nfreeman

Well, this year's forward group being inferior to that of a 300-goal group isn't really an earthshattering revelation. That was a great freaking team. Thanks again, OSP.

I've been skeptical about Reino's game, but I think it's far too early to tell how he'll do at #3C -- and I think the team will be best served if he can center a good 3rd line. So I'd like Howie to keep this going for at least the 1st quarter of the season, although I would be fine with seeing him with other wingers if the current set doesn't produce.

I liked the speed and determination to mix it up that Bailey showed last night. I will be surprised if DLo is ahead of him in the rotation. I agree that there wasn't much chemistry shown on that line. I need to see more from Reino -- I thought he was pretty much invisible.

Who is the world is talking about the ‘85 Bears or the ‘00 Ravens?

And my invitation to you to GFY still stands!

Perhaps you could’ve determined the facts — or inquired about them — before you concluded, and posted, that I was lying.

You could be right, but I don't think he (or anyone else) locked it before Dec. 2. There is zero reference in any of wjag's posts during that period (i.e. between Nov 8 and Dec 2) to locking it, nor was there any day in which there were no posts in that thread.

No -- but thanks for the accusation of lying as a followup to your prior accusation of bad faith. The thread was locked, as I stated above, on Dec. 2 -- and not before. It was then re-opened for 10 days and then closed again, that time for good.

For the record, the election took place on Nov. 8, and the thread was closed on Dec. 2 -- after an additional 53-odd pages filled with hysterical vitriol. And while YMMV, I'd say the horrendousness achieved a sustained peak during that entire period. As always, though, I appreciate the accusations.

What if Reino at C is all that some here think he is? And what if he uses that hockey brain and those nifty passes to unlock Bailey's potential? What if Pouliot reverts to his very solid previous levels of productivity to start the season, and then Nylander returns from injury, seizes the LW spot on Reino's line and makes like prodigal son Jaime Lannister prior to "this'll help you remember?" That would be a highly compelling 3rd line. It could happen.

Definitely. The injury is kind of a bummer though, as it really impairs IMHO his chances of sticking with the Sabres to start the season. He'll need to fully recover, then tear it up in Rochester for a good chunk of the season.

Indeed. IMHO Reino won't have gotten a fair shot at C if he doesn't get anyone better than a washed-up Pouliot or a never-got-there Bailey (although it's far from clear that those are fair descriptions of those 2 guys).

MattPie -- I'm deeply indebted to you for falling on the brie grenade first. I'll say it: I llike brie too (although I prefer the milder ones to the strong ones). It's great on crackers or in a turkey or RB sandwich.

Interesting. Reino appears to be slotted at #3C, as many here have longed for. I'd guess ERod will, when he returns, compete with Bailey for the RW spot on that line. More broadly, I'd guess that all 4 of the bottom-6 winger spots are pretty fluid (while Reino and Larsson are locks), and available to be won by Bailey, Baptiste, ERod, Nylander, Pouliot, Moulson and Josefson, depending on how well/poorly each of them is playing. Nylander seems like the wild card.

And cheeseburgers!

I'm still ticked off about his moving provolone above (heh) White American.

I am growing weary of repeating this, but again -- it's the time value of assets. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar 4 years from now -- especially (but not solely) if you need it today. I forgot about the 2 2nds -- but really that means it was an even worse trade by XGMTM. If we're allocating the price, I'd say it was more McNabb plus 1 2nd for Fasching, and the other 2nd for DLo. What is the basis for Pysyk being better than McNabb? And I'm not making any grand claims about McNabb. I just think the news that Fasching appears to be behind Baptiste and Bailey on the depth chart (and perhaps Nylander as well) means that he probably won't play much in Buffalo this year, and that made me think about how that trade turned out.

Well, I haven't declared the trade a fail -- I said it looks that way. I completely agree that it's not at all fair to judge Fasching yet. However, my point about the time value of assets remains -- if we get zero out of Fasching for 4 full NHL seasons while McNabb is, say, a 16-min-per-game NHL defenseman, then Fasching needs to become a no-BS top-6, NHL winger in order for the trade to have been a good one for the Sabres. If Fasching becomes a 12 min per game bottom-six forward, then it was a fail for the Sabres.

As someone who thought the Bills would get destroyed yesterday, I'm happy that there is still life in this season and that both McD and TT have shown real promise this year. Next week is probably too big a hill to climb, but there are plenty of beatable teams in the NFL.

OK, but Pysyk was the #5 defenseman on a really bad team last year, and has never played a bigger NHL role than that. McNabb has played a substantially bigger role on a very good team, which shrunk to a smaller role last year after he missed significant time with injury (I think a broken collarbone) and while the team itself was falling apart.

I'm not grumpily stomping my feet, and I believe in being patient with him for at least 2 more years, but his lousy performance in the AHL last year can't be completely dismissed -- and neither can the fact that he was an XGMTM selection, since many of us (or perhaps it's just me) have started to view that as a reason for skepticism. Here's a question for those who are confident about Nylander: what if he stinks in the AHL again this year?

No one is saying that McNabb is a star, but he undeniably is an NHL defenseman who's thus far had a better career than, say, Pysyk. He absolutely would've played plenty of minutes on the Sabres last season and the season before. The point, again, is that so far, the Fasching-McNabb trade looks like another lousy move by XGMTM.

Correct.

My point is that by the end of this season, 4 NHL seasons will have come and gone since the trade -- and during those 4 seasons, the Sabres got zero out of Fasching instead of having a contributing defenseman -- during a period in which they were sorely lacking on D. It's the time value of money/assets view -- i.e. having something today is better than having something of approximately equal value tomorrow. If Fasching turns out to be much better than McNabb, that is great, but if he's roughly equivalent or worse -- then the trade was a failure. Well, McNabb has averaged just under 16 min, just under 19 min and just over 15 min. That is top 4 to top 6 ice time. I'm not "mad" at Fasching. I'm simply pointing out that there's an increasing likelihood that this was another move by GMTM that didn't pan out.

Well, including 2015 in the list of subpar draft classes is certainly #Hammymath, but GA's point is valid: the Sabres haven't drafted well. XGMTM's alleged eye for talent could easily prove to be mythical and befitting of the mediocre organization from which he originated.