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@Mods -- feel free to move this to wherever it belongs. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-nhl-says-hockey-is-for-everyone-black-players-arent-so-sure/ Yeah, I know, I know. <stereotype="DonCherry">"Where's the article about white players being discriminated against in the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc.?"</stereotype> <stereotype="SourGrapes">Next time a white player has mayonnaise thrown at him by a rowdy mob of of exclusively non-white fans at the arena, I might ask that as well.</stereotype> Apparently, not much has changed in 45 years. I remember hockey school from ages 9-11. The race-baiting was so bad at the first one that when Jim Schoenfeld and Jerry Korab called me over after morning practise, I thought I was about to die: the other kids told me that the stuff they had been threatened me with would be meted out by Joe Crozier and the players. I went over with my stick up and told them that if they did what the other kids said they would do, I would try to kill them and would die fighting for my life. They gave me an angry look, glared at the exit from the rink, and then called over two other players, I think Doug Rombough and Hughie Harris. Rombough and Harris got Joe Crozier and I think Jim Lorentz and the 4 of them went to the locker room. Schoenfeld and Korab sat on the ice so that they were below my height. Korab spoke first. "We heard them. Crow is going to give it to them. We don't believe in that $#!+. He's going to send a note home with the kids that they will get kicked out and lose their money if this happens again." Schoenfeld then asked me if this had happened to me before. I answered that it was normal at school.. Schoenfeld then said, "I know this won't make any sense to you, but if anyone does that to you again, you can always get back at him with three things: his manhood, his woman, or his mother." I thanked them and then they got up and told me to wait because they had a question. I conquered my fear as best I could because teachers had turned against me once kids were out of earshot, so I just stood there. Schoenfeld spoke first this time, "the kids who have been really bad to you -- when they are in front of you in the corner or in front of the net, they tend to lose their balance even if you don't trip them. What's up?" "Oh, I have been taking Judo for two years. I use a choke to cut off the blood to their brains." They both leaned back in complete surprise. Then, Korab told me, "Let us take care of them. You don't have to do that any more." Joe Crozier and the other 3 players returned at that point. Joe said to me, "it's not tattling if they break the rules and they threaten you. Don't believe their crap. I personally will punish anyone who goes after you." Korab and Schoenfeld told them about the judo chokes. Joe Crozier said to me, "and I hate to say this, but don't do that again either." This was the early-mid 1970's.

For reference: There are statistics that teams can keep and people measure which may or may not be useful. I have no problem with someone having their own numbers to track that s/he thinks are useful. However, the most common advanced stats are that common for pretty good reasons: they are easy to measure and serve as a solid proxy for important parts of the game that correspond to winning. As we noted, based on simple raw numbers and on the most common advanced stats, there was no excuse for Botterill to have wasted Pegula's money on Frolik and Simmonds, let alone have Thompson and Mittlestadt in the NHL yet, and really devalues getting Sobotka and, to a lesser extent, Berglund in the ROR steal deal. For those with inside information better than mine, how much of the analytics side was Botterill using invalid statistics, rationalisation for a bad move, or just plain ignorance that led to the ignoramus-like moves? For everyone, what are some statistics and/or representations of data that you believe are largely valid? I am here to learn and understand what people think on a myriad of topics related to the numbers.

As soon as the segment is on their site, I'll post it. It was a brilliant break-down of the Sabres' current state with measured and properly analyzed solutions for the problems the team faces. Sorry, I don't have the details in my brain. He said the goal-tending has under performed 5v5, that we're over utilizing low-value players, too many replacement or below-replacement level players.

