nfreeman

Yessssss!!! Now please release X.Benedict and DeLuca67 from the dungeon so they can start posting again too.

Merged in a desperate attempt to confine the SDS (Sobotka Derangement Syndrom) to a single thread before it consumes all of us.

Before he's played a single regular-season game for the Sabres? No, sir, you may not. But feel free to do so in November.

My reasons for optimism: - I like RK, and I believe that the Sabres have enough talent that what is now holding them back is almost entirely between the ears. The right coach can IMHO instill the necessary level of focus/confidence/intensity/buy-in/consistency/esprit de corps, in which the Sabres have been sadly lacking, and I think RK is very likely the man for the job. - Quite a few hockey people seem to respect RK too. - Mike Bales, the new goalie coach, had very good success in Pittsburgh and Carolina. Goaltending is the biggest area in need of improvement and IMHO both Hutton and Ullmark are capable of at least mid-tier performance. Between Bales, RK and an improved D group, the goalies will get what they need and will improve materially over last year's poor 2nd half. - The D will be much improved in both personnel and coaching. The Kid is a year older and stronger, and even if he's not ready for Norris contention, he will be more than a little better than last year, when he was pretty GD good. Add Miller, Montour, Joker, a more experienced Pilut, a ticked-off and better-rested Risto with something to prove, a better depth guy in Gilmour and better D coaching from RK, plus more confidence arising from better goaltending, and this unit will be quite strong. - The additions of VO and MoJo into the top 6 give the Sabres a much improved 2nd line, and dropping Mitts and adding Vesey to the 3rd line could result in a much improved 3rd line as well (a low bar to clear, to be sure). I am reasonably confident that TT will force his way into the #2 RW or #3 RW slot by New Year's, which will also help scoring depth. - I think The top PP of Eichel, Reino, Skinner, VO and Dahlin will be very strong. - Before Eichel got concussed last year, he was emerging as a monster. If he stays healthy, with Reino in a contract year on one wing and the FNG sniper on the other, there is a good chance that he forces his way into true elite status. If nothing else this will be entertaining to watch. So -- there is good reason for optimism regarding better coaching, goaltending, defense, scoring depth, power play and top gun production. Go Sabres.

I have been happy with the HD quality on Fios. Also, as @IKnowPhysics points out, the subscription to Center Ice on Fios includes nhl.tv, so you can watch the games online or on a roku or similar device if you are away from home (same for the NBA package if you are so inclined). This is a great perk.

JB is 100% accountable for the results on the ice. If they stink again this year, I will be fine with firing him, although if they show real improvement that doesn’t get into the playoffs I will probably be against it Sheary had 2 5-on-5 goals and 1 ENG in a 46-game stretch between Nov 10 and the end of February. That is a terrible season, regardless of whether he added some numbers during garbage time.

I don’t dispute that Vlad was terrible last year. I just think that Sheary was pretty bad for most of the year too, and that the difference between the 2 is not significant—and certainly not substantial enough to justify the anguish around here regarding playing one vs the other on line 2. As for whether JB should’ve brought in another good forward — I know I’d be happier right now if he had traded Risto for, say, Ehlers. But I don’t think that caliber of player was available for Risto, and I wouldn’t have been happy if he had traded Risto or other valuable assets for a lesser return. A good FA forward on a good contact (like Mojo)? Sure, but that guy has to be available and willing to come here.

I think Sheary last year was at or below replacement level. Not materially better than Sobotka.

I don't think the spread between Sobotka and Sheary will be even close to an important factor in how well or badly the Sabres do. Again, it's not like we're playing Sobotka over a good RW.

Oh, the refs, the refs! Any data to support this assertion? (Just kidding -- I know the answer.)

While you're right that it was indeed the tallest dwarf, they were still 3rd-worst in the conference that year. It was much more of an insignificant blip than any kind of indicator of an effective strategy. So -- is this the last crappy season that it will take for you to admit it was a mistake? In any case, the tank did not deliver a winning team, or even a "generational" player, so it's hard to see how it did what it was supposed to do.

