LTS

So.. what happens if the Sabres finish 29th and win the lottery? Does SS explode?

No one is to blame. It's not a tank. If it were a tank then they would suck for failing. Tanking is intentionally losing and that's clearly not what happened here. The lack of talent is not enough to guarantee a poor season. Dare I say it, they wanted a cohesive locker room that stressed a team first attitude and winning is a byproduct of it. Even if the talent level is low. It's life.

Good point. You'd think I would have caught that when looking at the roster. I think that underscores what I had said in another thread about preferring Malkin over Crosby. I always thought Malkin came after Crosby and then looking at the draft it didn't make sense.

Hmm I missed that part. I know up top it wasn't that the game ends in a tie, I misspoke, it was that the basketball and baseball play indefinitely and until there is a winner. Thanks for the catch. I still prefer his approach. I hate ties and while I don't mind the shootout I hate the loser point.

Heard an interesting point on WGR this morning. Pittsburgh finished with 58 points the first year Crosby was in their lineup. 2003 - Drafted Fleury (Finished 03-04 with 58 points) 2004 - Drafted Malkin (no following season) 2005 - Drafted Crosby (Finished 05-06 with 58 points) 2006 - Jordan Stall (Finished 06-07 with with 105 points) The Sabres are at 52 points. So, a team with Fleury, Malkin, and Crosby only managed to finish 6 points ahead of the current Buffalo Sabres lineup). Of course that's cherry picking. Chicago shows a much better result from their drafting. But if nothing else it demonstrates just how bad things can be even with star players. I would have never imagined Pittsburgh finishing with 58 points having Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury on the team. Other fun facts from the 05-06 Penguins Roster... Mario Lemieux played 21 games and was still a point per game. (retired mid-season) Ziggy Palffy played 42 games and was a point per game. (retired mid-season) John LeClair was on the roster. Mark Recchi was on the roster just under a point per game. Brooks Orpik on the roster. Sergei Gonchar on the roster. Fired Craig Patrick as GM and hired Ray Shero. Hired Mike Yeo as Asst. Coach Hired Michel Therrien as Head Coach Hah.. this is kind of fun looking at that team. Oh well.. I feel better about the Sabres now.

It was a good essay.. two small problems. 1. He neglects to call out football as a game that can end in a tie. It is far more physical than basketball and baseball and they get a week off between games. 2. He chooses to reject the basis of the loser point, which is, the standings remain closer together generating more interest in the final outcome of the season. Other than that I loved his statistics and ideas.

One other thing that is bugging me. There is this assumption that a single player is going to change this franchise around overnight. As though getting Eichel or McDavid would change the Sabres drastically for next year and that getting pick #3 would reduce the Sabres to being horrible for years on end. I'm not tracking with that. I'll admit that it would be better to have pick #1, then pick #2, and then pick #3 but I'm can't believe that the Sabres will be drastically different next year if they have pick #1 over pick #3. The argument against #3 is that the Sabres will be as horrible as they are this year. I can't buy that. Perhaps its this perception that fuels people into this rage about winning. The Sabres are going to be a better team next year, period. This isn't even in question is it? Moreover, the Sabres get an improved shot at the top 3 picks next year (if they don't improve enough). The future without the #1 may not be as bright as with the #1 but it's not "The Day After" either.

Frankly, I think players don't play for a crest so much as they play for the locker room. Once upon a time it might have been for the crest but now with free agency it's more about the guys who are in the room who are going to help you achieve your hockey dreams. Players care about fans. They like to feel support just like everyone does. They also dislike negative reinforcement of boos when they score and cheers when they lose. They can avoid talk radio and news paper articles but they can't avoid it when they are in the rink. The players in the locker room all know that the breakdown of the 20-22 players who they will be with, day in and day out, next year will change drastically. Those who will be around will like having another talented player in the room. Those who are leaving would like to keep earning a paycheck, even if it's in the AHL or a Euro league, etc. The fans will still be there next year. Fans root for the crest because that doesn't change for them. There's your misalignment of priorities and why you have this problem.

Stop it. Just stop it. Keep it contained where it belongs, please.

You root against your team. You anger hockey gods. You get this. Just shut up and see what happens. I've had about all I can take of this place and the people who think they deserve anything. It's a product, you buy it or you don't. If you hate it so much, why do you continue to buy it? What does that say about you as a person? If players feel offended by their "fans" cheering against them, and "fans" feel offended by their "loser team" winning then I don't believe anyone gets to ride the moral high horse. Done with it.

It's one way to sell tickets to Amerks games too. Upside - he's a serviceable player.. This is in no way meant to look down upon the signing. I love it.

It's a game!

Yet, when a player takes a pass off a skate to the stick we talk about the incredible skill displayed to move it up to the stick while at full speed. Frankly, I don't care how it goes in. If they can deflect it with their skates then so be it. Having just finished my courses with USA Hockey as well on player safety, etc. it should be noted that USA Hockey also states that mouthguards and helmets are not effective in preventing concussion. They say that there is no scientific proof that either of those safety measures reduces concussion. There is implied safety through lessening of impact. They put it straight up that it's there to protect teeth (mouthguard) or skull fractures and other collision incidents (helmet). I think anything that snaps the head severely enough. The key is slowing the brain's movement inside the skull and that'll take a lot of work. The article itself talks about how football helmets evolved but have they proven to lead to less concussion? I'm not sure if I caught that claim anywhere in the article. So, they may due better on this new testing procedure but it might not actually lead to a reduction in injury.

