That Aud Smell

What in the actual funk.

Just posted to Twitter. So frickin' odd. Buffalo Sabres@BuffaloSabres Another juggle to our lines. Kane-Eichel-Pominville Pouliot-O’Reilly-Reinhart Girgensons-Larsson-Criscuolo Nolan-Josefson-Okposo Moulson, Griffith extras Scandella-Falk McCabe-Antipin Gorges-Beaulieu Nelson extra #Sabres

I guess this is a matter of taste. Like, there are people I know and respect who HATE mayonnaise. HATE IT. I like mayo just fine. So I'll stand by my take that he's a chinless derp with marginal writing talent, little or no insight to offer, who's made a shtick of badgering coaches, GMs, and owners (which, okay - fine) and, more to the point, chronically condescending to people in the Twitter-sphere (not just the trolls, mind you). Effing eff Mike Harrington with a broken champagne bottle. Maybe it just feels good to say and think that. Ironically, I think he would have had it right in saying that Eichel was demoted prior to last night's game. And then 15 played his way into leading the team's forwards in TOI.

I don't wanna be constricted by gender here. MODO should take over for Ms. Hall. /whistles

Rly? Days gone by, I called for PSE to ensconce Josie as their artist in residence. That would hold here as well. All of those images, drawings, paintings, or whatever that adorn the walls in and around the arena, plaza, and atrium -- those could all stand to be Josiefied.

He was on the ice for 2 minutes during a power play. I suspect he did a fair amount of standing around during that time. I'll defer on whether and to what extent Eichel had his defensive cover responsibility in mind when he started gliding through the neutral zone. I have my doubts. I did see Eichel give a couple of strides when the play went the other way. Good job there, I guess. I saw him resting while the player with the puck dipsy-doodled for a crucial 2 extra seconds and roofed the puck. Your analysis above seems cogent, and quite plausible. I'm just not convinced that's what actually happened, insofar as Eichel's thought process is concerned. Maybe it did.

Wait - is Harrington retiring altogether? Or is he hanging around to write his dipsh1t baseball columns? He's a persistent, incurable as_hole, so he definitely had a way of badgering people -- and sometimes they even deserved it. As for twisting up Housley, the whole thing was revealed as a total fart in a bottle after Eichel -- the "third line center" -- got the most TOI. I'll back off this a bit on further reflection. I echoed someone else's pre-game take that it was a demotion, a message, and that Eichel would have a chance to earn more time with his play. That is probably what happened. Adios, Mike. Please don't call, and please don't write. Like, ever again.

Beg all you want. For starters, his o-line was absolutely horrific in that game. My memory is that, through the first half, he was something like 12 of 15 for 120 yards and a score (plus a long run of ~20 or so). The Matthews fumble was a killer. He eventually got going again in the 3rd, and then O'Leary fumbled. Taylor was fine against the Jets in Week 9. Not great. But he was fine. Normal Taylor.

I think that many of the faithful had convinced themselves that was sustainable. It was not. And it almost never is.

Well, at least Eichel led the forwards in TOI. The lemming media group think that related the lines as a scandal, demotion can go suck an egg. I fell for it, myself.

Hahaha - yes! Ahhite. Guess it needs to update for me.

It’s absolutely “Dooooooougie.” How’s that player usage shaking out? Score app indicates Eichel is playing 3C minutes.

Except both captains skipped that process entirely.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. It read as borderline jibberish to me. But thanks for showing up with a predictable defense of Harrington. I know who Tennyson is — am unfamiliar with that phrase from him.

Tyrod played just fine against the Jets. True story. (I meant in the away game against the Jets.)

Well. That’s ... something, anyway. Still a terrible look.

Not for nothing: It’s for sure that Eichel was on the ice from 7:27 until 5:14?

Yep.

C'mon, folks. That's an effing demotion. That's a veritable pee-pee slap.

I don't see that play as being comparable,

If he does start Peterman again, and Peterman sh1ts all over himself again, it will take Bills-i-ness to a level I have never imagined.

He'll start Peterman against the Chiefs, is my guess.

The fact that he signed the big contract tips things in that direction, but, based on everything I know and think I know, I'm gonna stand in the camp of "concerning, but not overly." Good points - esp. re Eichel needing to be coached at the NHL level. With regard to the other point: There's a significant possibility that Pommers is a pud who is incapable of taking a strong mentoring hand with Eichel. Like Brian Gionta, but with less speed and a heavier shot.

It seemed surprising to Eichel as well. To my eye, Williams does that there because he can sense that he has the time and space to do it. And the reason he had that time and space was because Eichel had let up on the play before he reached his own blueline. Beat me to it. I'd not considered prior to today that Eichel might be at the heart of the team's identity problem. It's concerning, but not overly so. I think he can learn what he needs to learn to take his play to the next level. I believe that.

Some of this is media-driven blather, but some of it is real, too. Christian Pulisic had a pretty interesting post on ... whatever that thing is called. Players Tribune? Anyway, one of the more interesting passages was him talking about how meaningful it was for him to go to Germany at age 16 and compete against other elite talents. He referenced how, in the U.S., soccer development is impeded because elite players become focal points of their team and much is done to make the game easy for them (so that they can finish). Pulisic talked about how going to Germany made him fight and scrap for every inch of field he could get, and that made him the player he is. I didn't think it had much bearing on Eichel when I read it last week. Now? Maybe so.