Thorner

I’ve never seen a harder ***** during live action than PK Subban’s one-timer An absolute unit of a slapper No idea why that censored lol Harder shot I think I typed?

Dunno if I’d call it “insignificant”. Vegas still got the net talent increase in the trade - Eichel is in the running for MVP and Selke. No one we have quite matches his overall game, yet. The thought of an Eichel-Thompson 1/2 combo, in a world where we have a bought-in Eichel, is still salivating imo. (Not quite) Crosby / Malkin type stuff. I’d see long term contention in our future. Tuch is the only guy there we wouldn’t have, so, again, leaving aside chemistry concerns, the world in which things never got out of hand with Eichel ala Marvel’s “What if?” is still fun to think about. Theres lots of butterfly effect type stuff like “maybe Thompson doesn’t ascend if he’s playing behind Jack” (I don’t really buy into this personally, necessarily, as its on coaching to make sure there isn’t an environment for some reason where only one player can produce) but it’s certainly valid. Who knows how things go different with even one change. But in a vacuum, Thompson-Eichel-Cozens is an insane C core, flipping out Mittelstadt instead

No idea. It’s based on a singular, particular (but well regarded) advanced stats model though

Problem with the ignore feature is that if you use it, you are in fact soft

Got into this yesterday He’s not going to be Lindros and average 93 points a season, no - that part remains. But reaching 90 in a season looks very possible Why not quote someone who lambasted his contract rather than praised it? Why not quote the multitude of posts I made supporting Dahlin when the entire board had given up on him? Lord knows those never get call backs. How about me being Skinner’s lone defender during the Krueger years? Ullmark, Reinhart, and Eichel predictions? Yea, you got me, I said Tage “probably wouldn’t” hit 90 and he’s PACING for it. Place kinda sucks now Dunno how the heck I missed mentioning Danny’s 95, that is one of my favourite seasons. Remember him getting stuck at 95 for a couple to end, too, when 100 was in reach

At least he doesn’t say “Dawlin” like Ray. Dude needs to try harder He’s arguably our MVP ya can get the kid’s name right

His pace at 126 is pushing the boundaries of what *humans in the nhl* do\. It’s wonderful but he’s still riding a statistical mechanical bull. But the landing looks incredibly soft..and his hands look mighty strong

I mean outlier relative to the league at large I think this is more less the “real” him but I’m still waiting to see how far he can push the boundaries of the mvp candidates of the league, if he can.

“Darkness rises, and light to meet it.” Haha, ya I understand TLJ is so divisive that praise of it will be met with immediate, opposite but equal scorn, and scorn will be met with equal but opposite praise. Totally just one of those things. I guess I just do not agree with your comment on tone, lore, or agenda. In fact I disagree strongly within the context of what I love about the Star Wars stories and it’s characters but this is so wildly subjective clearly that I don’t know if it’s worth rehashing in detail. I would answer specific challenges directed my way but couldn’t know where to start in explaining why I think it gives a triumphant, rousing end to Luke’s arc. But I do digress. Your take on that stuff as a fan is of course equally valid I will say I tend to also focus on the films from a filmic background / point of view, I guess cause I didn’t grow up being a fan of the movies (not that you don’t (there’s subjectivity in film analysis, anyways, obviously)). But I think Rian is a brilliant director. The technical aspects of the movie are superb. Cinematography is stunning. The performances are in another *galaxy* relative to the OT. Say, Hamill’s. Regardless of anything you think about the film, there’s no denying Mark’s work is his best, bar none, in the saga. But it’s mostly the story, for me, honestly. Luke, at the beginning of the film, laughing off, with bitterness, the idea he can be a “legend” while staring down the entire first order with a lightsaber...then doing *exactly that*, in the climax... the shot of him winking at c-3po before marching out through the smoke, mist, rousing John Williams musical accompaniment, and light, is *CHILLS INDUCING.* Legend, indeed. Luke, Rian..take your pick. I love the film.

TLJ is the best Star Wars release, period, never mind just Disney sw but, yes have only heard good things about Andor. The tv stuff doesn’t do it as much for me as I’m a film buff through and through but I really should give it a go

I took the joke and laughed but sort of bypassed addressing that aspect, ya haha

Pet peeve of mine that ppl always seem to lump “passing ability” under IQ and vision. It’s deserving of its own niche it’s an incredibly important facet of the game Confused emoji I’m not being defensive. I’m talking the time to explain my reasoning in detail because you seemed interested/were following up on something I said. I will always take the time to outline my thought process in effort to help people understand if they want to place stock in my view or throw it in the trash. What I won’t do is fail to take the time to have a good faith discussion with any member of the board who wants to take the time. If that ends up in me posting a lot, so be it - that much is obvious looking at my post count if anything I find too often the dismissals of view points come to quick

