...

Glad to see the Sabres making a game of it. Is Johansson supposed to be better than this or is what we see what we get?

I like Lazar. Hutton finally gets a win. This game really doesn't mean anything.

I'm not buying any of this.

OMG. Celebrating a tie.

I like this thread.

Yup, can't stand the guy, but he makes for some great memes and gifs.

I think that theory sits just underneath the "Kim Pegula is adamant she knows what she's doing" theory in the hierarchy of Pegula operational theories.

Agreed. It's a shame @nfreeman has to make that call, because I totally get why he HAS to. My thought on it, though, is that by pandering to those triggered by the mere image of a political figure, used in a non-political context, you actually legitimize the triggering. That kind of reaction is a choice. Instead, why not hold the triggered person responsible? Anyone freaking out over something innocuous and going on a political tirade should just have their post removed and get a 24 hour ban. "No politics" means no freaking politics, not no funny gifs.

Every coach since Lindy has been saying the same exact thing. You could literally take post-game quotes from Nolan, Rolston, Bylsma, Housley and Krueger, and reassign them randomly to one of those guys and the message wouldn't change. I'm not excusing RK, but at the same time we have to consider the patterns that have been well-established. Seems by December whatever effect the coach(es) had starts to wear off and the rest of the season becomes a struggle.

I don't understand this response.

I'll go ahead and agree with @LGR4GM that we don't need players pretending to be that kind of player. It never works out. We've seen that kind of player...a lot...here. They suck and it means nothing. I think the tension in this thread is that everyone is agreeing to a concept but are coming at the concept from different angles. None of our players is the kind of player who approaches an ideal combination of skill and toughness. The kind of which is fun to watch and contributes to wins. We've sussed out this trope before - we need players who can play a heavy game. Also, our team does suck. We can't even stick it to other teams on the scoreboard - we can't intimidate other teams through our skill, so that someone like Kadri is told by the coach to skip the BS on the ice and focus, because the opposing team is really good and will make you look like a fool. Our team doesn't even have that going for it. So we have a team that STILL struggles with fundamentals, who can't play at a high enough level where they can lay in some physical play, and are always miserable on the ice, susceptible to taunting rather that able to both enjoy: A) winning and B) being the ones who taunt.

Clearly, this is exactly what this thread is. It's definitely not about the players not showing some passion and engagement out on the ice, some loyalty to the team, and being able to bring the heavy when needed, because they struggle bringing the fundamentals. It's not about any of that at all. It's totally about celebrating Kadri.

We've been there for a while. Glad you caught up!

Well, the Sabres are mentally weak as *****, trash-talk or not. It'd be nice if we had a dude to physically show the likes of Kadri what "shut the hell up" means. Maybe that'd be one step closer to the Sabres, collectively, NOT being weak as ***** mentally.

You think that won't stop Them™ from using "plagued by injuries" as an excuse? I beg to differ.

Dang.

FWIW, the majority has always been stupid and pliable. That's not a new thing. What changes is the distribution of common sense among them, which, IMHO, is dictated by how "advanced" the society is. So, in first world countries today survival does not require an abundance of common sense and therefore it's not necessary to teach/transfer what's best described here as "common sense" to make up for whatever is lacking innately. The less common sense, the more easily fooled people are. So, what we've learned so far in this universe's present timeline is that the more advanced the society, the more likely it is to be populated by tools. If they weren't populated by tools, then they wouldn't fail, would they (he asks rhetorically)?

Botterill makes Rob Ray sound like a Shakespearean actor.

It's a convenient way for ROR to distance himself from the narrative yet get his side out at the same time. Nothing awkward about it at all, especially when players are traditionally supposed to keep "locker room stuff" in the locker room.

There's so much in this here part. First of all, ROR did himself a favour, obviously, by simply speaking the truth. It's funny how someone who speaks the truth is seen as a problem and ostracized. This translates into much larger and important things which, unfortunately for many different reasons, can not be hashed out here. It's interesting to note the narrative that built up around this period about ROR and about the culture of the Sabres. I got sucked into it. It turns out ROR was right all along. This is a huge lesson to be learned by all of us. Again, not just for the Sabres and hockey, but to be applied broadly in our lives if we're at all smart and wise.

I didn't ask if it was the ideal, I asked if it were done. Interesting that was your response, though.

Are cases not built on minutiae?

Aren't you a lawyer?