LTS

Well, I think that's crafty on their part. Pittsburgh could have lost someone else to Vegas and Vegas knew it. So they played them into getting just a bit more to confirm that Fleury would be taken. It's certainly crafty and Pittsburgh guaranteed that a contract was moved out.

Understood. Perhaps when reading it within the recent contexts it just came across as extra harsh to me. I'm moving on. I fully accept where people are at with this team and misery it creates within. Truthfully, I just want us, as a social community, to be better and happier. We all suffer, to some degree, with how this organization performs. Perhaps my approach isn't the best either.

Agreed. I think the Sabres play was perfect on this. Other teams had painted themselves into corners and then compounded the problem by making really poor decisions. Let's be honest. Florida is the team to blame the most here right? They unceremoniously dumped Gallant and then provided the Knights with solid players. The Wild are second in the honors of assisting the Knights with their sheer ignorance. Everyone basically agrees that CBJ gets a pass because there was no indication Karlsson would explode as he did. Even considering the Penguins letting Fleury go as a coup for Vegas it was only a few years back when the knock on Fleury was that he couldn't help a team win in the playoffs. Well, that seems to have changed now. I'm not sure Seattle will get that same luck as we have to hope GMs will have learned a lesson (of course, we always hope they have learned a lesson and they never seem to).

Glad you commented because I had seen the article but did not bother to read it. The part about opponent's scoring more over the season doesn't bother me as much. I think any team in their situation is going to try a little less hard as they continue to lose. The defense is the biggest hole on the team but I think that started to shape up more as the season went on. The emergency of Nelson, the show of Guhle, and generally being a bit more sound. The biggest problem was the giant sieve in net. I think a lot changes for this team next year. Overall, the article reads that the team learned to play Housley's system and bought into it as time went on. They still didn't have enough talent to win but that should hopefully change this year. Keeping youth down for a bunch of UFAs on 1 year deals is a good indicator that the team is going to struggle. The hope has to be that the youth that gets brought into the lineup has the right talent to push the team forward. At least on defense we saw strong evidence of that.

Read Eleven's comment about him taking off. That's what I was referring to regarding Ducky. As for millbank, he shouldn't feel like he has to go away. That said, are you insinuating that he's his own problem and that no one on here is the driving factor in why he feels the need to take off? As for SabresBillsFan... he is in a town that is going crazy for a team. It's a moment you get caught up in. I am sure I would be caught up in it as well if I lived there. No need to try and tarnish his high. When the day comes that the Sabres win the Cup, do you want to live in that moment without having to hear some sour grapes from other people? I am sure you can say you'd tune it out, but wouldn't it be that much better if others were happy for you, a Sabres fan who has suffered for so long, to have finally known the feeling for your team to win? I would be... and as such I want others to at least enjoy that feeling. Why not? Whether Vegas wins or loses, or any other team wins or loses, the bottom line doesn't change for the team I root for and frankly, if the team I root for is losing it must mean that another team is winning and as such, I should blame my own team for allowing that to happen and not blame others. And you don't like other people telling you how to feel... but are doing the same thing. Pot, kettle... Was it? Is that your assumption? My assumption is that it was hardly benign. Meh. It's starting to get to the point where this place is getting worse than a facebook comments section. And more importantly.. he's right. There are far fewer people around here today sharing great thoughts... because anyone who even feints an interest in something other than the Sabres misery gets blasted to kingdom come. The intolerance for the team's performance has manifested itself into an intolerance for posters. You're not wrong on the ghost town statement. The rest is not anything I need to jump into. Me too. It was one comment, that was following in the vein of the get out of town you Vegas convert which piled on top of the millbank situation from only a few weeks ago. It bothers me because if all that is left on these forums is a bunch of people who want to find fault in everything because their team is not winning then it won't be worthwhile to be here anymore.

In an effort to appease you I will now specifically name every person rather than speak generically about something. If I gave that much of damn, which I don't, I'd go into the ROR threads and pull quotes from people. But it really isn't worth the time or effort to do so. We can all pretend like it doesn't happen. It's fine by me.

I mean why not.. we already chased off millbank... let's see if we can get Ducky to leave too. I suppose anyone who doesn't want to be miserable about the Sabres should sod off as well? Man... good on Vegas. They are the ultimate trolls... every win is a shot at the fan bases of every other team and they are loving it. We're not allowed to win because we're an expansion team? Let's see about that.

I didn't ignore it. My point is that when we evaluate ROR people ignore everything and just say, he gets paid $8.5M and this team is in last place. So don't tell me about stats. You are telling me about stats for another player, why shouldn't the same criteria apply? His team finished 23rd and he was even less important to his team than ROR was (marginally). But we're on here trotting out stats and saying he's not overpaid while simultaneously looking at ROR and saying he's worthless because the team didn't perform. I'm calling out the double standard. If you reverse Draisaitl and ROR we'd be calling for Draisaitl to get shipped out because he's getting paid $8.5M and not producing and we'd defend ROR talking about his face-off wins. I don't suspect his mental health is going to change. He's not happy with him game. He apparently has a high standard for himself. I see nothing wrong with that. If more people could brutally honest with themselves it would be a nice change of pace. I see, in ROR, a guy who makes no excuses. His mentality seems to me that "things might be bad, and others probably could improve, but I'm responsible for me and what I do and regardless I need to be better." He could provide generic answers to everything... it would at least keep people from questioning his mental health.

