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Yes, RJ is talking to me in the video. He is a few years older than me but we grew up in small towns near each other in Northern Ontario, which my son had made him aware of. Rick calls me “neighbour” and other personal touches are included..

Oh sweet. From Rick as well?

My son got one for my birthday, obviously still saved on my phone.

How are you missing 2goals? -20 and 245gf for Montreal. Buffalo has 24 more at 269.

Why? He has never played a full season in 5 NHL only seasons. The most he has ever played was 66 games. His other seasons are 56, 8, 50 & 56. If his chronic shoulder issue keeps him from playing 3/8 of every season, he should be treated like Greenway and Samuelsson. I don’t care what the injuries are, I care about player availability. Samuelsson has played 40 to 60 games in his brief career. Greenway only played 34 last year, but has typically played 56 to 67 games on his career (played 81 as a rookie). Norris’ resume looks similar to Samuelsson and Greenway.

1 One Battle After Another 2 Boogie Nights 3 Phantom Thread 4 There Will Be Blood 5 Magnolia 6 Punch-Drunk Love 7 The Master 8 Hard Eight 9 Licorice Pizza 10 Inherent Vice You are right about PTA. Top 5 are, for me, masterpieces.

The Sabres should immediately make room for him.

Probably just a combination of both the fact of the matter being the burden of proof is on Norris at this point due to the consistent track record of missing games, and the fact at one point Samuelsson was a “don’t treat him like Bogosian” guy, until he wasn’t this is a big year for him (obviously). Once players go down the road he’s been on it gets harder to change lanes the more time you’ve missed, the more you’ve slowed down - but it can be done: there was time people didn’t think Sid would get back to being healthy and he totally recovered

/thread

Remember during Covid days, there was that fad of getting those “cameos” from celebrities, where you could request personalized videos that they’d send you themselves - we got one of Rick, of course! Haha

This is just a hypothesis. The discrepancy can be chalked up to this: The analytics community uses data that produces a likely outcome and relies on the general assumption of all other things being equal, while hockey fans and media recognize that all other things are, indeed, far from equal. I think it can be fairly stated that no team in NHL history has started a season under greater risk of circumstances quickly eroding into here we go again territory, than the 25-26 Sabres. I think the analytics community, while utilizing history to generate projections, does not account for the weight of history and expectation, whether that be the pressure that comes with expectations for success, or the apathy that can be generated by expectations for failure. Of course, some of that here we go again burden, could have been lifted had the owner brought in a new GM and HC combo. Which leads to a second factor: No team in NHL history has started a season with a more demonstrably proven to be bad at their jobs, combination of owner, GM, and HC than the 25-26 Sabres. I won't get into how unprecedented it would be for a trio in their positions of leadership with their collective records, to work together to produce a winning product that lasts beyond a season, but, let's just say, it has never happened before. After all that, I'm actually finding myself in the odd position of being cautiously hopeful about the team making the playoffs this year while also having zero long-term optimism. The Sabres have some really good players. A couple who are elite. Teams with less talent, even in the modern 32-team NHL, make the playoffs all the time. So, I am excited about the start of the year and am eager to see how this goes. But, I have no enthusiasm for the future of the franchise. This is because I know from history that people who are this bad at what they do, don't suddenly get it all figured out. The only longer-term hope for the franchise is that the owner has some luck and finds a hockey version of McDermott and Beane; sadly, a playoff run in 25-26 is likely just to delay the possibility of that happening anytime soon.

So, Johnson goes into the lineup and Bryson remains that guy that is there should someone's pregame meal start coming back on him.

I think Greenway’s primary historic injury is also a shoulder. Muel-PO seems to be everything.

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play. Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys. Let the games begin.

To the best of my knowledge, Norris has missed time in the NHL for one injury not connected to his chronic shoulder issue. I get why people would worry about the shoulder, but I don't understand why they treat him like he's Samuelsson or Greenway.

Finally getting around to watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. First season was very good. Caveat: I am easily pleased by Star Trek. I like it all, pretty much. Even Discovery (though I do need to get back to that, since I kind of trailed off).

Again, preseason numbers, but this is Bryson compared to Johnson, analytically: Bryson 52 minutes SA%: 41.8 xGF%: 53.7 Johnson 58 minutes SA%: 63.0 xGF%: 61.4

My mother used to answer the TV, “yes I do.” Great lady.

It's pretty hard to read too much into 47 minutes of preseason hockey, but Quinn's underlyings were meh, but better and his ability to stay on his feet, notably improved. That 3rd line is definitely a role of the dice. Based on last year's numbers it shouldn't work.

Would really like to see them give Krebs another look with Thompson and Norris. IF he can be effective there (and he very well might not be able to do so) then Benson can become McLeod's winger, Zucker can become Kulich's winger, and Quinn becomes Danforth's problem (or Danforth gets Doan and there is the makings of a very good "energy" line; Quinn is still Kulich's problem in that situation, but Zucker is experienced and can help probably more than Doan would with all 3 still learning the NHL as is the current projection). Before TC, was expecting Quinn to bounce back to where he was prior to the injuries. But after the PS, no longer am expecting it. Still hope for it; it really adds a ton of flexibility to what they can do if he could be what his contract shows they expect he can do; but just don't see it.

My first thought when he got buried by Clifton was that he was going to have a concussion and be gone for a month or two. His play has been good, now can he just stay healthy.

All 5 of my bench players this week are starts. 3 outs, 2 byes. Gonna need quite a bit of luck this week.

Just because we didn't blow the core of the team up, doesn't mean they're standard fringe changes. Do heads really need to roll for Tage, Dahlin, Tuck, Benson, Norris, Byram, Benson, etc? We're getting rid of players that lacked effort on both ends and it's been happening over the last two off seasons. That doesn't mean it will work, but it's not ho hum, they didn't do anything.

Scoring. They only scored 243 last season and had a -18 differential. They scored 22 less goals than the Sabres.

Basically, it's a redux of Bertuzzi-Moore. Hagel got a 1 game suspension in the playoffs last year for a late hit on Barkov. Greer decided the suspension wasn't enough punishment for having injured Barkov, and attempted to mete out extra punishment on Hagel. The Bolts took exception to that, and came prepared to explain how that response would receive a response as well. Pretty sure this is how Hatfields-McCoys started, too.