Marvin

In the OP: the Sabres operated at an estimated $2M profit? Wow. I figured they operated at a large net loss. Percentage revenue from the gate: At the start of The Big Lockout, estimates were that the league was that gate receipts were 50% of gross revenue. The league took the long view of decreasing that percentage by proving it could draw with OLN and giving a sweetheart deal to NBC. They hoped that it would lead to that mystic 4 word incantation, "American Network Television Contract" (not "Om Mane Padme Hum"). Unlike the 1980's deal with SportsChannel America, it worked this time. According to several media sources, our own Larry Quinn pushed through a lot of changes in the marketing, including the Winter Classic, that just kept hitting gold. Much of what the NHL does well now came out of his head.

Not yet for me either.

BTW, did I read right that Gov. Newsom (D-CA) is forbidding large gatherings of people in the state (concerts, sports, etc.) until 2021?

Aside from staying on their good side to get good raw data, not much. In this case, with the Communist Chinese now restricting even domestic research, basically none. The CCP had been relatively open with SARS, so the WHO took their initial responses at face value. Now that 21,000,000 cell phone numbers were deactivated, they and we have the incentive to push back. I actually worry that we are helping the CCP get a greater hold over the WHO.

This largely comes from right-wing sites. It is plausible, but it would require a mind-bogglingly combination of gaffes in the lab for this to happen. These researchers are almost certainly not the molecular biology equivalent of the last several years of Buffalo Sabres.

The only reason the Maple Leafs and Canadiens were so good in the O6 era was because of the home rules for player acquisitions; neither the New York Rangers nor the Boston Bruins won a Stanley Cup from 1942-69; only the 1961 team kept the Chicago Black Hawks off the schneid. The O6 era is not looked upon nearly as fondly in those 3 cities. For that matter, all the Cups for the Detroit Red Wings were from 1950-5. Of the 28 Cups won in the O6 and early expansion era, 23 of them were won by either the Canadiens or the Maple Leafs.

Prepping for a new job as a System and DevOps Tech Support Admin. Learning about networking and system configuration. Having issues uploading information to my upcoming employer.

There is a world-wide oil glut. This only works in a functioning worldwide economy. (It does not even need to be robust.) Thus, his net worth has taken a big hit.

I would probably move Johnson (high floor, low ceiling) for Strome (near ceiling, well past floor). Henrique requires a decent sweetener from Anaheim or a cap dump from Buffalo.

How significant is "significant" to you? The amount I would give up for Henrique is much lower than I would for Strome.

I have the Winter 1996 copy of Hockey Stars magazine that named RJ as one of the best things in the NHL: [...] Hands down, Jeanneret is the best play-by-play man in the NHL -- and he's so far ahead of the rest that there's no second best. He can make a boring game sound exciting and an exciting game sound like a life-or-death struggle. [...]

If you don't have enough time to evaluate fact checkers by cross-referencing them and the sources, I recommend consulting realclearpolitics.com. N.B.: they have a slight but definite bias towards conservatives in their editorials. Most of the main fact checkers (Snopes, Politifact, etc.) are generally very good. There are also bias checkers I recommend consulting when you read anything inflammatory. I strongly recommend the Christian Science Monitor for actual neutral reporting. Everyone I know throughout the political spectrum who read it swear by it.

Althpugh I agree with much of this sentiment, I figure that, with nothing else going on, it is one way to pass the time and keep our spirits up. Even without Social Distancing, I think it is natural for someone over 40 to be both more reflective and more nostalgic -- even though our memories filtered out how much the 1993-4 Sabres could not score, how horrible Dolly Parton's Country-Disco album was, or how controversial The Beatles were.

Dan Kelly, Foster Hewitt, Bill Hewitt, Danny Gallivan. Yes, that was predictable. They plus Ted Darling and Rick Jeanneret shaped what I think play-by-play of hockey should sound like. However, anyone who can keep up with the play is acceptable.

I would never call Ramsay-Luce-Gare a 3rd line. Among other reasons, most teams only had 3 lines; Buffalo was no exception - behind them and Martin-Perreault-Seiling were Smith, McKegney, Dudley, Gould, and Savard. This, aside from the deep, mobile, sound defence and Vezina goaltending, is why we can argue for 1979-80 being the best Sabres team ever. I will state that if LaFontaine is back before the playoffs, that 1993-4 team is in the running for best Sabres team ever.

Funny how different the game is when the NHL enforces the rules.

I usually think of the 1993-4 team "at full strength" with LaFontaine in the line-up, just like I think of the 2005-6 team "at full strength" with Kalinin, Numminen, Tallinder, McKee, and Connolly. Just my bias.

How much does the potential addition of Strome affect your evaluation? (From the other thread.)

Asplund, Lazar, Okposo, and Simmonds rounding out the line-up? I worry about Cozens, Thompson, and Mittlestadt having issues while Asplund-Lazar-Okposo is unlikely to be as effective as LOG. Does the low-end 2C compensate and get us to a playoff team?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: we don't want 10! In that case, I think we can safely write off Larry and Z, because then I expect the following 14 forwards to be here next season: Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart Skinner-Cozens-Johansson Vesey-Mittlstadt-Kahun Asplund-Lazar-Okposo Thompson, Simmonds

This is an under-rated team that I think contends for the best Sabres team ever. Patty could have made this team truly scary.

I've been finding old games on YouTube et al. Here are some less-celebrated games that you might want to watch. 1. Buffalo 14 - Dallas 3: 18 November 1984 2. Buffalo 27 - Miami 24: 10 September 1989 3. Buffalo 47 - Houston 41: 24 September 1989 4. Buffalo 30 - Cleveland 34: 6 January 1990 5. Buffalo 108 - Washington 102: 18 April 1975 6. Buffalo 124 - Philadelphia 123 (OT): 18 April 1976 7. Buffalo Sabres First Trip to the Playoffs: 1 April 1973

Some of the dislike for Hamilton comes from his favourites. I can't think of a good reason why he thought that Larsson and Girgensons were more expendable than Sobotka. He's had baffling stuff like this throughout his career. I should mention that he was far better than Duff as play-by-play man and would be pleased to see him get the radio gig if Duff does TV (or vice-versa).

If there was no realistic, practical plan to get a 2C or, at the very least, 3 real NHL C's behind Eichel, then what he said is immaterial. No Cozens, Mittlestadt, or minor leaguers from last year should be expected on the big club. No reclamation projects of other teams' discards who get written in as NHL centres. No guys "who [can play|have played] centre before" are placed at centre. Enough garbage.

A point to remember about the 1918-9 epidemic was that all the troops who were returning from the trenches brought the flu with them. It was all over Europe and North America before people really knew it how bad it was.