Taro T

Went there for the ASG 2 years ago. The arena is way nicer than the MMArena but it is nothing special. It was a really fun weekend. The Swamp Cats and the NHL did a good job with it. MHO.

We will not agree on Chara. Most likely will let you have the last word on this as neither will change the other's opinion. 🍺

Actually, until he raised them up a tad, no, they weren't for a vast array of his opponents. Again, he learned very early on what the league would let him get away with and took full advantage of it. And popping guys in the head with an elbow is dirty.

It could be. It also will be REAL interesting to see how long their dominance lasts. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic came along at just the right time to capitalize on improvements to training and equipment to stay at absolute top form for far longer than any other dominant players on the men's side. Now that their machines are pretty much out of the picture (though Djokovic hasn't yet fully given up the ghost) wonder just how long these 2 can continue to divvy up the tennis world between them (and maybe 1 more as, unlike with Sith Lords, always there are 3 seems to be SOP). (Disclaimer: don't follow tennis all that closely, so if one of you that do follow the sport closely want to say that Roger, Rafa, and Novak didn't dominate all that long, well as Emily Lutella used to say "nevermind." Though, personally, believe that having the 3 of them dominate the sport for over 20 years is in fact unprecedented in the modern era.)

Didn't realize Queensryche's members were still alive, much less still performing, might just have to check them out. Empire was an awesome album.

Stevens blew people up. Don't recall him throwing that many elbows. Not when a perfectly timed shoulder will do SOOOOO much more damage. Pronger might've been dirtier than Chara. Let's say he was for sake of argument. That doesn't make Chara "clean."

Isn't he the Rag that spit on Tuch a couple seasons back? Audette and Muni seemed to be able to coexist on the same team.

Yup. As even as you could ever see and then when Sinner got broke on the 1st serve of the final tie break that was it. But learned that in the 5th set (at least in the final round) the tie break is to 10 and not just 7. Was surprised when Alcaraz didn't go nuts when he got to 7-0, but the announcers quickly mentioned he was then 3 points from the championship. Would hate to draw a Spaniard in the French. Seems like an automatic defeat, as even the best player in the world can't close the deal there. 2nd longest final in a major in the modern era.

Of course his height accounted for a significant portion of the difference. But he's not the only supersized player to be in the NHL, but he seems to have been the 1 "monster" that consistently elbowed guys in the head. And will always have a soft spot for "May Day, May Day, May Day" but still, he was a dirty player.

Didn't say he was a burner. But he was fast enough to not just be effective but actually good in the NHL. AFTER the injury, not so much.

Well, when your knee gets blown out, it kind of affects your skating. Thaaaaannnnnks Zdeno. Hamel was having an excellent rookie year, until ...

They needed more than just Dahlin staying healthy to make the playoffs this past year. That was just the biggest of the things they needed to break there way but didn't.

LOTs of players are great people when not on the job but manage to turn on an inner arsehole when earning their paycheck. Chara could very well be a great guy off the ice. Don' care. On the ice, he was a dirty arsehole. Peca is an interesting case. Much like Scott Stevens stuff he did back in the day was perfectly legal (the vast majority of the time) but with the new rules a lot of what he did would've warranted suspensions. Peca, due to his size, would extend from low to high to forcefully put his shoulder into his opponent's shoulder / chest. It was very effective. Of course, if he mistimed the hit, the Ohlund hit immediately springs to mind, he'd be airborn by the time he made contact. And he got suspended for that one and took a fair number of penalties too. You are correct, don't feel the same way about Peca as Chara for at least a couple of reasons. 1. He RARELY hit guys in the head, but Chara routinely elbowed them in the head and got away with it. 2. Don't recall any of Peca'a hits essentially ending a guy's career or literally having had a very real chance of having paralyzed the guy for life. Apologies if black and red glasses are coloring that memory; but can absolutely recall times that Chara did those things. Dirtiest Sabre of all time. Will give 2nd place to Barnaby. (Being psychotic, and you have to be to get punched in the face by a guy twice your own size and smile while it is happening; and it explains his Jeep excursion too, tends to be somewhat mitigating IMHO.) But Brad May wins it hands down. Anyone remember how he broke his hand? He did it suckerpunching Ulfie. And in a LOT of his fights, he wouldn't square up with his opponent, instead he'd wrestle them to the ground and THEN start throwing haymakers. He also was the guy that goaded Bertuzzi into nearly killing Moore. Realise that's not a choice that will get much traction; but May was a seriously dirty player.

