...

That context is already there by just looking at the charts.

This thread digression is brought to you by the letter "C". For folks at home using DVRs, skip to the next page...

We've all been here on this forum a long ass time and have gone over, and over, and over the new metrics used to help analyze the game. I read the sites, thought about it, and can interpret the stats that I think are important. If I can do it, so can you. It's like bitching about an MRI, how can an over-sized magnet help me? The magnet-as-therapy-fad happened back in the middle of the 19th century.

I don't mean center, I just mean talent-level in the top 6.

All you need to know is that if you remove the last two seasons, he's a good, if not very good, addition to the forward ranks.

The term is what saves this for me. The guy is wildly inconsistent season to season. He's effectively a fill-in until Cozens gets here. Botterill still has a tonne of work to do if he's going to palpably up the average talent level of the team and he really needs to jettison the chaff.

Dude is a 100-millionare, he don't care.

Yeah, I think you're right. Everything changed after Prince Charles admitted his extramarital affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. I'll never forget that day.

That's it, Friedman's 31 Thoughts. That's where I saw it.

Did Botterill actually call it "roster surgery"? I looked not too long ago and all I found was one of the primary pundits using that phrase. I would actually be happy to have it confirmed that he used that phrase.

Sigh, indeed. When was the world not that way?

@TrueBlueGED provides the summary. These charts also cover three (3) seasons, so, the sample size is more substantial. The RAPM charts are like the new rear-sides of trading cards. They give you a quick assessment of the player's actual impact on a team. When your team is a bottom-dweller, it stands to reason that whoever leaves will likely land on a better team and therefore, ultimately, look better. Doesn't mean their metrics will improve significantly, but they could, obviously. But, I don't think we've seen better play or metrics from Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, or even Evander Kane, for example. ROR was always capable of playing the way he has with St. Louis, everyone knew that because of his fancy stats. The rest of the team around him was really good, too, making him look better despite not being any better than he already was/is.

Yet, here we are.

Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh...Refresh... WHY ISN'T THERE ANYTHING FUN HAPPENING?

Right, if there isn't some massive deal(s) in the works, everyone knows Buffalo has way too many players they don't need. I made this point on 7/1. All of the players, then, not just Risto, are devalued.

My question, upon review, wasn't worded correctly. The answer is obvious based on the way I worded it. Sorry to affect the collective IQ of the board. What I meant to ask was what is he EXPECTING to do after acquiring all of these players (especially if the Gardiner thing comes to pass)? Sure, we don't know really (do we?), but I'm not picking up a pattern or thread that indicates any strategy here other than "get the ones you can when you can and worry about it later". Sort of like he's building up a big blob of clay to eventually start carving away into some sculpture.

Interesting take. And so, real question, what does he do to pare down the roster? Trade bodies for picks? That seems like the only thing he can do if he can't trade bodies for bodies.

In this instance, Larsson is ideal for the role and it's worth caring that he's slotted into his ideal role. I think this call is easy to make and helps, a little, to piece together the 2 & 3 lines.

Sheary got a look on the top line last year, did he not? I believe that Olofsson is Jack's choice, and what Jack wants, Jack gets. In this instance, I agree. I would do: Reinhart, 2C, Vessey Sheary, Mitts, Erod Zemgus, Larsson, Okposo

Why would the Sabres want that when they already have the "better" version of...that?

Maybe RK is going to completely shake up the hockey world by using 3 D and 2 F for his schemes.

At least you didn't say "your not funny." That'd be upsetting.