mjd1001

For those of us who are Twitter users and care about this AI stuff..... If you’re an X/Twitter user, take a second to tweak this setting. It turns out many user posts have been automatically opted-in for training Grok, Elon Musk’s ChatGPT competitor. Several users, including open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander, noticed the change and alerted the public. “X has now enabled data sharing by default for every user, which means you consent to them using all your posts, interactions and data on here to train Grok and share this data with xAI,” he said in a post on X. If you don’t want X hoovering up every little interaction you have to train its terminally online large language model, you need to opt-out. Users can only do this from the website, the setting isn’t present on either the Android or iPhone X app. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-stop-elon-musk-from-training-his-ai-on-your-data-2000479425

A bit off topic from the roster/player discussion we have been having, but thought it was interesting: Every NHL Mascot Completely Re-Imagined by AI (msn.com) https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/every-nhl-mascot-completely-re-imagined-by-ai/ss-BB1qCKty?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=17cd2a9191ef4f93af775aaa52afac5c&ei=15

Farabee? Pfft....another slow guy. Don't want him unless hes one of the top 10 fastest guys in the league! All gas, no brakes, that is what this team needs to do! (50% Sarcasm, of course)

By 'adjusted' I think they mean on a 'per player' basis. I have seen charts like this before, slightly different, and they showed the same thing (forward scoring peaks about 24-25 years of age, peak period is 23-28.). There are exceptions of course. Looking back at recent cup winners key offensive players: -Florida this year. Best scoring players Reinhart 28 years old, Barkov 28, Tkachuk 26. -Vegas: Eichel 26, Stephenson 29, Marchessault 31, Stone 30 -Colorado: Rantanen 25, MacKinnon 26, Makar 23 -Tampa: Point 25, Kucherov 28, Stamkos 31 -Tampa (year before) Point 24, Kucherov 27, Stamkos 30 -St. Louis: O'Rielly 28, Tarasenko 27 Crosby won his cups at 21, 28, and 29 (nothing since) Patrick Kane won his at 21, 24, and 26 (nothing since) When the Bruins last won, their leading scorers were Krejci 25, Lucic 23, and Bergeron 25 And all of those were the ages the players were when they won the cup....they were of course about 8-9 months younger than that when the season started. D-men tend to stay in their prime a bit more than forwards....and there are exceptions of players that excel and win cups as the #1 guy at an older age (Ovi), but for the most part, your best forwards better be 28 years old or younger. FYI, when this next years cup arrives, Toronto's top guys will be Matthews 27, Nylander 29, Marner 28, and Tavares 34. With that core, the Leaf's 'cup window' might be starting to close very soon, if you believe in the above chart and examples.

The Tom Brady Hertz commercials. There is nothing in the commercial that I can see would make anyone want to rent from them instead of anyone else. Worse, I can't get away from them. Streaming shows on tv, and we see it quite a few times every week. And Youtube? It seems daily when I watch a video about ANYTHING on youtube not only do I get one of the Brady Hertz commercials, but it is one you can't skip after 5 seconds. 90% of the videos on there I can skip after 5 seconds....the Brady ones I want to skip more than any other but I can't. (I'd watch almost all the other commercials in full if i could skip those, but its the other way around.) If there was every a company that I wish I could tell, I am LESS likely to buy/rent from you because I get so annoyed that I can't get away from your dumb ads.

The reason I don't mind this contract is...as the year went along last year, he might have been the biggest 'difference maker' (in a good way) on this team. There weren't many games I remember that he was the reason they lost (ask New Jersey about how goaltending can be the reason you lose a game, it happens), but there were plenty of times he was THE reason they won, or at least kept them in a game until the very end (more than many other goalies would). If you have a guy who is a 'difference maker' (no matter the position), then getting him for 5 years at 5-6% of the cap (probably closer to 5% by the end of the deal) is good to me. Of course, his play can't fall off a cliff, but even if it does, this deal is LESS risky than say....Cozens was at just over $7m or Skinner was a 9.

