LTS

I love Sabretooth. Always have. Gritty became a favorite right away. He was amazing in his Abbott Elementary episode.

I work with quite a few people in Florida, GA, and South Carolina. One employee was mandatory evacuation in St. Peterburg and had already seen the flooding begin. Crazy stuff and I am sure what I will hear today will make yesterday seem tame. They were also talking about two more storms following close behind. I suppose the positive is that these aren't higher category storms. Still, the amount of rain that falls in these lower category storms is a bit unbelievable. They talk about rain:snow ratio as 1:10. I can't imagine the 130" of snow that would have equated to when I was down in Tampa during Debbie. We are intimately familiar with 77" of snow at Orchard Park... add another 53"? Hooooo.

I have to imagine Samuelsson is as wacky as hell in the room. My son is probably the foremost expert on Sabres Players' Instagram and he loves Samuelsson's account. He's witty as hell. He's probably pretty good at de-escalating tensions while still maintaining a standard of play. Yep. Goofy glue is important. I'm happy with the choice. I think he'll mature even more into the role as he is still quite young. But there's no denying his passion. He also has that awkward humor about him that just... works. It's a smart marketing move to use Buffalo's most favorite athlete to introduce him. Allen is the embodiment of all fans championship hopes right now. Using him certainly elevates the message. It doesn't change their ability to succeed on the ice, but if Dahlin can become the Sabres' Allen... I think we'll all be happy.

It does. It's happened to me and certainly others have acknowledged it over time on here. I took pretty much a year away from the forum entirely. It's not easy to realize it but when you do and you can make the changes it really helps. Good on you for recognizing it and taking strides. I seem to have conflicts when all these pre-season games keep happening to I have the luxury of not having to decide if I will watch it. I'm ready for the season, especially now that the captains have been named.

I am not being argumentative just for the hell of it.I t is your opinion. Everyone can have one. Everyone can choose how much merit they want to give the opinion and ultimately disagree. So be it. My goal was to determine what made someone an effective center first and foremost. Secondary was an attempt to quantify how to achieve a top 15 ranking on something other than opinion. Any discussion based on pure opinion generally ends up with everyone being right.. unless someone wants to change their mind. That's okay, that's the point of subjectivity. I was attempting to measure of objectivity. Another way to look at it is to compile a list of centers and then determine if there are 15 of them you would put on your team before Thompson. So I'll attempt that: MacKinnon, McDavid, Matthews, Draisaitl, Crosby, Point, Stamkos, Barkov, Hughes, Kopitar, Eichel (despite my personal feelings), Johnston, Eriksson Ek, Bedard, Kyrou are all centers I would consider taking over Thompson. Others in consideration: Larkin, ROR, Jarvis, Aho, Suzuki, Pettersson. I have nothing against Thompson, I just think the one's I have listed I have more faith in. Could be the inconsistency of Buffalo versus other teams and I want to be wrong. Can't read it as I don't have a NYT subscription.

A notably different, albeit probably quite interesting, experience.

No one said Ruff was trying to create new lines. Where do you get that assertion from? You asked why JJP and TNT were playing if Tuch was not. The response was that it allowed Krebs to be seen in a top 6 role, in this case on the top line. This is a perfectly logical explanation and somehow you end up back to your above post. You acknowledge the point about Krebs, "you guess". He is an unknown entity. That's the whole point. They need to determine if he's taken the next step or not and they are trying to see his performance with a top line assignment. If it doesn't matter to you then why so many posts about the Sabres? Why the comment about "get used to the sound of Ruff;s voice?" You are hunting around constantly looking to discredit the Sabres at every turn. In many cases it's a real stretch.

There's no "gotcha" here. My initial post asked, "What metrics do you define a CENTER by?". In my initial post I noted that relative to his OWN TEAM Thompson was not the top C. He was behind Krebs and Mitts in +/- tied with Girgensons,and Kulich at -1. He was 5th in FOW% on his own team. I also called out the win % in specific situations as well. He was not at the top. If you are simply evaluating by metrics that are attributable to any FORWARD then you aren't rating him as a CENTER, but as a FORWARD. Even then, he's not top 15. Since you want to dismiss what I've done, pray tell, what metrics would you like to use to define a CENTER so we can pull them and see where TNT ranks? You know a ton about analytics, so I'm looking forward to the insight. Yes, I could go back further but I see no need. You are referring to shooting percentage, is that a CENTER stat or a PLAYER stat? You could say his shooting percentage is higher as a CENTER than WING, but that doesn't make him a TOP 15 CENTER in the league, it just makes his production better at CENTER than WING. As for him being a complete player, great. What specific CENTER metric are you referring to? Is he a more complete player than many of the names on the list I would put above him? Everyone keeps telling me about what kind of PLAYER Thompson is... once again, look at the topic, read the question.... "Is Tage Thompson a top 15 center in the NHL?" That's the question I keep answering. Why everyone else seems to be defending Thompson as a good player is beyond me, I acknowledged that straight away. I acknowledged he's a pretty good forward who has shown he can be score at a high rate. It does not mean he is a good center. So, all I am asking everyone refuting things is to tell us why "Is Tage Thompson a top 15 center in the NHL?"

