...

I guarantee you I thought they were going to be a lot better. I even scoffed at Hoss who said they'd be fighting for last place. In September, I thought they might even push for a wild card slot. In all fairness, though, the tankers at the time were implying the Murray built the team to lose, and by December were saying he did too good of a job and that he even surprised himself. See eleven's narrative; Murray built a team that he thought would be better, but not enough to not be in the lottery. When it was clear the team wasn't even going to meet those meager expectations, he did what any GM would do and went full bore for 30th.

Absolutely. I think the Sabres, for whatever it's worth, far exceeded their end of the "it's not a tank" ruse.

Hmm, if Babcock is the target, but Murray is supposedly a my-way-or-the-highway kind of guy, I see a disconnect here. I don't think Babcock would like being left out of player decisions, but maybe I'm wrong. I think Murray's explanation of "chemistry" is probably more accurate; I can see Nolan and Murray not mixing well, not talking much over beers, but I can see Babcock and Murray having a grand ol' time over beers.

I'll say one, this team has been interesting since Pegula bought them. Hardly a dull moment, even when they were playing dull.

This is what I'm trying to figure out. Did Murray say the player interviews played a role in letting Nolan go?

I'll send you a bill.

"I didn't foresee us as a 30th place team..." ~ Tim Murray. AHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaaaaaa! Aha! Ha.

I'm listening to WGR online.

Right. It says the brackets are locked once the playoffs begin. So, I suppose you can create and edit them up until that point.

In like Flynn.

What's the deadline? I need to find a thinking cap, and then put it on.

Nice to see all of the Canadian teams. That's been missing from the playoffs for a little bit. What do you think, Rangers vs. Blues for the finals?

WTF? That doesn't make sense. Kids these days.

There's no shame! I was doing my best text-impersonation of Rob Ray.

So, what do they call Eichel? Jackie? Jack-Jack? Eichzies? Jackzers?

Meant to point this out as a helpful post, too. I missed that part of the show, so, looking back on it, I think it provides a lot of context as well. Good job. The play was well developed and got off to a mmruuphhph.

In other words, the psycho-crazy Boston hockey fans will be total douches toward the guy for, like, ever. Figures. I feel bad for him now, too.

Thank you. This is the kind of post we need. No frills, no whatevers, just pure info to answer and enlighten.

So, could you, would you, point out the back story on O'Conner in that thread. Please.

Okay, so, after considering this awhile, and, obviously, watching games, I am not convinced Larsson is going to be here. Or Grigorenko, for that matter. I haven't seen Hodgson crack too many of these line-up prognostications, but he's should be out, too. Back to Larsson, this team blew chunks this year, and Larsson was a part of it. If we are to pick the wheat from the chaff, I don't see how Larsson rates as wheat after this season. Frankly, I think Foligno is borderline here, too.

O'Conner? O'Conner? Is it that he's a kid, and shaky, and people feel bad for shaky kids? Or, what...is there more to that story? Hello?

Oh yeah, and if not, what are you gonna do about it?

But he can go into beast mode, no?

Not that I'm trying to be "that guy", mind you. And, again, what is the story with the BU goalie?