Weave

I'm not calling him mindless. I'm sure he has his own ideas. But let's face it, the world is full of ambitious people that are willing to do what they are told now in the hopes that it gives them the opportunity to do what they want to do down the line. A slimmed down, automated organization is what the Pegula's asked of Botterill. That Adams chose to implement it doesn't assume that Adams believes it the best way to run the organization. It is equally likely that what he believes is he ca do it well enough to use it as a stepping stone to what he really believes in. He knows the room and is willing to work it to his own ends. Office politics 101.

The only difference between Botterill and Adams that we know anything about at all is, Adams was willing to follow the owners lead and Botterill felt strongly that their lead needed push back. The rest up until now appears to be Pegula decisions implemented by Adams moreso than Adams decisions.

This is the fundamental dichotomy that made the Tank a near certainty to require 7+ years to recover the damage. Everyone recognizes that you need to stream a supply of high level prospects to build the talent level back up. But you also need to fill the team with veterans that can capably play and create a positive developmental environment. The dichotomy is because both of those items require assets to obtain, and every asset you spend on prospects is a veteran who isn't on the team. You cannot have both. To his credit, Murray recognized this and went after Gionta, Moulson, Kane, Bogozian, ROR, etc. And even then, a GM that gets pilloried around here for trading futures for now still ended up filling out the team with nobodies. And he had no choice but to fill the team with nobodies. There were no more assets to acquire somebodies. This is how we end up with situations like Girgensons at 1C, Mittlestadt and Berglund at 2C, or Taylor Fedun or Justin Falk on the team at all. So, if we overcorrect and focus our assets solely on draft picks we likely have a team that was even worse than what it has been over the last 5 seasons, but lots of youth. And unfortunately they all would have been in worst case scenario situations for their development, too much reliance on them at too young an age and no veteran leadership. And if we move even more assets for vets instead then our prospect pool is even shallower than it is now, but maybe the development environment is better for the few that prospects that we do retain. This situation was a close to no win as it gets, tank and rebuild. Strategic and tactical.

Ugh. The Tank was a strategic decision. The rebuild was a succession of tactical decisions. But they are very much linked. Tactics require strategic guidance. The strategic decision in 1941 of a 2 front war determined the tactical decisions that followed. They were NOT separatable events. And neither are the Sabres tank and rebuild, for the same reason. The Tank years of '13-14 and '14-15 required the team to to make the strategic decision to decimate the roster at all levels. There was no way to ensure at least a top 2 pick in those years without decimating the roster. It was absolutely required to guarantee a last place finish. The depth of the roster destruction was such that only perfect tactical decisions and a modicum of luck would result in a successful rebuild. It was an unrealistic task even for the absolute best GM's. Given flawed, rookie GM's and the totality of the rebuild required, (another failed tactical decision) it was inevitable that the rebuild would fail. And it was linked DIRECTLY to the decision to tank. Let's not forget that Tank fanboi teams Pittsburgh and Chicago did NOT tear down their teams. They had a base of NHL caliber players to build from, not a collection of never was. And that is because those two teams didn't tank. They were bad teams, for sure, but they never sold off the organization so they had a foundation to plant elite talent on top of.

Thorny, we definitely disagree on Larsson’s level of play. I’d describe his play as effective in a specific role. He’s one dimensional and not excellent at it, merely good. I think the view of his play is skewed by the rarity of effective play on this roster over the last 8 seasons.

I'm really curious to hear Sabrespace vets takes on these two things. I wonder where the breaking point is?

Larsson, IMO, is somewhere south of Paul Gaustad, and somewhere north of Adam Mair in terms of overall effectiveness. In and of itself, losing Larsson shouldn't be a big deal. But he's one of two natural centers on the roster, and the LOG line seemed to be greater than the sum of its parts. And in that context he's going to be difficult to replace. If we had a reasonable center spine I wouldn't sweat this at all, but we don't.

I seem to recall one of the Sabre's beat reporters strongly suggesting it without actually using the term. Our beat reporters catch alot of ***** but I don't think any of them are liars. I'm not sure how one would go about proving it short of an audio recording.

Jack was complaining for a more veteran tough presence in the lineup. Kreuger alluded to it as well. Hoffman fits the grizzled vet card nicely.

Imo if Larsson leave it guarantees Cozens has a center spot on the team this coming season.

Unless he can transplant his intangibles into Casey I think it won't make a difference.

Just be careful that the oil doesn't get underneath the gloves, especially with anything stronger than serranos or jalapenos. Up until a couple of years ago I grew hot -peppers as a hobby and made all kinds of fun, spicy things. The first time I processed a big mess of habaneros I got some juice or whatever you want to call it under the latex gloves I was wearing. The spot where the liquid was trapped against my skin had burns very much like chemical burns. That hurt. Oh, and if you are putting those peppers in a food processor, when done chopping them up don't be in a big hurry to open the lid and get a close look at the results. One whiff of what has been vaporized is every bit as rough as being sprayed with Mace. I did not realize I could produce that much mucous in such a short period of time.

That is a lesson that only needs to be learned once.

Christian Ehrhoff all over agin, innit? Wasn’t it Terry who drove the Ehrhoff signing because he liked his game?

Pfft. Big government liberals.. ?

?

An entire operational team walking out voluntarily is usually not planned culture change.

I'd buy an Ooni in a heart beat. They use surprisingly little wood to get up to temp, and they get up to temp fast, but I don't need another gadget, so I am going to be patient and either do the outdoor oven or Egg style grill/oven. And, when is it ever not appropriate to crave good pizza?

Unfortunately, I think the horse is already out of the barn. It was let our before Trump was elected, really. We had a fairly normal, boring administration up until 3.5 yrs ago, and what did we get? Birther conspiracies, gun and ammo hoarding, right wing standoffs over public land use. I didn't want to think it at the time, but I'm convinced now that a black man being put in a position of leadership over the entire country set off a spark that is turning into a California wild fire. A Biden administration will attempt to undo what was done over the last 3.5 years and there is no doubt in my mind that the right is going to become very active in resisting all of it.

A buddy of mine has one. He takes it camping with him. Very credible pizzas come out of it. If I don't build a pizza oven I'll buy a Big Green Egg or equivalent. They will get hot enough for good pizza.

My next house WILL have an outdoor wood fired pizza oven. Rakish, I like the fan idea. I hadn't seen a fan in the plans I've seen online. Get that oven up to at least 650 degrees or just call take out. 700-750 is better still. And, what LTS said about cup and char 'roni.

Kid in Kenosha walked right by the cops, rifle on display, as a shooting just occurred, and the cops never stopped him to inquire. Of course the ensuing arrest well after the fact was peaceful. The optics are just awful, regardless. And so many of these have come out on on top of another. All explained away in many circles. At some point the optics of it dominate. You can’t expect this many unarmed people to get shot and not have significant push back.

2nd tier league. Seems about right. I don’t think he’ll have an NHL career of any significance.

I have no recollection of the last 4 days. My traveling ID is missing. I'm oddly relaxed this morning. I have strange memories of alot of time in a vehicle, a fake Russian accent and the hills of Pennsylvania maybe? Or maybe that was just the first week at the new job. Stand down, folks. It's all beginning to come back to me now.

Hooked the trailer up at 0 dark 30 this AM with the intent to get some fishing in since the wind died down to nothing. Did my walkaround before leaving the driveway and found my trailer license plate missing. WTF? Not sure when that might've happened. I do a walkaround every time before I drive off. So, instead of a morning on the water I will be spending the morning in the DMV. It went from awesome to suck in a hurry.