LTS

There are people who do things that have no relevancy to the on ice product or at least no direct relevancy. There are also favors paid to others in hiring or throwing some "consulting" hours someone's way. It happens. None of it impacts the Sabres salary cap and if Pegula wants to throw money places then I'm fine with it. It's his money.

He was disappointed last year too and we all know his goal was not to make the team better in the standings. I firmly believe he wants 9-10th and just outside the playoffs. He wants a shot at the lottery picks and knows next year is when it all begins. He can't come out and say he wants a top 3 pick, but he can absolutely say what you refer to... "It's a nice consolation prize." There's nothing he can actually say that would be along the lines of "We're not going to make the playoffs this year, it's not even our goal." The good news is that he's in the driver seat on any moves. I don't think it's pro-tank because there wasn't a tank, there wouldn't be another one. If he moves a player he's going to get value back.

He's not.. he said it last year too. He wants to be out of the basement but not in the playoffs. He wants a shot at those top 3 picks this year.

Confessions of a Sabrespacer... I sing the goal song to myself when reading the GDT the next morning.

Stamkos is going to choose his landing spot. The Lightning are screwed. They can trade him as a rental to anyone but unless there is some kind of extension signed the return will be minimal. If they can find out where he wants to go and make a trade the return is likely to still be minimal because odds are the team he wants already knows he's going to be interested in the off-season, so why give up players? If he's interested in the Sabres then they can get him in the off season. There's no need to trade now or at the deadline for him and give up ANY skill off the roster.

I'm not surprised. I think it really boils down to HOW it is said, not WHAT was said. Therein lies the rub. We all love a conspiracy theory, some more than others. I would be incredibly interested if there was truth/proof to his claims. But.. in my life. I don't have time. :)

Totally agree here. You can see Domi put as much of the brakes on as he could at the last moment too. It's a good hard play by both sides and then class by him to retrieve the helmet. You can tell that both the CBJ players and the ARZ players understood his sportsmanship there.

She ended up being too cheesy for you? "You know Scott, you have to be cheddar in bed. You're just no gouda. I should be praising cheeses." "Why can't our relationship be more like Jack and Colby's?" "I hate you. You're such a munster! I'm outta gruyere." You know.. perhaps I should not read SS later in the day at work. My brain is crumbling..

I remember this same criticism on Ruff and how he sucked as a coach because of it. Yet he seems to be doing quite well in Dallas. The point? The shuffling that does occur (not as often lately) is probably done because there are some issues out there that we all have noticed (scoring).

The Sabres already have red in their color scheme. Perhaps the Bills should make the eye of the Buffalo gold and we'll be all set.

I'll chalk this up to... this year is a bit different. This week seems a bit odd and jammed. Sat/Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat? That's a lot of games in a short period of time. In addition, clearing out the top western teams from the schedule early on and not seeing TB for the rest of the year is also a bit odd. But The range of GP in the NHL at this point is 33-29 and the Sabres are at 32 along with quite a few others. It's just an anomaly. Bring on the conspiracies!

I think the key here is.. How much does it cost to keep him in prison and provide his healthcare at taxpayer money as opposed to let him out. Nothing undoes his crimes... but we'll continue to pay for him while he's in prison.

7-18-7 GF: 52 GA: 96 They'd look better because of the talent but they'd not look as good as they do now because they'd not necessarily be on the same page.

He'll probably cost taxpayers money once outside prison as well.. just not as much. So I guess it's a positive.

I agree here. I never thought it was a tank. It was a rebuild and the subtleties are there. The Sabres moved all assets that were not part of a long term team that had any value. This included the goaltenders. It's not tanking, it's rebuilding. They both result in the team losing. The move for Kane was also done for the same reason. We all knew that Stafford and Myers would not be around for the long term. The only potential signs are the two terrible defensemen but then most UFA D are not that good. I don't think Bylsma is tanking this year. However, I do think there is a subscribed plan that is designed to develop the framework of how the team will play. They aren't deep and we're seeing the results of that. Pysyk and Ennis being out of the lineup make a big difference. There is questionable player usage (specifically Gionta). I don't think it's a calculated tank move however.

I own 3 Sabres sweaters... none have names. I root for the team because the players change too much. The only way I have a name and number on the sweater is if I win a game worn sweater or I am hanging something on the wall that has an autograph. I'm not wearing one... ever. But for fun.. get a #99 "No Goal". OKay... as I was..