Lehner gone Fasching and Delo gone Kane gone ROR gone Bogo gone soon? Maybe? KO still here with his big contract Kulikov gone Funny but his long-term legacy might come from his draft picks as crazy as they might sound. He conducted 3 drafts as the Sabres GM. Obviously Eichel and Reinhart are two core pieces he drafted from the tank, but other picks are actually showing some life despite some other horrendous Selections. 2014. Reinhart plus 3rd goalie Johansson looks to have a future here and 7th rd pick Olofsson has finally signed and could be a real find as a scoring winger. 2015. Eichel. 2nd rd pick Guhle looks to have a bright NHL future and is our top D prospect not named Dahlin. Also 4th rd D Borgen also inked an ELC after an excellent college career. 2016. Nylander at the top is a huge ? And if he becomes a bust that will taint TM’s legacy future especially with Segachev still on the board. However, 2nd rd pick Asplund , the key to the lousy Kulikov trade looks like a legit NHL forward in the near future. Also 3rd picks Pu and Fitzgerald also could have an NHL future. Pu is set to start his pro career in Rochester. That’s a possible 10 NHL players drafted over 3 years. If that comes to pass, we may have to re-evaluate at least the draft piece of his legacy. To bad he didn’t keep all the picks he had in his quiver.

I think a lot of the answer to this will make or break the RoR for a lot of posters. So, what do you think Botterill's plan is for these picks? Edit: How do I make the votes public?

Alright, show your cards. Who wants Botts dead? If you do, I would guess it's because of the ROR trade. Have at it in this thread.

There's a how long does Housley get topic, and everybody knows the first panic GM move is fire the coach, but would it really be wrong to start to question JBot a little too? So the positives: Being gifted Sheary in a Penguins salary dump. Awesome gift from his old team. Got rid of Lehner and signed Hutton for what might be a bargain price. Looks like a great move. Won a lottery. Better to be lucky than good? Dahlin will be great. Everybody would have picked him. Seems to be making Rochester into a good team and the depth at the farm level seems to be trending in the right direction. Didn't dump a load of cash at Reinhart. This one might be arguable, but so far it looks smart. Negatives: ROR trade looking really bad. Berglund healthy scratch. Tage AHlLcaliber, Sobodka meh but ok I guess but nobody to fill the PP shoes or take the minutes. Skinner trade. So far a floater who doesn't want to be here. Carolina seems to be doing better without him. Kane trade. Didn't get much out of that either did we? Roster rebuilt but looking at it, the talent level is lower, nobody can score goals aside from Sheary with Jack and most of it is B grade at best. End the losing culture? Doesn't look like it, as they've fallen apart on this road trip already. Hired Housley. ??? Drafting too soon to tell. I'm not seeing a lot of genius, but we shall see in time. At this moment, aside from Arizona, I see a lot of teams rebuilding faster and better than we have. Now some of that is on Murray still but really, Ottawa was gutted and even they're doing better than us not to mention Florida, Jersey, Carolina etc . It's damn frustrating.

It's a current obsession of mine, so I figured I'd start a new thread for it rather than re-purposing old threads that deal with different topics. To review: PSE's creatives stink. (Look: I'm an old that used a young person's word.) Most recently, the Cleveland Browns put out a clever and funny Office parody. The. Cleveland. Browns. Here's hoping PSE can start doing good things in the creative fun department. Let's track their progress - or lack thereof - in this thread.

The easiest move is to fire the coach. I get it. But is Meatballs truly accountable for being the second-worst points percentage in the conference today? You could say he isn’t a fire-ry Torts type. You could say his system change to a larger focus in their own end is failing. Both are probably true. But I keep going back to the roster construction. There’s no NHL goalie on this roster and this team is the youngest team in the NHL. Again. I don’t believe the team is rotten to the core. While I recognize a lot of the roster had career years last year and it would be hard to replicate…the truth is this roster was not assembled properly to compete day in and day out. They’re just not good enough and it isn’t growing pains. It is roster construction. So what does accountability look like? The GM has had two “go for it” years (this year and the Taylor Hall/Jordan Staal year) and both have failed spectacularly. It’s time to move on from GMKA. Thank you for your talent accumulation, but pack your *****. I recognize that puts the head coach on borrowed time, but it’s important to refocus on what can improve the group. And that’s a new guy in charge of hockey ops and GMing. It is time.

Enough ready, lot of talent no direction.. Its like groundhog day shake the bench up playoffs are not happening again.