Taro T

Where in the post you quoted was that contradicted? Would rather have this tournament played in September when it won't #### with the regular season & should make the NHL & IIHF durn near the same amount of money as putting it in the middle of the year. IMHO, when they aren't doing weird things like having Team Euro & Team Underaged Drinkers, this is the best international tourney next to soccer's World Cup. And stated that upthread. Absolutely love that tourney, just wish it wouldn't compress the RS and break that into 2 completely separate chunks. So, what was your point?

One thing to remember in this when looking at timelines: This civil lawsuit literally was filed the day before yesterday. The criminal investigation is still on-going and the Bills seem to have been in the know on where that stood/stands. And, they appear to believe that Azaria wasn't going to be in too much hot water from that investigation or they wouldn't have punted Haack. From the little that is publicly known about this don't know what the Bills necessarily could've / should've done about the lawsuit that didn't get filed until it did as there is still an on-going criminal investigation. The girl's lawyer wanted to talk to them about a settlement & the Bills' lawyer apparently listened to him for over an hour. He's mad they wouldn't speak further to him. Could they without getting accused of tampering with an on-going criminal investigation? Don't know the answer to that, thus the Q. SDSU had been asked by the police not to investigate (for Title IX compliance) until their investigation was over. Were the Bills also asked to let law enforcement do their job without interference? There are still a lot of things WE don't know including why only 3 of the players are defendants in the civil suit when 5 are under criminal investigation. But what we do know is the civil suit was JUST filed and is also being filed before the criminal investigation is complete. THAT certainly seems unusual. Ttbomk, civil suits get filed after criminal investigations are completed unless there is a statutory deadline to file approaching. It doesn't appear this was being rushed by a deadline. Maybe one of our board lawyers can speak to that aspect of these cases.

Very interesting thought. If the team leaders said get rid of the distraction, that would significantly reduce/eliminate the backlash within the room. But would guess they'd say management should back the player (presuming they only have access to info so far made public). Which if they cut him anyway prior to his having his day in court could lose them the room. Of course, it also could solidify their resolve should management to agree to the course the players prefer as it becomes them against the world.

Who was suggesting sympathy for them? Those guys are pretty much the entire list of players (at least since 1960) that had 70+ games played without taking a single penalty the entire year. And since the Sabres entered the league, one can count on a single hand the number of additional guys that stayed penalty free playing at least 40 games.

Perhaps. And expect that they will cut him shortly. But if he doesn't end up facing criminal charges or gets found not guilty after a trial does the coach lose the room having cut a player because of an allegation prior to having had a chance to defend himself of the allegation? McDermott and Beane are in a very unenviable position. (Understatement of the year?) Agree with the 1st bolded. To the 2nd, someone posted a question on another board wondering if he could end up getting put on the Commissioner's exempt list to get some more time to sort through this. Don't know if the CBA would allow for it, but that seems like a reasonable course at present if allowable.

That full season penalty free is even more impressive than just that. Nobody else going back to at least '60-'61 has gone a full season without a single penalty. (Didn't look at lockout / strike years, so maybe somebody did in a shortened season but didn't look at those.) Goring came closest also going 78 games without a penalty but in an 80 game season. And Jimmy Peters did 77 games in a 78 game year. Val Fonteyne (who?) might've been the most impressive in that regard. Played 820 games from '59-'60 - '71-'72 taking only 26 PIMs. Had 2 or 4 PIM his 1st 5 years, topped out w/ 6 PIM in '64-'65. Then only took 2 more minors the rest of the way (436 games).

It's definitely a money grab. But it'd be a money grab in September too. And it wouldn't force a compression of the rest of the schedule around it.

Not sure what's "sleazy" about it. It's a suggestion to turn something that will be big news for probably a relatively short time regarding what seems to have been a horrible event regardless of Azaria's role or non-role in the horrible portion of events into something positive via the well known generosity of the Bills fan base. We definitely took different views of the suggestion to support charities that support sexual assault victims. Which is fine. Don't see a reason for either of us to be denigrated for their interpretation of the suggestion.

Why break up the regular season? This tourney should be played in September. Glad it is back. It's the best international hockey tourney there is provided they aren't using weird gimmicks.

Telegenic Canadian kid chosen 1st overall 2 years ago who has been top 4 on tournament teams in the WJCs, WCs, & Olympics playing on an improving Eastern Conference team. He'll be in the discussion & by the end of the year he'll be firmly in the discussion.