I don’t really care what you do tbh re: is it ok I point out “be careful with the pace game” simply because it’s true - not to win an argument - - - If tage breaks Wayne’s 215 mark while pacing for 190 I’ll still say the pace game is dangerous - the fact of the matter is that generally an exorbitantly high relative pace slows down over the 82 game grind ie we see statistical regression - of course there are frequent exceptions: it’s a macro statistical concept it’s simply harder to maintain outlier paces (on either end) the greater the sample size

The one thing he does is talk about the Sabres a lot

Absofreakinglutely. Not expecting this sort of found money with Tage is perfectly understandable. But failing to supplement him and Dahlin, now, this coming offseason, and letting this sort of production from Tage (25) especially slip by knowing full well this could be the best stretch of his career, and potentially the best we’ll see from a Sabres F in decades (just look at the last) and that it’s a player GOOD ENOUGH TO BE THE BEST ON A CUP TEAM, would be a cardinal sin. The time is now, now, and I think KA knows it. From what we are hearing. That we have cheap elc talent coming is exactly the point. This is when we can win big

Conflation, here - no, I still don’t think Tage ends up with what he is pacing, just like JE didn’t get 120 points. Art Ross is a relative comparison - not an individual statistical extrapolation Was more so being hyperbolic anyways - I do not think he can or will surpass McDavid - - - Looking back, where I was wrong in defending his contract when he got it, amid oodles of complaints against it, was not being positive *enough*. I said he’d for sure live up to it, that it potentially could be a bargain. What I should have said is that it could be an outright steal. Additionally, I said he “probably wouldn’t” hit 90 points, and this looks more realistic by the day. Could come down to health. No matter how many times I come in with a new base-level assessment of tage, he in short order seems to surpass it. This is a good, nay, great thing for two reasons, notably A) he’s a Sabre B) my company in not predicting tage would become a potential top 5 scorer is precisely..everyone

Unlike when Eichel became “Eichel” once he came off his elc and became a point-a-game guy +, we actually have a legitimate NHL 2C behind our 1C this time. Heck, we seem to have a *good* line behind Thompson, full stop. It took them way too long, but they’ve clearly finally realized you need to build depth of scoring behind your superstar and not rely on one star scorer - the fact they weren’t planning on Tage being a star, unlike with Eichel, ironically definitely aided the process. and that we actually traded the guy who would have been 2C we needed behind Jack, and that we were “rewarded” with a return that actually became a 1C, but only after they seemingly realized they “needed” to do it WITHOUT a star (ie build good depth) is just good writing honestly what a yarn The star C, that we gutted the roster to attain the first time, came to us this time by chance, but only after committing to a proper, build depth process. Its funny. It’s well-written

Well, ya, because they haven’t put both together in one season for over a decade It’s not so much funny as...accurately reflective? Lol

Oh so like Levi/Comrie for next season? Was wondering if we were thinking we’d see an outside, proven addition or just riding what we have in system Waiting for Levi doesn’t surprise at all, just have to wonder if there’s an immediate plan for immediate supplementation should he not be ready. It’s a lot of eggs in one basket

Not really. Eichel had 51 through 36 games in 19-20, so a 116 point pace Thompson has 40 through 26, so a 126 point pace

@K-9 why is that funny? He might

It’s definitely been a situation where you can see that Adams is trying, yet the degree of difficulty required in finding that addition was made so difficult in part by his own miscalculation in not paying to keep Ullmark. So he’s at once making reasonable attempts, yet to a significant degree it’s a situation of his making, in the first place. I wonder if he takes a mulligan on Ullmark and concedes to a bit more pay to get the deal done long before Beantown ever entered the fray, if given the chance. In the end it’s hard to torpedo a GM for any one individual move or lack there of, especially without knowing all the extenuating that could have worked against a deal. That’s why it’s best to look at a large timeframe - at the end of the day, results in addressing the position must be expected, full stop - ie, it wouldn’t be logical to think a GM with all the tools at their disposal didn’t have the means to better address the position, considering all available avenues, over a reasonably long period of time. The difficulty is determining the time frame. But I don’t think it’s logical to just expand that timeframe indefinitely forever more and say “well what can be done?” In the end results must be expected over a reasonable timeframe. With this being his 3rd season as GM, and the rest of the roster seemingly ready, I can’t imagine anyone arguing that entering into next season, his 4th, in a similar spot re: GT could be in any way acceptable When do you see him addressing it? The offseason?

NGL result was a bit satisfying for me after I posted this rough offhand breakdown yesterday Kinda lined up with the game. Fix the GT outright, shore up the D a little, profit

Some Kyle Wellwood in Mittestadt