LTS

C'mon, you know enough about hockey to see a completely different team on the ice now than the beginning of the year. Just because they aren't winning doesn't mean they aren't playing better.

An interesting read... probably well suited for the Winter Olympics of course. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/350369002?__twitter_impression=true Norway is dominating these Winter Olympics with a unique approach to sports I can't find the direct link.

I see no problems with Reinhart. He's been playing as we would expect him to since Jan. 1. He's looked good and more comfortable with how he's supposed to play and where is supposed to be on the ice. Ristolainen is an interesting case. I think he's simply trying too hard at this point. There's no doubt he feels the need to be more than he is and as a result he's placing more pressure on himself and also trying to do more than he's capable of doing. Frankly I think this plays out in how he wants to get chippy with people. I think there's a level of frustration in his game that he takes out on the opposition. He's not mentally sharp because he's still over complicating his game. These might be things that clear up as the D and goaltending get shored up. They might not be and he may end up only being a 3/4 D. I don't think he needs to be moved from the team. There is a need for another top level player. The question is when does that player arrive? I would think that we see Botterill go after one of them in the off-season. I think Mittelstadt is tabbed to be another but not for 2 years. So, next year improve via a UFA signing (or hoping one of the current prospects pans out) and then the year after you see the top 6 begin to bleed into the top 9 and that's a good problem to have.

Don't stop him.. he's on a roll. Terry was the 4th shooter, not the last shooter. But facts be damned in this narrative. It's important to note how the coach was wrong and not how a group of players tried for 42 seconds to make sure Wisniewski got the puck on a one-timer to win it in OT and never managed to get a shot.

Wow.. this thread is still going? Housley is not the problem. The core group of players (whoever they are) are not the problem. The problem is the absolute lack of secondary scoring, the sub-par defense, and goaltending. This team is worse this year because they had to learn a new way to play and it took some time for them to get it. Whether it was through willfully resisting Housley or just getting everyone up to speed, who knows. There were also a ton of new faces on the roster in secondary roles. This team, with Eichel, would be winning a few more but we've seen a general uptick in the way they play. The problem remains their ability to score from the bottom 6 and struggles on the back end that expose a goaltender who lets in soft goals. There are issues in the locker room I am sure. I am sure that some of them perhaps have been laid to rest via communication. Some of them may pertain to Lehner and/or Kane and hopefully those will be removed soon. Once this team can ice a 3rd line that requires the opposition to pay attention things should change.

I suppose it's normal to bring the focus locally but the reality is that this game happens every trade deadline. We're a bit more attuned to it this year because the team still sucks and there is a big name tied to the trade board in Kane. Hextall is playing the game and I highly doubt he's had no discussion of picking up big name players, whatever he defines those as being. There's a varying degree of what people would find acceptable as a return for Kane. The reality is that if he won't sign here then ANYTHING is acceptable or else he walks for free. The math is easy, 0% of acquiring an NHL asset versus anything greater than 0% chance. If Kane goes for a 4th round pick now and he could have gone for a 4th round pick in December there is no net change in what the Sabres receive in terms of future considerations. Botterill gained having a body on the roster for a few more months to keep people in Rochester as he wanted. By the way, by picking up Mrazek it allows the Flyers to move someone like Neuvirth in a trade. The Sabres acquiring Neuvirth as part of a trade package for Kane allows them to potentially move Lehner to another team who doesn't have a goalie to send back. Pure speculation of course but the possibility is there.

This is why Housley kept shouldering the blame for their performance? He couldn't put it on McCabe's shoulders. I wonder if the whole team needs surgery.

Mine turns 14 in 2 weeks. If he's with adults he's polite. When he's with his friends they are all idiots. If I hear racist or sexist crap or anything of that ilk the last time he sees the Xbox will be when I body slam him on it. In other news... no one has been traded. So this is the kind of crap we talk about. :)

Welcome to the Glass Menagerie.

Yea.. I hear my son on the Xbox all the time. I thought it was just him but then we were at a hockey tournament this past weekend and they were all sitting in a room watching each other play FortNite and talking to each other the same way. It disgusts me but there's not much I can do about it in that setting. I jump on my son's case when he gets obnoxious... and if he doesn't listen I cut off access to the Internet for the Xbox and he gains a new appreciation of the power I wield in my own house. :)

You can. It makes you sound petty and judgmental on things unrelated to hockey, but you can certainly say it.

Let's be real though. There are a multitude of things that get reported. Let's say Snow gives a ring to his favorite TSN reporter and says... Hey, TSN Guy... Here's what's going on. We're looking at options at goaltender. I'm not hearing that Lehner's name is on anyone's list. If you could get that out there on the market I have an update on Tavares for you as well. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that situations like that don't occur all the time. Perhaps the parties are both complicit in the distribution of questionably accurate information and perhaps it's just the game playing by the GMs.. either way it's perfectly acceptable to believe that everything that is said is not 100% accurate.

Evaluations on players are difficult when they are all adapting to a new system as well. Look at the difference in the Sabres early on and then later into December until now. Guys who looked good are not showing as well and guys who looked bad are showing better. Reinhart is a perfect example of improving where as Pominville and Kane are great examples of falling back. Trades work when you can acquire a player who doesn't work in one environment but will work in another. The same is true with free agency but because that also has salary negotiations tied to it the outcomes usually don't pay. So, if you have all those other players back and the team still performs the same what do you do? I don't find it realistic to believe that those players are going to improve this team. Meanwhile a player like Falk and Nelson are showing every bit as well as Zadarov and McNabb and no one is giving credit for acquiring those players. We all want the team to be better but desperation isn't the answer. The phrase just do something is pure desperation. Just do something, anything. Trade Eichel... hell waive him. It's doing something, right? I am sure you mean "do something less obviously ignorant that would help the team". The thing is, the GMs making the moves legitimately believe what they are doing will help the team, even if the "help" is not felt for a few years. I'd like to think that if Botterill had a move to make that would help the team that he would make it. Just like every GM who is hired to do the job. I haven't seen any moves made where the Sabres could or should have been in on the trade. Waiving players goes 100% against his desire to have a younger group of players play together in the AHL and experience playoffs, etc. Just because the Amerks are struggling now does not mean that you immediately throw the whole plan away and just waive people and move the younger players up to the Sabres.

