Marvin

If I just consider the salary Okposo is getting and think only about what kind of player gets that term and salary, I would infer that: 1. Okposo will be more like 10th in average TOI next season rather than the 6th like he was this season; 2. He and management realise that his age may necessitate games off, particularly on back-to-backs.

It was a little bit of exercise, but nothing too pushy because I have long COVID: light workouts (beginner level) and walks. Probably the biggest change was eliminating junk food snacks and eating fruit (sometimes with jello, ice cream, or very dark chocolate), cereal and milk, parathas, hummus yogurt, zatar bread, and the like. I don't miss candy bars and such at all. I also changed my diet by eliminating overly processed foods. (Real bread and not normal American loafs; natural peanut butter and not the normal stuff; real cheese instead of cheese food/product; etc.) I also eat a greater variety of food (fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, frozen meats) and pre-made stuff from the ethnic markets and the supermarket. (For example, pre-made Thai peanut sauce or heat-and-eat kadhai paneer.) When I eat out, I make sure that the high calorie, high fat, and high cholesterol foods are minimised or eliminated unless I am getting pizza and wings, weck and fries, and the like. The important thing is that the food on this diet is stuff I like eating anyway, so it does not feel like a diet. Thus, staying on it is effortless.

That reminds me. I bought my suits when I was 50 pounds heavier, including 7 inches more in the gut. I need them tailored again or I need new ones.

Rochester looks slow and very imprecise tonight. They are not getting passes on the tape even when the sender and receiver are open.

Karlsson is the wrong kind of defenceman for Buffalo. I would take numerous "lesser" defencemen like DeMelo, Hanifin, Tanev, Clifton, etc. over him.

One thing about the Stanley Cup: people may not know what the trophy is, but even its outline looks like a trophy -- and an impressive one at that.

70% PK for Rochester? Yikes.

Thank you, MSG.

Latvia seems to regularly punch above its weight on the hockey scene.

I might put the plate and trophy from Wimbledon on par with the Stanley Cup.

Game day! Sorry, NHL; I have a rooting interest here.

I just can't bring myself to give up our highest valued assets for 1 year of Hellebuyck -- and I think with him, Levi, and a #4D push the Sabres into the top 4 in the East on paper.

Sad, but true.

My character is #7F.

Go Bisons!

I was wrong.

That should not count.

Caveat: my generalisations on how +/- is distributed on teams was absolutely correct from 1992, when I did a complete statistical analysis of the data gathered by the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB, and FIFA. I check these numbers most years and have never had a reason to change my evaluation. For most teams (over 90%), the entire 4th line is below the team average for +/-. (Recall that, for typical sports statistics, about half your team are above the average and half are below.) Often, one of the top 6 forwards will also be deep in the heart of minus. Usually, about 1/4 of the players on a team are significantly below the team average +/-. Thus, my expectations for my 4th line is not to hurt the team too much. So Okposo is about where I expect a 4th liner to be when the team is close to DeLuca 0.500. It is very rare for a team not to have 3-6 regular skaters well below (and well-above, for that matter) the team average in any statistic.

Depending on the kind of emphasis, I use the bold, italics, or underline options.

You don't need to yell; I'm literate in both upper and lower case English. No, it did not have to be Okposo; they could have got other guys. The bottom of the line-up always needs character guys. Okposo certainly qualifies. Point of fact for reference: Okposo was 6th among Sabre forwards in ice time last year. So maybe if he got actual 4th line usage, then maybe his numbers will be better.

No. The Sabres were outplayed most of the series because the NHL, as per usual in the dead puck era (and, unfortunately, in 1975), essentially refused to enforce the rules. This resulted in the neutralisation of the Sabres' primary advantages, youth and speed. Shots on goal in Buffalo-Dallas order were 24-37, 21-30, 12-29, 18-31, 23-21, and 54-50. The Stars wore down, but the were still playing Buffalo pretty evenly in games 5 and 6. Hasek was still better than Belfour over the series. Now, if any of the posts in OT had gone in or Hull's goal had properly been disallowed and the Sabres had won game 6,...

From a straight hockey standpoint, I can easily rationalise a 1 year deal for Girgensons and Okposo: which forwards from last year showed or have shown competence at penalty killing? If you don't keep them, you need to get at least 4 forwards who can all kill penalties. Maybe they are equivalent, but the players and staff probably would feel better with a couple of known quantities. Other reasons are easy to understand. Okposo and Girgensons help train young players to play the game more intelligently. With a team this young, a couple of veterans who have embraced this role is very important. I would not underestimate sentimentality among the players. These two can make guys try that little bit more in tough moments because the guys definitely would like them to get to the playoffs. For a real example, look back at the 2001 playoffs when, if the Avalanche's play sagged, you would always see Ray Bourque put on the ice to get everyone to raise their games. A more obvious example was the 1989 Final, when Bob Johnson inserted Lanny MacDonald into the line-up for game 6 to give the Flames a lift. Having said that, I expect that Okposo will be the 13th or 14th forward by season's end. I would expect that to be a possibility as well for Girgensons if he is re-signed.

Honestly, they probably will stretch out expansion for decades to collect bigger and bigger fees. However, I think that you are over-estimating the appeal of hockey in the US and are under-estimating the resistance from the owners of NBA teams in many cities -- many of whom own the arenas and do not want to share winter entertainment dollars with an NHL team.

One idea from HFBoards which I like, given that their new GM does not want 7 pending UFAs on the roster: Jokiharu to Calgary for Chris Tanev. Get Tanev a short extension. I like Tanev and think that he would be great for Power. Instead of Tanev, we could get Hanafin for similar reasons. Add another D in FA. Oh, and I would send both 2nds to Winnipeg for DeMelo.

I remember there was something for Ted Nolan's Jack Adams Award based on how much Hasek bailed out the Sabres porous defence and virtually talentless roster. (I keep coming back to the column in The Hockey News, where the writers referred to the Sabres as "hilariously inept.") It had been revised by the time 2005-6 rolled around with Lindy Ruff. (One pundit said Ruff's performance "gave new meaning to 'getting blood from a stone.'") Basically, they try to use the estimated quality of players and the performance of the team at various aspects of the game against league averages and historical trends. I imagine with the advances in computing power, GPU programming, and statistical analysis that management do an analysis of all the numbers against different criteria for their evaluation. Or, that's what I did with limited data in 1992, anyway.