Have had 2 hen turkeys with 7 poults between them (there were 8 a month ago, no idea what got the other one) passing through our yard pretty much daily. This AM getting ready for a presentation heard a clucking outside the window and saw one of the adult hens around 6:30. She was by herself & this seemed rather strange behavior. Then noticed a red fox in the middle of the yard investigating. He didn't follow her but went off into the brush, so expected 1 or 2 of them to be missing this afternoon. But they just came back into the yard and all 9 birds are feasting as usual. Awesome.

Saw this elsewhere. For any interested in taking an action rather than simply reacting.

It's very possible that he is 4 from the get go. But don't see any of the top 3 getting bumped out initially & expect that they'd pencil in their "defensive defenseman" pick up in the top 4 PKers initially and make Power earn the bump up so expect him to be 5 initially. Remember, Dahlin didn't become a go to guy on the PK until after the AS break. They get to learn by doing, but they still have to earn that opportunity. (And, expect Power will force his way into the PK rotation sooner than later but not on day 1.)

Also a minor request. Could the posts regarding the lawsuit get moved to their own thread? This seems to be a big enough story to not simply be lumped in with all things Bills related?

Pretty sure HE was expecting a cash payout to make this go away. Guessing the girl went this way because she saw no movement forward from the police on her initial complaint and thought this was a way to force them to act. (Guess based on the really limited info we currently have. Am fully willing to change that opinion should more info come forth.)

Expecting they'll go: Samuelsson, Jokiharju, Dahlin, & then Lyubushkin with Power 5th to start the year. With Power flipping with Lyubo sometime mid-season. Even though Lyubushkin is better than Jokiharju at 5v5 defending, Henri is very good at the PK. Expect that's because of the added structure required to effectively work a PK. (PS - Disliking Henri playing with either Dahlin or Power has nothing to do w/ disliking Henri. It's entirely because there are better options for those 2 to play with.)

The expectation is ~40 points. Went w/ the higher of the 2 brackets including it. But expect him to be "firmly in the conversation for the Calder" because in addition to scoring at a very good clip for a rookie, he is going to demonstrate an all around 200' game and will be on the ice w/ Dahlin in the final minute of games they need a goal. He'll also eventually get a fair amount of PK time though perhaps not too much initially. (Expecting him to start out as the 5th choice, but bump up to 4th.)

The "he said" side of this particular she said/ he said.

You keep harping on Krueger almost ruining Dahlin. Ralph was not the only coach fired that fateful day in March. There was one other canned that day. THAT is the guy that was actually supposed to be showing young Rasmus how to play the position and stay out of the non-X & O "motivational" coach's dog house. Turned out Krueger's ability to motivate expired after a short shelf life. But Steve Smith should never have been brought in by Housley (who should never have been brought in by Botterill) much less kept around by Krueger (who also shouldn't have been brought in by Botterill). SMITH was the guy that was actually working with Dahlin on his game, not Ralph. Dahlin's play tailed off towards the end of his rookie season. Krueger was no more than a bar patron in Buffalo as that was happening, but Smith was guiding him even back then.

Yes it is. Feel very bad for the girl & her going to the police the next day & getting the rape kit performed the next day makes her version of events seem quite plausible. Curious why the police are only now, 10 months later, bringing their evidence to the DA. (And it may have been poorly worded in the 2 stories implying they've only recently done that.) Especially if they have DNA & audiotapes of the 5 players implicated. Also curious why only 3 of the 5 are being sued by the girl. McDermott, Beane, & the Pegulas don't seem to be the type to stand for a rapist. They appear to have known about this prior to releasing Haack. No criminal charges (yet) against any of the players & the Bills keeping him over the guy without a rape allegation hanging over his head makes this guy wonder what parts of the story don't we have.

Haack is a Colt.

TV newscast of the girl telling her story.

You & a whole lot of us.

Would agree w/ the bolded, just sayin' that if Pronman stays rigid in his evaluation criteria then guys that fall outside of that & can't generate offense on their own will be rated lower than they should be rated. Because it seems he's not valuing being able to shutdown offense on his own nearly as highly. And that's where Samuelsson will excel.

Makes perfect sense if he doesn't place much value on keeping the puck out of his own net and a ton of value on getting the puck in the other net & things like straight line forward skating. Samuelsson will excel at the former but have issues with the latter 2. Cool thing is, what he brings is something the Sabres really need.