Randall Flagg

Right, that's all well and good, but imagine Terry coming out to talk about our future with Matt while ominously leaving Jack out of it amid swirling rumors of him being traded those poor Sens fans

The player they chose to interview him (and that they chose a player) was so bizarre. Sens fans like Borowiecki the way we like Matt Moulson

That's weird

I have only rewatched plays that involved particularly bad peterman passes, and all of allen's plays. But Dawkins is gonna be fine. It's those other 4 spots that need addressing.

The Jets, and Darnold, have had a very good half.

Darnold's pocket is so clean Sigh

Amazing.

To win this tournament, the Sabres needed to win by 6. I think someone told them that in the 2nd intermission!

I could see them getting 8*3=24 wins.

DiMarco has been here at least for a year, yep. He is one in a line of great team guy FB signings that do nothing on the field. The one before him, I believe, was Felton. And I understand that there's a faith-based approach to McDermott's leading of men, but I think it's been established that this is pretty common. And w.r.t. Peterman - that is what I'd need to see to not be able to describe everything that has happened by fallen-through offseason plans (which has been suggested by legitimate sources, ie the Darnold/other UFA QB stuff) combined with preseason wool that had not just him but plenty of us fooled as well. It's not what I need to see from Peterman to be convinced he's dreadful. And even then, we're talking a lot more proof needed to support some vague notion of "kind of faith" and proper faith methods leading to the dumping of Tyrod and attachment to Peterman. Like, legitimate reports that it happened, kind of proof. The kind of proof that would make the Bills the talk of national radio, and not just sports radio. To be clear - today McDermott did not declare a QB starter from what I've heard. Conventional wisdom suggests that this team (and I) want no part of Allen playing right now, so that he's not simply trotting NP out to get demolished again shows he knows that he's battling between Allen's development and losing the team. And probably hoping for a Matt Moore signing. I don't think they've been smart. But everything makes sense without a whiff of that stink, a particular stink that would be an astounding, horrifying revelation.

If Nate Peterman starts more than 1-2 more games, or is retained at the end of this year, I'd buy that. The above speculation would require an extraordinary amount of evidence to be convincing. An extraordinary amount. We could start with examples of your second point, and flesh out the details and nuances of each situation.

He threw for 56 yards in 3 quarters last season against the Saints while being demolished 47-10 at home He threw under 100 yards in a full game one or two other times His playoff performance left everything to be desired That's probably what they were thinking come discussions of the roster last Jan/Feb Also, continuing to play zone coverage with a line that can't pressure is going to sink our defense

