nfreeman

Regardless of what happens with the other teams, I'd put the odds of the Bills winning out at zero.

Well, I think what Kane is doing is great, and would be great regardless of whether or not he was footing the bill, but I also think him coming out of pocket $10K or $20K or whatever it is is a bit more selfless and generous than it would be if someone else were footing the bill. Again, not a big deal, but I don't think there's anything wrong with seeing a distinction, and certainly he should get a couple of additional props if he is picking up the tab.

We're getting into the trickeration of small sample size here though. The entire team has improved quite a bit since, say, the 1st 10 games of the season, so CJ's #s will naturally be better. And I'd guess that most goalies have stretches where their SV% varies quite a bit from their averages. Either way, if it were Lehner, I think many would say that he's starting to hit his stride after the long injury/offseason layoff -- i.e. it might be preferable for him to have the same recent improvement that CJ is showing.

It all comes down to what they can get for him, innit?. What if it's a #1 pick and a good prospect? That would undoubtedly be pennies on the dollar if he were under contract, but in this situation, the return can only be measured relative to either (i) getting zero or (ii) getting him for one last playoff run when everyone knows he has one foot out the door. I think if that's the return, they probably have to make the trade.

Well, the bolded isn't really the case as he has a NTC, so he can veto any trade. As for getting him in the offseason: this is possible, but not definite. It seems likely that anyone who trades for him will have at least the inside track on signing him to an extension, and there is a good likelihood that a trade will include a pre-wired extension -- so he wouldn't make it to July 1.

So maybe: Reino-ROR-McGinn Kane-Eichel-Ennis Zemgus-Larsson-Gionta Deslauriers-Legwand-Moulson I sure wish that 2nd line would produce as well on the ice as its potential looks on the screen.

Then don't claim you made the case, especially with airy references to the Winter Classic and "Game Sevens" that don't support it. As for why many fans "give him a pass" -- perhaps it's not for the condescending non-reasons you propose, but rather because they believe that for most of his career here, he was a very good-to-great goalie.

No. You've made the claim, but you've not come close to supporting it. In the Olympics, Miller lost 3-2 in OT to one of the best teams ever assembled. In the Winter Classic, he lost 2-1 in the shootout. As for "Game Sevens" -- do you mean all 2 of them in his career? Including the one vs. Philly in which he was the only Sabre who bothered to take the ice?

Yes indeed.

It will be quite interesting to see whether Stamkos is traded and, if so, what the return will be. In particular: is a team really going to give up its young jewels AND $12MM+ per year in this situation? I would assume that Stamkos, who has a NTC, has a fairly small list of teams that he'd be interested in joining -- i.e. if TB isn't a good enough situation for him, there just aren't that many situations that will be. And how many of the teams on that short list will have the cash and cap space to satisfy him, AND the desire to spend that cash and cap space on him? It just doesn't seem like there will be enough finalists to drive the trade auction price to a level where the Risto/ROR - type assets will be included in a trade. It's also a very real possibility that he's not interested in being traded, period, and is just going to ride out this season in TB and then go into free agency.

Bump. My kids have 2 solid weeks off of school starting at noon today.

Fantastic.

My game notes: - CJ was not only sharp, IMHO he looked very confident. - Speaking of CJ, a question occurred to me: if Lehner hadn't gotten hurt, and had delivered the same production that CJ has delivered (9-9-1 on a team that is 14-16-3, .918 SV%, 7 games giving up 1 goal or less), how would we feel about Lehner? Would we think Lehner, with that production, was the guy going forward? Or maybe at least that they don't need to bring in another goalie next year? - OTOH, I don't think Eichel looked very confident, especially on the PP. He would get the puck on the half-wall, take a look and then kick it back to the point instead of trying to get into the middle and break down the D. I think he's lost some of his mojo. However, DDB knows more than I do and gave Eichel almost 21 minutes of ice time (2nd most among forwards behind ROR), so there's that. - The 4th line had a nice game. COR doesn't get many shifts but he made a very nice saucer pass on McCabe's goal. I'd guess he'll be in the press box or back in Rochester when Foligno returns. - I've also liked the Zemgus-Larsson pairing on the 3rd line in the last couple of games. That line still needs some finish though. Moulson is just nowhere to be found. - I thought Weber-Franson had a pretty nice game. - Kane seems to have all of his speed and power back. He is playing a very hard, north-south game. And I really liked when he waded into the fray after Moulson got knocked down in front of Anaheim's net. - I loved Risto laying a solid shot on Perry when Perry was buzzing around CJ. - Anaheim put up a lot of SOG but still didn't seem to be playing with much fire in the belly.

Well said, gentlemen. Thanks. And I echo the wishes of Godspeed for Dwight. I hope he finds happiness.

Very nice. Indeed. I'm starting to feel like WildCard, Woods-Racer and Qwksand are our version of TB's triplets.

Right on. The goathead was an abomination.

It's a little early to be congratulating GMTM about Reinhart. He now looks like he belongs, which is great, but he's not a true difference-maker. I'd guess most NHL GMs would prefer Ekblad over him, and quite possibly Draisaitl as well.

I too have seen plenty of hustle from Moulson, as well as a good amount of crafty veteran play. But I've also seen a number of missed conversions from his sweet spot around the net, which could indicate an age-related decline in his special hand-eye talent. That talent is his money maker, and without it, he's JAG, and a salary cap albatross.

Frederick Andersen and Hamphuis Lindholm have been freaking albatrosses on my fantasy team. I finally dumped Lindholm. As for tonight: I'd like to see the Sabres score more than 1 freaking goal in regulation.

And you sho 'nuff can't blow $5MM per year on Moulson.

I think what I wrote wasn't precise. I didn't mean to imply that Brandon was cheap like Ralph when it came to coaches and GMs -- just that Brandon was a big part of the string of poor hiring choices (which, admittedly, came from a limited pool due to Ralph's cheapness).

Well, I think it's part of his job, but far from all of it. His participation, now and historically, in hiring the GM and coach was substantial and was the part of his job that had the biggest impact on the relentlessly mediocre on-field product. He was a prince until the end, and even afterwards. But he had a blind spot when it came to spending money on GMs and coaches. And Brandon was a big part of it.

Well, I think we're getting into hair-splitting here, but I think that "zero evidence that fracking is harmful" is consistent with (albeit more strongly stated than) "no widespread or systemic impact." In other words, if there is no evidence that fracking impacts drinking water on a widespread or systemic basis, and all we have is a handful of examples of impacted water, that handful of examples is not substantial enough to constitute evidence that fracking is harmful. If you don't mind -- it depends on what the definition of "is" is -- innit? Heh. Well, lobbyists certainly wield too much power, but this administration has generally been pretty hostile to the energy industry. And as I mentioned upthread, the EPA is a highly politicized agency. It's hard to see the energy industry getting its way in this report. And with that I'm leaving this thread before I get any further sucked in.

Well, here's what the report said: I think it's fair to interpret this as saying that they found no evidence that fracking generally harms drinking water, although there are one-off incidents in which the water was impacted. Sometimes children should talk less and listen more.

Brandon was an integral part of the organization during the 15 (now 16) years of suckitude. He was de facto GM for a period and was instrumental in the hiring of various retreads and losers at coach and GM, letting key players go in FA and, of course, the Toronto series abomination. If you want to wash away a culture of losing, the senior people who were in charge when that culture took hold have to go. Out with the old, in with the new.