LTS

I guess Milbury needs another dose of STFU. This time JR can gift wrap it in a fist.

I've heard this all over.. no kidding he wasn't playing the puck. You can see from the replay he's going for the puck and you can see the point where he realizes LeTang is going to beat him, so he changes course to separate the player from the puck. What I then see is Letang, rather than take one more step and get blown up on the boards, reach out to poke the puck. This is irresponsible on his part. He puts his head down into Nystrom's path. Nystrom, to his credit, never raises his arm to Letang. He drives straight in. As Letang pulls back up to avoid the hit he puts himself in a more vulnerable position. Nystrom had a glide path for the hit, if Letang does not change his course he gets crushed while outstretched. His head would hit the left side of Nystrom's body while Nystrom drives right through the middle of Letang.. Rather than subject himself to that he attempts to pull back out of the position and you have the point of impact change. I wouldn't even review this. Players need to stop putting themselves in vulnerable positions. But this isn't even the same as a player suddenly turning his back and then expecting the guy coming in hard to change his path at the last moment. This is Letang stretching out to poke the puck, realizing he's going to get hit and trying to lessen the impact. He would have been better served falling on the ice than standing up. I hate cheap shots but I just don't see Nystrom doing anything illegal here. He starts gliding, he sets his body position, and he keeps his path. No raising up the body, no raising up the arm, nothing other than drive straight through the player in front of you. I understand why people say it's a bad shot. I'm wondering if you feel that way because you believe any shot to the head is bad? I realize the NHL wants to limit it but when players put their heads into a vulnerable spot at the last minute what can I guy so? I don't even see a way for Nystrom to avoid that hit. He was leaning left towards the puck and has to turn right to avoid the boards anyway. He's hoping he gets the puck but realizes he won't. It's fortuitous that Letang is to the right but he's gotta get through the same ice Letang does at that point.

They had him on TSN.. he's definitely shocked.. he mentioned he knows Tyler1 and Tyler2 from playing in the juniors.. that's good. He's a Calder candidate (perhaps not anymore) but I hope he can fit right in. I like it..

I guess we'll see how Kassian feels about Buffalo (and how Hodgson lines up against Vacnouver).. they play each other this week!

The Sabres already get bullied. The lineup next year looks better. This year is irrelevant. Next year you get Foligno up.. re-sign kaleta, you'll have McNabb, you fill your 3rd/4th line center (even if it's gaustad at the right price). You might be looking for a bigger top-6 forward but the Sabres have good draft picks this year and can still move some people... short term pain for long term gain? We shall see.

This is a move that works both now and next year for Buffalo. Kassian has been the guy we all thought would be the big banger but then we've been blasting him for not really doing it. I think that guy is Foligno in the future. The scoring bit remains to be seen.. but hell, for now I'll take it. It's certainly creative and not something we would have expected from Regier.

HOLY CRAP!!!! Hodgson for Kassian? Well.. now that's from out of nowhere...

I missed how the Sabres responded other than seeing the final score. After 3-2 I turned the game off and found something more productive to do with my time. I watched last night until 3-2 and then moved on. Tomorrow I at least will be otherwise occupied so I don't have to figure out what the hell else to do during the game!

I guess in the argument with Lindy it depends on which side you weigh in on. If you think Ruff is done as a coach then perhaps you want Stafford yelling back. Perhaps you want Stafford telling Ruff that he sucks and his system is killing the team. if you think Ruff needs better players then you think Stafford is the problem and needs to go. If you think they both need to go then it was just pure entertainment to see two guys going at it. If you think they both need to stay, well.... let's not go there.

Thanks for pulling that over. Of course we know now what happened but man.. he looked pretty good again. His ability to move around the offensive zone with the puck is extremely helpful. Your comments are the exact opposite of Paul Hamilton's.. interesting. He states that Ennis looks perfectly in position and rarely lost out there and he expected him to be more lost. I haven't seen it yet. Of course his speed allows him to close gaps faster than the rest of the Sabres.

It doesn't hurt that they have the speed to dump and chase.. hell Ennis has done it by getting his own puck. I love them together.. the speed works. I'm hoping they stay together. Vanek will be back and that means Leino has to go somewhere. I'm guessing he'll keep Roy with Pominville and Vanek. So does it become Boyes, Gaustad, Leino and Kaleta, Adam, Ellix/McCormick? Curious to see what the lines are tonight with Vanek supposedly coming back.

If I continue to see 1-2 rushes a game like he had in the Boston game, whether the puck goes in or not, I will be happy. it was obvious he opened the ice up. So far so good..

Wow... this thread contains everything I thought about this board.. it was nice to capture it in a single location. You have a user who posts a new thread on topics that have been discussed elsewhere. You have a seasoned veteran berate that user this escalating the already perceived lack of etiquette. You have people talk about an issue in threads where 10 pages in the topic being discussed is no longer relevant to the original thread title. And that.... leads to the first point.. a user feels the need to start a new thread. We're all passionate fans (or leading incredibly dull lives (or both)). We all want the team to win and we all keep saying the same thing over and over again. Fire someone, trade someone, in short.. do something. It's almost as bad as talk radio these days. There is only so much that can be discussed until everything has been covered and you end up just saying the same thing. I've come to the conclusion that discussion of the Sabres is counterproductive until there is actual tangible news to discuss. Dissecting every statement is proving pointless. There is only so much a professional athlete, GM, coach, or owner can say without causing a huge problem. We blast them for saying one thing because we want them to say something else but if Ruff came out and said "All my players suck" what would we say then? It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. For fans it's like players... everything is great when your team is winning and everything comes apart when your team is losing. I'll be watching and waiting to see what happens because anything else and I feel like it's just a waste of time.