You've agreed that after a certain number of additional crappy seasons, you will admit that it was a mistake, right? Is this the last one?

Negative. The most obvious one -- and the stupidest, and the most destructive, on several orders of magnitude -- rhymes with "skank." Moreover, there have been many other moves this decade that were materially worse than starting this season with Sobotka as #2 RW, including, just off the top of my head: - Keeping Darcy - Leino - Rolston - Trading a #1 for Lehner - Trading McNabb and 2 second-rounders for Fasching - Nylander - Grigorenko - Trading ROR for a pupu platter - Relying on Mitts last year - Relying on Hutton/Ullmark last year and this year

God bless them.

Well, I think decisions about lower-order items like Sobotka's playing time (14 min per game last year) vs ERod or whoever else might've replaced Sobotka played a small role in their suckitude, but were dwarfed by much more important factors like coaching, goaltending, lousy franchise-wide talent level, tank hangover, etc. I think the bolded needs to include the concept of "relative to the alternatives." Playing Sobotka over ERod isn't like playing him over Mike Bossy. I'm nowhere near as optimistic as @darksabre about them having a good October, but I am pretty confident that if they have a lousy October, it won't be due to Sobotka playing over ERod.

The amount of sturm und drang around here about Sobotka is close to unprecedented. It's almost 100% likely he either won't start on the 2nd line, or that if he does the experiment will be over by the end of game 3. Millions of bytes of data on this board will have given their lives for nothing.

I agree that the piece is excellent and a must-read. LeBrun is a very good national NHL writer IMHO. I found his strong endorsement of JB and RK pretty interesting.

I suppose enough winning could, but they are so far away from that stage that, like most teams, they can’t ignore the “great people right” factor. Fair enough, but we are talking about starting the season with #12 - #13 forward X instead of #12 - #13 forward Y. There are about a million mistakes teams can make, and that this team has made, that are bigger contributors to the bad outcome.

Just a guess, but I think he'd rather give it another shot this year under RK than go LTIR. But I think the most likely outcome is that he doesn't produce much this year, gets healthy-scratched regularly by the 2nd half of the season and then they take the course you suggest next season.

I'm with @pi2000 on this -- sending KO down with 4 years left on his deal would look like they are treating him shabbily and would hurt their ability to sign FAs in the future.

This is fair. After he got knocked out, though, I think the Bills had 3 or 4 offensive possessions that Barkley wasn't able to do anything with -- and I sure would've liked to have seen whether Allen could've rallied the way he did vs the Jets and Bengals.

I agree with most of this, but I think before the Pats game he had shown substantial improvement in the key qualities you mention in the bolded. The Pats game was certainly a step back, but their D makes pretty much every opposing QB look bad.

Who are the 4 centers better than Mitts?

Allen would do well to heed Brady's advice, and the Bills would do well to make GD sure that Allen understands that he needs to do so. Scrambling is fine, but when he gets into traffic he needs to slide, not put his head down and try to bull in for the first down. For that matter, I didn't like the coaches exposing him to a big shot on the QB sneak for the TD -- he caught a big shot on that one too.

My 2 cents: - Nelson is JAG who is an acceptable depth player in case of injury but not good enough to dress every night. His failure to jump in when Eichel got cheap-shotted last year continues to be completely unacceptable. I wouldn't mind keeping him in Rochester in case of emergency, but I won't care if someone claims him. - Gilmour and Joker both have much higher upside than Nelson (and are also both really fast -- maybe the 2 fastest defensemen they have). It will be good for Joker to have to compete with Gilmour for PT, and for not being the one to get sent down when Montour, Bogo or Pilut returns. - TT did look better in preseason, but I am fine with making him prove it in Rochester for the first month or so of the season and not bringing him up until he's ready to explode. - I didn't really expect them to send Mitts down, but was kinda hoping they would. I think he needs it. - I do not expect them to waive KO this year. - I think there is a good chance that @dudacek is right about them keeping a spot open in order to claim someone from waivers.