Yep. He did make some good moves but needed to make so many additional moves to get a critical mass of things aligned correctly and he never came close to that. Had EVERYTHING gone right, the team might've (heck, they would've) snuck into the playoffs. In the real world everything doesn't go right and from the moment Dahlin tweaked his back 5 minutes after stepping onto the ice on the 1st day of TC things already weren't going right. When he was out for ~10 games, the season was doomed. Had he done more to address the goaltending; had he gotten Power a legit partner LAST year; had he/Ruff brought in competent ACs; had he been able to bring in say 1 more Zucker and 1 more Greenway rather than Lafferty and Aube-Kubel by spending some of the money he saved by punting Skinner; THEN MAYBE they could've survived Dahlin's injuries. But he didn't.

The Sabres (and darn near every other team as well) could absolutely use a version of Chara. Doesn't change the fact that on the ice, the original was a dirty mofo that learned what the NHL would allow him to get away with and took full advantage of it.

Again, perhaps he wasn't throwing shade at the fans for once. You can give him the benefit of the doubt if you really want to. But in this particular instance, IMHO, past performance should be considered indicative of present results.

Perhaps for once he wasn't throwing shade at the fans. But, his overriding shtick is that the fans are unworthy and contribute to the troubles of this franchise and if they would simply be more positive the results would improve regardless of what happens at SHKIIIP. Based on his past writings, have a hard time not taking "because you know the fanbase will go bonkers, and maybe put pressure on the Sabres" as another shot at the fans.

Yeah, sadly she might be the Jimmy Arias of the women's side. (At 1 point, he was the best tennis player in the world not named Connors, McEnroe, or Lendl. And he was from Buffalo too. But he never could get past the big 3.)

Don't know if you've lurked here for a while or are new here, but he ABSOLUTELY blames the fans for the problems of this team. Used to blame the Bills drought on the fans as well. It's kind of his thing.

Well, Denis Hamel was a Sabre that played that style of game you wax so eloquently about and a dirty hit from Chara effectively ended his career. He came back but was never the same. Again, FTG and the horse that rode in on him.

Chara ruined Denis Hamel's career and nearly killed Pacioretty. He consistently elbowed guys in the head. Ooops, sorry, just too big to keep my elbows away from your melon. FTG. And the horse that rode in on him.

Personally, absolutely nothing. Trade the pick, Martin, Carbonneau would be this kid's personal preference atm. But, seeing PS gets that Spidersense tingling.

Penn State you say? How much of a reach would he be at 9?

Refresh our memories. Why did Bylsma wait 7 years for another NHL HC job after getting canned by the Sabres? And, why did he get canned after only 1 season back as THE man in the show?

No. Not tearing him down. Simply adding context. He IS the most successful GM the BJs have had. The entirely of the team successes they earned during his tenure corresponded directly to the years that Zito was working for Kekalainen. Even stated in the original post about this that it is a correlation and not necessarily causation. He was the GM for roughly 11 years. The team was reasonably successful (and compared to the rest of their existance, extremely successful) in the 1st 7 years that he was the GM. They were not successful in the nearly 4 full seasons after that (and only in this last season with him removed from the picture have they shown the possibility that they MAY once again be relatively successful). And am 100% hoping HE is as good as we need him to be. Expecting in one way or another that he'll be here for the next 4 or so years (and if the team is successful in that stretch (PLEEEEEAAAAASE) for significantly longer than that) so we need him to be good. He's been aggressive, even after Zito left, and he did something NOBODY expected in landing Gaudreau and doing it without having to outbid everyone by a significant margin. There are things to like about him. He'd had coursework prior to going to college and because of that managed to graduate in only 2 years. He's been a GM on both sides of the pond; he started out very briefly as an agent; and has held several roles within the hockey departments of some pretty good teams prior to becoming the BJ GM. There also is the fact that his successes as GM correlate extremely well with the time Zito was working for him.