Taro T

Presuming Buffalo has made up one or both games the Fishies currently have on them through week 17, then the week 18 game WILL be for the division. The ONLY way it isn't is if the Fishies still have at least a 2 game (well, a game and a half technically, but nobody expects a tie) lead over the Bills. Wasn't questioning that the game would be for the division. Was merely questioning why you'd expected the Fishies could finally beat a winning opponent.

Expecting he'll be pretty much strictly with those 2 and will get PP2 time. If they really need a push at the end, could see them doubleshifting Mittelstadt or Cozens in place of Jost.

Had predicted they had the Columbus home game pencilled in for his return. But expected it was the one right after Christmas.

We'll hear this afternoon.

You know what happens when you assume, right? No. If the Jags, Colts, and Bengals all win out with Cleveland winning their other 2 and Miami winning their other 2 then even if the Bills win out they miss out on the playoffs. So, if 14 of 14 games go the wrong way, then even if Buffalo wins out they don't win out. But, the possibility of all 14 games breaking the wrong way would seem to be rather slim.

IF the Bills win out, they are nearly a lock for the playoffs at this point. It looks like the teams ahead of Buffalo have 18 games total remaining between them (including KC's and Baltimore's games) and not counting the Fishies Bills game. There are 5 games between 2 of those teams (Cincy at KC, Cleveland at Cincy, Cleveland at Houston, Houston at Indy, and Miami at Baltimore). Saw a scenario laid out by Kevin Massare stating this was the only way for the Bills to win out and miss the playoffs. His scenario went: Cincy beats Pittsburgh, KC, and Cleveland; Cleveland beats Houston and Jest; Indy beats Atlanta, Vegas, and Houston; Miami beats Dallas and Baltimore; and Baltimore beats the 9ers or Pittsburgh. Leaving Cincy, Cleveland, Indy, and Buffalo all at 11-6 with Baltimore and Miami ahead of that. And presumably Buffalo loses all the tiebreakers. But even with all those teams even with or ahead of Buffalo and KC doing whatever taking their division, the Bills still could still be in 7th. BUT, Jax can also end up at 11-6 without playing any of those other teams and they beat Buffalo earlier. IF that happens and all the rest of that occurred as well then that would make Buffalo the 8th seeded team missing the playoffs. Provided KC loses to Cincy, it doesn't matter what they'd do because they'd win their division or lose it to another team that would have fewer wins than the Bills that would then win the division. But, if Buffalo wins out, there need to be 14 other games that all work against the Bills to keep them out of the playoffs. And depending on who would have the tie breaker between Baltimore and the Bills, there might need to be 1 of 2 other games also working against the Bills. (And, no, didn't bother to factor in the potential of ties. Don't care THAT much about this stuff.) So, it's close enough for government work to say, if the Bills win out they're in.

Because at this time they were at 24 healthy bodies on the Sabres roster, not 25. Though it stands to reason that when the next guy is ready to come off IR it'll be Murray getting sent back to the Amerks and not Comrie making the trip down the I-90. It's pretty obvious that Adams doesn't want to try to send one of his goalies that would have to clear waivers to get to the Amerks down. And there is no way Levi gets sent down the way he's been playing of late. So, as @Weave astutely pointed out the 3 headed monster isn't going anywhere soon. (Unless Adams can trade one for what he considers to be fair value. A proposition that likely isn't happening with either of the young ones and don't see suitors bashing down the door for Comrie.)

Don't see how playing 14+ minutes every night (and he hasn't been below 14 minutes the last 12 games), getting some PP1 usage and some PK usage in the best league in the world isn't significantly better for his development than playing 22+/ night against kids. Were he getting made to look silly against the competition or if he were getting pounded would agree that the W is a better place for him. But neither of those are happening. And what he's getting an opportunity to do - play in the NHL at the age of 18 is something that only a few elite 18 year olds get an opportunity to do. He seems to be grasping the opportunity by both hands and is starting to run with it. Understatement. 😉

Ineptitude perhaps and a strong case can be made, particularly in certain aspects. Won't give you laziness. Have some thoughts on why they've been so Jeckyll and Hyde from game to game, but haven't had a chance to compare the thoughts to the data. Might spend some time next week seeing if the data supports them or if they're just wild hairs. But, flat out don't believe it's laziness. They'd have more losing streaks if it was.

