LTS

I read the end of this thread while eating lunch... anyone want my sandwich?

I don't normally do this. Prediction; Girgorenko scores a hattie. Sabres win. Sabrespace.com explodes because Grigorenko was not traded and/or was even brought up for the game. The kid has game #1 of hte weekend tourney tonight at 8pm... I'll be busy for most of the game.

Love this. I also loved them using stem cell therapy on Howe and seeing his incredible recovery speed from stroke. Lots out there.. this kind of stuff is awesome.

I'm definitely an Ennis fan. He has improved and I think he will get better as the team around him improves and it allows him even more space to create. He has played far more physical but he's knocked off the puck less and less now. I think he's going to be a very important piece on this team when they improve overall.

The train hitting the cat. I needed that right about now. :)

I believe his stride is still the same length.

Actually, by trading away Neuvirth you give him a shot at the playoffs and a chance at the Cup. You are rewarding him for playing on your team and putting up with everything. In return the Sabres get a safety net at the moment and a draft pick. If Neuvirth wants to be in Buffalo he can come back (assuming Murray wants him). No risk. It's a standard hockey move and if the Sabres were in 24th position no one would even be questioning it. Neuvirth made himself available by winning and playing well. He did this for a chance to be moved and Murray moved him. It does help the Sabres as well, there's no doubt. But there are more aspects to this. People are getting caught up in the finish last mode but the moves made are all standard hockey moves made by a selling team every year. Just because it brings them down for the rest of the season does not automatically mean it's a tank move. It has multiple purposes to be certain. But teams trade UFAs all the time... regardless of position. Halak was shipped twice last year.

You are too old. It's just a number... or is it?

Murray is well aware of the WGR crew sentiment to get Neuvirth outta town. He's playing that game with them. They wanted him gone. He throws that barb out there to say that clearly he was not trying to lose. On the other hand, he was driving up Neuvirth's value for a trade to another team. He could absorb the winning with the expectation that with him gone he would lose. You can't question trading away an UFA goalie with value to a contender who is interested in shoring up their goaltending. It's a standard hockey move. He accomplishes his goal. There are no moves that have been made that could be said to be distinctly tanking. That's the genius of it all. Every move he's made has made sense. The Sabres would have traded Neuvirth if they were in a position to finish 24th just as much as 30th. Should be a fun game tonight.. I don't think I'll be able to watch.

Followed by: Jarmo Kekalainen @jkekalainen It isn't always just about business... pic.twitter.com/uVDV3K2Nky”” Sorry, don't know how to quote twitter.

This year NHL Network has SportsNation or whatever it is. So no TSN guys. SIgh. Flynn is an interesting move in that it clears some of the logjam of players at that level. It'll open up spots on the roster for the remainder of this year and into next which in turn opens up spots down in Rochester for some of the Junior/College prospects.

Okay. Where is TSN TradeCentre available for online streaming? I need Bobbo and Dreger breaking deals for me.

I chose to work from home tomorrow. :) That said.. fire Tim Murray, he sucks. This whole thing is a joke and the Sabres will be horrible forever. Abysmal. Horrendous. I hate them. Oh.. wait.. the sun'll come out tomorrow.

There's science in this... look it up. Cones and things.

I think it's a suck player frankly. That's the only response Stewart can give. And even after he doesn't come back his answer is: "I loved my time in Buffalo. The fans were great. It's a hockey city. We just couldn't get the deal done."

blah blah. I've never wanted them to stop winning. I just don't hate it anymore when they lose. They won one. The UFA's shined as they should. They are increasing their value to better teams with Cup potential. Anyone on this team after Monday knows the drill.. their hope will be gone. Relax a bit.

For what it's worth... I was talking about you repeating what is generally a comment from Bobbo that had little substance to begin with. I do think it's ridiculous. However, I'm not bothered by it. You are in the media vein, you are an aspiring journalist (aspiring to more than now, I'm not judging your accomplishments, you are a journalist right?) and I think that journalists, especially sports ones who have this desire to be in the NHL trade stream of consciousness will lean towards posting something like that more so than say your average hockey fan. It's not an indictment of you. We all do what we do. If repeating substanceless comments from Bobbo is the worst you do... :) And I love Bobbo.. I love Dreger. I'm not bashing on them either. On with the show!

What is it with twisted panties on this board lately? Bobbo needs to fill his twitter timeline to remain relevant. At least to some. What I would find more ridiculous is people repeating it. Then again, some people live their lives just sharing their stream of consciousness with the world.

Zemgus is unbreakable. He's staying out two weeks so that no one learns his secret.

