TrueBlueGED

Something something Bylsma's bench management something.

More refutation of "systems are basically all the same" shtick: https://twitter.com/AndrewBerkshire/status/844603486096510981 I continue to think what appear to be relatively minor changes on paper actually produce large differences in practice.

It's not unfair, it's just pointless--it doesn't provide value to the public. It's a waste of everyone's time because we know what the response and outcome will be. Why not ask pointed, specific, questions about the team with your limited time speaking with the GM?

https://twitter.com/dellowhockey/status/844591189219295233 A piece (and subsequent tweet storm) about analytics and measuring quality of competition, and impact of. The article is about Morgan Rielly, but the logic can also apply to Risto. For my money, Tyler Dellow was the best stats writer before being hired by Edmonton. He's back writing again, and may still be the best. And despite the Oilers being incompetent during his time there, I think time spent in an NHL organization probably benefitted him as an analyst.

Harrington and the other TBN clowns are just waiting for the season ending presser so they can waste half their questions asking why they can't speak to the owner.

Indeed. Q1: Do you think you can compete for a Cup relying so heavily on PP scoring, without a significant improvement in even strength play? Q2, if yes: Why do you think this when all of the available evidence says otherwise? Q2, if no: What do you think is the biggest reason for this team's continued downright poor even strength play? Q3, if players: Do you think the players you have acquired are inherently weak at even strength, or simply there are still too many roster holes to play well? Q3, if system: WHY ARE YOU STILL EMPLOYING THE GUY WITH THE BAD SYSTEM? (Minus the caps) And so on. It's not hard. No nono, you're not on a crusade to fire Bylsma...you're on a crusade to make the Sabres a quality team. Political spin baby!

If anything this should free them up to ask him really tough questions. He's basically asking for it.

I see JJ has a lot of people around here drinking the Kul-aid...sorry, I had to :p I think most would grant the injury and Bylsma mattered, and that Kulikov is better than he played this year. I take no issue with those things. But I have a big problem with Murray evaluating him as a top-3 defenseman. Every metric outside of that playoff series puts Kulikov as a lower-end top-4, and some would argue a #5 (I wouldn't, but I've seen the arguments). A #3 Dman has to be a guy who can anchor a pair with a lesser partner, and Kulikov isn't that guy. If Murray thinks he is, that's no bueno. I think it's also worth noting the injury may be a career-long thing now. A couple weeks ago Murray said if Kulikov stayed in Buffalo and worked with the trainers all summer, they think he could get back to 90% of what he was. So there's a good chance he never gets back to what he was, even if we can't agree on what that was.

As much as I enjoy blaming Bylsma for stuff, I just don't think Kulikov is his fault. Would he be better in a different system? Sure. But he was never great, save for 6 playoff games. Six. Yea he was getting top-3 minutes, but that's sort of like McCabe getting #2 minutes here and us insisting he's a #2. He really isn't. I'm comfortable concluding Murray got fooled by a playoff series. Edit: And if he wasn't fooled, then I circle back to him looking for the wrong thing in defensemen. Too much old school in his evaluation, methinks. Maybe he'll learn something from the whole fiasco this year.

The assessment of Kulikov as a top 3 is not going to inspire confidence in those of us who question Murray's evaluation of defensemen.

My guess is you were looking at total scoring, while WC's numbers are even strength.

Yup. We're scoring more because our PP is deadly (and wouldn't surprise me if we're drawing more penalties with Jack back). But we're not winning much more because we're a even strength team, and we're going to remain that way until there's a coaching change.

I know you're not Christian or anything, but I'm giving out sarcasm detectors for Christmas this year. Interested? :)

The better he plays, the more likely he is to end up back on the wing.

Will not lie, I'm surprised. I figured PS4 and X1 would be profitable by now, never thought they were at launch. The Wii U loss was mostly due to the controller, right?

The problem, of course, is that Atlantis has rings.

I was thinking Atlanta. Third time's the charm, right?

I know Nintendo has typically been more cost conscious than Microsoft and Sony with hardware, but I'd be surprised if they made much of anything on console sales (Sony and Microsoft both take losses on every console sold). So if they don't sell enough to have a solid user base (Wii U was a catastrophic failure in this regard), they can't sell enough software to be profitable. If Nintendo developed its games for Sony and Microsoft consoles, their market would be far larger. There are licensing fees involved, but at some point the larger market would overtake any benefit of having a proprietary hardware system. Sega made this choice after the Dreamcast, for instance. I have a hard time seeing Nintendo continuing in the home console business if the Switch sells like the Wii U.

The credit card roulette scared him away. Good goin.

Move the team to another city.

I'd rather have any of them over Reinhart the winger.

Yea, but he was never a contender at the pick. That really sucks for Ekblad, man. And Florida, given the contract.

Perhaps you should be complaining about those cars not being in driveways.

The goal of the year has yet to happen. It's going to happen this coming Saturday. Time is going to be winding down in a tie game with Toronto looking for a regulation win, Eichel is going to steal it from Matthews, streak down the left wing, cut to the middle, and score. Thousands of Leafs fans at the arena will lament not leaving early to beat the bridge traffic.

Seriously. I can't fathom protection Ennis right now. He's one of the contracts we celebrate if Vegas takes.