Weave

Yup. But you can say the same about most teams that rebuilt without purposefully losing. Any team that has been in the top 1/3 f the league for any stretch of time is going to have a thin farm. It comes with consistently drafting 20-30. And yet they somehow managed to take a fairly empty farm and out of date core and turn things around without losing on purpose. It's all been debated before. There was, is and will still be more than one way to skin the cat we had. But only one of them required setting up to lose on purpose for multiple seasons.

100% agree here. I don't think anyone felt otherwise. We all know and understand the positions here regarding where it went from there. Suffice to say, the arena didn't have to be empty for 6 seasons.

I say PA is correct in having Phil use the starting of a "backup" as a motivational tool. Go all Trump about this and ignore the reality to push an agenda. Apparently it works. #triggering in 3...2...1 ?

That is because you cannot perform the first without an expectation of performing the second. You absolutely cannot separate a rebuild from a preceding tank. When a tank exists, like sith, it must come with an understudy pair. The biggest problem with the discussion was that although the tank was sold as a short term event, you cannot tank for 2 seasons without sufficiently removing talent from the roster to ensure a long, arduous rebuild period. A period that is roughly the same length of time as a rebuild that didn't include tanking.

Rarely. But just a splash of half and half on the very few occasions I do.

A rivalry montage set to Rage? Be still my beating heart.

I don't know that those are signs of a breakout any time soon, but I do know that the big difference between rookie Casey and rookie Sam at center is that Casey is showing snippets of dynamic play most games that Sam was never quite able to show. And that is a huge positive. He may not be poised for a break out soon, but I think he's shown enough to expect a continued upward trajectory this season.

It used to be commonly said that power forwards were second only to defencemen in terms of how long it took to fully develop. May be the case here and the team feels he'll best finish his development practicing with the NHL team. He looked fairly dominant in preseason. I suspect JBotts feels there is no point in having him continue to dominate in a lower league.

Been rather distracted preparing tomorrow's dinner. One thought as I am now sitting down and relaxing........ is it my imagination, or are the Flyers huge? Seems like half the team is risto's height.

Maybe it's the divisional playoff format during my years of most interest, but Boston is my #1 hate by alot. Flyers are in the picture though.

I get the same exact sense of dread I used to get when we played Ottawa during the Chris Neil years. Just hope like hell noone gets hurt. Regarding who answers if Gudas calls? No doubt Bogo or McCabe would go, but I'm not sure it would matter much. He shook off what Foligno tossed to him when they fought and Foligno is a much more accomplished fighter. These are the games I wish we had a roster spot for a genuine bad dude. Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer of these games every season.

It'll be easier because it'll be a short lived career. ?

How the hell does that work on a flight? The only international flights I've been on, the lavs had constant demand. I can't imagine being on an international flight and have digestive issues.

He's a poor actor. Watching and supporting will be cringe worthy.

First game at the Aud when I was maybe 8 or 9. St. Louis Blues. I recall the game being a tie, but I'm not 100% convinced my memory on this is solid. Saw Malarchuck's life change from the gold's just a handful of rows up in the section next to the zamboni doors. Talk about sobering. First legal beer was at the poor man's Aud club on the blue level. Had seasons for several years, 1st row oranges in the corner down by that cylindrical shaped wall. Don't remember the section number. Gave up my seasons when they moved to the new arena. Equivalent seats were almost 3x the price. Too rich for my blood. Haven't seen a live sabres game in 7-8 years. The entertainment value went south and I had no interest in paying to see them. That will change soon enough.

LOL, Crusader thinks the pro tankers took abuse. You were in the greater majority dude. It came back in spades for the other side. Like standing behind and supporting a son or daughter who made a disappointing life changing decision, I'll cheer this team and support it because it is part of me.

So, what was his reasoning behind this hot take? He had to try to back that up, right?

Ken Hitchcock to his new team: My prediction is, Hitch wins another Stanley Cup.

Maine suddenly becomes interesting to me.

Hell of a ride.

Came for the nuclear head explosions. Left disappointed.

So, the same day the caravan reaches the border, the President announces that he is drawing down the troops. LOL. It never was about immigration. PT Barnum never had this much game. Too bad it backfired on him. Not.

It had to get on a ballot somehow though, no?

Pi?

There used to be a stat tossed around this forum about teams in the playoff picture at the 1/4 mark (IIRC) and their odds of being in the playoffs at the end of the season. The odds were pretty overwhelming IIRC. good teams almost always established that they were good teams by this point in the season. Who remembers what that stat was?