SDS

Thanks for pointing this out. I had the snark canon already to fire on this very point, but decided against it.

He referred to Reinhart as ROR multiple times on a rush, as well as misidentifying a slew of players during the game. It was Van Milleresque.

I honestly may have only celebrated this maybe once since elementary school. Anyone else skip this holiday?

I thought it was an entertaining game. Watched on delay and didn’t give in to skipping to the end. 1. ROR was ok. He’s always been strong on the puck. That’s about the one thing that was remotely noticeable. That performance on a losing Sabres team would have gotten his ass chewed out by the fans. 2. Nylander’s pass was nice. I expect most nhl players could make that pass. He looks a little like Sam did back in those early days. I’m not going to dog him. However, I haven’t seen any glimpses of high end skill: speed, skating, shot, nor hands. If someone has a highlight to point to please provide. 3. A couple times today, and my impression is that it happens a lot, is when the other team takes the puck out of our corner, they are able to drive right in front of the net for a shot. Our player covering that spot (twice today) left the spot as the puck carrier was driving at them to try and pick up an open passing option. That don’t seem right. 3. Regardless of his scoring drought, I love Jeff Skinner. That’s high end skill. 4. I’m glad the fans had a good time. Please give examples.

John is an old timer on the Bills side.

I’ll have to say, I am really behind on the new rules of capitalization.

It wasn’t funny the first time, but at least it was in the correct thread.

Please don’t.

Lots of anger in Toronto if you want to glance through that tweet.

I have no specific affinity for UB. I thought going division one was a mistake but they seem to have come around. However, it would seem to me they would want to try to get it into a conference with better competition.

Serious question. What do you want him say? What words would make you happy?

What exactly does that mean? (if I muster up the energy to start yet another topic, this is a point of contention I have with sports talk. There’s isn’t enough follow through to conclusion) What does winning now look like when there is an expected transition to something new in the future? Are you instructing your newly acquired mobile defenseman to join/lead the rush or not? Are they pinching in deep or not? Are they always taking the body into the boards or are they staying available to start the breakout? What is the critical mass of players you need in order to start playing the way you are building towards? Win now while you are creating something different for the future sounds nice, but in reality it needs to be actually implementable.

This wasn’t terribly enlightening. If systems are myths then the implication is that coaching is irrelevant.

Someone thought these were the best fights of 2018. Meh. There’s only a handful here where there where any punches connected.

So, I’m not sure we necessarily have any strengths to lean on but youth. They are a collection of players looking to form a team. The easiest thing for any new coach to do is to clamp down on goals against and that is the antithesis of a mobile defensive system.

How many fights end in some disappointing dance with no punches landed? I honestly can’t remember a time when Andrew Peters actually hit or was hit someone. I do remember him spinning in circles with his arm outstretched, clutching a jersey and his face turned away. Are there players still getting broken noses from fights? With helmets and visors? ??‍♂️

They have a bunch of mobile defencemen right now. When are they supposed to learn to pinch and when to drop back?

There is no player (where we will be picking) that has been identified as having that much potential at the moment. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Is there any evidence that modern day fighting keeps anyone “honest”? Has a player ever admitted to fearing retaliation?

I am by no means an expert on the Nashville Predators. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could explain in more detail about their system. I do believe they are known for their smooth skating, puck moving , mobile defenseman that help drive offense in ways that the other team does not anticipate. Fans say that it is an exciting, entertaining form of hockey. I think it may have been said explicitly, if not, it’s implicitly clear that Phil is trying to replicate this system given that he spent five years with the organization. I think it may have been said explicitly, if not, it’s clear that Phil is trying to replicate this given that he spent five years with the organization. Is it worth waiting for? This is what they are building towards. They are not trying to win in any way they can, they are trying to win in this one particular way. It’s not inconceivable that a different coach could come in and get more wins out of this team. If they do, it will be a different form of hockey. It could suck to watch, but there would be more of short term winning. I think the correct question to be asking is if there is a desire by the Buffalo fan base to replicate the Nashville Predator system here and establish that as Buffalo’s future team identity. Personally, I think this will require a level of patience that fans are unwilling to accept.

Agreed. Quite frankly, I’d be just as happy never hearing anything from them. Post game interviews are an abomination. “Tell me why you suck!”... “Liar!”

Only if you believe winning this season truly mattered and that JB lies when he said RORs timeline didn’t fit with other young players on the team.

A thousand times yes. Just lock the locker room door.

Our traditional problem has been playing players in positions above their abilities. A garbage 1C may be a fine 3C. You have to slot the players correctly and fill in the spaces with the appropriate talent.

I wasnt even in elementary school when those came out. My mother loved her though.