PASabreFan

Are you forgetting the owner of the team, Kim Pegula?

Within the week: by Sunday. Discuss.

Damn, I'd love to fill that up. So ample and full-bodied. Gotta run about 5k gallons. I could be off. @Taro T?

This seems like a solid retrospective, by a respected NHL writer. It supports the idea of a mini-tank. https://web.archive.org/web/20100201133510/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09351/1021485-125.stm

IMMSMC at a critical moment the Pens made a curious goaltending decision. That might be microtanking at most. Let's look at the Pens' record for a few years before Mario. I could be convinced otherwise (just not by T-Square), but the Pens taking for Mario is apocryphal.

Hey, at least we're still not talking about whether Lewis had the authority to make the call he did, and how the call was actually fair and just. Yeah, that'll solve it.

Some say the tank worked, but the rebuild failed. What if the tank's success ensured the rebuild's failure? What was left for Jack to enter into? Not that the Pens tanked for Crosby or the Hawks tanked for Kane using a common definition of tanking, but compare to the talent Sid and Patrick had around them when they arrived. The Penguins of the 80s stunk, but they stunk just a little more, maybe on purpose for a short time, to get 66. They didn't tank, either. What the Sabres did was Tanking to the Max and it was urged on by Pittsburgh people who knew Terry was a Pittsburgh guy and at the least a Crosby fan if not a Penguins fan; they all should have known better.

Or cooked mentally in Buffalo, like Hall, ROR, Lehner and those other depressed Swedish dudes, before him. When they get pruned a little, fed, put in the sun and placed in the right spot, they bloom again. Eichel going on and having success seems immaterial (and practically guaranteed) — if it wasn't going to happen in Buffalo, who cares?

Building a contending team is mysticism for sure. It's not based on a mathematical formula, I know that. I don't think Jack has the "it" factor at all. If he did, he would have led his team into the playoffs, just once. But I don't really care to keep debating it. Like Ted Black's uni, Jack's a turdburger in Sabres history. Like another turdburger, Pierre Turgeon, Jack can go and be prime rib in other places. I'm looking for a sea change. I'm looking for our next LaFontaine.

And if the Sabres had won that razor-thin series?

Of course that reflects poorly on McDavid. Your language is interesting. "...greatest talent to ever play." If McDavid never wins anything, that'll probably be his tag. Not the greatest player or greatest of all time. The greats lift up those around them. You want an all star team around Jack to try and lift HIM to try and justify your opinion of him. It's not practical. There's a salary cap. I suppose if the Sabres trade Jack, get worse on paper and somehow start winning next season, you'll want Jack back, because then, with a good team in place, he could be a difference maker. There's a chicken and egg deal going on here.

To absolve the players on these crummy teams is ludicrous.

Not too many diehard Jackers. Can you imagine this thread five years ago? Two? Of course the people ahead of the curve always get lashed. It looks like a lot of you also knew deep down he wasn't the guy. Tank fruit and all though, first born son.

Kenny almost did The Dunleavy but caught himself.

They have had legions of supporters up until recently. And I heard from every last one of them.

It's almost like you guys forgot how sneaky hockey players are. You think Point would have slammed his own goalie like that, all things being equal?

Circular logic is circular. Listen, when Eleven and I agree on something, turn out the lights and drive safely, everybody.

Yes. It's very hard to ascribe motive to posts. I never made the connection between Meatballs and this idea that Don is Italian, which he isn't. I'm really not up for a bunch of Italian stereotypes for the next x months (where x=the number of months Don is coach). "What are ya?" is a very dated, post-World War II kind of way of looking at America.

I thought you gave up being an ***** for Lent?

I can't believe it STILL has to be explained to people.

You sure they weren't all born in Illinois?

Can we nip something in the bud/butt here? Don is not Italian.

Said like Elaine: "Do you see what's happening? I'm the Islanders. I'm the Islanders!"

The Islanders got literally nothing for Tavares. Relax. Losing the trade won't be the end of days.

I admit to starting to worry about what sabremike is hinting at. The first generation (I'll define generation as 20 years) of Sabres fans was actually seeded by the Bisons, then lots and lots of young-ish people fell in love with the team in the 70s. A second generation kicked in in the late 80s and early 90s with lots of skill and lots of fists and then Dom and playoff success. Even during tough times after Dom and during bankruptcy and losing seasons before 05-07, you still had a massive base of two generations that were keeping the faith and it almost paid off for everybody. The problem comes with the third generation, which might remember good times but in the last 10 years has known nothing but disappointment. Where will these kids, the Randalls, the Wild Cards and the LGRs be in 10 years? Will they be dragging their kids along? Remember, now we're starting to lose that first generation and parts of the second. The other thing is community viability in a new social and demographic and economic landscape. No one would think that Erie, PA could have an NHL franchise and be successful. Buffalo's a tier or two above Erie, but still... In my darkest hour, I think Terry got the Sabres as prelude to the Bills, and the NHL was complicit in the franchise being weaned away from town to make way to burgeoning, booming (insert southern/western) population base.