LTS

Go to Firestone Walker if you can (Casa Nobles). They aren't smaller but love the beer and I've heard their tasting room/tour experience is excellent. If you are in Orange County you should go to The Bruery. It's an awesome stop as well. If you are in Portland hit up Bailey's Tap Room. (They feature all local beer, or at least did a few years back when I was there.)

Ever see a 12 year old who has one parent and younger siblings? They can be awfully mature as well. This analogy is pointless. Stick Evander Kane in the middle of a battlefield with a weapon and people shooting at him and I can guarantee he'll be behaving a lot differently than a 24 year old with millions of dollars and having people cater to him all his life. If you want to hate the guy at least choose better supporting evidence.

Practice canceled tonight = Watch Sabres game for me! Hooray!

So while driving to Pittsburgh this past weekend for our hockey tournament we received a call from the Amerks. Apparently my son won some reading contest in conjunction with the Amerks. We got 6 suite tickets for the game on the 21st and he's going to get to drop the puck at the start of the game. I have a hard time typing this and repeating it each time thinking about what this means to him. He's beyond stoked.

That's a very positive spin. Now they just need to show how a player can do that and get back to practice on time. :) Well done. I think less of him as a player because he allowed his personal life to interfere with his profession and his responsibilities. I would prefer to see a player with his ability respect that more and be more responsible. That said, it's a team issue and not something I am overly concerned about. If I were Murray and Bylsma I would have a different reaction.

Can we just get a filter to always translate Montreal to this? It work for Pominville. Go Sabres!

No thanks. I just don't believe Drouin is that good. The Sabres are thin on defense and trading away another defender, especially a young one with talent, is a huge mistake.

If he keeps fighting like that the only resemblance to Pronger will be the concussion syndrome that causes him to retire. Kane is flat out a high energy guy. His hands were flying. He might be in trouble if someone gets him tied up more but it will be tough to get close enough to do it.

A few thoughts. If you have to take on another job I would call it responsible. That said, if you add on the extra hours then you are working 6 days a week not 4. The easy schedule of your current position may change. You said there are growth opportunities and one wonders that if the growth that occurs would require more operating hours and as such would lead to greater pay but at the expense of more hours worked. When you balance it out, figure out how many hours a week you want to work and how much you want to make during those hours. That will give another perspective to the perceived benefits of higher pay. The interview is the key. If the growth in your current facility has a high probability then would it be worth it to push that harder with the goal of achieving higher pay in a better environment, one you've been in for quite awhile? Not easy to decide. Glad you felt you could share with the board.

Someday when 56, 54, 50, 95 has become a perennial All-Star (not via fan vote) we can all recall when he was recalled and call it one of the most exciting times to text or DM your friends about the situation. Until then, I'm going to raise pigeons.

Sometimes in a trade it's not always the talent of the players that leave but the number of players. What do I mean? Well, if the Sabres removed 4 players from their roster (Stafford, Myers, Lemieux, and Armia) then who did the Sabres gain with those 2 open player slots? Even if you wash out Stafford/Myers and Kane/Bogosian and go purely on the remaining players it might be argued the Sabres were able to sign or keep two players they would not have been able to keep while Lemieux and Armia remained signed with the team. I think it's safe to say the players have contributed to their respective teams in much the same way they had prior to the trade. However, the Sabres needed players like Kane and Bogosian more than they needed players like Stafford and Myers. Armia is still Armia.. he's not doing anything different. The Sabres outlook on him was.. "meh" and he's still "meh". However he's now Winnipeg's "meh" to worry about where as the player now filling his role in the Sabres might be "meh +1" or even "has serious potential".

It is, but it makes you wonder how a player with the talent he has shown can fall off so much in such a short time. Are there other factors going on? Some kind of personal issues? Does he not fit the play style of the coach? Even then, he's bound to show something every now and then. At the moment he seems to be lagging behind the game. Then again, he might just be the biggest byproduct of his surroundings and given the changes he'll never recover. Go Sabres!

Nope.. This is.

That was the third breakaway in a row. Hagelin scored on the third goal, Crosby on the 4th and 5th on breakaways. Porous defense by the Quackers. And yes.. he's good.

When the GDT opener is more entertaining the the game itself.

