nfreeman

If Calgary is ready to trade Hamilton, that means there are 2 franchises that have gotten a close look at him and decided to move on. He's got 3 more years after this one at $5.75MM per year. Buyer beware.

Good post and layout of the important facts. However, I think there is NFW that Kane is exposed, and frankly it is close to NFW that he is traded (mostly because the Sabres would get pennies on the dollar). I think it's reasonably likely that they expose Ennis and Zemgus, and that they protect Foligno before protecting those 2. Carrier could go either way depending on performance.

The move also bought them some optionality -- i.e. it lets them evaluate Bogo and Kulikov for 70% of this season -- and allows them, if they are so inclined at the time, to choose to extend Kulikov before the deadline and expose Bogo instead of Kulikov.

I never heard of Fedun before he was called up but I must say that I like what I see so far. Not a physical player, to be sure, but he seems to have a solid hockey IQ, is a good skater and has surprisingly good puck skills -- he has a good handle and is a good passer. He got just under 2 min on the power play last night -- 2nd-most on the team among the D. He's played 6 games for the Sabres, averaging a little under 16 min per game, and has 4 assists. He's 28 and only played in 12 NHL games before this season. He played 4 years at Princeton (1st-team all-conference as a senior, 2nd-team as a junior), graduated in 2011, was not drafted, joined the Edmonton organization and, in his first preseason, suffered a bad broken leg in a preseason game on a race to the end boards to preserve an icing call -- which caused him to miss the entire 2011-12 season. He then spent the next 2 years with Edmonton's AHL affiliate (plus 4 NHL games), then the following season with SJ's AHL affiliate (plus 7 NHL games), then last year with Vancouver's AHL affiliate (with 1 NHL game). He's 6'1", 200 lbs, with (apparently) a Ukrainian father and a Canadian mom. He's seized Casey Nelson's spot and it seems he intends to keep it. Good for him.

Well, he looked pretty good, innit? Plan the parade!

I'm fine with continuing to look for a QB, and for that matter I'm fine with drafting a QB in the first round every year until they come up with a good one, but I am definitely not fine with cutting TT loose after this year without having secured a very good QB to take his place. (And I'm not sure I'd want Romo -- he's a good QB but it seems like he absorbs a pretty significant injury every year now.) Bottom line is that Brady or Brees or Wilson isn't falling into their laps this offseason (and it's worth noting that Brees and Wilson, like most QBs, improved substantially with a couple of years of experience). If this year's team had had Sammy and the fat underachieving NT for 75% of the games, a bigger and better #2 WR, and a D that didn't underachieve so grievously, they'd be in the playoffs.

I object to the first paragraph. We can't possibly know this after 20ish NFL starts. What we do know is: - he took a terrible franchise to 8-8 in his first year -- which would've been 9-7 if EJ hadn't pooped the bed vs Jax. - he'll probably get them to 9-7 this year without his best WR for most of the year and with a bunch of injuries to his other WRs (who comprise a pretty mediocre group anyway). - he'll also have lost his best player on O in McCoy for a chunk of the season, plus his RT. - he's had quite a few stretches of terrific play, including on MNF against a very good team in Seattle. - he doesn't turn it over or get sacked. - speaking of which: he doesn't get sacked because he's impossible to sack BECAUSE HE RUNS LIKE MICHAEL FREAKING VICK. I don't want anyone else.

TT's TD run yesterday was fantastic. Just give him a bit more experience and some NFL-quality receivers who aren't in and out with injuries all the time and he will deliver. He's the guy.

I'm just glad to be reminded that we have Pu in our pipeline.

Completely agree. Do you think the public school system works well?

I think it's important to remember that charter schools (which are public schools) and private schools are almost always nonprofit organizations. The key difference is that the teachers and administrators are generally not unionized or part of the public education bureaucracy. I agree that charter schools are not a panacea. But clearly the current system is deeply flawed. Something new is needed.

Well, do you not think the public education system in this country is in dire need of reform?

Animal House and the first Matrix are absolutely required.

ZFG.

But can he dangle?

Won't moving Okposo to D impair the Sabres' ability to reach their historic 1 goal per game average offensive output?

I don't want the Sabres to trade Kane unless they get a really good offensive player coming back. Good to see ya Rickshaw and nice post!

I thought those were just rumors about Sotomayor. Learn something new every day!

Not fair! Everyone else gets to make the blueprint joke!

#blueprint.

Since people seem to be so sure he's a racist -- and one poster was sure he was a "self-professed" racist, I would expect to find writings or speech by him demonstrating racism. Do you have links for the bolded items?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2016/11/10/im-a-muslim-a-woman-and-an-immigrant-i-voted-for-trump/?postshare=411479140337679&tid=ss_fb

Well, he could propose this, but Congress would have to pass the actual legislation.

If this is all there is, then there isn't anything.

Hank -- you keep asking this question. To me, the obvious answer is that dirtbags shouldn't be in the president's inner circle. That group should be made up of men and women with honorable character. Do you have any facts about Bannon? If you do, please post them. I'm not interested in getting into a back-and-forth about Hillary right now, but suffice it to say that there is a mountain of factual evidence against her that dwarfs the evidence against OJ.