I'm good with it. $4.75 may be higher than some wanted....but if he plays like he did last year...he is at least as important to the team as most other players on this team are at more money than that.

Not directed at you at all....but what you said about Quinn being better made me think of something from when he was drafted... I remember a lot of angst, hand wringing, and even a bit of anger when they drafted Quinn. The 'mock drafts' (most of them) didn't have him taken as high as the Sabres took him (most had him in the 11-15 range), so based on that there were a lot of people on this forum very upset with the pick. "how can you take Quinn when Perfetti and Rossi were still available" Now Quinn hasn't proven a lot yet as he has missed a lot of games due to injury....but not it seems most on this board are VERY happy with him now.

The other thing about Zegras...what does/would Anaheim want? Hearing what Verbeek says...looking at their roster composition, hearing some of the 'chatter' from their social media....it seems there is one single thing they want more than anything else. A veteran (prime age, not over the hill, 25-29 years old) top 2 or legit top 4 D-man, preferably right shot. That appears to be their #1 want and need. And as others have said, if you need to trade Quinn, Peterka, or Benson as part of the package to get him, are you guaranteeing you are making yourself better? Maybe not. I just think Anaheim will want a TOP player in return, especially a veteran D-man, I don't see Buffalo as a good trade match. No way I see the Ducks taking a 'protected' first rounder and some non-top tier prospects for him.

I posted that but yeah, a lot of it was probably due to the injury...but the year before his numbers were pretty low also. Hischier is a different level player. Zegras has a lot of Talent, but Hischier already is one of the best 2-way players in the league and he is getting better. As long as they don't get injuries, I think the Devils are back to one of the top teams in the league this coming season, and Hischier should be getting accolades as a top 10 player in the league very soon. When he is healthy, the guy is awesome, because he is so talented and plays both sides of the ice so well.

I like the logic. We want Zegras because he should be a top 6 guy. We don't want to trade Quinn or Benson because they should be top 6 guys and a lot would rather have EITHER of them than Zegras. So, Quinn and Benson have NOT been top 6 guys for this team yet...if they ARE going to be as good as many think (not wanting to give them up for Zegras), and you have Tuch and Peterka on the wings already, well, then you don't need Zegras for the top 6.

As per my above post, his nhl edge 'metrics' show him as a very slow top speed skater, with average to below average speed burts. When I looked at his scouting reports from some sites (before he was drafted) one said his skating was a weakness, another said skating speed was a strength...go figure.

Lindy won't want him. Hes slow and plays slow.

Got it. I questioned it because to me....."on the ice" and "locker room" are exact opposites.

What "lockerroom stuff" was Skinner accused or thought negatively of? I know there is some thought that in the eyes of coaching his defensive play might be lacking, but he seemed to be very well liked in the 'lockeroom' to me?

I cannot say there isn't some truth to that. One of the reaons I have trouble criticizing Adams...I think the lack of spending, the 'lets wait till the young guys get better', all that stuff, is 25% Adams, 75% Pegula.

The above bolded might be the single biggest reason why Risto ended up being so bad for this team, he took himself out of the play so often. Its also a reason why Patrice Bergeron was so good for Boston. I posted this a year or two ago, but there was a great article with video showing his play, how he didn't hit a lot and often time he would turn away from a check at the last minute....but the reason he did that is he had this unreal ability to sense when finishing a check would slow him down even that half step from getting back into the pay in his own zone...vs not. Its almost like he had this magical calculator in his head that, right before a potential check, calculated the odds of him getting back into the play quicker than the guy he was going to hit or not, and made that decision for him.

