nfreeman

I had PF in both feet for a while and tried everything -- podiatrist, shoe inserts, cortisone shot, walking boot -- the works. Nothing worked until I met with a trainer/sports physical therapist. He watched me walk, run, sit and stand, told me that I needed to change my stride and posture and showed me what to do. It worked amazingly well. I haven't had any PF issues in like 4 years, and I do a lot of walking and a decent amount of running. So I would highly recommend that you find that kind of professional and give that a try.

I would give that up for Metcalf in a heartbeat.

Yeah, that's a non-starter IMHO unless Weber can return to full health and play, which would be fantastic for the Sabres but which I don't think is expected.

I'm glad DM is mixing up the 2nd and 3rd lines. They've underperformed in the last couple of games.

Well, we're maybe splitting hairs here, but I don't think their views were "muddled." The surgery was a "problem" in that it presented an increased risk relative to fusion surgery. That increased risk had to be justified by the reward. In this case, since Eichel wanted out, the reward wasn't present, so the risk was not so justified. Taking it a step further, if Eichel suffers the same injury again, the Sabres' assessment of the increased risk will indeed be vindicated -- I don't see how one could conclude otherwise.

I don't agree with the bolded. From the Sabres' perspective, the decision on letting Jack get the surgery was significantly affected by his asking out prior to the injury. The surgery carried a substantial degree of risk. Once Jack asked out, letting him get the surgery would've meant taking on that risk without getting the potential reward -- i.e. a healthy Jack on the ice. OTOH, if he hadn't asked out, then their assessment of the risk/reward would've included the potential reward. So, if the surgery doesn't work, I think that supports the Sabres' evaluation of the risk and in turn their decision that it didn't make sense for them to bear that risk.

Indeed. But landing, say, pick #14 from them this June instead of #27 would be an unexpected boon.

Vegas lost to Philly tonight 2-1. Keeping those lottery hopes alive!

Yes -- the Kings are having a surprisingly good year and are comfortably in the playoffs. And the Sabres didn't get manhandled. But still -- they produced 19 shots, including 5 in the 3rd, when they were down 1-0 for most of the period, and IMHO simply didn't bring anywhere near the fire and blood they brought vs Minny and Toronto. And I think there have been quite a few games like that this year. Overall I agree. I just wish I had seen a bit more to convince me that the coaching is in fact quite good, as opposed to "well the roster stinks so this isn't his fault."

But after those 2 wins, with some excitement finally building and a relatively decent crowd at home just dying for the team to show them something, they came out flat vs the Kings and got shut out at home. I am far from coming to any conclusions on Donnie, and I want to like him, but there have been a LOT of games this season where they come out with no life. Is that not coaching? Separately, in response to the point a different poster made upthread about veteran coaches installing the trap in order to squeeze out wins: Canucks record before hiring Boudreau -- 8-17, 2.32 goals per game Canucks record since hiring Boudreau -- 20-12, 3.12 goals per game

This is the equivalent of jamming your fingers in your ears and yelling "La La La" when someone tries to tell you something you don't want to hear. St Louis, San Diego and Oakland are all much bigger markets with long histories in the NFL and all just lost their teams. But you think shrinking, impoverished Buffalo is somehow immune?

I was pretty disappointed in Mitts-Cozens-KO being a complete no-show after being so good vs Minny.

I agree with most of this, although I would not support committing for 5 years to any goalie. I just think based on KA's track record, it's pretty unlikely that he takes on more than a 2-year commitment for any new goalie. I also doubt that he brings in more than 1 goalie from outside the organization. I think he expects UPL to have one of the 2 spots in Buffalo next year and Levi and Portillo to fight it out in Rochester.

SabreSpace tech desk PSA: Roku products are far superior to Amazon fire TV products.

I would take a 1st for KO in a heartbeat, with retention, and while you're right about this year's KO vs last year's Foligno, I still don't think anyone would give up a 1st for KO. KO has too much Sabres stink on him, as well as plenty of his own stink from recent seasons. And Toronto was trading for playoff leadership, which Foligno had provided in Columbus in 2 decent playoff runs the 2 seasons before Toronto traded for him. That factor isn't present with KO. Also, KO turns 34 next month and has another year on his contract, which would be a $3MM cap hit even with max retention.

Well, I’ve been quite critical of KO, but he’s certainly done a great job in resurrecting his career this year. He’s been a good, solid player, albeit well overpaid. I don’t think anyone would offer the Sabres enough for him to make trading him worthwhile for the Sabres.

I’ll be pretty surprised if they bring in a goalie with more than 2 years on his contract, via either trade or FA. I think KA doesn’t want to block his 3 prospects.

Yikes. Is anyone else utterly unfamiliar with the bottom 6 forwards, the #2C and all of the D other than Laaksie?

This is probably an overreaction, but the last 2 wins are probably the high point of the season for me. Cozens really brought the speed, the power and the fire last night. That was the WNY Ryan Kesler we've been hoping would emerge. If that's who he is, he will be a major difference-maker in the rise from the ashes. Well, I agree that these injuries were important (as were the injuries to Anderson, VO and Miller IMHO), but the #1 reason with a bullet is goaltending. Separately: - Cozens, Fitzgerald and Skinner all brought the fire last night, and it made a huge difference. That was an inspired, together group of Sabres we saw -- maybe the most this season. - I loved Samuelsson obliterating someone behind the net, Mitts doing the pre-emptive Forsberg shoulder forecheck (which someone else noted upthread -- great description, btw) to crush a Minny defender just before digging it out from the boards, and Skinner screaming "LFG" after scoring. - I'm not sure Skinner has retrieved 100% of his mojo from his 40-goal season, but he's in the neighborhood. Those 2 goals, especially the GWG, were great and looked to me like he looked in that 40-goal season -- i.e. he was able to vacuum up loose pucks in the high-danger areas, and whenever he got control of it, he was definitely going to beat the goalie. - As noted upthread, adding Mitts (who looked much better last night) and a contributing VO (although he's still not shooting the slapper) gives them 3 solid forward lines, which makes a huge difference. Come on boys. Keep bringing it like that and you'll give us a reason.

Wow. So if Vegas misses the playoffs, the Sabres could end up with, say, the 14th pick from them, plus their own pick at, say, #4 or thereabouts? I'm not going to advocate for a Sabres tank, but I sho 'nuff will root for Vegas to keep losing.

My point was more about think tanks and academic analyses generally -- which are all funded by sources and produced by authors with agendas, just like the industry-funded studies are -- than about the economic effect of stadiums/arenas, which I agree are almost certainly a net economic negative for everyone other than the team owners. As for your 2nd paragraph -- how nice of you to throw a stink bomb into this thread!

Now that is a highly questionable presumption, good sir.

As someone who's frequently expressed concerns about guys putting up numbers in garbage time, I think the issue is more that the opponents don't bring their A game when they are playing a Sabres team in March that is running for the bus yet again -- so the numbers that the guys who may be getting better might just be a mirage.

Well, google searches for "Pegula overrule Darcy" and "Pegula reject Darcy" deliver zero hits. But there's this: https://www.diebytheblade.com/2011/2/22/2008007/terry-pegulas-first-press-conference-completely-awesome Negative proven! Heavy-spin-to-the-point-of-outright-BS-driven-by-reflexive-animus established! Checkmate!

So you’d like me to prove a negative? By… watching every TP video available online and not seeing the statement you say he made? No thank you. As for reflexive animus, there’s only one poster in this tete-a-tete suffering from that malady, and it’s the guy who referred to the owners as “rich scumbags who rape the earth.”