Iron Crotch

I believe this to be the main point of ice dancing...

brother and sister ice dance team = creepy

I'm too lazy to look up the specifics, but 2006 was the year that clueless Darcy decided to take damned near every player to arbitration and the Sabres ended up paying out much more than expected to most/all because of Darcy's salary strategy. We essentially ran out of money to pay J.P. $2.9 million after Danny was awarded $5 million. So we had to let Dumont walk (or restructure the rest of the lineup) even though he wanted to stay with the Sabres. I think after seeing how poor this strategy was, Darcy went completely the other direction and started signing young guys long-term for huge money.

Swedish League might be the best fit for Linus. If he can't make it on the worst team in the NHL, then....

Tough call because these guys at the top seem relatively even. The two Sams as natural centers would seem to be the two most likely candidates. Reinhart might be a little better now, but he is more than 1/2 year older than Bennett (and Dal Colle). Which guy is faster? ...that's the one I like. :)

On this note, I strongly recommend an inspector who offers thermal imaging. You'll see what is going on behind the walls, which is invaluable to a home buyer. My inspector found several flashing issues, which would have gone undetected without seeing them on the thermal images.

...it took several thousand years. :D

The agony of defeat. (I'm sure someone gets the reference)

Cool. What sport?

Regarding terrorism... I think we should have traded Miller before the Olympic break just in case something happens over there. :P

Yeah, this is a really good analysis IMHO. I watch as many Preds games as Sabres games and a very noticeable difference between the two teams is all of the Preds forwards fight like rabid dogs for the puck around the net. It really is a thing of beauty to watch. I think Nolan is absolutely right in wanting more fight out of his forward group.

Linus (which I do think rhymes with penis) is a dime-a-dozen player. Skilled enough to produce points at a lower level, but not gritty enough to handle the physical demands of the NHL game where time and space are limited. When I watch western conference games in particular, the puck battles behind the net turn into ###### wars. It seems the lightly skilled but gritty and determined wingers like Ellis are more effective in today's NHL than the highly skilled finesse guys like Omark... unless they have world-class skill, which unfortunately Omark does not.

That's my entire point. Those guys weren't just there, they were drafted. Getzlaf was taken 19th and Perry 28th overall. Datsyuk was 171st overall. Zetterberg went 210th overall. Anyone can be bad and take Crosby with the first pick. A good GM can get "above market returns" consistently.

The presumption of many on this board is the only way to possibly build a winning team is to be really bad and get one or more top-3 picks. My position is that a good GM who drafts well and trades well and is generally good at his job doesn't have to have the first overall pick to build a good team. And for Darcy to suggest that he was incapable of finding good players without landing the top pick, to me, is just plain lazy. The best team in hockey this year (Anaheim) didn't rely on a series of high draft picks to build the team. The Detroit dynasty teams didn't rely on "bottoming out."

IMHO, no GM should try to have a bad team. Ever. In any sport. I don't think it is strategic... I think it is lazy. And, if you're trying to tank then why even bother paying a GM a salary? Any one of us on this board could assemble a really bad team for free!

Yeah, it is almost inconceivable how an NHL roster could be so devoid of top-level talent.

Was playing around with historical stats yesterday and the worst +/- posted by any player over the past 15 years or so was a -46. Weber has a good chance to eclipse that given his current pace of almost -1 per game.

2 points and a +2 for Stafford. Not too shabby.

Weber had a pretty good game tonight by his standards. He was only a -1! (he is now a -32 on the year... oof)

Oh, Jesus. :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

Tie game! Stafford!

Yay. One of our three guys who can actually score scored.

No one wants to go to the net on the power play. Without Moulson the power play is painful to watch.

Vanek back on the ice.

Uh oh... Vanek was just hurt in the Isles game. Garth Snow must be shitting himself.