It might. That said, if the GM doesn't care how great a coach you are anyway then it doesn't matter what the team on the ice does. not to get sidetracked but the best calculated move Murray could make was to keep Nolan. He knew if it was a 1 year deal Nolan would walk. So he offers him 3. Nolan knows he's not going far here but he's going to do everything he can to convince another team to take a shot on him. Nolan's other option was to say no and then have no chance of coaching in the NHL. Done deal.

You can believe that.. But Shanny played for Babcock. They have a ton of money to throw at a coach who is an icon in Canada. I'm thinking it's more a possibility that not.

All I want to know is who the hell designed the parking garage. My son played there a few weeks ago and I am pretty sure that I could have designed a much better garage. Beyond the abnormally narrow driving areas it is in dire need of more signage to direct traffic flow. In my one trip up and down from the 5th level I was nearly in 5 accidents and I mean very close as in slamming brakes. The sight lines are horrible as well. That said.. inside is very nice. The locker rooms are a bit tiny, WAY too warm but they are nice. He played on the secondary rink but the ice was beautiful. The bench areas were some of the best I have been on as well. The main rink just SOUNDS cool when a game is going on. Might be back there in another month for another tournament.. we shall see.

I think he's earned it. Frankly you can see when a player is taking a shift off and I think he's working most of the time. This team is abysmal and no single talent will change that. When the other team doesn't have to fear your offense they can take chances that normally don't occur. This can become a misleading look at how a team performs. I think some talent on the Sabres is muffled because the other team simply can play a much more aggressive style without fear of the puck ending up in their net. I watch Grigorenko make smart, quick, passes that are spot on and I feel that when the opposition has to back off (and the people he is passing to are better) there will be this awakening that he has somehow improved. At this point I'm not sure that any single great player from any era of hockey wouldn't look much worse than they actually were if they were in this lineup.

I'd look at it this way. Look at the championship teams over the past 5-10 years and ask yourselves if they were moved to Buffalo.. would they fit the blue collar, hard working bill? I think so.. and therein lies the answer.

Is there even a minus column for Babcock? I fear that Canada's coach will be coaching the blue/white team to the North next year..

For what it's worth.. and perhaps as strange as it may seem.. Marchand being off the ice for the Bruins is actually a bad thing given that he leads the team in Goals scored. So while Stamkos being off the ice is a nice twist it also means the Bruins leading goal scorer is off the ice and their offense is pretty anemic especially compared to Tampa who have 3 scorers ahead of Marchand in Goals and Callahan sitting at 21, 1 behind Marchand.

Yea.. we're definitely leaning heavily that way. Plus, having practices at RIT won't suck. :) Parents of most youth sports participants bother me. As a coach I take a different tact to little Jimmy who I know is out there busting his ass but isn't an all-star. Many other parents will see little Jimmy as the twit who keeps their child from achieving greatness. I see Jimmy who cares and wants to do better and really does try. Some kids aren't as athletic as others. Of course travel is a slightly different beast but even then, the kids are there and they are passionate about things. Oh well.. another year another dollar... errr make that many dollars.

So the parent perspective on choosing a program for your child.. This past week we decided we would venture out of house hockey into travel hockey just to see how it went. We had decided on either of two organizations in Rochester. 1. Monroe County Youth Hockey - we've been affiliated with them for 4 years at the house level. 2. Rochester Red Wings Hockey - run by Jay Kirk and Jason Bonsignore. They are loosely affiliated with the Rochester Grizzlies which are one of those Elite organizations. For MCYH it would be a PeeWee Mixed AA team (my son is 11). For RRWH it would be a PeeWee Minor AA team. It was good during tryouts to see him hold his own against a mix of AA and AAA players at the RRWH location. Especially having only played house hockey. Now the agonizing part comes.. choosing where to go. The amount of feedback out there is incredible but trusting all of it is impossible. Whether it's someone telling me that Jay Kirk and Jason Bonsignore are crooks and horrible people or people telling me that you don't want any part of a Mixed team as its just glorified house hockey. It's insane. The politics and rumor mills are ridiculous. It's literally been one of the more stressful weeks of my life and it had NOTHING to do with my kid actually trying out. I didn't care if he made any team. The pressure to sign your letter of intent and "pledge allegiance" to some hockey team at that level is crazy. It's not just these organizations, that's the state of the sport, but some are on the hard sell more than others. The worst part is that he'll be split from good friends of his no matter what he chooses. That's a facet of life I suppose but it will be strange for him. Oh well.. back to the fun.

What if they play him at Center and but ask him to play as a winger in his own zone? Whoa.

Well played. But you just gotta be that guy that says we aren't going to win the last spot. Sigh.. :)

The Sabres never did get the mumps.. perhaps it's time they return?