carpandean

No, but still notably more likely not to happen than to happen. We play Pittsburgh twice and they play Minnesota twice. They have similar records (including last 10), and both have clinched playoff spots. Pittsburgh is playing for the top spot in the East Division, while the Wild are only playing for third in their division. Anaheim is likely to lose both, but getting a point or even one win wouldn't be that surprising. However, even with the Sabres playing like they are, winning both against Pittsburgh is a big task. If they do manage to do that on the back of Houser winning four straight, though, I'll be OK with it.

Unfortunately, this won't even be true if we do finish behind Anaheim. The first two picks are up for grabs (lottery) this year. Right now, we're guaranteed one of the two highest odds of getting the first pick, but currently can pick as low as 4th overall. If (still a big if) we finish behind Anaheim, we can still pick as low as 3rd overall.

It's hard not to look good when you're on the 2nd line behind one of the top 1st lines in the league and this guy is on the line with you:

From the "Not a tank" thread:

No matter what, the Ducks have to lose both in regulation for the Sabres to possibly pass them. Likewise, the Sabres need to win both, but not necessarily both in regulation, to pass them: If at least one of the Sabres' two wins is in regulation, they pass the Duck based on RW tiebreaker. If both Sabres wins are in OT/SO, they would be tied in points and RW, but would trail the Ducks in the ROW tiebreaker (at most 13 vs. the Duck's 15.) In summary, for the Sabres to not finish last, the Ducks have to lose both in regulation and the Sabres must win both with at least one coming in regulation.

So, we can't catch NJ anymore, since we can at best tie in points and RW, but we can't get to 17 ROW. For Vancouver, we'd have to win out in regulation ... and they'd have to lose 11 straight in regulation. 😲 Just Anaheim is left. They have us in ROW (16 vs. 14 max), so we'd either have to beat them in points (need at least 7 out of 8 ) or tie (6-8 points, depending on what they do in their last 4) w/ more RW (they start with a lead of 1.)

Jack is definitely more talented, but as the old saying goes, "Hard work beats talent when ..." (you know the rest)

Yeah, with as bad as things were in the first half of the season, I want them getting as many good vibes as possible in the second. They'll lose, too, but they'll be better losses. In the end, they dug enough of a hole that they've got some room to win before they threaten their draft position too much.

He was already working on his "who has two thumbs and two wins?" joke for the locker room.

Did I really not see ... Top Gun Hunt for Red October Crimson Tide 5th Element 🤪

Notably, the first player in Sabres history to do so.

The O'Reilly trade was more embarrassing despite actually getting a #1 in that deal.

For what they're worth, there were rumors for the past couple of weeks that several teams were in discussion with Buffalo, but that nobody wanted to give up the first that Adams was insisting on. So, if those were true, he was working on deals for weeks, but didn't have anything better than what he ended up getting to present to Taylor.

Either that or he scores a hat trick tonight (Steve Bernier effect), SabreSpace explodes, and then he goes back to being mediocre in Boston for the rest of season. Despite that, he is used for years as an example of Sabres players going on to be much better elsewhere.

Asplund leads the team in goals per game (excluding R2, since he's played so few.) So, that's something. 🤪

He had a full NMC, so he wasn't required to provide any list. Things would have been much better had he signed a limited-NMC, where he had to provide a list of teams that he wouldn't accept a trade to, but he didn't. That's only a courtesy for a player with a NMC, not any sort of a requirement. Maybe Adams did ask Hall, but only he said he'd accept a trade to X, Y and Z, only one of whom was making an offer. So, he took trade offers from others, hoping he could use that at least as leverage ("multiple teams interested") with the Bruins, but also because he could try to make the case to Taylor for any other decent team. Maybe, at a third, he told Hall that he wouldn't take the Bruins offer, so he continued seeing who else might be interested. Then, when the Bruins bumped it to a second, having not convinced Taylor to accept any of the other trades, he finally made the deal.

So far, we've gotten exactly what I expected a few weeks ago for the three main players (Staal, Montour, Hall.) However, at the time, I was really disappointed that we would be getting those for our best trade assets. Then, there was some talk/hope/prayers for more. It didn't turn out. I'm not too surprised in a bad way, but I was hoping to be surprised in a good way. I'm just meh about it.

My feed also went out during the goal review. Refreshed and they were showing a replay of the Asplund goal. I thought it was from earlier in the game (I missed the first half or so), then it came up 4-3. 😲

I do care that if he doesn't get the vaccine, then there's a greater chance that he might miss a bigger portion of the season. 😁

Trades! Trades! Trades! I think. Lots of signs pointing that way. (Not for Linus W., but as Ink said, he's the backfill.)

I've always viewed trade value as a flooding pond pushing on a weakened dam. The water rises and rises until "pop!" is bursts and then it all quickly rushes out. Sometimes, it goes on trade deadline day; other times, it's a day or even days before.

Not "not the worst" because they haven't done something that only eight teams will do? Under Krueger, they were worst by a big margin. It wasn't even close. Now, they're still not a good team, but I would actually bet on them in a series against NJ, Detroit, Anaheim or Ottawa. That's all it takes to be "not the worst." Really, the thing I care most about is that they're fun to watch. I remember an Islanders team several years back where they were mostly "kids" and lost a lot, but were always fun to watch. I'd be happy with that for the rest of the season.

Hey, look, a hockey stick!

It really does clearly say that. I gotta get my eyes checked. Time for new specs. Getting old sucks.

So, NHL Public Relations sent out that table with this caption: He is the top defenseman on that list, but there are only five players above him, not 11. So, did those five have more than one, but only their fastest is listed? Is the "consecutive" part the big differentiator (i.e., seven other forwards had two short-handed goals that were less than 37 apart, but weren't consecutive goals)? Does it happen more in the playoffs, maybe?