ska-T Palmtown

are there 64 better 4th line wingers in the NHL? I only mean that half-sarcastically. I suspect way more teams than just the Sabres have a bunch of JAGs hanging out on line 4. He was not even close to the worst Sabre on the ice at any given time in those 2 games.

They played together on saturday. I forget the article I saw, but they were essentially the worst three forwards for the game. Edit: this site: https://buffalohockeynow.com/2024/10/05/sabres-struggle-yet-again-as-thompson-tuch-levi-only-bright-spots-kulich-quinn-cozens-buffalo-new-jersey-devils/ So, maybe not the most reputable (apologies) and certainly an internet trash bin of ads (double apology), but I watched most of the game and that line was not good.

I think of it this way, from another sport to help detach a little emotion from the situation (while begrudgingly acknowledging that for fans, sports is almost pure emotion) - If a "playoff hopeful" team in football were to play a team favored to make a deep playoff run in week one and get handled fairly easily - the playoff hopeful football team would not be that down. As I said in another thread and others have mentioned - this is not last year's NJ team - this is far far far closer to the 112 point team from 2 years ago ... with better tendies. It sucks we lost, but it does not really matter for our playoff hopes other than the lost 4 points.

@bob_sauve28 - it was more just the gray tones vs the actual look. I skim the avatars for the posters I like to read and not seeing your trademark blue hockey guys was throwing me off! I would be like "wow, bob sounds a lot like ... d'oh! it IS Thorner!"

First, thank you for changing back to the blue hockey guy as your avatar - out of the corner of my eye I thought the other one was that walrus guy at least half the time. I agree with @#freejame about hoping vs really thinking, but I have not lost my optimism. It is the only thing that will get me through these oddly warm fall evenings!

I think it is safe to say that this year's NJ team will be far more like the one from two years ago and while it puts us in a really difficult spot to lose the first two games like that - not being able to hang with the NJ of two years ago does not really factor into our ability to make the playoffs. We take care of the easily winnable games (a hallmark of the past 13 years is getting blown out by fellow bottom feeders), win half of the toss-up games, and steal game or two from the top guys ... boom. playoffs.

lol - actually, yes. They got some injuries back and signed some actual effective FA d-men. That said - I don't disagree that Buffalo's forwards have looked like doo-doo. Heck POWER has looked like are best F at times, hahaha.

from all the other regular season games NJ has played this season? 🤦‍♂️

REMEMBER TO CANCEL!!!!!

Don't ever change, Thorner. (except for that time you did change your name) Stick to your guns, aim for the stars, be the Thorner you can be!

I just came here to make some mention of this, but you did a much better job than my lazy a$$ would have done!

I am an optimistic person by nature - even after being buffalo sports fan for over 40 yrs. I am sure my shrink would call it a "coping mechanism" 🙂 That said, I have seen nothing from the team that makes me feel pessimistic, so I rolled with it. 🎵Rollin' with my hooo-ooomies

If you have gmail you can just keep adding a "." at various points of your email address (gmail treats them all the same, but many systems are set up to think they are different!) to keep getting Fubo trials 🙂 That will take care of NHLN and TNT games. Just make sure to cancel because you have to opt for the "pay quarterly" package to get NHLN which could cost you like $300 if you forget! Beware of ESPN+, they are very good at detecting VPN and not allowing you to watch.

I want to jump in and ask if a player can sign their ELC during a season ... but I am afraid of getting hit in the crossfire. I hate it when dad and dad fight!

Go bold or go home? 🤷‍♂️

a free trial of fubo with a well placed "." in my gmail account and we are streaming, baby! Now, I just have to remember to cancel before the $300 quarterly fee kicks in 😬

I see you are one of those "details matters" guys 🙂 🧐🕵️‍♂️ I did say "overall" 😉

To expand this ... the constant "our guy won a SC" drivel is really getting tiresome. When I looked, less than a quarter of the players on Florida were drafted by Florida. Tkachuk was way more important to their overall success than Sam AND Kyle combined. The most pressing need for Sabres success is so the fanbase can stop this senseless self-flatulating and "whoa are we" moping about. (Is it "woe"? "Whoa" does not seem right)

lol, right? "You guys aren't going to like me?" What kind of neanderthal shiznit is that? 🤣 He's been with these guys for years, and they have already been around each other for over a week straight, but he gets some extra fabric on his sweater and NOW he changes? Fastest way to alienate people, in my opinion. To me, he earned it when he was blocking empty net shot attempts in meaningless games because he is so sick and tired of losing.

ESPN in their "bold predictions" article ... so at least someone thinks it might happen, lol

The good teams have one, right? Barkov, MacKinnon, Crosby (although Pitt is not so good anymore), Bergeron/Marchand, McDavid ... from the article about Dahlin getting people together and running a mini camp over the summer, I am hoping we have ours!

I'll always have a soft spot in my cold dead heart for Rayzor. I really admire the hockey life he carved out for himself by getting punched in the face and hanging around. Dunleavy? He has the unfair curse of following the GOAT ... poor guy.

Topical and relevant - Going to see The War on Drugs open for The National at the United Center in Chicago tonight. Mostly to see TWoD, but will probably stick around for half of the National show, then beat traffic on outta there!

To put it another way, my theory is that if they only had Bo-Power or Pow-lin, the two high draft picks on the roster end up with more points than they do when you add in a third super high-end Dman. Does it affect Ras as much as the others? Probably not, the puck will be on his stick plenty. But obviously Bo-Power each have more points if Ras is not there. I guess maybe my point is that Power (and probably Byram) would have more points if they were THE guy on a different "up and coming" team, so judging them purely on points might be a touch unfair?

The AP has weighed in on the debate: https://apnews.com/article/nhl-buffalo-sabres-dahlin-captain-fab1f4a3f00a53610a11790860a0026d Great read. 😍 for Ras!