nfreeman

Oh, the refs, the refs! They're always out to get us!

OK, so JB and RK have summoned you to an emergency meeting. The NHL trade market is in lockdown, or maybe the Sabres just look so bad that no one is willing to give them anything good for anyone other than Eichel or Dahlin. In any case, JB and RK want your advice as to roster and coaching moves that they can implement immediately, assuming no trade is Main the offing. What do you tell them? Here is my action plan: - Mittlestadt and Hutton share an Uber to Rochester -- I don't even trust them to drive themselves at this point. As @freester has noted, Hutton has fallen off the table. I'd rather see Hamburglar as the #2 goalie -- he can't possibly do any worse than Hutton. And the only reason Mitts hasn't fallen off the table is that he was never on the table. He is a net negative on the ice and is not remotely an NHL player at this point. I don't want to see him again in Buffalo until he is tears up the AHL for 30 games or more. I won't be at all surprised if he never gets there. - The Sabres bring in a new assistant coach in charge of special teams. As I and others have noted, the debacles that are the PP and PK are not talent issues (except for the PK when Hutton is in net) -- they are coaching issues. The rest of the NHL has solved the Sabres' schemes here, and the Sabres haven't figured out how to respond. This is a direct result IMHO of hiring a coach who hasn't been in the NHL in 6 years. It's fixable with the right coaching, but the Sabres don't have the right guy running the STs. Find that guy and get him here right now. - Make Bogo the healthy scratch on D and roll with McCabe-Montour, Risto-Miller and Joker-Scandy as the 6 regular d-men. - When Dahlin is recovered, don't rush him back. Let him play in Rochester for 5-10 games until he looks solid on both ends. - Roll the following forward lines: VO-Eichel-Reino Skinner-Larsson-Mojo Vesey-Asplund-Sheary Erod-Zemgus-KO - Stop playing that stupid "Let me clear my throat" song at home after they score.

Take it down a notch here please.

Of course. My point was simply that ".500" as used by certain troglodytes upthread (i.e. not DeLuca .500) has no meaning whatsoever, whereas DeLuca .500 is a much better indicator of making the playoffs.

This is fine, and I agree that DeLuca .500 is far from scientific (although I think it's much more correlative than "sometimes they do, sometimes they don't"). But saying a 17-17-7 team is a .500 team and therefore they're doing OK, which is what some posters were saying upthread, is completely misplaced IMHO and is not what the actual standings use either.

I agree with the bolded. Nobody is going to trade for him. If Hutton doesn't improve over the course of this season, I expect JB to bring in another goalie for next year. But not before then.

FWIW: after starting off 3-0 with Sheldon Keefe, the Leafs are 1-3 in their last 4.

Just so we are clear: - last year, one out of 16 playoff teams was below DeLuca .500, and the lowest-ranked EC playoff team had 46 wins -- i.e. 4 games over DeLuca .500. - the year before last, zero out of 16 playoff teams was below DeLuca .500, and the lowest-ranked EC playoff team had 42 wins -- i.e. exactly at DeLuca .500. - the year before that, two out of 16 playoff teams was below DeLuca .500, and the lowest-ranked EC playoff team had 40 wins -- i.e. 2 games below DeLuca .500. So, the literalists are correct that it is possible to make the playoffs with a sub-DeLuca .500 record, but only 1 of the last 32 playoff teams (and 3 of the last 48) was below DeLuca .500, and it hasn't happened in the EC in the last 2 years. If you want the Sabres to be a playoff team, you should understand that they almost certainly need to win a few more games than they lose, regardless of OTLs.

OK boys. Time to rally and avenge a disappointing OTL to Cal-gary 8 days ago. After a brutal, disheartening stretch of 9 losses in 10 games, the Sabres have won 3 out of their last 6 (and gotten points in 2 of the 3 losses) and have looked much better overall. Five of the Sabres' next eight games are against teams currently in the playoffs, and the other three opponents are Toronto, Nashville and tonight vs the Flames. Calgary is 3-0-1 in their last 4 despite (or perhaps because of) cashiering their nut case coach. Go Sabres.

Max was the fastest Sabre I’ve seen. Runner-up: Geoff Sanderson.

Except that this is wholly false. They have left the arena having lost the game 15 times, and left the arena having won the game 13 times. As for whether or not DeLuca .500 is relevant -- do you think that teams have generally made the playoffs if they are above BS .500 but below DeLuca .500?