Colorado Avalanche Record last season: 43-30-9, 95 points, 4th in the Central Playoffs: lost in the first round to Nashville (6 games) Coach: Jared Bednar GM: Joe Sakic Captain: Gabriel Landeskog GF: 255 (10th) GA: 236 (15th) PP: 21.9% (8th) PK: 83.3% (4th) Top 5G: 1.) Nathan MacKinnon (39) 2.) Mikko Rantanen (29) 3.) Gabriel Landeskog (25) 4.) Alex Kerfoot (19) 5.) Carl Soderberg (16) Top 5A: 1.) Nathan MacKinnon (58 ) 2.) Mikko Rantanen (55) 3.) Tyson Barrie (43) 4.) Gabriel Landeskog (37) 5.) Alex Kerfoot (24) Top 5 PTS: 1.) Nathan MacKinnon (97) 2.) Mikko Rantanen (84) 3.) Gabriel Landeskog (62) 4.) Tyson Barrie (57) 5.) Alex Kerfoot (43) Key Additions: Matt Calvert (LW), Ian Cole (D), Philipp Grubauer (G) Key Losses: Blake Comeau (LW), Jonathan Bernier (G), Nail Yakupov (RW), Duncan Siemens (D), Andrew Hammond (G) Projected Lineup: Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen Nieto - Soderberg - Calvert Andrighetto - Jost - Kerfoot Wilson - Compher - Bourque Zadorov - Johnson Barberio - Barrie Girard - Cole Varlamov Grubauer Top Prospects we might/might not see 1.) Cale Makar, D, 1st round 2017 2.) Conor Timmins, D, 2nd round 2017 3.) Martin Kaut, RW, 1st round 2018 4.) Vladislav Kamenev, C, trade from Nashville 5.) AJ Greer, LW, 2nd round 2015 My thoughts Avs fans are sleeping a LOT easier than they did this time last year. They were 1 point away from doubling their previous seasons total. MacKinnon broke out in a huge way, behind only McDavid in points per game (injuries limited him to 97 points in 74 games). MIKKO RANTANEN scored EIGHTY FOUR POINTS. The guy drafted tenth in the McEichel draft, which will be legendary when all is said and done. Obviously a lot of that was MacK, and a lot was PP production, but the guy is a smart and talented hockey player. This team is really top-heavy but the youth being insulated is growing quite nicely and in time guys like Jost and Compher and Kerfoot will be very solid top 6/middle 6 options. The D played well, Girard is tiny but intriguing, and Makar could be great. Zadorov gets a little better every year. They've shored up goaltending in case Varlamov misses time again. Things are looking up. However, I would not be surprised to see them crash again. Just like when they won their division in 2013-14, they did so in a way some people would describe as "unsustainable." They crashed after that season and the potential is there after this season, whether you believe in that stuff or not - surely the roster is a slow streak from 2 top line players away from being real bad. I think they'll regress a hair, and be a high-80-point team that still has a lot of things to look forward to. I think their best case is winning a round of hockey, and maybe two. And the worst case is MacKinnon being hurt/regressing to a ~70 point player, Landeskog falling off the map, and the young guys not playing as well as last year, leading to a bottom 10 finish.

He's a D drafted only 3 years ago, not a big deal. He's 21 for the entirety of 18-19 and might make the team full time this year But don't expect a guarantee that he's a top 4 guy

Four years? That's not bad.

Chicago Blackhawks Record last season: 33-39-10, 76 points, 7th in the Central Playoffs: None Coach: Joel Quenneville GM: Stan Bowman Captain: Jonathan Toews GF: 228 (21st) GA: 254 (23rd) PP: 16.0% (28th) PK: 79.1% (20th) Top 5G: 1.) Alex DeBrincat (28) 2.) Patrick Kane (27) 3.) Nick Schmaltz (21) 4.) Artem Anisimov (20) 5.) Jonathan Toews (20) Top 5A: 1.) Patrick Kane (49) 2.) Jonathan Toews (32) 3.) Nick Schmaltz (31) 4.) Duncan Keith (30) 5.) Alex DeBrincat (24) Top 5 PTS: 1.) Patrick Kane (76) 2.) Jonathan Toews (52) 3.) Nick Schmaltz (52) 4.) Alex DeBrincat (52) 5.) Brandon Saad (35) Key Additions: Chris Kunitz (LW), Marcus Kruger (C), Jordan Schroeder (RW), Cam Ward (G), brandon Manning (G) Key Losses: Patrick Sharp (LW), Cody Franson (D), Lance Bouma (lW), ANthony Duclair (LW), Tomas Jurco (LW), Vinnie Hinostroza (C), Jordan Oesterle (D) Projected Lineup: Saad - Schmaltz - Kane Anisimov - Toews - DeBrincat Hayden - Kampf - Sikura Kunitz - Kruger - Schroeder Keith - Murphy Gustafsson - Seabrook Manning - Rutta Crawford (might not be ready right away) Ward Top Prospects we might/might not see 1.) Adam Boqvist, D, 1st round 2018 2.) Henri Jokiharju, D, 1st round 2017 3.) Dylan Sikura, RW, 5th round 2014 4.) Ian Mitchell, D, 2nd round 2017 5.) Nicolas Beaudin, D, 1st round 2018 My thoughts How quickly they fell. There were no aspects about Chicago's team last season that were good. There is no help coming anytime soon in their new additions or from their prospect pool, at least in the form of anything other than mediocre-to-middling players. The forward group has no depth, even with youngsters Schmaltz and DeBrincat looking like good offensive players. Toews and Kane have taken steps back from their dominance, and Saad's return was far worse than expected. We knew Seabrook has been bad for a while...But some put Keith as one of the worst regular defensemen playing in the league right now. He was that bad last year. Maybe he was nursing something, but he was lost defensively and couldn't hit the net to save his life offensively. Crawford's health continues to be in question, and a healthy Crawford going bananas is the only way I can see this team sniffing the playoffs. It was worth it, though. And I thought I made one of these yesterday, apologies. I'll do one more today.

