Doohickie

I'm not that epic or subtle.

Depending on how things go between Dahlin and Byram, I wouldn't be surprised to see Byram get the C next year. (If they think Dahlin would see that as a snub then Dahlin will get it; the other candidate I think is Tuch.)

Eh, one of the best to play the game, Nick Lidstrom, wasn't especially physical. What made him exceptional was his positioning.

He doesn't need to be a bruiser to be effective. Thinking that he does is a fallacy.

On the contrary, I think Power is starting to follow suit. He was trying emulate Dahlin I think who frequently will carry the puck deep into the zone to create offense. Power doesn't look comfortable doing that, imo, but swooping into the slot for an opportunity without the puck, then swooping back to the point seems more in his wheelhouse. Bringing Byram in brings in another toolbox of creating offense from defense.

So.... I guess I'm Barney Miller and @SDS is the English prof, eh?

Check my math, but as I recall, with 6 weeks to go in the NFL season, the Bills had a 1-in-1,000 chance to be the 2 seed in the AFC, but they did it. There were fewer moving pieces in that scenario... mostly just whether they could catch Miami, but they did it. Come Sabres: If the Bills could do it, so can you.

Reposted from another thread, but sees relevant in this one: I think Cale Makar was kind of a unicorn when he came up and they let him run with it. Byram came up in that environment, into a mature system, and their tone on D was set by Makar- defensemen that freely activate into the offense, and with forwards that know to backfill. When Rasmus got here we just didn't have good coaching and the rapid coaching changes meant that the system was never settled. Then Byram got here and I think he said, "Guys, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Just go with the flow." And suddenly the team feels.... different. To expand on that a little, I think perhaps this year's early season struggles were necessary in terms of getting forwards, and the whole team really, to focus on defense, even though they sucked at it (and the early season goaltending situation made it worse). I think the team better understands what team defense means now, and injecting Byram into the situation kind of reset the team to start pushing offensively again, to be more like last year's team, only with (hopefully) more defensive awareness going forward. Or it's all fool's gold again and we'll suck the first half of next season too.

Regardless of etymology, language use is descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, the language that is commonly used becomes the proper usage. Language rules describe how the words are used. Prescriptive tends to mean based on etymology, the right way to say should be... But just like ain't is now considered acceptable usage because it is common usage, so is both offside and offsides. I used to get more wrapped around the axle about using words correctly but at this point as long as the meaning is clear, who cares? Well, besides you? (or should that be "beside you?")

I think Cale Makar was kind of a unicorn when he came up and they let him run with it. Byram came up in that environment, into a mature system, and their tone on D was set by Makar- defensemen that freely activate into the offense, and with forwards that know to backfill. When Rasmus got here we just didn't have good coaching and the rapid coaching changes meant that the system was never settled. Then Byram got here and I think he said, "Guys, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Just go with the flow." And suddenly the team feels.... different.

I think bringing in Byram will help in that regard.

The hype machine is bigger than the Sabres org. I watched the second two periods on the Red Wings coverage last night and they had nothing but praise for the guy. They see his potential, and he's a pretty good player already. His Corsi For is 51.9%; that's pretty good. I think the negative view of Power is fueled by the fact that people want to see the finished product now but Power is still on the development curve.

Krebs sees mixing it up with the other team as part of his role. He's not a good fighter but he's not afraid to drop them. I think he tries to play an uptempo game. When he has the time and space he's a good passer, but the more he's pressured, the less accurate the passes get. Realistically though I think that's not all bad if the whole line is playing uptempo; if they know where to go he can lay in area passes which, if you watch a lot of the best teams in the league, is how they advance the puck. I do like that he usually plays a simple north-south game, as opposed to the higher skill players who try to evade with lateral movement (thinking of both Tage and Dahlin here... they need to simplify when being pressured, instead of dipsy-doodling.)

Casey scored his first for the Avs last night.

The Sabres are in 5th in the Wildcard Race this morning. The two teams behind them though have games in hand, but of course they need to win the games in hand to catch us but both the Devils and Pens are fading. Games in hand put the Sabres further back of the teams they're chasing as well, but the fact that they're "only 5 points" behind a playoff spot is motivating I think. Even if they're not as close in the race as it appears, their point total makes it feel like they are, and they're playing like it. Win as many as they can and maybe the rest will take care of itself. They have to pass three teams, two of which are playing sub-.500 hockey. It's gonna be tough.

The Sabres are in 5th in the Wildcard Race this morning. The two teams behind them though have games in hand, but of course they need to win the games in hand to catch us but both the Devils and Pens are fading. Games in hand put the Sabres further back of the teams they're chasing as well, but the fact that they're "only 5 points" behind a playoff spot is motivating I think. Even if they're not as close in the race as it appears, their point total makes it feel like they are, and they're playing like it. Win as many as they can and maybe the rest will take care of itself. They have to pass three teams, two of which are playing sub-.500 hockey. It's gonna be tough.

I watched the second and third periods on the Detroit feed and their broadcasters talked about how "Detroit sure were bad". Yes, the Sabres were clearly the better team but the Wings have been cratering lately. I don't see it as a negative against the Sabres to point that out.

Both are colloquially used, including on broadcasts.

I think you're connecting too many dots there.

Blurgh.

fify 😉