LTS

Is this like saying Nathan Peterman can play QB? I mean, the dude looks slow and I don't mean the kind of "tall guy" deceiving speed, but more lawn tractor on the Autobahn slow.

Okay... Now I have concerns. His speed will match up with Tampa? His speed? Every time I watch Thompson skate it seems like he's the slowest guy out there. Is Tampa somehow stymied by slower skaters?

There are a ton of reasons without a doubt. Randall pointed out a lot of good stuff up above. The "fairy dust" though is not something I would classify as them "believing in themselves" it's "believing in their team". I don't know that last year they believed in each other. I think that's a huge difference this year.

Let me apologize for the aggressive tone my last post might have had. A child had frustrated me not too long beforehand. I love what you post and I love that we can have a back and forth about it. Let's keep it going. I need to be more civil.

He did this last year in college after a goal I believe. I know we talked about it. Too lazy to look it up. He's got swagger..

30 minutes that is SOOOOOO worth it. I'm a much more savory grits guy than breakfast grits.. although cheddar/chorizo grits are great for breakfast.

I don't know.. ask Botterill. I am only attempting to point out alternate reasons for why he might not be sent down yet. Truth be told, I honestly couldn't care less where he is. He's useless right now and I would wonder if he could even help the Amerks. I'm done defending the concept because it's going past a discussion into sarcastic responses such as the bolded above. As I said before, I have faith in Botterill. I don't care what his supposed role was in the trade. What I know is that ROR is gone and this team is much better this year. Whether the success has anything to do with ROR being gone also doesn't matter to me. The Sabres weren't going to be this good with Kane and ROR. They weren't going to be able to keep Kane anyway. If they kept ROR they weren't going to get Skinner without giving up something else. Bottom line? ROR is gone. They have Berglund who is shutting down the ice when he's out there. They have Skinner who is near the top of the league in goals scored. They are above .500 (regardless of whose definition you use) and people are enjoying watching the team play. Tage Thompson is irrelevant to me.

I was ready to turn the TV off and get to other things... I didn't. This team is quickly making everyone on here not be willing to miss any part of the game. I mean, there were some serious doubters in this thread today and hopefully they've been converted. Think about it, in the past few posts there was arguments over not using Skinner in the SO in the top 3... and in comes Mitts and says.. Yoo hoo.

that's bad news is what that is.... it's what you get when you can't put weight on a foot.

So, after all the thought you (and others) are putting into this it comes down to the following question. What is the reason he is not being sent down? At what point do we boil this down to everyone questioning Botterill's handling to Thompson? Is Botterill incompetent? I would think there has to be a reason he's not being sent down despite being able to be sent there. We've heard they feel it's a better situation for him to stay in Buffalo but it seems like people are not buying it. So, if you don't believe that, then what do you hypothesize as the reason? I don't dispute what you and others are saying, but I don't see Botterill as incompetent, so I look for other explanations.

Cool. It was an interesting recording and sound mix. I still haven't listened on better speakers yet. The reason I say that is that in my PC there are parts where it seems like there's some depth of sound that's not showing through, but these crappy speakers might not be doing the best job at pulling the sound through. The mix seems a bit spartan and I imagine that on a cleaner setup those isolated sounds will come through better. I hope to give it a listen later. Good stuff.

Cool... what's your role in the band? Listened to a few songs on the site. I'll need to go back and listen on better speakers than what I am on now.

The AHL team exists for the development of ALL prospects, not just one. It's clear the Sabres management care a great deal for the success of the AHL club and have mentioned it numerous times. So, I guess it leaves us at an impasse. I have zero issue with the current path the management is taking with regards to Thompson and the other prospects and it's clear that some do. I'm not sure we're getting much further on selling each other on the situation.

