DarthEbriate

Risto... directly into the goalie ... then into the wide-open net.

If the Bruins sleepwalk, Eichel is going to mangle them.

Didn't Gionta and his surgically repaired arms and his "old man muscles" win our hardest shot skills competition just a few years back? So my answer is nope. Dahlin isn't even 20 yet. He has 5 years to work on his shot and it'll be very much improved by then. More importantly is getting stronger in his own zone, making snappy passes on the PP, preventing short-handed breakaways, and working on the all-around game.

Looking at Chicago's cap... They have $11M coming off the books just in goalies this offseason. Get a 4M goalie and a ELC backup and they're on the path to cap sanity. Their bad contract is Seabrook. Kane is still very effective and they don't need to move him. So they can ask for the moon. I'm going back to my stance from years back (or at least the last time Kane was mentioned). He can have a homecoming after his current contract expires and he is wiling to do a 2 year/6 M hometown discount as a 3rd liner / PP specialist.

Kane used to live here you know. He’s going to die here. Convenient. The troublesome part is Chicago just traded Joker for Nylander. They’re happy on defense - bunch of good young players. They’d want a scoring forward as their main prospect in return and our only blue chip is Cozens.

Ehrhoff was a really good contract except the term, and even that was quite tolerable. 10 years for a 28 year-old who doesn't play a rough/tumble game; the last 2 seasons you could easily move him or buy him out. The CBA rule changes spread the cap hit evenly as opposed to allowing Buffalo to drop the hit with its silly $10 million for the first year and made the cap penalty worse... after he'd signed. Add to that the front office's effort to tank (hardly Ehrhoff's fault) and he was more valuable off the team. But 4 million hit for a PP QB and 3/4 d-man is a good contract. If Jokihaju becomes Ehrhoff with a bit better defensive presence I'll be ecstatic... and Joker will cost us more than 4M/season, regardless of inflation. As to Skinner's injury. Dang. He's been dangerous, he's been snakebitten (the exploding stick in the slot the most egregious), and now we're really without scoring threats.

The refs never owe a team anything (unless there was a payment involved). This is the right mentality. Go win it.

Halak's glove has been impressive.

I don't have any quotes from TROS yet. Well, I have one, but I won't play it until it's appropriate in a hockey sense. It met my low expectations and I had fun watching it. But goodness golly, in a series where suspension of disbelief and writing-by-the-seat-of-your-pants is a badge of honor, this one... It is so very retconned and disjointed and is wearing the biggest pants ever. Everyone can say what they will about the The Last Jedi, but it did sweep the decks clean for a Rey-Kylo story to close it out. That story is in TROS sort of (with some very good and some... well, some not so good). I guess my summary is this: this is what happens when you don't have source material and three different people write different sections. George Lucas made up the original and he made Leia and Luke siblings after Empire and so it's a bit messy. Then the prequels were pre-ordained, just oddly crafted. But this sequel trilogy just doesn't have an end-to-end cohesive story. And that's sad, since Star Wars was once the simplest story of... ever.

Winter beers have been out for a month and although it’s not the 2017 version... Elysian Bifrost. It’s a good hit.

It's time to learn to win as a team with or without Eichel. Whether that's Skinner taking off, or Ullmark stealing one, or just playing focused all 60 minutes... all the coordinates are set, it's now or never.

The rest of the civilized world is eager for them to fall. Once the poking is done and they're down, then they're going to get kicked. Right now, Buffalo is the team to do it. Come playoff (regardless of outcome in weeks 16 and 17) it'll be whatever other team is playing against them. Someone just punt them into the stratosphere already.

You're choosing a Star War over a Sabres game?

Set your course for the Philly system. Coach Krueger, prepare your men!

O Holy Night, Silent Night/Stille Nacht, Carol of the Bells, While Shepherds Watched, and What Child is This are all up there for me. I like the moodier ones that are good for drinking cocoa and reading/writing while snow falls and a fire burns. Album-wise: Tony Bennett's Snowfall, Elvis's original album, George Winston's December, and Vince Guaraldi Trio's Charlie Brown, and the outlier Christmas Sing Along with Mitch. But I also unashamedly have these on my xmas playlist: Wesley Willis - Merry Christmas Wesley Willis - The Chicken Cow MST3K - Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis Ani DiFranco - Welcome To And a large swath of Jeremy Soule's soundtrack to Skyrim

Ufda. 0-0 midway through with shots 11-12. Looks like both teams are non-existent. Meanwhile, Moulson is captain of an AHL All-Star team. (yay!)

He may not look much (different from last year), but he's got it where it counts. He's made a lot of special modifications to himself. Namely, he's upgraded to an ion cannon that renders the goalie inoperable, beyond his usual turbolasers. He also has a planetary shield that he showed in Nashville where all defenders were forced up to 10 feet away. Finally, rumor has it that he has in fact installed a new "Jagr" rear deflector shield. These are a deflector shield, and the panels themselves are still susceptible to damage if the shield is down or compromised.

As well he did not. For his ally was the Moulson. And a powerful ally it is.

Without precise calculations we could undermine a star player or overvalue a just-a-guy and that’d end our fancystats real quick, wouldn’t it?

Casey will be back in the big league. I have seen it. (Besides, I have big plans for Petula Clark auf Deutsch.) Some guys just take a bit of time to get their game and strength to sync up. And the AHL is perfect for prospects to figure that out. It's still rough and tumble, still filled with powerful grown men, but it's just a step slower on the ice and a few more gaps in between games to rest. Reino was in a similar during his 9-game tryout his rookie year, and it took him a couple seasons to stay on his skates. Same with Girgensons... he was still ending up on his butt all the time for 2 or 3 seasons. Now, Girgs is good along the boards and Reinhart routinely makes those nifty passes along the boards but now he stays up the whole time.

Well, yes. But he did get "evil" enough to change his eye color. Miitts will help the Amerks, and he shouldn't be back with the Sabres until he can hold his own along the boards. In the meantime, the one skill of his the Sabres could miss is the shootout skill (if they could get through an overtime).

Go to the Rochester system, young Casey. Do what must be done. Do not hesitate; show no mercy. Only then will you be strong enough to be a surprise speed addition to our playoff lineup... (if we last longer than Rochester in said playoffs this season).

Copy that, Mustafar Windu.

Flu and morning hockey. Let's go! But... with the volume low. And maybe an occasional nap.

True. It's just as daunting for the guy who's hung on and loved the game and the camaraderie but doesn't have a "regular" job or lead or whatnot to go on to (and no savings or big salary) as it is for the great player who's had a full career never known anything else. (Unless this is walk/how comment is a dig at my quad-amputee status. ;-] Then.... heyyyy! )