Wow. Thought they'd send Murray down before him, but if they aren't 100% certain Quinn's playing tomorrow they need to keep Murray around to avoid the stupid 11-7 crud. Tomorrow's game just got more interesting.

To the bolded, absolutely.

Wonder which D-man sits. We already know where slot 12 is open on the F roster. (And with this being his 1st game back would prefer they not have him pencilled into either of the top 2 lines tomorrow night. Thursday? Well, lets see how he does tomorrow.)

To reach 99 points (0.603 winning percentage) Team Pts Needed W% Needed Broons - 56 - 52.8 Loafs - 61 - 56.5 Panthers - 61 - 58.7 Wings - 65 - 62.5 Bolts - 66 = 66.0 Habs - 69 - 66.3 Sabres - 70 - 70.0 Otters - 77 - 68.8 Didn't bother with the Metro. Extremely difficult task ahead of them and they MAY be able to get in with less than 99 points. Pretty much they need to start alternating 5 game segments of winning 4 of 5 and winning 3 of 5. They ARE 5-1-2 in Levi's last 8 starts which is an 0.750 pace. So, its POSSIBLE. It just isn't likely at this point.

You expect Miami to finally win a game against an opponent that's above 0.500 for the 1st time since the heat stroke/Tua "ankle" injury game? Why?

That game was very satisfying. Need to keep it up against an LA team that will be feeling its oats having finally been unshackled from the worst late game coach this kid has ever seen. The timing of when the Bills have been playing teams for the most part has been far from ideal this year. But, if they continue to play the way they have since punting Dorsey they should get the W even though the Bolts could be really fired up.

It was when they punted Leopold at the end of the minilockout year. They'd announced "suffering" in the summer of '13 on their way to trying to land Reinhart and Eichel. Sorry, always forget they missed the playoffs twice before the 1st full tank year. Because the season before the minilockout they just barely missed. All these friggin' losing years eventually blend together. But, yes, this is only the NINTH year of rebuilding. It ISN'T the 10th.

Everybody KNOWS it's spelled WholeZinger. Because when he was ON, he was a whole zinger, he wasn't a partial zinger, he went there completely. (Your way (which is the Sabres way, btw) is just NASTY.) 😉

In fairness, this is only the 10th year of the rebuild. The 1st missed playoff year was the one where they decided late in the year to pivot from bringing in FAs to get them over the top to run a scorched earth tank. There were then 2 tank years where nothing was being built except the stash of draft picks. 2 failed rebuilds and a painfully slow 3rd rebuild is where we're at now.

Fack. Unless the flu is ripping through the roster, can we PLEASE never run 11-7 again. Don't understand why they don't drive to the net more. UPL played VERY well tonight except for about 15 seconds but with them giving him no goal support at all, those 15 seconds were enough for the Yotes to build a 2 goal lead. At least the Bandits won tonight. Was watching that and the 1st period at the same time; that was more entertaining. And, the BJ's game should be a pretty good one. But might have to bite the bullet and lower the price on the Loafs game tix. Was planning on going to that one as well unless someone paid a stupid amount for those tix; but that might turn into a REALLY ugly night. Too long a drive to be that frustrated right before Christmas.

It was a joke. That's what the little 'winky thing' at the end was there for, to make sure it wasn't interpreted otherwise. 😉

Hasn't he ALWAYS had half of it? 😉

Pronman's the one who has the size fetish, right?

If he had those measureables, would've been surprised to see him get past 4. We're in agreement.

Expected it was clear that by "being healthy" was meaning "fully healthy." Something they literally have not been 1 single day this season. Even getting "healthier" knocks the 3 headed monster out of commission. 1st player back sends Murray back down. 2nd player back probably finally sends Bryson down. 3rd player back could result in the 3 headed monster going away but they could also go off the board and send down or trade a bottom 6er. All 4 back and the 3 headed monster is dead. Unless they decide to skip light speed altogether and go directly to ludicrous speed and send Benson back to the W. (Shouldn't happen, pretty sure it won't happen, but sometimes this team does strange things.) But, to your point, considering the youth of this team, expect they are hampered by injuries a bit more than they should be at F. Would be really interesting to see what a prorated expected injury rate adjusting for age would be. And, yes, they've been healthier than expected on the back line. (Making up for last year's crazy amount of injuries there.)

Quick! Claim him. We can have the FIRST FOUR HEADED MONSTER!!!!!!!! (Please, dear God, no.)