You never know these days... all kinds of things can be happening. Lehner suffered a case of management's foot up his arse as they kick him out the door. It's hard to play with a foot up your butt so onto the injured list he goes.. DTD with a lower body injury. There's no harm in resting him up this week for anyone. The Isles just lost Greiss as well. :)

Watched on the iPad while drinking in the hotel in Cleveland. Didn’t see a lot, but I immediately noticed Kane in OT lollygagging to the bench and figured that would lead to a goal. Kane needs to be moved soon. I’m guessing there are players in the locker room that will have a serious problem with the effort he displayed. What should be pointed out is the icing just before that...terrible pass.

Interesting. Was it listed through an agency or was it one of the for sale by owner situations? I don't go on Zillow but I wonder if they allow people to send up pictures on their own as well. Otherwise the trend would be that the listing agency gets the information, enters it into the system and then via the syndication gets sent out on the MLS. It's possible that the syndication for realtor.com did not get the pictures as quickly. But if you were to say that realtor.com never got those new pictures then that would really change things.

I agree with you. The question is where you view Kane's production. I put him in the middle 6 category and almost view an upgrade of the 3rd line as replacing his contributions since he's been there quite a bit this season (and not producing). As a linemate to ROR and Eichel he has produced most of his offense so the hope might be that you could put someone like Nylander there and have similar results. Maybe. I think the UFA market will have opportunities. I'm not a huge fan of that path because people will tend to overpay. I'm hard pressed to see how the Islanders keep Bailey and Tavares. Assuming Tavares even gets to free agency I am pretty sure every team in the league would be looking to sign him. Soon we'll be able to focus on free agency and the draft... just need to get past that trade deadline. I haven't seen any indication that any of Fasching, Bailey, Baptiste are the replacement. They may be a good 3rd/4th line solution.

Yeah. I've been lucky enough to not have to be in a situation where it might be prescribed. We'll see how much I can tolerate when it happens. Additionally I think everyone has a different level of addictive personalities. Some people can kick things easier than others. Which isn't to say that they have less to be concerned about with something highly addictive, but if you recognize that you are more likely to engage in addictive behaviors you might avoid taking the drugs just in case. I'm hoping I don't have to experience it.

That's because they use pictures from prior listings of the house. So if a house was on the market 5 years ago, Zillow would have those pictures handy and use them. The problem is that they are not recent and things may have significantly changed. We had a house around us that was in that situation. It had been neglected and in need of serious repair. It went on the market and was sold at a very low price (to be expected). The house was fixed up and lived in for about 5 years. It was put on the market at 3x the sale price from 5 years earlier. Zillow still showed the dilapidated house photos. I am sure that did not help the sale in any way. The most recent photos have to come from the listing broker/agent. Zillow won't get anything different on a new listing as they are getting a syndicated feed from the MLS. (Of course FSBO (for sale by owner) homes would be a different story).

I don't see Reinhart being moved. I think what he's bringing to the game is what we should expect from him in the future. Given the recent play of the defensive corps I would also think that Botterill is less concerned with having to move Reinhart to get a significant D piece. He should be able to do that with Kane/Lehner (either more immediate or a bit longer term from a draft pick). Moving Reinhart creates a hole in the top 6 that's not going to be filled by anyone coming in next season (no, not even Mittlestadt). There might be a UFA signing that could be signed for the top 6 but you don't need to move Reinhart to get that player. The biggest improvement has to come on the 3rd line. The Sabres need a 3rd line that can put together around 30 goals. If some of the current 3rd liners end up on the 4th line the Sabres will be in good shape.

I agreed with the call. It was the second Canada player sliding into the crease on her own that I thought sealed the deal. It created a situation where the first player who was pushed in could not get out of the crease. I watched the first two periods and then went to sleep. I don't expect women's hockey to look like men's hockey. The lack of checking makes a significant difference. The women's game has been growing tremendously and the skill of the younger ages is evident. Right now I think the overall talent pool is not elevated and as such there are some players who don't have the same hockey sense/skill as there will be in the future. As that happens I would expect the level of the game to go up. You can already see it when some of the top players are out there.

I'm pretty certain at this point, if I ever need a medical procedure where any of those drugs would be given to me I would decline them and ask for an alternative just to avoid the potential situation. I'd rather feel more pain in the short run than potentially have to fight that off that addiction. I don't have to worry about heroin unless someone slips into my system without my noticing.

Bound for Cleveland for the weekend. Should be there before the game starts... might be hard to find the game on in Cleveland. MSG GO don't fail me now.

I'd let the medically trained answer this more officially but everything I have read would indicate that standing in one place is nearly as bad as sitting in one place. The key is that our bodies are meant for movement. So it's a mix of stand and sit. For me, I also walk around a lot. I have a wireless headset and I will walk into the other room, stretch, do knee bends, etc. while on calls. When it gets warmer out I will walk outside while on calls. Even when I am at my desk I try to make sure I am moving my feet around every so often.

At one point, and this was around 5 years ago, there were a good collection of agencies that would block the distribution of their listing to Trulia and Zillow. So it wasn't even so much that the homes sold too fast.. it was that they were never going to be listed anyway. That battle may still be raging...