied directly to how much I drink regardless of the amount I smoke.

Man, that seems like a waste. These are your prime drinking years when you can power through a hangover with little effort. My tolerance for booze hasn't really gone down any from my college days but my recovery time feels like it has doubled.

Clear titles are a benefit to this message board. It allows posters to decide which threads they want to participate in. Please correct your title so that blah blah blah.

You haven't puked the entire time you've been in college? Do you just have an iron stomach or do you just not/hardly drink? Get your nose out of all those physics books and start focusing on some beer bongs and other extra curriculars Flagg!

Exactly. McDermott will wrestle them into submission and defeat them with his impeccable character. And if that doesn't work he'll just light 'em on fire and send them to hell or something.

Brandon is the one most responsible for destroying it. He put his slum on the scale with Rex Ryan in order to make his marketing job easier which caused Schwartz to leave and the defense fell apart.

He flat out stated he was being absurdly positive to counter balance the negative posts about the team. To each his own. I kept a mostly positive attitude about the team for 15+ years while they continually sucked. I just refuse to do it any longer. Especially since they don't even seem to be trying any more. I just think it's bs that they waited until after most fans had already bought their tickets to start selling off their talent in exchange for futures. At least the fans still have Thunderdome out in the parking lot to be entertained though.

Homer it up, if it makes you feel any better. Given the last couple decades of ineptitude though despite 2 owners and countless changes at GM and HC the smart money is on the team stinking though.

I'll believe it if/when he gets them to the playoffs. I don't think it's likely whatsoever but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. Right now him and his rookie head coach of a boss seem more interested in stockpiling picks than putting a winning team on the field at this point.

Enjoy it while it lasts. He'll be fired in 2-3 seasons when our playoff drought reaches the 20 year mark. At that point I imagine everyone gets fired except for Russ Brandon.

Beane is nothing but a figurehead anyway. People can slam it as conjecture all they want but McGinger is the one running this show. We let an unproven rookie head coach pick his own boss. There's no way Beane is dumping these guys without the holy wrestler's blessing.

This is correct. The Bills stunk in the preseason but it was usually because Levy pulled the starters mid-way through the first quarter when they were up 7-0 or something along those lines and our backups usually got creamed by the other team's starters. Preseason final scores don't matter but how your starters and 2nd string perform in the preseason definitely does, regardless of how many series they play in. The whole preseason doesn't mean anything shtick that many here keep parroting completely ignores that. Great. Nothing like trading a cheap, cost controlled 2nd round pick for a 4th in 2 years. It's gonna be fun watching them trade McCoy for a 2nd rounder only to spending 2 firsts on a running back next year. #blueprint