tom webster

How many pkayers have to publicly rip Nolan begore you admit he is not a good coach? 3,4,5?

First, You are right, nobody should question your fan loyalty. Second, While I don't agree with your conclusions regarding the tank, I understand your mis-givings. I, too, have a hard time accepting the notion that you should ever want to lose or benefit from it. I made my peace with the process. Maybe I'm rationalizing because I want to be one hundred percent behind my team, I don't really know but I respect the opinion shared by you and others. Finally, You could not be more wrong with regards to the presser. He was talking about communication between a coach and a general manager within the context of reports that one of the reasons Babcock went to Toronto was that Murray wanted complete control of the roster and a coach;s job was to coach and nothing else. It had nothing to do with Nolan. Others, like PA make the claim that his answer regarding what he was looking for in a coach was a veiled shot at Nolan and while I disagree with that as well, I can see that as a possibilty. Anyway, I hope you find yourself forgetting all this when the Sabres challenge for the Cup. Sports should not be so much work.

Heavily Persued? We got him for a 2nd, most contenders were cap strapped, and he was willing to go anywhere but Toronto and knew Montreal didn't want him. Knowing that one of his best friends was heading here didn't hurt as well. That being said, he was playing well and is a solid 4/5 defenseman.

Other then Ehrhoff, I think these names prove my point.

I thought what he actually said was that even old school coaches wouldn't say that but you may be right. I think he has actually gone out of his way to be diplomatic when discussing TN. The players, however, have been pretty open about Nolan's coaching shortcomings.

Again, how what "things" are done? I understand differences of opinion but there seems to be no basis for your feelings. I agree he still has a lot to prove but I have seen nothing to question his sincerity or integrity.

I have to ask, I just listened to the interview and I'm not sure what reference to Nolan you are talking about?

If you are going to question a man's integrity you should at least give reasons for it other then you don't like the sound of his voice.

He was saying that Murray came off great and citing it as an example as to why they should make him more accessible.

I guess it could be argued that Buffalo did make him the highest paid coach just not in the way I thought.

MacLean had a fair amount of success, has good pedigree and was the hot coaching candidate a few years ago. I like guys like him. A lot of times its that second gig where it all comes together. In the end, I'm fine with all the names on the list as long as it's not Torts.

I'm as excited about the Sabres future as anyone but name someone other then Moulson and McCormick that had a choice and came here. The Sabres continue to get the second tier college free agents, European free agents and now coaching free agents. Winning may change that but for right now, it is the truth.

I agree that he has looked great but remember CoHo lit this tournament up last year.

I voted for increase size of nets, reduce pad size and implement three second rule. However,it has been my contention that the NHL has no desire to make changes because they believe that like "loser points," low scoring games create a false sense of parity which they believe plays a role in the growth of the game.

I have taken a lot of abuse over the years for feeling the same.

If you are at Airport and prefer Duff's, the one on Dick Road is closer unless you have a thing against visiting places that Obama visited.

They don't sign confidentiality agreements but he did violate their social media policy.

I had occasion to listen to Mike Weber on hockey hotline today and anyone that does not think that Ted Nolan had little of the player's respect as a coach should listen to him talking about the possibility of Babcock joining the team.

I'm getting old and I was drinking that night. Maybe it was just some other bald guy in a tux. Now that was funny

You sure about the game ticket? When I talked to him about two years ago he told me he never stayed for the game because he didn't get a ticket.

Turns out the crab legs weren't stolen, but the rest.........

See, but that's my point. They don't result in enough possession numbers to satisfy the analytic crowd but in a sport where goals are at a premium and season's can be defined by a goal here or a goal there, to dismiss them because the variance isn't high enough or possession numbers that occur fifteen seconds after faceoffs don't fluctuate enough seems to fly in the face of common sense. I have said publicly and privately that I need to learn more about these new numbers to truly be able to argue for or against but I have spent my whole life believing in numbers and not understanding how most people didn't understand what was so obvious to me. Now a lot of these same people that couldn't comprehend salary caps and spread sheets are quoting regression to the mean and statistical relevance. Forgive me if I am a little leary.

I know what last year's numbers were but the trade wasn't made for one year. I think Watkins will turn out to be good enough to justify the trade especially when you put it in the context of what would have been available this year and how well the team does this year. If it was all about the first year then Carl Garrett should have been the number one pick in 1969.

The analytics argument against face offs and goaltending is, I believe, their biggest weakness. They dismiss both because of the small mathematical variation from top to bottom. I would argue that paying attention to detail and finding those small variations can be the difference between winning and losing especially in a sport where variation is so small and randomness plays such a big role. That said, I understand the argument even though I disagree with the interpretation of the significance of the variation.

The point I was making about the Watkins' trade is they gave up the 19th pick in a draft that might not have had 19 first round worthy picks. Part of the GM job is knowing which year to acquire picks for and which year they are not as valuable. In the end, however, you are right. It comes down to how good Watkins turns out and what kind of impact he has on their team.