...

Or they are hoping Hutton gets taken away by Seattle.

I bet it can seem that way playing top line minutes for the first time.

Eagles with outspread wings look similar no matter how they're used. Usage in emblems goes back millennia. Why go here?

Oh look, Zack Kassian.

OMG. Here we are: the case for Tank III.

"That's why I love this sport, you got to be 100% man to play this..." Haha! Love it. Snoop gets it.

I know what his point is. Stats are a tool, that's it. Just like a ruler for woodworkers. You can measure at 10 3/32" for your cut, but that doesn't mean your final cut will measure exactly 10 3/32". For curves or spheres, a lot of times you eyeball the final arcs. Artists set up perspective lines and grids to pencil in the scene before applying paint. Doesn't mean that they have to stay on those lines, or that staying on those lines looks correct in the end. If the Sabres organization set goals, other than "winning", they're metric based. The stats team is there to advise, whether anyone likes what they say or not.

Statistics are "a thing" for a reason. They're at work in pretty much all facets of modern life. Hockey is no different. The objective, when your stats are not where you want them to be, is to consistently deviate from the mean on the positive side, which then redefines the mean.

See my last post in today's game thread.

If this were a game against Montreal, Ottawa, Florida, etc., I could understand all of the hullabaloo. TB is 10 points above the second highest team in the league, 20 points above the Sabres. The Sabres are now 14th in the league. There is a lot of hockey left to play. The stats guys are probably chomping at the bit to tell us all that they told us so. "Deviation from the mean." "They are due for a correction." "They were playing well above their statistical average." No doubt JBot and Phil had been briefed by their stat team a long while ago that what we've been seeing is bound to happen. The only thing they couldn't predict was the grouping of the events. So we get the 10 game winning streak. Now we've seeing 20 games of below average play. The question is, what is their real mean? Does anyone have a JBot on the record before the season began saying where he expects this team to end up at the end of this season? Are they expecting in the 20's league-wide? In the lower teens? I think all along the organization wasn't expecting to be in the wildcard hunt. Being in that hunt, or being in the playoffs, throws a monkey-wrench in the grand plan. I'm going to tell all of you right now the indicator of where this team is at: if Skinner signs. If Skinner signs then he's seen the stats and the plan and he thinks everything is good. Then everything that is happening/has happened, was according to plan, maybe even exceeding their internal goals. And the rest of the plan will put them in the playoffs - just not this year.

Just got home. Sounds like I missed a real doozy.

Dearest Mother Anne, It is with a heavy heart that I write, dear mother. Only today did I return to my command and lead the boys into battle against the insufferable Carolinian scourge. We did not fair well. Not at all. The question I ask myself now, mother, is whether I was fit to return. Lieutenant Skinner fought bravely, again, by my side. He is indispensable. However, General Housley's orders were to give Lieutenant Reinhart his own squad and support our forward thrust. In his place I was to put Private Thompson, who, despite his valiant efforts, in my humblest opinion is not fit, yet, to survive the vanguard of our attack. However, I did not question the order, as I see now that I should have. Thankfully, the entire company survived the battle, but we are physically and spiritually wounded. I blame myself. I could not muster the strength of will to rouse my men, mother. They were left to their own persuasion and, as I have wrote many times in the past, that is simply not enough. Were it better I remained off the field so the men could be inspired by my absence? Do I credit myself too much? It is difficult to say. Poor Thompson, I had to demote him. It was purely for his safety, and for the benefit of the company. In time he will appreciate my decision. One day, surely mother, Thompson might fight by my side again. He is courageous in the face of certain doom. What's worse, our next battle is against the war's most contentious foe. Indeed, Julius Caesar himself could not command a better force, let alone Robert E. Lee. The Floridians are as fierce an assemblage of soldiers as the League has seen and, truly, take no prisoners. Upon the next day after today's doubtless defeat we are to face this group. Mother, it is needless to say my outlook is grim. I don't expect this to be the last letter I pen for you, but in the event you hear from me no more, have faith I was devoted to the cause until the very end. Forever and always your son, Jack

Trotz wasn't good enough to get the money he wanted from Washington. Quenneville was fired straight up. Washington is still good. Chicago is not. What's the difference? How does Bylsma have a Cup ring? I think we've seen what bad coaching looks like around here, and Phil doesn't qualify as a bad coach in my opinion. This roster has way too many holes still, coupled with a lot of youngsters.

Right. And the Allies should have went ahead with Operation Unthinkable. Is the world over that? Surely it's more significant than a player trade in hockey.

They didn't come to play. Disappointed in the Thompson experiment, but I still think it was worth a try.

Dude lost track of the puck. He's supposed to know where it is.

EROD THE NET. THE NET.

Pull Hutton. He's not focused.

Okay, say what you want about Dahlin, but that is just tough luck.

Dunleavy...

If anything, the fans voting him into the All-Star game may have softened him up.

Let's not forget that Thompson is also very fast when skating in straight. Not so deft on his feet in the corners, but he has gotten better along the walls and behind the net. So long as he can envision the play ahead of time, I can see him feeding ***** the walls in the D zone and catching up in the offensive zone to make the play. I think he has that capability now, again, so long as he doesn't panic and can "see" the play ahead of time. The thing is, like anything new, he'll have to be exposed to those situations to get comfortable with them and get rid of the panic. What we're looking for is that, the comfort in those situations, and the overall physical and mental ability to perform competently in those situations.

You're not the first person to raise this as a concern. I don't understand it. Between Phil, Eichel and Skinner pointing it out and going over it on the ice, and the assistant coaches sitting Tage down in front of video, showing them "tape" of Samson making his breakout passes, I think it'd be pretty clear to him what he needs to do. I don't think Thompson is unteachable, or unwilling to learn new roles Does he lack the skill to make the breakout pass, or understand it? I think his development so far shows us a kid who is worth the time and effort to try and get him there. On Mitts, if they're giving Samson his own line, I'd prefer to see he and Mitts together. Not sure I am confident in Sheary as the other wing, but that's what he's there for. He'd be that line's equivalent of Skinner.

He didn't floss the night before? Public flatulence? Referred to a lady as "ma'am"?

Youse guys must look like this green guy.