LTS

I disagree here. From a pure stats perspective McGinn is not going to lift your team up but his dependability shouldn't be overlooked. I've been a fan of his since San Jose. He's not out of place on ANY line. There aren't a lot of players like that. Perhaps the Sabres will have a few more of those like Larsson and Schaller too, but to date I think McGinn brings a little bit of that extra to the table. They should trade him. It's the right thing to do for the Sabres and for McGinn. I just hope he's one of those players that comes back.

44 trucks 63. 82 trucks 63 55 trucks 63 47 trucks 63 I'm good.

Let's bring some positives to the table: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Video-Corey-Crawford-Babysits-Pair-of-Lucky-Blackhawks-Fans--367538291.html

I think they realized it when they acquired Mitchell and Flynn. I thought they were universally known as Harbingers of the Tank.

So, just to recap. We're all Leafs fans now?

Just happy to be back into the season again. This might be the most interesting month of the season for Buffalo.

Or an idiot. But we know which it really is.

I would imagine it might be more like "Hey Toronto, Winter Classic or ASG?" Toronto: We'll take the outdoor game. Our entire team gets to play in it. The EA NHL cover was fantastic work. Too bad the game itself won't be worthy enough of such greatness.

"Hey Leafs fans, our location in Buffalo is great for you. We have all kinds of hotels and food not to mention hockey. Blah Blah Blah" Sabres marketing to local business owners: "Hey, check it out, we are working to draw in more out of town fans to help boost your business. Care to advertise with the Sabres?" I'm struggling to imagine just how people seem to be getting so worked up over nothing.

I caught a few minutes of things while trying to get some work done. The kid had it on and was glued to the screen so I heard when SCott scored... twice. He loved it and I guess if the kids are who should love it then it's working.

Misplaced rage. Leafs fans don't buy season tickets I would suspect. Therefore, in order to make an appreciable dent as they do they must use the resale market. From a pure ticket sales perspective the Sabres don't care because the ticket for that seat was sold to the STH. However, since the STH is likely to sell a good amount of games the Sabres are in favor of welcoming the opposing fans into the market. Why? Because butts in seats makes more money than just empty air. The STH base makes value estimates when laying out that amount of money for a team that is at the bottom of the standings. Most often it's done by selling tickets to other teams fans. I would guess that as the Sabres return to winning ways the amount of available tickets will go down OR the price will have risen to a point where a STH can't or won't sell the ticket and end up attending the game themselves. For now however, the Sabres want butts in seats. The STH is who makes this happen. If you want to be mad, be mad at them. One might argue that by making this particular statement Gilbert is attempting to add value to the STH tickets for Leafs games. If more Leafs fans suddenly want to come then the demand is raised while the supply stays static. If the STH raises their requested price on the ticket they make more money and it makes their investment a better value. A few flaws in this argument. The first assuming I can arrange time in my schedule to go to a game. The second is assuming i can afford to go to a game. It's not just a trot downtown for me. The next flaw is assuming I have some angst towards the STH for selling tickets. See above, perhaps that explains more. The Sabres have placed a ceiling on ST sales. I doubt most Leaf fans buy ST and as such it is an assumption that most ST are sold to Sabres fans who then resell them to offset the cost of the investment. I understand why they do it. I don't have to like it. It is still their fault however. If they don't sell the tickets then the tickets can't be purchased and as such Leaf fans are not at the game. First and foremost, in my unsubstantiated opinion, they do it because they are idiots. However, stupid statements and actions such as that do a great job of instigating the masses and making the fans believe that somehow their home team is in jeopardy because a few fans want to attend a game. It's a moronic policy. People's financial needs sometimes require them to travel to areas that are not within the marketing rights of a sports team they root for but they are banned from going to see the game because of what? A few opposing voices in the crowd? Nope. And I assume the fans of those teams don't enjoy it either.

