tom webster

FTR, I haven’t seen any of it. Just what I was told last night. There were drinks involved so who knows. I saw today Vogl agreed, though, so there’s that.

Not much question about but I will tell you one thing, I gave Katherine Webb McCarron a ride to the stadium and I can certainly vouch for their taster in woman.

Hutton has been great through camp. You can’t keep talking about earning spots and not play Hutton. If he plays well to start, it will reinforce their position on the price they are willing to pay for an upgrade. If camp was an illusion, they might be quicker to up the ante.

I wonder who could drink more between Namath and Stabler?

Williams might still be active but you want someone that knows how to pass block especially against a blitz heavy team.

And eventually be disappointed that he is what he is. But you are right, we would have known yet.

There is no doubt that eventually talent trumps everything, but when building a foundation, how you treat people and getting the right people is important. I was attacked before for saying this but KO is a guy that is beloved in the locker room and plqyers in the room and players around the league notice how you take care of guys like him. I liken him to Phil Villapiano. The Bills got crushed in that trade. Bobby Chandler was awesome. But guys like Vilapiano, Isaiah Robertson and Conrad Dobler were vital to the franchise turnaround even though they were all backups by the time the team was a contender.

Like everything else, those ratings are just one evaluation method. Tage, is primed for a huge year. Cozens and Skinner together will make up a better then average third line. KO is clearly good enough. Rieder will be a valuable role player that is better then that rating. That leaves two spots you are concerned about and clearly Buffalo has a higher opinion of Eakin then most. Lazar is a former first round pick who has accepted his role as a checking center/ face off specialist. All that being said, R2 will be up by mid season if he ends up having the ability you think he has. I personally feel Asplund will be a better pro then Casey but if you are right, Casey has a chance to earn his ice time if he isn’t part of a deal for a goalie. Finally, and our resident analytics guru’s can verify if they have the right data, analytics has resulted in teams relying more on their top two lines for a larger portion of ice time and offensive production. The more important difference this year is that we have a potentially top notch number two line. I love your passion and appreciate your opinion. Isn’t it great that we will soon find out which one of us was closer to right. I’m quite sure we both want the same results from the team.

I’ve said it before, this is not the season for experimentation. If they prove worthy they will be given a chance and furthermore, Casey has shown no indication that he can be better then Lazar.

Considering Cozens is playing second PP, I can guarantee you he is not a placeholder

Again, I understand the mis-trust given the last few years but RK has such a better rep outside Buffalo. Another article today in Athletic where 22 GM’s have him tied for second among likely coach of year candidates. They are trying to create a program where guys earn their spots. In addition, this year there is even less room for error. If he gets his game going he will be back up. In the meantime the veterans have a role to play. Jack has continuously talked about the need for veteran presence.

What he also fails to mention is that Trotz first two years in Washington where spent realing in the offense. They went from one of worst defensive teams to being sixth in the league in goals against in first year under Trotz and it took a couple years before players became comfortable and before they turned it around and won Cup there was friction between OVI and Trotz. It’s a similar story to Hitchcock and Modano.

AVP called an interesting game yesterday. I think he should have run more, especially after huge lead. Should be remembered he didn’t call plays all year as Stefanski was really coordinator.

That is a very good point.

The minute I saw him on waivers I knew you’d be posting. At least we can laugh about it now. I always forget this JBOT disaster when I’m listing his mistakes in judgement.

I remember Sam scoring over 60 goals before he was 22. I remember thinking how his hockey IQ compensated for his less then elite speed and then seeing how his work ethic improved his skating.

Never said anything about "a proven, great coach." His hiring was almost universally praised. Writers and reporters in Canada were shocked that Buffalo was able to lure him. He far from failed in his one year in Edmonton and it was his choice to leave for Europe. Poor player usage is an opinion I don' share. Like a lot of coaches he spent his first year laying the foundation for his preferred system. I know Jack and KO and Hall love Ralph, and are excited about the veteran presence on this year's team. Hopefully Jeff buys in because it will be near impossible to move him. As far as apple and oranges, not quite. There is one "expert" holding on to the belief that Casey may still be a top prospect, and he may be one of those outliers who develops slower. It happens although most impact players show some signs of greatness much earlier. More then likely, if he can accept a lesser role, he can be a useful third liner. Hope not. I hope he's like Max Pacioretty who exploded in his fourth year in the NHL. There are a lot more "experts" that believe RK is a quality coach, but that also does not mean they are right. There were people that thought that Dick Jauron would win a Super Bowl, people that still think that Doug Marrone is a quality coach. What you learn after forty five years of following, nobody really knows anything. It is what makes sports great, you get to watch it play out and when you get something right occasionally, you brag to your friends.

It’s funny, you want to believe the “experts” who you think still believe in Casey, but you don’t want to believe the same “experts” when they rate RK one of the top coaches in the game.

He is not a great skater. He’s quick in short space but he is definitely average at best in straight line.

The ROR trade was a deal he backed down and the Skinner contract is another example. He had a price and he let Skinner’s agent convince him he was wrong.

While I agree to an extent, the question becomes do you want a JBOT type deal where you get a goalie at any cost or do you want a deal where you decide how much you want to pay and refuse to overpay? The other team has to agree to the deal.

This.

Corey Crawford retirement bad news for Sabres.

Did not say he is “the” one guy, just one guy. Definitely one of few with a national stage. I wonder how much of it goes back to him listing him a can’t miss star.

He is one guy who refuses to give up on Casey.