Game has started with a bang. Tom Wilson ended up on the floor of the Penguins bench. Quite a scuffle. I am sure more to come.

There are kids in college playing sports at a high level that routinely show up for their meetings. I am not responding to only 19 year old athletes in the NHL. As to not knowing what needs to be done I completely disagree. He gets paid a lot of money to play hockey. So much money that many of the day to day concerns that people like us have to account for do not apply to him. He has responsibilities and being responsible is something everyone should be capable of doing AND should do. I have a lot of requirements made upon me on a day to day basis and I pride myself on meeting those requirements. It's not being hard on him. It's being real. Why is it okay to lower a level of expectation of commitment? Why should anyone? I didn't speak up too much when he missed a flight. Helpful. I think questioning his commitment to his teammates is warranted here. As for who has what in a bunch, I would suggest that perhaps we engage in a conversation to improve understanding as opposed to speaking of undergarment problems and making sweeping generalizations as to how this impacts people. Perhaps you aren't referring to me in your comment, but given that I am speaking of this as being a problem it is easy for me to feel that you are addressing me with that comment (among others). As I said, for me, I don't care about his problems. It's his teammates who are impacted. As a coach of children I routinely enforce the concept of team and that when one player makes a mistake related to the team it impacts more than just them. We had a kid the other day forget his hockey pants before a quarter-final playoff game. He was joking around about it as though it was no big deal. The leaders on the team set him straight very fast. I don't force kids to make choices on what they want to do and choose to do. I merely enforce that all decisions come with consequences. So when kids choose to miss practice for some other reason that's their decision. However, quantitatively, they are choosing to not be as committed to the team as someone else might be. They are missing out on coaching opportunities and opportunities to improve their skills. They are negatively impacting the team through that decision. It is what it is but the reality doesn't change. In this situation the team suspended him and rightfully so. It's his second suspension this season for non-hockey offenses. How many players get suspended in a season for one non-hockey offense, let alone two? How many players in any league have that happen?

HIPAA (sorry, pet peeve). But the truth is that they can divulge his injury information if he had agreed to allow it. Players might have to agree to that as part of signing a contract with the team given that the team needs to know the nature of the injuries and by rule they would have no right to know unless the players released the information. That's why I think they probably sign away that right to the team at least.

Your argument is completely invalid. The vast majority of our professions do not operate the same way. It's not about being late. It's about not being on time for a meeting when important information will be discussed related to the upcoming opponent. Perhaps in that situation it would most resemble me being late to a prep meeting for my senior management when they would be meeting on a high value deal in just a few hours. The time does not get made up and there are other things to do. So, if I show up late to that meeting I'm betting my ass is on the line. I do it twice the odds are good I am unemployed. You want to dismiss all of these incidents. He's 19. Well, strangely enough there are a lot of 19 year old athletes that don't get suspended. In fact, I would say the vast majority of them. So, the sample size is pretty large. Immaturity is one thing but those are want to succeed know that you show up when you are supposed to show up. If his thought processes are such that he wants to push things to the limit that's fine. It probably helps make him a different kind of player but it also means that there is zero room for error and when an error occurs you pay the price. Zadarov seems to think that he can just show up and play the game. It doesn't work that way. He might learn, he might not. But right now he is showing a pattern where he doesn't seem to care enough to improve. Am I concerned about it? Nope. I don't really care but if I was on his team I would have chewed his ass out up and down and I wouldn't think highly of him. He's putting himself before the team and that's a huge issue.

Does this help the Amerks sell tickets?

I think a trade for ROR happening at the deadline could work. Murray already knows what it would take to sign ROR. He also has a player on his team he can speak to regarding what he would like to do in the future and that player just happens to have an agent who also represents a player that fits the mold of what Murray wants. Murray talking directly to the agent, even given their relationship, might be too obvious. But talk to Kane who then just happens to talk to his agent about the kind of money it might take to get a guy that fits the mold of ROR into Buffalo to play with Kane is a bit harder to trace. I wouldn't give up Ennis. The Sabres don't have anyone like him on the roster. I'm not sure they have anyone like him in the system. He's starting to prove that he can be creative and control the puck. He's playing with an edge to boot. For me he and Girgensons are the soul of the forward ranks right now. Both are hustling, attacking puck carriers, creating space and opportunity. They are what the Sabres need. The move by Girgensons to go to the net in the first period last night is indicative of the kind of player he will become. He's sneaky. He comes away from puck battles with the puck far more often than not. That move last night didn't look to be anything and then all of a sudden he was around the defense. Boom.