DarthEbriate

Do we drink when it happens? Because then I say no. Choose life.

GM JBott and HCPH took the team in a 180-degree direction: puck-moving defense and speed up front. (Which was the flavor of the day; the LAK big-grrr approach was losing out to those speedier lineups [as their players aged, go figure].) In the summer/opening week of that season, JBott/HCPH had the following happen: Add: D Antipin, D Beaulieu, D Fedun, D Redmond, F Josefson (and D Scandella, F Pominville. Then, off waivers because they had a lot less grit/grinder, they claimed F Nolan off waivers right at the beginning of the season.) Lose to trade: F Foligno, F DesLauriers (and F Ennis) Lose to expansion: F Carrier Lose to UFA: D Kulikov Lose to retirement: F Gionta I put the parentheses in decent moves/players that don't fit the puck-moving D or speed-first forward narrative. You'll notice something. All those grinders and non-PMD like Kulikov: they were young then and are still playing in the league today. All those speedy players, or once-very-good-players like Pominville, they were out of the league shortly thereafter. And Scandella was good enough to be in the top-4 of a Cup-winning Blues squad. You didn't need ALL of them, but you needed a couple reliable grinder cornerstones, especially since they're the ones who get injured from blocking shots and playing physical. Of course, the end result was drafting #1 overall and Dahlin.

This can work. It's the collective push without TNT (or Auston Matthews) at the top of the lineup. But like you say, for an extended time, it will collapse because the players who would need to take up Dahlin's minutes, are even younger than he is and still need to develop a bunch more of their all-around games. Now, it could be really beneficial for next season because Power develops faster. But this team isn't better, and doesn't have the collective makeup, to go without their best player for a lengthy time. The worst-case scenario is it would lead GM Sheevyn to believe that Power/Byram are already the answer and don't need that D-zone veteran (don't worry, he's already going to do that anyway).

GDT 26: The GD Threadening

Probably top 5 draft pick Micheal Misa gets an unsportsmanlike ejection for forcing some bear re-tosses. The Sarnia crew has a little bit of fun tallying the shot accuracy.

Founder and flounder both work in this context. Either sinking ship or struggle and fail (with I think some clumsy inferred). The camouflaged bottom-feeding fish also sort of works if you want to verbify the noun.

@Stoner just wants the fans to take some accountability for the failures of the franchise. Or, he wants me to do it as a Star Wars opening text scroll. 😇

JJP has been a mess all November; Quinn has been a mess all season -- though he has had more jump recently. I'm not going to go back and watch any clips or video, but my recollection of Quinn is missing a shot wide from the slot (maybe blocked off a leg?) and then on the same shift getting caught in no man's land in the D-zone while the rebound goal was scored as either a GTG or GWG, one of them. JJP had a goal thanks to Benson, but otherwise I have no memory of his game, good or bad.

It's the age-old question: you need a #6 RHD on your roster: Risto or Joker? Team Finland takes the 6-4 220 guy. Congrats though to Dahlin and Luukkonen for making their national teams.

This took me a moment... they're the same team right now. Should be a close one. We've lost 4 in a row and can't score (except on Georgiev). Dahlin is out... Greenway is out (incredibly bad for this lineup) and Quinn is... is Quinn even playing? I wonder if Reimer starts? @Ducky - hope at least it's an entertaining game (maybe an OT win for the Sabres so everyone gets a point)

R2? R2-D6, where are you? Dear, oh dear. Lots of goals!

Four Nations tournament teams announced. Tage Thompson does not make the US roster. This shows what NHL GMs value on a team's bottom 6 (GM Guerin and team). Jokiharju does not make the Finnish roster. Making Team Canada? Naturally, it's formed Sabres draft pick... Brandon Hagel. (And Reinhart, too.)

Although… I do like enjoy the vision of Ruff screaming as he pauses the video again at the front of the room. “What the hell is this?” Arms waving at Quinn’s defensive positioning. And good ol’ Lafferty is staring at his phone, scrolling and tapping like. Like like like. Ruff’s starts the video again. Like like like.

It's because it's not about the quality of the product. Incompetence is permitted as long as the people you employ say yes. It's how a loser runs a sports team. There are several NFL teams of old money that have been run this way by *failsons* for decades. If you're a leader, you're always evolving and innovating. You're pushing for excellence and you find the resources/training or remove the barriers to achieve it. You're demanding that your employees challenge you. You just reserve the final decision in the matter and take the blame if it goes awry.

Go get that man a ring! (except in the unlikely event of a Packers-Bills SB).

And we have one. He's just ineffective.

You've got the midichlorian count to do it. As I once said about Jackikin Eichwalker, "His Aerobic Fitness is off the charts. No skater has a VO2 max that high." Usually you break up a star roster after you win the Cup. Or at least a lengthy ride at the top of the Conference (San Jose style).

They would be behind large US metro areas in an expansion. But, the NHL will want to keep the US hockey-mad market of Buffalo/Western NY and most importantly, a team for any non-Leaf person in Southern Ontario. The Leafs won't let a team in Hamilton, but they can't keep a nearby team out of the nearby US market. One of the best things for the league would be a strong Toronto-Buffalo connection to appeal to any Leaf-haters amid the 13 million people in Southern Ontario.

The poster says the $80 million payroll is irrelevant. Harrington still says it's irrelevant. ... Are they in agreement? The Sabres are irrelevant to the other teams of the league.

Canceling media, sure. But, I'm not sure less practice is what they need. I mean, it's silly, but the Predators canceled their U2 show last year and won like 14 games in a row or something stupid. Sometimes the stupid thing works (in the short term).

The only reason there was any hope yesterday is because of Colorado's criminally bad starting goaltending. Now, if the Avalanche hadn't traded for Wedgewood a few days ago and Annunen comes in... maybe the Sabres win 7-5 anyway. But even in that situation, it wouldn't have changed the fact that once the Avalanche woke up and said, "we need to start skating on offense and defense", the game was over.

Definitely a possibility. McDavid-Reinhart instead of McDavid-Draisaitl. Maybe name Okposo or ROR the captain instead of McDavid. The Sabres probably run through fewer coaches (probably the same number of GMs, based on why GMTM and GMJBott were let go).

The Buffalo Sabres are no ordinary rabbit!