The Sabres want butts in seats. Butts in seats spend money which in turn makes money. This is a business. If the Sabres fans are going to sell their tickets to Leafs fans then the Sabres brass has no choice BUT to embrace those fans because they are the one's who are spending their money. I suppose Gilbert could go the other way. "No, we hate Leafs fans. We despise our season ticket holders selling their seats to them. We need to crack down on that and constrain the season ticket holders from selling their seats somehow." The problem is the season ticket holders. I hate seeing so many Leafs fans at games but it's a hell of a lot better than empty seats. The season ticket holders are the ones who create the problem.

It means that in all games where a team gives up the first goal they ultimately lose more games than they win. Give up the first goal in 10 games - you lost at least 6 of them. The refs need to call the penalties that cause the ice to appear clogged when its not.

I agree. The dude is quite smart and to read about him doing his work while traveling with the hockey team, etc. That was great stuff. He found his way to stay around the NHL and you can't blame him for that but he clearly doesn't like it. He just loved hockey and wanted to play. There's just too much to like about him and given that his teammates have always spoken highly of him you have to figure that he does his thing and people respect him.

Just read it.. came over here to share and you had it up. I cannot recommend an article more. That is some Grade A material right there.

I would imagine it was a lot like that. The basic breakouts are all the same but you have to put everything together. It was abundantly clear he could not get all the players on the same page because there were no pages. Anyone can look at a bunch of formational charts and say.. "Play the umbrella", "large box", etc. But it takes someone with skill to be able to blend the system to adjust to the talent you have on the ice and the individual abilities. He didn't have that. Rudy? Rudy actually knew football. Rudy's problem was his size, not his intellect. Nolan simply does not have the capability to be an NHL coach.

I hear Flynn and Mitchell are available!

Yea... that might be a sign of some poor decision making.

This hit is hopefully the act needed to cause a serious discussion to occur. Concussion symptoms are not always physically apparent right away. It can take hours before a noticeable change occurs. That said, he clearly was hit hard enough to be in discomfort of some kind and when a player reaches for his head he should be removed from the ice as a precaution. Perhaps the NHL should go so far as to allow a healthy scratch to enter the lineup in place of a player who sustains a suspected concussion. In this case the hit occurs right at the Nashville bench. I could picture Wideman not being about his senses and thinking it was a Nashville player going off for a change and that he might as well get a shot in on the guy as Wideman exits the ice. I don't think he knew it was a ref. If he did and his mind was clear he would know that carries an automatic 20 game ban. His post-game explanation was a joke and that doesn't help but right now if it comes out that he has a concussion then nothing he says should be taken too seriously. Marty Biron talked about it pretty well on WGR this morning. The absolute shame is that he was not removed from the game. Frankly, the head coach should be suspended a minimum of 5 games for failing to remove a player. Fine the medical staff, I don't care. There has to be some accountability given. Either way.. this has a chance to get a lot uglier.

Well.. that's pretty awesome. I'm not saying about them being a good coach but at least they generally know the game of hockey. I am on the ice a few nights a week with a former NHL player as well in a coaching capacity. I wouldn't put him in the same capacity as Neidermayer or Lorentz.

I agree with that. What I meant to portray that it would be in my mind all the time that I wouldn't want to sound like an idiot. I mean, my hockey experience is nothing compared to his. I didn't mean to imply that he would be that way.

Too bad it's the house league or I would have coached against him this year. We've played the Hawks travel team 3 times. I can't even imagine what it has to be like for the coaches. I'd be concerned the entire time that I was doing something wrong. Jim Lorentz is here.. judging me. But that's just an awesome story. There's so much good in youth hockey (there's bad too). When you get the good it really helps you understand and appreciate what an awesome game it is.

Says the man with the Jack Eichel quote in his signature.

Who will do the play by play for NBCSN tonight? The really important questions must be answered!

My mistake.. I see that the Sabres have 1415 SOG this year and have given up 1459. It seems the Detroit game flung the SOG further into the negative differentia but it had been close. I was off on the "many". Last year they had 1984 and gave up 2920. The year before that they had 2156 and gave up 2816. This year averaging 29.5 SOG/game and giving up 30.4 Last year? 24.2 SOG/game and giving up 35.6.