LTS

At this point in the season, being this close to UFA status I think it would be difficult for any player to not just ride it out at this point. The risk to them is only major injury. Why not play the market and re-sign with the same team if there's nothing better out there.

We are paying $18.50/game this session. I think it was $225 or something for a 12 game season and if we don't suck bad enough we get 1-2 playoff games. Skates have to be part of your body. If they are anything but you are screwed. Bad fit, bad support, and you'll quickly hate hockey and you'll screw your foot health. I wish I could get a slightly better pair but the one's I have now work for me.

Normally I'm winning it back. Only time we do this is when they have a left handed draw and they pull the D from that side in towards the circle. So it opens up the entire right side of the rink. We're pretty much guaranteed at that point that no one would be able to get to the puck before the RW. Naturally there are times it doesn't work but if the puck does go to that D on their side I'm already on my way there to interrupt the shot. Usually I just take the face-off left handed and win it into the corner. The nice thing about the level I play in is that very few guys are good at faceoffs. On the rare chance they are I just tie up their stick and let a winger win the puck.

Not sure on the glove thing... I usually just switch hands when the goalie is on my backhand side. Sometimes I will go forehand but I find it more amusing when you normally line up right handed and then line up as a lefty. The guy looks confused because you've been righty all game. If their player is a lefty then usually they will pull in his backhand defenseman to take the quick shot. So what I try to do then is set my right-wing out wider than normal and try and backhand the puck towards the open point. It often works because that's the direction the other player is going anyway so if I beat him to the puck he usually just helps me hit it harder and if he beats me I usually keep him from being able to complete the pull back to his defender. Either way my RW shoots to the open spot on the ice and generally ends up with a solid breakaway (assuming the left D doesn't jump immediately and doesn't have good speed).

So, in another thread somewhere announcing this new GM and special advisor the Sabres hired recently there are comments talking about the hockey knowledge the Sabres have in place. We discuss how Murray understanding and seeing young talent, we discuss Nolan being a great motivator, that Patrick has a proven track record in building teams and turning them around. In fact many people said the Sabres now have one of the best front office's in hockey. And in this thread we have discussions on how that front office doesn't know what it's doing. Okay.. I'm confused.

When Kane flashed his cash shot after signing his contract I knew all I needed to know about him. He's got the attitude of a bad NBA player. The only problem is he plays hockey. Hockey doesn't really have a gangsta segment. The Hawks letting Byfuglien go right after winning the first cup also made me suspect about him. The article above only cements things. Leaving unpaid bar bills around town? C'mon.

Just make it stop already. The kid needs to report to the Q. Reality is that he never should have been in this position, he should know that he got a break. He HAD his chance to show why he deserved to be here and he never did it. Face reality. Either way I am sick of hearing about him. Yes, but only one player in Sabres history can ever truly be villefied.

True.. forgot about them.

Theories, theories, theories.. amusing. Time to sit back, kick the feet up, and see how the first part of this ride goes. No doubt move #1 will be highly scrutinized... I'm guessing to lessen the impact it might be Moves #1, #2, and #3 in close succession.

Put a case of beer on the ice and skate at it really fast. I bet you learn to stop. :) Truthfully the boards idea will work. Once you have that down try it away from the boards just kind of hopping in one direction and stopping then back in the other.

Yea.. I generally avoid dry yeast as well. Wyeast is good but I've had really great results with White Labs. Always trust the gravity reading. We had a starter ferment overnight with no visible signs of fermentation. We thought it was dead but tested it and it apparently it was just really good yeast!

Except for Girgensons. Unless he could get monumental returns for that kid there is no way he's up for trade. Personally I would accept getting rid of Nolan first (although Nolan may be influencing Girgensons level of play at the moment) before I would consider moving Girgensons. He just has.. it. His chemistry with Moulson seems to be pretty good too. I love these moves. At least it removes questions from the franchise and now allows us to begin evaluating real moves. We're going to see what can happen within the next month when people are moved or not.

Do you have a spray bottle with Starsan solution in it? If not you are really doing yourself a disservice. If you do, just spray the lid areas and your hands and check the beer. what yeast are you using? if it's been 65-70 the whole time you should be fine, but it's possible that the yeast is bad.

You know it's bad when you are pining for the offensive capabilities of Adam Mair.

Yep. There's nothing that prevents the Sabres from talking to their players who are currently under contract. They simply get the contract that the player wants and tell them that they are willing to pay. However, because they respect their position as an impending UFA and what they have done for the team they would be willing to trade them as a rental to a high-contending team for a shot at the Cup. There's always the risk but I'm certain the Sabres could pay Ott and Miller a premium based on their willingness to do it. Of course Ott and Miller would have to know what the trade would bring back to Buffalo. I think it's more of a chance with Ott than MIller, but Miller has been here forever and by all appearances the teams he'd be most interested in joining are not seeking goaltending.

Unless Ott, who seems to be a stand up guy, has told the Sabres he will re-sign with them in the off season. It makes sense right? If you want to play on a team and you want that team to improve then why not tell the team you'll take a trade that will bring talent back the other way. Then you turn around and sign back with that team and boom and you're improved. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

I understand the perception here but at the same time as the Sabres signed Scott the league also has changed quite a bit as well. I just don't think it's as great as we want it to be. Is it there at some level? It's really hard to say. Again, as for the instigator, it's irrelevant. Scott can instigate all day long. If Lucic turtles then Scott is left to decide whether or not he should throw a punch at a guy who is not responding. There's no way he's going to do it. He gets penalties for guys skating into him. I can only imagine what he ends up with for destroying a guy who isn't defending himself.

Must be randomized questions? I was not asked about potato bugs...