He had 70 points. ROR had 61 on a decidedly worse team. I'll stick with the comparison. Draisaitl hasn't produced results there. Draisaitl participated in 30% of his teams scoring. ROR participated in 31%. In the end Edmonton ended up 23rd in the league. Honestly it's not that big of a deal, but I think the basic premise stands. If we think ROR is movable from this team because he's not that important then you pretty much have to think the same thing about another player who makes similar money and participates similarly in the success of his team.

Pretty good. The problem with a comeback for people on Sabres fans is that there isn't a player who really embodies whining about everything without winning anything. New thread? Fans of X team are like the Y player of fanbases. Yep, it's not even the end of NHL hockey and we're reaching that point.

All I could think of is Old Time Hockey, eh? I searched for an image, I came across this one. It's pretty awesome and since it's we have a really awesome artist on this forum I figured I would share this image. Along with the link to the artist at DeviantArt - https://ryanwrobel.deviantart.com/art/Old-Time-Hockey-582233413 Some good stuff in that profile.

You know, if you had used this kind of defense for a Sabres player you'd be told something about "blah blah blah, results." or "they didn't make the playoffs" or something similar. I believe the Sabres have an $8.5m player who put up nearly the same numbers for his team and no one is convinced he's worth it.

Seems a bit disingenuous to play anywhere but the building that was awarded doesn't it?

One organization has done things for 1 year. It's probably time to not be so high and mighty about things and enjoy the ride. I like that Vegas has success but it remains to be seen what season 2 looks like. Keep in mind that next season they will have the pressure of being compared to this seasons team. As soon as they stumble they will be answering questions about why they, as a second year team, haven't grown and learned from their incredible first season. At the moment Vegas has arrived at a door, until they have a chance to go through one no one will know if it will be a revolving door or not. Also, you are really more VegasBillsFan now right?

That would be really ignorant... I mean, how do you not at least consider Tavares if he's available? There are zero question marks about the guy... not a single one.

I might find my way to that... could be cool.

This is what I hear every time someone complains about Vegas: It's all sour grapes. It happened. They are winning. It's going to be interesting to see people all stuck in "how it's supposed to be" have to deal with them as Stanley Cup champs.

Fair enough. My son plays.. he's played since 13 and is now 14. My daughter does not, she is 10 going on 11. It's really not much different than a few other games... but rather than take this thread off course I would say we could pick it up in the Video Game thread if you were interested in my take on it (I play it quite often and no, I am not a prominent NHL prospect.... ) :)

Everything in moderation. It's that simple. Unless you think your kids are going to be addicts.

Yeah.. screw them right? Who needs fans who love their team having success? It's way better when everyone is just miserable about their team and attacks each other. They haven't had a chance to lose their life savings on scratch-offs. So, really, it's not like that. They are still winning the lottery right now.

Good coaches adapt their schemes when they have to do so. I don't think there is evidence that Housley did not adapt his scheme but at the same time there needs to a be a stress on playing the system the coach is looking for as well. Given that players need to be evaluated for their ability to execute the game plan it is important that you don't immediately lower the expectations placed upon the players. Bottom line is that both Housley and Botterill need to know if the players can execute the plan. If not then they need to be moved elsewhere for players who can.

Take Twitch to the next level. Place cameras into all players helmets to allow spectators to watch the game from their favorite player perspective. Then allow them to jump into an arena chat group (think large scale 10,000) there they can scream and shot and have their voices piped into an arena sound system. Finally, replace the the space above the glass with large display panels that replicate seating and then put each persons avatar in that seat. The players think fans are there and everyone is watching from their favorite player camera. Charge different amounts to stream from a stars POV as opposed to the 4th line JAG. Anyone want to help me patent all that? :)

Why are we still talking about this dolt? :) Honestly didn't know about any of it.. mostly because it wasn't something I would go out seeking information on. That said... yea, time to stop bringing him in.

It's far too much money for a goaltender, period. He's also spending more time out injured lately. No thanks... not at all. A goaltender for half the price will be more than half of Price in net.

Which is great... and music is music, cars are cars, a hockey team is a hockey team, and your mom is... nah.. not going there. :) It's not wrong, it's just not descriptive. Depending on the conversation a different level of description is needed. If this were "The Official Alcohol Appreciate Thread" it might be expected to say I like beer. Although someone would probably ask which style and brand.. but this is already the beer thread... we're a level down in the descriptions.