Last season stats: 162nd in FOW%. Of the top 162, there were 18 players in the top 162 that had 100 face-offs or less. Even if you exclude them, Tage is just inside the 1op 150 players in FOW% 31st in goals 70th in assists 52nd in total points 95th in +/- 44th in TOI/GP. What metrics is anyone looking at that says Tage Thompson is worth this consideration? He is tied for 1st in height at 6'6, with Nick Bjugstad, Michael Rasmussen, and Aliaksei Protas though!

It was a great win. The play calling was smart to go through the air against a team missing its top 3 DBs. The defense had a pretty easy night against an offense that could not execute. Playing a team with the most dropped passes over the past few years. The Jags are broken. Miami is an overrated team and once they lost Tua they lost all shots at being successful. The Cardinals were the best team they played so far and even they aren't looking so spectacular. The upcoming games against Baltimore and Houston will prove a lot. I have confidence but I think the defense will be tested more than it has the past two weeks. The offense will have to execute like it has been.

I would imagine that playing Krebs with JJP and TNT is to see his ability to play in the top 6. If they take out JJP and TNT then they cannot accomplish that right? He's be playing with Kulich and Rosen? The Quinn-Cozens-Benson line was not missing anyone so that line kept its chemistry and Krebs slotted in above. This not only gives them information about Krebs in the top 6 with the team but it also provides a little context in how he fits in overall in a top 6 for other teams who might have an interest. There's nothing odd about the stacked line-up as they said they would be doing this the whole pre-season.

He's got the IDGAF mindset... perhaps at the same level as Mike Ramsey checking Wayne Gretzky in an All-Star game. Love it.

Very true and important context to add. It speaks to the depths of how "money" is handled in this world. There's so much more and not just with financial institutions. They say follow the money, but it takes a pretty serious level of knowledge to attempt to do so.

That's a lot of will power. The price of those things have skyrocketed over the past 5 years or so right? No small achievement to hold out until you had it all ready to go! Enjoy.

Fair. I find myself wondering if 13 years of misery is also tainting my perception. However, I think I can live with Tuch/Dahlin alternating... although at the same time I do feel that it is just pick one and stop waffling. It seems like all this franchise has done is waffle under Pegula. I guess I just need this team to be successful so I can feel more positive in how I feel?

Love to know more if you dig in, but my experience is not in rate. People who have high credit scores are targets for all kinds of offers. Financial institutions make money by having your money in their control. Whether that's your savings, your investment portfolio, or your obligation to pay debt over time. It's why lower credit scores get higher interest rates. Those rates off-set the default risk. Ooof. Those two institutions are, in my opinion, some of the scourges of the financial industry. They are not direct lenders but instead buy loans from other leanders and then turn them into securities. It's all secondary mortgage marketing and really gets into the weeds of financial management. Lower fees, higher rates. It's all a trap to get people into a debt cycle. Naturally the ideal situation is to never carry debt. However, if you were to carry no debt and only pay cash for everything your credit score would most likely go down. Why? Because financial institutions no longer have leverage over you. No auto loan or mortgage? No chance to miss a payment. Use your debit card instead of a credit card? No good. No chance you miss a payment. But if you charge everything and still pay it off each month to avoid a finance charge that's a plus, because there's at least a chance you'll miss a payment, or not pay your balance in full and then the credit companies make money! It's a real treat.

Ummm, no? but the question is whether he's a top 15 center, not a top 15 point getter. So, as a C, and as I evaluated his skill as C, not an offensive player, then he's not good. Nothing i said about TNT's rankings were my opinions, those were facts taken from the NHL.com stats page. I said he was a good offensive player, but he is NOT a good C, if judged by traditional C criteria. Re-read the assignment?

Yep.. if I recall we had articles a few years back talking about all the people taking advantage of him, etc. Perhaps I am misremembering?

If we are evaluating the center position as the traditional factors a center is expected to bring to the game then no, I don't think Thompson is much of a center at all. He's definitely a forward with offensive capabilities. He's not close. Most centers have more assists than goals, that's not Thompson. Most centers have a solid enough FO% that teams don't feel the need to use a winger to take face-offs depending on the side of the ice. Most good centers have a FO% win rate above 50%. The Sabres were notoriously bad on FO's as we know. But how did TNT rank on his own team? Despite being the #1 center he had the third most face-offs behind Cozens and Mitts. His FOW% ranked 5th behind Girgensons, Mitts, Cozens. and Krebs. He ranked dead last in PP FOW%, coming in at 41%. Jeff Skinner had 52.9% for reference. I can't get behind TNT as a good center, at all. I can support that he is a solid offensive player and the theory that he scores better playing from the C position, but scoring is a forward thing more than C thing. A center needs to do more and TNT ain't got it.

I had a lot of words I could use to respond to this, but all it deserves is :eyeroll:

Why do you know these things? It has to suck having that knowledge. It makes the drought that much worse and now i hate both of you for educating me. My day would have been much better if I had never been introduced to this fact. I hope your bread is moldy today.

But punished how? Like continually getting marketing offers to use that great credit rating on a personal loan? I'm not sure how having great credit is a punishment... at least not in the way of impacting actual financial circumstances.

Did you consider the Drury/Briere decision weak? I'm honestly not sure how I felt about that situation or how I would feel about a co-captain decision now either. Just curious since it's an easy comparison.

Did he thank the fans at any point in that article? I looked a few times but did not see it.

There are people on this site who get hurt when someone disagrees with them. They didn't have to reach for the salt. It's all chasms and mountains for some people. Anyway.. glad Ruff is preaching discipline and attention to detail. Imagine.