nfreeman

For the record: the Sabres have 2 dudes named Casey -- and I thought Nelson looked pretty good last night. With Hunwick out, it seems pretty likely that Nelson will be in the top 6 on opening night.

I certainly agree with the importance of having watchdogs, but sizzle is right about bias and I think there are tons of non-newspaper watchdogs that have sprung up in the last decade or so.

What a great article and what a terrifying experience that must've been for KO and his wife.

I thought they were pretty good before Reino arrived, but he absolutely elevated them to a potentially great line.

But they looked terrific the other night vs Toronto.

2 good posts here. I think Casey will have a good season overall, but will have some rough spots. Dahlin will have a few hiccups but will be terrific and much more solid and consistent than Casey. When Casey is in a rut, Weave's concern about 2ndary scoring will likely be borne out, but there's reason for general optimism that a few of Casey, Thompson, KO, Sheary, Sobotka, Berglund and perhaps Asplund and/or Nylander will be contributing at any given time. And as I posted elsewhere, if the top line is Skinner-Eichel-Reino, that line could be very dangerous pretty much every shift. I agree that the D will get hemmed in and look overmatched from time to time. So far I like what I see from Hutton, who is mission-critical. Hell yes I'm optimistic.

Awesome but never again please.

Allen looks pretty good, innit? I think the sun was in McCloud's eyes on that deep sideline drop just now. NP -- Allen scrambles for the first. Pretty close to getting out of this half with a 27-0 lead!!

It was great to see Reino play that well. When Howie moved him up to the top line with Eichel and Skinner, I thought that line was extremely dangerous and created a ton of chances. If they keep those 3 as the #1 line, it will create questions as to whether there will be enough 2ndary scoring -- and a bunch of guys will have opportunities to provide that scoring. Casey, KO, ERod, Thompson, Nylander, Asplund, CJ, Berglund, Sobotka -- all are skilled enough to seize a role and produce. Howie will need to figure it out. Marleau definitely showed Dahlin a couple of times that he ain't in Kansas anymore. But I didn't think Dahlin looked overwhelmed. And I want Dahlin on PP1 instead of Risto. Hutton looked pretty good, although the GWG was a disturbing flashback to Lehner. Overall that was a pretty exciting game. It's a bit sobering to recall that in the regular season, Toronto will also have Tavares, Marner, Nylander and Kadri.

Also: Hickey, the defenseman they got for Fasching, really looked out of his depth.

FWIW, I thought Pilut was kinda shaky, but better than Guhle and Nelson, both of whom looked very much not ready for prime time. This brings me back to my preference for Hunwick at #6 and Beaulieu at #7. Of course, if Hunwick's not ready for the opener, I could be convinced to jump Pilut to #6 and keep Beaulieu at #7. But I'd rather have Pilut join Guhle and Nelson in Rochester. I could also be convinced pretty easily that any or all of Thompson, CJ and Nylander should be in the opening night lineup.

Awesome.

I think it's also worth noting that the Eichel extension occurred during the off-season when JBott's was first hired -- i.e. before he'd had a chance to watch the team from the inside -- while his decision on Reino occurred after a full season of play.

For those of us of a certain age: Q: What did Jerry Garcia say when he stopped taking drugs? A: "This music sucks!"

Eeeeeeeeeessssshhhh.

I too remember seeing that interview and being quite impressed with how he handled it. He was respectful but still disagreed with the questioner when needed. I also thought he answered the questions in a manner that seemed pretty honest — ie I felt like I was getting his real thoughts, not a series of meaningless cliches.

More than just interesting, IMHO. Even-strength productivity is important, and Reino has not been a particularly good ES player. He'll need to improve if he wants to cash in on his next contract. So -- you've spoken to enough pro sports owners to learn about their individual moral beliefs? In these conversations, has any of them expressed the sentiment that they are entitled to whip players for breaking the rules, to cripple them if they try to leave or to rape their daughters? Maybe it isn't necessary to use maximalist language -- or, more importantly, to default to maximalist ways of "thinking" -- when describing a given situation. Employer-employee relations aren't the same as owner-slave relations. The real world is quite different from the way it's depicted in an undergrad gender studies/racial studies curriculum.

What?

I'm hoping all 3 of those guys prove to be worth keeping. There is a good likelihood this will be the case.

I haven't seen enough from Casey yet to be very confident, but I think JBott expects Casey's 1st 2 years to be better than Reino's 1st 2 years and probably Reino's last 2 years. If not, though, I'm very much on board with a similar bridge for Casey. Interesting point on the 2nd contracts for defensemen. Both of these are also interesting points.

Do you give him the food dry, or mix it with any liquid? We give our dog dry food but frequently mixed with table scraps. My in-laws insist that dogs like it better mixed with liquid though. also: happy birthday Taro!

I think it’s a good point. Liger is right that Dahlin’s contract won’t take effect until the following year, but it will still be a big factor in their planning — especially if all 3 of them prove worthy of fat long-term deals.

And my glorious victory is sealed! This is both fair and a very good deal for the Sabres. It's a modest cap hit, they didn't reward Reino for a lousy season in his contract year, and they didn't get married to someone who might not be worth it. From Reino's perspective, he knows that if he has 2 strong years -- which he now is highly incentivized for -- he will get a huge contract next time. Good call here. Although as an occasional grammar cop, your spelling of "boku" is questionable.

I only saw the 2nd half of the game and the postgame, but I liked what I saw. Especially Dahlin. a few other notes: - very sweet finish by Eichel - I thought KO looked pretty lively. I will predict that he’ll get his timing back and have a pretty decent year, and will be ahead of Pommer in the rotation - nice hip check by McCabe plastering one of the pens’ forwards into the boards on an attempted rush - Marty spoke highly of Hutton’s puck retrieval and passing shills in the postgame, and said that it can be a big factor in taking possession in the D zone and exiting. - solid 8 pages on the GDT for a preseason game gents.

No thank you.