Samson's Flow

yes but the voting was a key indicator as there were 6 republicans who crossed party lines and voted for the "non-wall" end the shutdown bill. It is getting close to the tipping point where Trump loses his own party and the shutdown ends... ...probably with basically the same terms as what was agreed upon in December before Trump squashed the original funding bill.

Which events are we hoping to see Jack and Jeff in? Eichel - Speed Skating Skinner - Accuracy shooting?

Boston is a really interesting example because they have both 1) hit on late round picks that have become key contributors while also 2) wasting a whole bunch of 1st rounders with questionable reaches (3 picks in a row in 2015) and sending away Drouin for basically nothing. Some great moves and others that are real head scratchers. They could be so much better if they didn't make the mistakes mentioned.

The bolded were the ones I was thinking of. The some was in reference to your pining for Fucale!!! who turned out to not be very useful in the NHL.

or the TL:DR version "Maximize the assets available to improve your team, and don't waste those assets once you get them" I find it hilarious that your focus on Moosehead players probably would have helped the team if they listened to you - some of them have turned out to be pretty good NHL players :)

The only NFL game I was legitimately entertained by this year was the Chiefs-Rams game during the regular season. I watched most of the Bills games mostly out of curiosity for Josh Allen's development, and even those felt like more of a obligation than entertainment.

This is true universally. I would say the best way to have consistent success is to have as many shots at drafting players as possible (i.e. maximizing the number of picks you have) so that you have both high end talent (rd. 1 picks) and as many lottery tickets (rd. 2+ picks) as possible. But to your point, getting these picks is only half the battle - the team needs to have enough scouting acumen to be able to hit on a higher-than-league-average percentage. Doing those two things in tandem for multiple years eventually leads to a critical mass of quality players where you have more good players than NHL roster spots. Its the contrast of teams like Tampa Bay or old Detroit (who bring up players who can contribute immediately/are able to get value from aging players as a result) compared to Edmonton or Buffalo who in years past would gift high picks NHL roster spots they weren't ready for, or trade multiple picks for guys like Hudson Fasching.

I agree with this. JBott should focus this year on maximizing future value for the players that aren't in the long term plans. We have too many 'meh' forwards that are too good to bench/send down but not good enough to extend long term or make a difference. Managing to turn these assets into 2nd/3rd round picks can make a difference when we are competing if we hit on one of those. We can also use those mid-round pick gains to offset buying a 2C at the deadline too. Adding that one piece is way more valuable than the loss of the above players imo.

On the Bogo front, I have no interest in trading him. If anything, all of his past struggles and injury issues will give us the ammunition to keep his next contract reasonable. He's the exact type of 2nd pairing guy this team and system needs. His strong play this year isn't a long enough track record to boost his trade value with other GMs all that much anyways.

Exactly. The KBB range is $3k-4.5k for "Good" quality, and I listed it at $2,900 since I wanted to move it quick and it has some cosmetic rust. The number of people that text/call and ask if I want to sell it for $1,000 and then are surprised when I say the asking price is there for a reason. If I wanted to take that little I would have went to CarMax and sold it in 45 minutes. I've been asked if I accept payment plans, will take half now and half later, etc. Not to mention the number of people that message me "Is this available?" then I say it still is and then no contact ever again. My identity is definitely on the way to being stolen with all these SMS phishing attempts.

My stupid ankle injury still isn't healing and I want to get back to playing sports again. It's killing me saying no to my friends every time they ask if I can play. Also - selling a used car on Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace. Internet strangers suck donkey balls

Exactly. I'm going to be upset if the Patriots win whether I watch it with friends and family and go to the party or if I avoid it and find out the next day. May as well enjoy the company.

Fair enough. The 'fan entertainment' comment was alluding to the neanderthals on NBCS that love big hits and wax poetically about the good old days. Fans like to see big hits and fights, but from my perspective hits are just one way to disposses the puck from your opponent. I'd much rather see a smaller hit that effectively wins the puck than a big open ice hit that puts you out of position and doesn't win the puck for your team. I'm more sensitive to comments around "toughness" and "physicality" because I hear them all the time from general fans. I think you are right that we have a lot of players on the roster that are unable to use their hockey talents to win the puck, maintain it through a check, and get to the key scoring areas. Whether it be through size/strength or speed/agility, we need more guys willing to pay the price on both ends of the ice to do the things that lead to winning.

Sorry Carmel, but you talk about 'physical' in all the ways that I feel are nice for the fan's entertainment but don't lead to much improvement in team win probability. I need guys that can do things like win board battles, willing to go to the net to screen goalie/put in rebounds, play through opposition checking/physicality. You can accomplish these things in all sorts of ways as a player - Jeff Skinner does all of the things I mentioned but he does it more with quickness and tenacity than pure overwhelming physicality. I absolutely agree that not enough of our players can consistently do what I mentioned above, but mandating size/strength is not the only way to accomplish improving the team.

That and by the nature of the trade, the first year was always going to look worse for the Sabres. We were trading an established NHL player in his prime for futures and complimentary players. Give it two years to see if Tage is a solid scoring winger and what becomes of the 1st rounder, and then compare that to if ROR is still a 65 pt player/worth his contract. It is disingenuous to judge the quality of a NHL'er for Futures trade in year 1. It was a calculated risk to be worse this year to be better long term.

The current state of a different lineup every night is hurting development as the NHL roster players don't have clear expectations for what their role is. That can be corrected without a new player being brought in, just by solidifying the Girgs-Larsson-Okposo line as the checking/defensive role, and identifying say ERod as the 2C and Mitts as the 3C going forward. Sink or swim, let those players demonstrate if they are good enough to play those roles so that we know where the holes are going into next year. It's not trade our 1sts or bust.

To respond to this... I think Beto is going to announce late and build on the interest and support his 2018 campaign generated. I think he is the perfect mix of what traditional democrats would like (white male, strong presence in a key swing state) while also resonating strongly with the younger, social media generation of voters. The rest of the nominees so far have such a long way to go to build up public awareness and support of their "brand" that I don't think they can overcome if a more recognizable name announces.

What I want most for the rest of the season is lineup stability, especially with the forwards. I think it really hurts development if lines 2, 3 and 4 all have different players/combinations each game. The team should focus on finding a combination they feel comfortable with and letting them develop chemistry with each other so that a) we go into the playoffs knowing roles and linemates or b) the team has built some structure so that we can start next season strong and each player knows where they stand. I think it would be beneficial to find a short term 2C to provide the structure I mentioned, but I don't think it is critical enough to pay a 1st round pick for it.

I suspect our varsity club in Buffalo is supposed to be playing more of these high scoring games based on the system and comments from JBott/Housley. Our lack of scoring ability is preventing that. Good to see the Amerks can pull it off as some of those guys will be future Sabres.

This is good perspective. I will say that those Pittsburgh teams were a little further along in their contention window and seemed to be buyers every year. I don't know if we are obvious buyers this year yet.

There's too much time left on the clock...

Come on Mahomes! Game winning drive right now

You don't get many second chances in the playoffs. Gotta hit on those opportunities

Cool.

I was 4 years old the last time the Bills were in the AFC championship game. Who gives a ***** about the regular season