So much for Stafford's raise next year. :)

To not have NHL success is not because they don't know how to win. The talent level is different and they may not be good enough to win but it's not that they don't know how to do it, they just can't. It's not a matter of working out right, eating right, playing the system right. It's a matter of them not having the ability to put all of it together.

I did see that. But his pass attempt is nearly the same angle as his shot off the goalie's pad and in. They are prepared for the puck on that side. Just saying I'd like to see him perhaps change it up and that's not the only repetitive move he's tried to make. He's learning but I'd like to see it a little faster. I'm not saying he's not great to watch but those repeated attempts almost come across as arrogance. He's too good to consider him too stupid to know what he's doing.

Players know how to win. These guys have all won throughout their hockey careers. This concept of "learning to win" seems a bit far-fetched to me. I guess it's me. Some guys know how to win better but that's life. The team is remarkably better as they should be and they have holes to fill. I have no complaints.

At what point this season do we simply not even bother to replay to WC's GDT? Pure masterpiece. Busy tonight so I will probably miss the game. Go Sabres.. I'd prefer someone to take 63 and knock him around this time.

I almost want to give him Kane because the guy has been flying. But Gio? I don't know. I guess we'll have to go with DDB being incompetent in some way. Hell, he would have been better served putting Moulson out there as some coaches will do just to give the guy a chance to put the puck in the net for once. They are... but it was expected each time by the defenders. Leading to turnovers. Hopefully so. But I'm not a fan of fail at it 3 times just to try and bait some other team in the 4th time. Given the defenders were already looking for him to wrap it when he went behind his best course of action would have been to attempt that move in one of the past 3 attempts. Creativity isn't flowing as I would hope yet. He persists in his patterns, like skating down the wall and trying that weak back pass off the boards which also is starting to result in turnovers. I'm not ashamed for being critical with reason. Eichel is not infallible. I can point out numerous repetitive mistakes (as I did above with the board drop pass) that players are picking up on. Eichel is incredibly talented but I can see points where he appears almost arrogant in the way he plays. He SHOULD expect that he can make those plays, he SHOULD also expect that the players on the ice will catch on when he tries the same thing too often. I'm as jacked as anyone when he does something new. When he comes into the zone and makes a perfect backhand flip pass to a teammate I'm legitimately stoked that he's on the Sabres. At the same time, when he falls into the trap of making the same moves and it results in turnovers I hope for more. I am sure the coaches spoke to him on the one goal. He was out of position the entire time in his defensive zone. He floated too high to the point and when he realized it he turned and ended up right on top of Johnson. So close that his stick tangled with Johnson and he could not get it over to try and deflect the puck from the shooter.

I never thought about that. I didn't play hockey growing up but I skated a lot and even though I played volleyball (a sport for many rolled ankles) I never injured my ankles (I rolled them but was never injured from it).

Love every bit of this. Great thinking.

I'll try to post this while still laughing at the gifs above. There is a single explanation I have for that shootout selection. There is a belief in the front office that 1 point is better than 2 this season. The Sabres will be good, but not THAT good yet. I'm going back to laughing at the gifs. It makes me feel better. Also, Eichel is hanging onto the past. How many times is he going to attempt the wrap around attempt he had success with in Ottawa? I think I saw it twice last night and at least once in Montreal. It's like.. ooo, this worked once. Meh

Thanks, I hadn't seen this and in my opinion changes everything. The team should be punished. But at the same time there needs to be a change in protocol. This would depend on your belief that a concussed player should be responsible for their actions. If you believe this then you believe they are not mentally defected to a point of making poor decisions. I think the onus has to be removed from the players and the team and placed onto the officials. Why wouldn't the spotter call the timekeeper to notify the officiating crew that the player is to be removed from the bench and tested? If the team fails to comply it's a 2min delay of game penalty and additional delay of game penalties stack if the team refuses. The NFL officials have the ability to send a player off the field if they suspect a concussion occurred. It is up to the independent physician to determine if they need the evaluation protocol. Knowing what I know about concussion, I don't think any blame can be placed on a player. Their instincts are to clear their path (which Wideman did). His instinct is to get on the ice. This is all he's ever done. Given how many people don't remember the events surrounding their concussion I think its safe to say they are not in control anymore. Perhaps a lineman needs to step in when a suspected head hit occurs and escort the player to the bench? He clearly got up slowly and appeared to have been shaken up a bit.