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While I tend to agree with your POV on this topic, I think the point you're making regarding the superstar depends, a lot, on the superstar themselves. For example, if the dude is a team player, and is humble, I think having that kind of superstar far outweighs the superstar status. This is where the player interviews are incredibly important, and we'll probably have a better handle by then on whether or not Murray's character judgment is solid (or not). If Murray is capable of getting the right kind of character in here, and if he takes a potential superstar, I would expect that person NOT to be an Ovechkin or Crosby type. Kane and Toews are examples of the "right" kind of superstar. On the flip side, what if Murray determines through interviews McDavid could be caustic in the locker room? IMHO, he should pass.

That's what we do, now. We'll put the money from our mini-pack into only a couple of games, but we'll get 200 level seats and do it up. My wife loves going to games that way.

You want to target the 200 level then. Basically any seat will be fine, but, obviously, if you have the chance, grab a pair that is not on the ends or in the corners. The entire 200 is the "club level", you have amenities the other two levels don't have. I can't recall if that gets you into the Harbor Club. I let my mini pack lapse before last season.

Haha! What if Murray, upon winning the no. 1 for the 2015, decides to announce he's willing to trade up for a couple of picks in the 2-6 range?

I would advise anywhere in the 200's so your missus (wife, gf, other?) is cozy and taken care of. I also think they're great seats. On the hub, you're likely to get a good price closer to game-time. At worst, if you wait until the afternoon of the game, you're likely to find SOMETHING cheap. My second choice would be the loge - first two rows of the 300's, and third, the last rows of the 100's. Your missus (wife, gf, other?) will just hate the glass if she's not into it.

"Not possible," you say. "I don't fall into that category of manipulation", you tell yourself. "They" study this sh*t all of the time. And have been studying mass manipulation since someone figured out how stats and people correlate. Facebook did it to you: http://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything-you-need-to-know-about-facebooks-manipulative-experiment/ Not only do they target ads all over the internet, the news, and the content, is targeted and manipulated. This conversation over "a religious belief" is nonsense, distracting, and exactly what the government wants. If drugs were a means of distracting and manipulating you, there wouldn't be a drug schedule. Radio, then TV, were manna for the establishment, the internet, however, has turned the government into its own god. They say, most of you do. Don't like it? Here, let's make you feel better about it... Still not conforming? Here, let's make sure life is difficult so you don't have time to think about it, or do anything about it, you just need to survive and make sure your children are taken care of. Artificially high fuel prices, bogus environmental scares, wrecked economy, and, oh yeah, if that ain't bad enough, we're only going to educate you enough so you think you're smart, but you really only know how to access the information we want you to have, so you think you found something out for yourself, and you'll defend this "self-revelation" harder than you would something obviously spoon fed.

Woah. That's a bit surprising. Anyway, yes, an abundance of submarine sandwich pleasures await you here in the greater WNY area. If Wegman's was a treat, you owe yourself a weekend trip.

What's the difference between a so-called religious belief and a socio/political ideal? Nothing. You don't need to be "religious" to have an objection to something, anything. Abortion on demand? It's not strictly a religious oriented discussion, but it just happens to be presented that way. Contraception? Man vs. woman, Christians/Muslims vs. the non-secular. Rich vs. poor. Western governments, actually all governments, position these issues in such a way to maximize the debate. It's not good enough to have a rationale, reasonable conversation over the details and points of disagreement. We are not supposed to find consensus as sophisticated people. No, we must go at each other like dogs in a pit. "They" want us to think in terms of "us versus them" - the Christians suck because they believe in a God that science says doesn't exist, therefore the Christians must be throwback idiots and every conclusion they come to is thusly discredited. It's Toronto's fans versus Montreal's fans. Meanwhile, the government benefit from the foment it stirs up because the disputing parties look at it as the mediator and, ultimately, the final authority, because someone has to be that figure in our lives. The government almost always gets what it wants because it will support the side it favors through various, subtle, means: bills or laws that tip the balance, oppression of the opposition, rhetoric, etc. This is all it is. This stupid issue means nothing otherwise. If it worked in the favor of the government to outlaw abortions, to defund all contraception, to ban gay marriage, the government would do it. We, the sheep, play our role. Baaaaahhh.

If you're in north Jersey, aren't there just a staggering number of sub shops available for you to explore?

Who feeds it and cleans the litter?

The Sun is not beholden to the whimsy of the Moon. Love is not beholden to the blindness of hate. Chocolate is not beholden to the existence of peanut butter.

This took two dogs for me to accept. I nearly forgot this pearl of wisdom: The President is not beholden to the laws of the Constitution. Once you wrap your head around that, I guess anything is possible.

Well, sure, unless you believe the customer should not be beholden to the inclinations of the restaurant. If you do, then you expect all subs to taste like Wegman's subs, which would really, really suck.

The diner is not beholden to the preferences of the chef. The listener is not beholden to the tastes of the musician. The politician is not beholden to the ideals of the electorate. The Earth is not beholden to the science of man. Dogs are not beholden to the wishes of their owner (...not to dig holes in the backyard).

Uh, no. You haven't had a sub here in WNY for quite some time, I take it. Wegman's subs are to, oh, Mike's Big Mouth subs, as Miller High Life is to Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold.

So, when everyone in WNY is enjoying the incredibly marvelous summer weather we've been having for the past, goodness, near month if not longer, Bucky is sitting at a desk somewhere thinking of ways to take a shot at the Sabres. Why does he think a story like that has any merit? Yes, we can and will discuss the ramifications of the Pegula ownership here, but, outside of our little, cloistered Sabres community, who will give a s#*t about this? Why, Bucky, why?

I dated a girl who looks exactly like Mrs. Ott when I was in college. Total wrong side of the tracks mismatch (I was poor, she lived with her filthy rich parents). I didn't like that her hair smelled like hot hair product all of the time. She was nice, all the same. Now that I think of it, I dated several little Italian-like girls from wealthy families back in the day. One was (and I presume still is) a Jew, but had the same just north of petite body thing going on. That type is shapely, like Ott's wife, they're not waif-ish with only a suggestion of curves.

OMG, when all three lanes of a highway are packed and traffic is moving at 30mph, do you REALLY think tail-gating someone is going to make traffic move faster for you?

The AC at the reception has died and its like 90to degrees out. Bad things happen eventually always. How one responds is the question.

I think im not able to effectivelyy express my sarcasm since I'm presently st a wedding and my wife is trying to get me off the phone.

Im not really serious, don't worry.

You think it might have something to do with the misplaced sense of entitlement, and misguided elitism?

"Armpit of America"? Seriously, I was explaining to my kids on the way here that Canadians are awful people, and their driving is only a symptom of that condition.

Actually, I did when I moved this tangent over to the 14-15 roster thread as per the civil discussion on threads and thread management.

Friends...I haven't even listened to any audio or watched any video from today, but, have we not had perhaps the best week in Sabre-land that we have had in, what, a decade or more? What an exciting and exceptionally interesting past five or so days. Pat Lafontaine whatever, this was as good as or better than anticipated. I will savor it at least until November.