I hate the idea of sending down Asplund to make room for KO, but it's coming.

Negative. They are 13-15, i.e. 2 games below DeLuca .500. If they get to 3 games above DeLuca .500 and can stay there (or better) into February, we'll see quite a bit more buy-in.

I would do that in a heartbeat.

Kane might've gotten Gudas with the butt-end though.

In the "you reap what you sow" category:

It's also a pretty expensive night out for millennials carrying heavy student debt. There aren't any $6 seats in the oranges anymore (and IMHO there should be -- I'd encourage the Sabres to sell all unsold upper-deck seats on game day for $10 to anyone with a student ID ).

Well, this was a horrible exchange that the 2 of you treated the rest of us to. You both can do much better than this.

I too would be on board with getting Hall as a rental in order to make the playoffs. The question is the price. If there's no extension as part of the deal, and no real possibility of him staying, then I would have a hard time giving up a good asset. I can't see giving up Mitts or a #1 for him. Maybe a #2, but that won't be enough for NJ. I suppose it depends what the organization thinks about guys like Borgen and Samuelsson at this point.

So I finally sat down and watched the entire segment. I think it's pretty clear that the situation was as described in alternative (a) in your post. I completely agree with the bolded. It was a crappy situation all the way around. This. JFC. This continues to be just an awful take. What if he'd had cancer or other debilitating illness? Would you have invited him to "suck it" in that situation? He had severe depression and was probably pretty close to jumping off a bridge. Did he need to go through with it to convince you? Or would he have been "a quitter" then too? I agree that the Sabres didn't screw him over, and that the Sabres got screwed by what happened -- although I sure would like to know whether JB did his due diligence on this. If JB knew that Bergy's NTC was invalidated due to the screwup and didn't bother to speak with Bergy about joining the Sabres -- that's a big mistake by JB, especially if, as @Brawndo has posted, JB mis-handled the trade process and was blindsided by TP's refusal to pay the bonus. I do think though that Bergy didn't intentionally screw the Sabres -- I think he was drowning and needed to go home. This is reasonable, but I think a fully-engaged Bergy would've been a good player and a real asset to the team. I guess we'll never know. This is also reasonable, especially if, as his agent claimed to SportsNet, that the agent asked him for the list multiple times before the deadline. However, the agent is still guilty of malpractice IMHO. If Bergy didn't respond to his requests for the list, the agent should've just re-submitted the prior year's list -- not blown it off entirely. Yes -- I don't agree with @PASabreFan here at all. He doesn't owe anyone a full-color description of how depressed he was. A media outlet in another country asked for an interview, and he granted it, probably because the NHL did him a lot of good in his life. He seemed to answer their questions pretty candidly and he probably gave his father, coach, teammates, etc. the go-ahead to do the same. He certainly didn't hide the fact that he was severely depressed and everyone was worried about him. This, and a few related items about how exactly the trade happened, are the big unanswered questions here.

I think Sheary has good speed and a pretty good hockey IQ, but lousy hands and not much strength on the puck. If he's not a winger on an elite center's line, he's not going to sniff 20 goals again. I also don't expect him to get another NHL contract for more than 2 years or more than $2MM per year. Vesey's feet aren't as quick as Sheary's, but his overall speed is pretty good, as is his hockey IQ, and his hands and his strength on the puck are much better than Sheary's. If the Sabres keep one of the 2 of them next year, I'd vote for Vesey.

There were plenty statements at the time indicating, without needing to read very far between the lines, that he was in a very bad place mentally and his loved ones were pretty concerned about him. I think his decision to walk away from a huge percentage of his lifetime earnings says a lot about his level of desperation and unhappiness. I agree that Lehner's openness about his condition was admirable, but I don't hold it against Berglund (or anyone else) for not wanting to be that public about his own struggle.

The rule is that in order to overturn the call on the ice, the video must be clear and indisputable, right? If so, then not overturning the call was the correct outcome, even though it most likely was in. in any case, that call was not the reason for the loss.

Take it easy please.

That was a great hockey game. Hutton did make some nice saves but both goals he allowed were lousy plays by him. It’s becoming increasingly clear that he’s not a #1. I wanted Jack and Skinner to start OT. Skinner didn’t get the first or 2nd shift, and by the end of the 2nd it was too late. I am starting to think the ST problems indicate a coaching issue. The effort and overall level of play lately are nevertheless pretty encouraging. Go Sabres.