I think I just messed this up in another thread. Failed. Took the dialogue quiz.. Buffalo/Rochester (lived in:21 years / lived in: ~20 years) and Detroit (never) are my closest cities. I'd adopted some of my wife's influence (she's downstate) and half of my family is from Indiana so my father had some influence on me. Years ago I would bet heavily that would have read more like Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis.

When playing with Benn and Seguin the odds are good that you'll have some success. I believe Luke Adam looked pretty solid between Vanek and Pominville. I struggle to see how John Scott prevents anything. No one has to fight him, at all, ever. He can choose to take a run at someone as retribution but he'll pay the price through ejection and suspension. I understand the perception that he prevents certain things from happening, but I don't see it. Lucic could have given Weber a solid thumping the other night but it was not in his best interests to do it. Lucic is not going to fight John Scott, ever. That was discussed ad nauseum when the Sabres first acquired Scott. I'll be surprised if anyone other than an identified fighter goes up against John Scott ever again. So, the next best response is to have him deliver some kind of thundering hit. Again, not going to happen. Sure, if he gets close enough to someone he might impact them but it's not going to be the freight-training that Lucic can provide. Scott simply does not have that speed, even after 180 feet of skating. To think Scott, being in the lineup, could jump the boards and attack someone is ludicrous. Beside the automatic 10 game suspension I am sure the league would throw some more at him. He might not see the ice for half a season. Ultimately Scott has to either become a serviceable hockey player who can fight if needed or he'll be out of the league soon. He's actually made a few plays this year but he's going to have to improve more to be a factor.

So, there's actually a good reason they could be saying Baldimore. When speaking into a microphone it is generally a good idea to try and avoid the hard consonant sounds. It tends to create a pop in the sound that is displeasing to the ear. You know it when people say "P" words. I have lots of things that bother me but I know I am not perfect. When typing I will sometimes mistype "it's" simply because I think my autonomic system is typing without any input from the brain. Of course that's not true, but it feels that way. My most annoying mispronunciation? jewlery. I hate it. I hate it even more when the spokesperson for a Jewlery store says jewlery. It drives me absolutely nuts. There are others, but I try and be tolerant these days.

Okay.. I'll give you that one. But it's a conditional 6th round pick. The conditions? If the Oilers can't draft a Pavel Datsyuk in the 6th round. :) Besides.. that Datsyuk guy is always injured. :P

There's no downside to this trade, especially with the Cody^2 being out with injuries right now. Let's say his game isn't quite right. Sure, he might leave if you send him down to Rochester, but if he doesn't he'd fill in for Armia/Adam right?

Agreed. Regardless of the comments on legality, etc. that hit knocked him good and to not undergo proper tests is just ridiculous. Moreover, concussion symptoms do not always set in immediately and can take days. This is exactly why testing is needed. Of course the one major symptom is loss of memory regarding the event that caused the concussion. If he really has no symptoms and no concussion then great, but to not be tested just proves that athletes are their own worst enemy and will continue to play despite their own safety.

Which is why I said I see why it is called charging (I think I said that, I did revise my post a few times.) I understand the call, I disagree with how the rule is written. Checking is violent, period. So if that's the case many hits are charging. The usual barometer of charging is whether or not the player was still striding to maintain speed or accelerate at the time of the hit. In this case Wilson takes strides but they are not power strides. They maintain his momentum to be certain, but he had speed. I would reference Campbell on Umberger. If you watch the video, Campbell had vacated the zone but came back from the far side of the rink. He was striding up until about 4 feet from Umberger at which point he unloaded on him in one of the more violent hits we've ever seen. Is it because 35 feet of travel before that wasn't enough? How does Wilson hit with 50% less momentum? He would have to actively engage in a stopping motion to reduce his speed that much before the hit. I also think that if Schenn was on the boards Wilson might have actually hit the boards in front of Schenn with the same amount of force but not actually contacting Schenn. This happens constantly. Players only need to slow up another player and slamming the boards in front of them or behind them gives the other player pause for thought. Once Wilson had to go around Simmonds I think the timing was thrown off and this was the outcome. I still say that if he doesn't hit Schenn there he'd hear about it on the bench. Coaches are driving these players to play that way as well. Read about Scotty Parker being bullied by Bob Hartley so he would fight on the ice when he didn't want to. Players don't control everything. Just to chime in.. only because I've been on the same side as Ghost here. I do play hockey. It's an unfortunate play in my opinion. I'll bet money that if Simmonds isn't in the path then Wilson would have cut off Schenn rather than drill him. If this was center ice he would have still destroyed Schenn. The results could still be the same. Again, see Campbell v. Umberger referenced above. I expect them to behave just like most people who are offered a lot of money. They see the immediate gratification and refuse to acknowledge long term impacts. When it comes to big money entertainment the likelihood to be short-sighted increases. Look at the number of musical artists who have signed their lives away for the hopes of a few years of living the rock star dream. Everyone starts out playing a game. However, in the day and age, once a child shows a hint at perhaps being able to achieve more they immediately begin having everything thrown at them. This is only going to strengthen the idea that what they are doing is good. No one is going to tell them otherwise, the dream is too strong. We, as fans, can see it easier because we aren't consumed by that dream. Bottom line this is going to be a suspension because the NHL needs it to be. They referees needed to call a major penalty because they are under scrutiny as well. That said, I look at Engelland's hit on Abdelkader as being much worse because he deliberately targeted the head. Wilson hits Schenn shoulder to shoulder... the speed and distance from the boards are obviously a concern but the circumstance of the play are important (at least for me). I understand the counter opinions here. It's the gray area (although not by the way the charging rule is written).