I don't agree with this. Development is driven throughout the organization. They have players in Rochester who they want developing with a team that is winning to help drive longevity of success within the organization. If you send Thompson down you are going to put him in the top 6 and it's going to mess with a team that's been winning. They may still win, they might not. So why bother sending him down right now? It's not even directed at Thompson being a problem, just that you don't mess with the chemistry that's working right now. Whose spot does he take in Rochester? I see a lot of people questioning a lot of decisions the Sabres are making with players. If I thought for a moment that the purpose of the team this year was to make a deep playoff run I would probably be more upset. I don't see it that way and I don't think the management of the Sabres do either. This year was about turning the culture and I think they've done that (to date). There may be a few players on the team that are being given their last chance to prove they belong (Larsson, Girgensons, Reinhart, Ristolainen, etc.) If we continually wonder why some of these players are around you have to begin to question what the purpose is, this year, for this team. If you think Botterill is incompetent then all bets are off. I think he's exceedingly methodical and as such when I look at the "head scratching" decisions they seem to be less "head scratchers" when I think that this year is the prep year for what they expect will be full throttle next year.

He really needs to work on his skating. It's bad. He's 6'5? His stride length is terribly short and he's not getting his legs close enough to center to generate power on each stride. I don't know if he's regressed in skating but it's something I've noticed about him over the past few years. When he tries to skate fast he looks like he's 5'10 but also not getting any power.

Send him to Rochester. Upset the winning chemistry there and potential interfere with the growth of the players there. No thanks. I still think that if Rochester begins losing a few too many that he'll end up down there to try and spark things. The Sabres are a team with a lot of young players and it means that some are going to get caught in no man's land. It's kind of a nice problem to have for once.

I think Eichel has the skill set to be whatever the team needs him to be and I think that's his greatest asset. Right now they need someone to drive the puck and set up teammates and he's doing that. Other than when he's trying to enter the zone 1 on 3 /4 many teams are backing off when he has the puck. He wins a lot of board battles and has demonstrated his core strength numerous times this season. The goals will come because at some point the opponent is going to begin looking more for Skinner than Eichel and things should open up a bit for him. I think that's what I love about those two together. They can both drive the play with the puck and have found a way to work together that creates problems for other teams. My perspective on the "Eichel can do more" category is that we still see him make some "youthful" plays where he tries to thread defenders or makes a really bad pass. I almost feel like he's the equivalent of the gunslinger QB. The turnovers will happen but you can take it because of the scoring. I don't think we've seen everything we're going to see from him. Last night I noticed that he was one of the first people to Ristolainen when he scored. As far as I knew, Eichel was not on the ice (he might have just changed) when Risto took the shot. He's been really great in that manner and he's been proving the "C" belong on his chest.

All my used car purchases have been shite. That said... I am going back to them the next time I buy. I feel like I've wised up a bit and I can pull it off. But it'll be a few years.

Glad they won... Montreal had them all messed up tonight. They were rushing pucks, out of position, and making mistakes all over the place. Ullmark seized up. It looked like it would be bad and they still found a way. Wins like this are what help move teams forward.

Like I said.. if the Sabres are playing in Stockholm next year..... it might be time to visit them.. there.

The thing with kids is that they use the words because their friends use the words (or they are taught from their parents). Having coached kids (and my son is 14) I have heard all kinds of things said. Some of those things would get them completely destroyed were they 22 and saying it. The difference? They are 14 and while they are aware of the terms and the situations in many cases they are ignorant of understanding it at the depth it requires. I hear "triggered" all the time, over everything. It's a joke. Had a minority player on my team yell out that because he wasn't getting a pass (for about 3 seconds in a drill) that everyone was being racist (including the 2 other minorities in that drill). I've heard *****, gay, many other things. The key isn't that they said them. Kids are going to say things. The key is what you do about it. In most cases I simply indicate that that language is not acceptable and whether they think it's a joke or not there are people who will find it offensive and they'll understand more about it as they grow up. For now, it's not allowed. The racist claim we had a chat with his mother and it never happened again. She totally dismissed it as well as "kids being kids". Now most of the kids I coach are just straight out swearing. All you can do is shrug your shoulders because while they use the derogatory terms with no intended insult behind them it's still better that they don't use them, so you begin to accept the expletives.... I try to encourage alternate words though.

Was reminded of that yesterday.... Sincerely hope for all the best for you...

It's not a huge difference for me. I can get that char on Hoffman's as well. My problem lately with SAhlen's is that they seem to shrivel up a bit too much, a bit too fast. I grew up on SAhlen's though.

That was Bob Marley's gospel group.

I'll find a way there I am sure. It appears the hockey scheduling has been kind although the Varsity schedule is all tentative at that time.