There's a video in the USA Hockey coaching catalog for off-ice workouts for younger kids that does something along these lines. The concept is you take playing cards and you throw one in the air. The child is supposed to catch it. The next level is answering random questions while trying to catch it. Frankly, I don't even know that I could come up with the questions while throwing the cards... might be good training for me as well.

Also still have a spot in my heart for the Coyotes... just sayin...

It seemed strange to be certain. I think part of it is that normally that would never be picked up because the crowd is making noise. So he projects his voice and BOOM... if he's standing 10 feet from Neal does it change things? As do I. People post what they want. The purpose of my feedback was simply to let JJ know that I thought it was over the line as well (not a single opinion) and that it was in poor taste. It's feedback for him. If no one says anything then he might believe that no one had a problem with it. If everyone stays silent but HAS a problem with it then go back and reread the article in question because that was a major issue in the article. That said, it behooves no one to stay silent if they have issue with it. But if I recall it wasn't really a viewpoint so much as it was an attempt at some humor (ill or otherwise) in a situation that is about as disgusting as it could get. Again it was said, it was responded to, so be it.

You give yourself too much credit. People don't disagree with you because of who you are... it's purely because of what you say. At least that's how it is for me. I have been told "F U" before as a matter of fact. I did return the favor. It's not healthy diatribe but it has happened. Curious if you've ever been a paid official for a sporting event. It's damn near impossible to keep emotion OUT of things. Look at how easily people fly off the handle in comment sections. Referees are people and they are every bit as emotional as the average person. I was a baseball umpire for awhile and definitely told a coach to "Go sit the F down before I toss your [butt] out of the GD park." I'd love to say I am some kind of Vulcan... but I'm not. Over the line in my opinion as well. Not everything requires a joke to be made about it. You do yourself a disservice by posting what you did. You can tell me to lighten up as well. I'm just telling you how I see it. Your reputation took a hit in my book, whether you care or not.

The backwards compatibility issue these days is generally centered more on the changes in the core processing architectures than who wants to make a buck. The Xbox One changed it's CPU as did the PS4 if I am not mistaken. The older generation of CPU simply was not powerful enough. In addition, at least for Microsoft, they were focused on homogenizing their operating systems and that also necessitated a code base change. Thus the emulators need to be built to play them again. So Microsoft has the 360 emulator now. The problem with being a PC gamer is the constantly sliding scale to which games are built. So you can have backwards compatibility but the longevity of hardware is much much shorter. So, if you have the money to drop on replacing equipment you will be fine. Granted, with the increased requirements usually comes some amazing visuals but the core of a great game is not based on visuals alone.

I think the goal this year was to get a shot at a lottery pick and nothing more. It doesn't matter where in the race of "out of the playoffs" they finish. They are playing improved hockey. The problem now is that the Sabres don't have depth. So Ennis and Pysyk are out and that puts more responsibility in the hands of the lesser talent. The good news is that now when there is an injury they are generally subbing in some AHL talent for NHL talent rather than ECHL talent for AHL talent. In addition, the Sabres can't play and offensive and defensive game simultaneously yet. They can play either/or. When they try to open up the offense they end up too exposed on the back end, especially against other teams. If they want to shut down other teams they won't get enough offense. I still think they have the ability, just not the experience. Next year is the year.. this year is to establish the style of play, the chemistry and to determine who gets voted off the island.

There are ways to do it and not be a complete ass about it. There are a million ways to cheat but he makes a mockery of the game. There are plenty of agitators in the league and there are guys who can actually score as well but they aren't Marchand. It's not the role, it's the person. Hell.. I play hockey and do those things. I will say things, I will poke and prod and irritate the crap out of guys.... but when I receive it I don't begin flopping around like a fish on the pavement. I don't run away and hide. He's a joke. Unprofessional? You should sit in some of my management meetings then. I used to work for a CIO who spewed enough F-bombs in a 30 minute meeting to level a small city. Meh...

I'd become a Leafs fan if that happened. Just because. I'd hate it. I like guys who can do it cleanly. Never was much of a Barnaby fan... The problem for the Bruins is that Marchand leads them in goals. How true..... :) And Josi is a beast. I forget which national analyst I was listening to who said that Josi is definitely the top D in Nashville over Weber.

The Brandon Prust vs. Brad Marchand feud is going well. This has Marchand's follow up but I was laughing pretty hard when I read Prust said his $5k fine for spearing Marchand was money well spent. http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14313369/brad-marchand-boston-bruins-responds-comments-brandon-prust-vancouver-canucks-spearing-fine