Drunkard

I think I held most of the views he griped about, except for the one about McClappy being racist. Allen has proven to be better than I expected him to be so far but some of the points still hold water. The Bills should have kept Taylor for another season or two (just the name Nathan Peterman should make that clear). Allen got hurt way early on in his rookie year when he should have been holding a clipboard and Nathan Peterman should have never taken a snap in NFL regular season game. The fact that they actually charged fans money to watch him play is still mind boggling. McClappy is overly religious and I think it affects his judgement (see Nathan Peterman again). He still claps too much, but I'll sacrifice a goat to the mighty Ra in his honor if that bald headed, camo wearing, overzealous, clap addict can ever win us a Super Bowl.

Olofsson Eichel Johansson Skinner Mittelstadt Reinhart Not exactly a top 6 that will inspire fear against the opposition, but it's probably our best bet to balance out the top 6.

I agree with this. Whichever square peg we have that gets put in the round hole at #2 Center is going to need all the help they can get so it makes more sense to put our best winger (Skinner) with the #2 Center and put Olofsson with Eichel along with a forward who is defensively responsible (like Johansson or Rodriguez).

Or have such crappy forward depth that the coach is forced to put mediocre players in the top 6.

If I had to bet, I'd say that LaFontaine wasn't on board with the tank and there was a bit of a power struggle but after it was clear that Murray had the real authority when he traded Miller and Ott to St. Louis that's when LaFontaine realized being a figure head wasn't all it's cracked up to be. The timing makes too much sense because LaFontaine quit the very next day.

I saw that movie a few years ago for the first time since I was a kid. I couldn't believe how cheesy that scene was. I think they found the bomb in a bar and when Batman almost got killed because he had trouble trying to find a place to chuck it without killing ducks or people at that parade, Robin couldn't believe that he risked his life for despicable bar patrons. Then Adam West said something like, "Now Robin, drunks are people too and don't deserve to be blown up by bombs". Funny stuff. RIP Mayor of Quahog.

I was referring to that time when they had a bad loss and held a closed door/players only meeting then he waited until the end of the meeting when the media was about to come in and he started flipping tables and kicking Gatorade coolers or whatever he did. Maybe my memory is foggy but there was a time lag so his tantrum wasn't heat of the moment and immediately after the loss it was staged so the press could see exactly how frustrated he is with losing.

I expect him to as well, but I wouldn't say there's a 100% chance. Especially if they are serious about keeping him on the second line all season. Based on his history it's easy to expect 20-25 goals from him this year but he scored those amounts spending the majority of his time being centered by Eichel or sometimes O'Reilly. If #2 center remains a black hole like it was last season and they keep Reinhart there all year, it's certainly possible that his goal totals drop, although I wouldn't necessarily put money on it either because I believe if that happens he'll get moved back up to the top line and we go back to being a one line team.

If you hate to lose and throw a staged tantrum (Eichel) you are revered by the fans. If you hate to lose and you express it in words in an interview (O'Reilly and Ristolainen) you are labeled as a cancer and everyone licks their chops at building mock line ups without you in them.

I'm the same way. I use those scrubbing dish wands where you can squirt the dish soap into the handle and I just wash dishes like that 95% of the time. About the only time I use the dishwasher is when the gf invites people over for dinner and there's a bunch of extra dishes plus additional pots and pans that normally wouldn't be there if not for the increased volume of food cooked and eaten.

Sweet! I didn't see any of the Prospect tournament but I definitely prefer the 2-1-2 set up. I can't count how many times over the last decade I've seen our guys figuratively ***** their pants on a repeated basis against an aggressive forecheck then see Buffalo consistently send a single forechecker out against them that the other team easily skates and passes around. If you can't regularly send at least 2 guys in on the forecheck then you might as well just clog the neutral zone and play trap hockey. One forechecker is pointless 99% of the time.

Nice. Thanks for the heads up. You should definitely check out Vikings, @inkman. You'll know by the very first episode if you'll like the show and without commercials that's just a time investment of ~45 minutes. Based on the other shows you've enjoyed you should like it though.

The Leftovers was also good. Another HBO original that should be on Amazon since all the other HBO stuff seems to be on there since you've already seen Six Feet Under from a later post. If you can swap passwords with someone who has a Netflix subscription though, you should definitely check out Ash vs Evil Dead and Vikings. Based on the other stuff you enjoy you'd like them both.

I've enjoyed all of the shows you listed except Snowfall because I've never seen it (I'd also put GOT at the bottom of the list for the others). I'd recommend Ash vs Evil Dead more than anything but I think it's only on Starz and Netflix right now. I'd also recommend Six Feet Under which is from HBO but is also available through Amazon. Another good show on Amazon is Goliath. Billy Bob Thornton as a drunken lawyer taking on rich scumbags but there's only a few seasons so far. The Sopranos should also be on Amazon if you've never seen it. I'd highly recommend Vikings as well but you either need Netflix or a cable subscription that includes the History Channel.