Damn. I think this partly helps explain the Bruins game, against a team that had 4 defensemen who all played together for a full AHL season last year, along with 6 of their forwards. Of course there isn't going to be structure in a game where these kids are coming from around the world to play together for the first time. Gleams of hope on a Monday.

People who are up to date: Is Matt Moore still above a line where you'd consider signing him to avoid ever seeing Peterman again, and to keep Allen on the bench? Or has his play deteriorated so that we might just have to play Allen and hope this is his Goff/Trubisky rookie year? Not good, but not damaging long term? I know a few years ago the answer would clearly be to go sign Matt Moore. And it's not out of the realm of possibility for the Bills to be able to leverage a lot of the cap space and picks they're going to get into a lot of solid to good starters. Baltimore completely rebuilt their receiving corps this year, the Bears loaded up, and the Rams before last year had a crazy offseason, even if their initial talent base was much higher than ours. But then I look at the WR free agent list, and the OL one, and I get worried.

I'm aware. That changes nothing about what I said

It helps that those early reports of him being 4 foot 10 and 97 pounds weren't correct haha He definitely looks like at least a 3rd rounder versus what I was picturing when I heard we drafted him

I understand a spreadsheet could show a Karlsson decline by that much, but the dude's shot is utterly lethal, and he's going to continue to get first line wingers and first line power play time. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's a consistent 30-35 goal player going forward. It would surprise me if he was a 40 goal guy, and if he was a low-20-goal guy. I'm in agreement of your overall assessment of Vegas as a solid team that won't be winning 3 playoff series again for a little while.

I understand where TAS is coming from, and it's not from the position that McDermott is a flippant and flamboyant racist or anything within a mile of that. But the performance of tests which purport to indicate subconscious biases are just dreadful, or really, the popular one cited most often, that I had to learn about for 8 hours a day for half a week when I first got to my new skewl. And it's a pretty large character assassination for something with such bad metrics, as that is one of the worst things a human can be, if not the worst. And so I understand completely when half of a nation gets rankled when it continually is a focal point of discussions like this when they're just trying to enjoy some footbaw Even if I appreciate the thoughtful/empathetic nature through which the discussion is trying to be had

FTR, when Taylor was traded, pretty much every notable QB to move hadn't moved yet, and from what I've read the Bills were zoned in on Darnold - the Jets moving up a week later probably destroyed that plan. I doubt McCarron was on the radar when the TT move was made - it felt like QB opportunities for this season were endless at the time. Which, again, is why the TT half of this makes no difference to me. All I care about is failing in every aspect after the fact. They got beat to the punch for a guy who's starting right away, a guy they likely had above Allen, in Darnold, and they lost out on every QB from Cousins and Smith to Keenum (understandable avoidance) to Bridgewater to Bradford etc. and settled on the worst case scenario. THIS is where the failure lies IMO.

What specifically is going to tank their team shooting percentage (8th - Karlsson may well score 10 fewer goals and Perron may be missed, but Patches could have a renaissance) or save percentage (12th - if anything, even if Fleury gets worse, I would imagine they will get better play from their backups than they did last year)? I recall underlying numbers and simple observation suggesting that team will be just fine and a comfortable playoff team, if not a division winner. I wouldn't mind being wrong though

I think you do