It is hard to take such raw data and translate it into on ice performance. With that said, I prefer to look at it this way: Measured top speed = How fast you are Number of speed bursts = How fast you play

Agreed. I have said this for a long time. In the past 5-10 years, I have been to more events at other Arenas around the country than I have in Buffalo. The KBC really is way behind the other Arenas...and I'm not just talking about the Brand new ones. Look at the other ones that were built around the same time...I haven't been to all of them but I have been to TD Garden in Boston (older than the KBC) and Philly (the same age), Bridgestone in Nashville (I think the same age) Columbus (3-4 years newer I think). A couple of them had renoviations, but it isn't even close, their quality is MUCH greater. And I know those will say a hardcore fan doesn't need a nice arena, the game is enough. I would have agreed with that 20-30 years ago, but now with high def TV, all the camera angles, our computers/phones/tablets to check stats and news on as the game is ongoing.....with all that as a hardcore fan I can (most of the time) experience the pure game of hockey better at home than I can at an 'average' seat at the Arena. If they want to get me out of my house and to the Arena, give me comfortable seats, some nice (and different) places to eat, just an overall good experience. But with me, at this point it doesn't matter so I shouldn't complain. With the price of going to the game (tix, parking, food), they could build the greatest Arena in the NHL and i'm not going much, I'd rather save the money and have that gameday experience at home. If I could go with someone else (2 people) and have the entire experience that is good for under $100 then maybe, but those days are long gone. But to your original point...The KBC is one of the bigger 'dumps' in the league, and you really realize that once you go to other places. As others have said, seats that creak when you sit on them, broken or missing cup holders, concrete that is pitted and cracking, restrooms where 1/3 of everything in them is out of order, just not acceptable at all for the prices paid for tickets.

No Montreal on the list (either side)? No Toronto? Sure Vancouver made the list, but the fact Toronto and Montreal are not on there leads me to think it was heavily influenced by polling of people from the United States.

To me size matters in one way that I have noticed for the Sabres....Penalty killing (and yes I have mentioned this before) When you have 'smaller' guys, they tend to chase a bit in penalty killing, and to me, the majority of goals scored on you when you are short handed happen when guys are out of position 'chasing', creating openings for the other team. When you stay disciplined and don't chase the puck, the other team can have possession in your end for a long time, passing it around but eventually they might get frustrated and just take a perimeter shot that your goalie easily handles. So how does size matter? Put Tage and Greenway up front, Samuelsson in the back (and get another tall guy with a large reach), and they cover more ground with their reach (and usually the taller guys have a longer stick which, along with their reach, makes the ground they cover even greater). Now, we are talking about a few inches right? Well a few inches on each side and it makes a difference. Not only are the more likely to break up risky passes into the middle, but they aren't likely to chase as much, and to me, with the Sabres, THAT made a difference in their PK. Other than that, I'll take a smaller guy that hits hard 5 times a game in a way that impacts the play over a bigger guy that hits hard 4 times a game.

It depends on what part of WNY you live in. Here in Niagara county, we finally got some decent rain the past week, but up until now, we needed it badly. Even with the rain of the last few days, most of the yards in our neighborhood still have some brown showing in the grass.

Lets not forget his team was anchored by 2 of probably the top 10 forward under 25 years old (Hughes and Hischier) and both of them missed significant time with injuries. And they fired Ruff to see if it would 'jump start' the team, but I believe the team actually got worse once Ruff was fired. With Ruff: 30-27-4 (86 point pace, ahead of the Sabres at the time with a game in hand). With no legit NHL goaltender, Hughes, Hischier, Meier, and Dougie Hamilton missing 82 games between them) After Ruff fired: 8-12-1 (66 point pace) With having Meier and Hischier playing every game, and Hughes playing most of them. (still no good goaltending though.)

26 goals, 65 points, if he is healthy the entire year. Possibly more if he becomes a fixture on the 1st PP unit all the time.

Biggest thing, yes -Tage gets back close to 45-50 goals.....likely imo. -UPL plays like he did at the end of last season...IMO likely. -Defense takes another slight step up ..imo likely. -besides Tage, the get 3-4 other 20-25 goal scorers ...imo iffy. -they have some luck with several other Eastern Conference teams having injury issues or starting to show age...imo Iffy.