Yes, pipe dream. There are tons of differences between the cases. Hossa was much older (38) when he pulled his scam and because his contract was set up under the previous CBA it was severely front loaded and the lion's share of the money was already paid out. He never had any intention of playing those last 4 years for $1 million per season, they were only put in to artificially lower the AAV of the contract. Bogosian is 29 and his contract pays more in the later seasons than it did in the later part. As slim as his chances are right now that he's going to land some long term lucrative deal (say a 10% chance) those chances drop to basically zero if he agreed to let them just shelve him on the last year of his deal. On the other hand if he can someone manage to defy the odds and his personal history and actually stay healthy enough to play and perform, his odds of landing a better deal increase. It's much easier to pull a scam like the Blackhawks did when both parties are on board. I don't see the financial upside for Bogosian whatsoever. Sure it's probably better for his health to retire, but if he valued his health over his income he either wouldn't have ever played in the NHL to begin with or he would have retired 17 injuries ago. https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/arizona-coyotes/marian-hossa-2021/

I think it's a pipe dream. No way he let's himself get shelved to buy the Sabres cap space. The only times things like that usually happen are when the player is on board like when Hossa's skin condition magically got too unbearable to deal with at the exact same time than his annual salary dropped to relative peanuts. If they tried this and he has any brain cells in his head, he'll scream bloody murder to the players association and his attorney and create a PR nightmare that the stewards of hockey heaven would want to avoid.

The reason it was only 17 games of Kane was because fatter Pugsley decided to stick to his ridiculous demand of 4 pieces including a first for Kane for 5 months or so. He didn't even get his price anyway and he was fortunate that the conditional first came to fruition with the Sharks extending him. Once he knew he wasn't going to extend him (likely before the season even started) he should have traded him then. 82 games of Kane likely would have netted a better price than 17 games of him. More teams likely would have held interest as well given that come deadline time only teams battling for playoff spots are looking to acquire rentals. I think the trade ended up as Kane and Guhle for Montour and scraps (a 4th and Danny O'Reagan).

I think Pugsley also botched the Kane trade with his volume fetish as well. Nothing seems to leak out of the Sabres office, but there were several reports about his 4 pieces including a first round pick demands for Kane which he never got close to getting. He did luck out that his conditional 2nd round pick turned into a 1st though and he did land another prospect. Unfortunately that spaghetti noodle (Danny O'Regan I think?) didn't stick. I've said it before but I have no problem with him delving into the bargain bins with his volume approach when he's trying to acquire talent. It's a horrible approach to selling off talent though as witness by the Kane and O'Reilly deals. I'll take one good player, pick, or prospect over a handful of magic beans any day.

That's because when I referred to him as Mr. MBA somebody cried about that too. People ***** on Evander Kane constantly for being a volume shooter but he's just a player. Then they defend and/or make excuses for Botterill for taking a similar approach to team building. I would expect more from the guy who is supposed to be the subject matter expert and in charge of roster personnel. Botterill's approach is the same thing, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks and if that made Kane a stupid player then it definitely shouldn't speak well for Pugsley's older, fatter doppleganger.

That's funny coming from the guy still crying over Brock Boesner, in this very thread no less. Especially given that the guy you're mad at for passing on him already lost his job. Something something glass houses.

Why would Bogosian take one for the team like that and completely destroy any chance he has at getting a good deal in free agency? It's not happening. He's already labeled as injury prone. There's zero chance he just decides to sit out on the last year of his contract unless our dart thrower/GM does something really stupid like sign him to a big money extension before hand.

Hopes - I hope to see a big improvement out of Mittelstadt and I hope to see the team say goodbye to both Pominville and especially Sobotka. Fears - The teams still has no center depth and all the pieces brought in by our volume shooting GM don't pan out to much of a difference overall in the standings. I also fear Botterill trading Ristolainen for a handful of darts that don't pan out to much in the end. Expectations - The team will be slightly better than last season overall, but without a 10 game win streak to buoy their point totals the overall improvement won't look like much in the end. I'll go with 80 points as my prediction.

Someone needs to teach him how to spell Kyle Okposo.

I doubt his rights get traded (he's an RFA so he's not currently under contract) but stranger things have happened. Anyone interested in obtaining him is probably betting that Edmonton hampered his development and the classic "change of scenery" would fix him, but I doubt they'd actually offer enough value for him that Edmonton would give up his rights.

Per HF boards the Euro contract he signed is only for 1 year and it contains an out clause where it becomes null and void if he signs an NHL contract prior to December 1st.