kas23

You should find a way of containing and reusing that methane. Such a waste....

I think people are forgetting the reasoning behind a draft. It's a sustainable source of incoming talent. If we traded all of our 1sts/2nds over a span of 3-4 years for proven vets, we may get a Cup (or not), but then be forced to dismantle and our prospect pool would be depleted, sort of as it is now). We'll get our Cup, then it'll be another million years before we get another. We need the continuous wave of cheap talent the draft provides. Prospects in the draft are like trees. Free and sustainable. This is exactly why most of us don't remember the last time Detroit missed the playoffs. We'll need to make some unpopular moves in the future to keep Eichel, Sam, and Risto together. We'll need good players to be ready to step up to continue to be competitive.

Edmonton should be the poster child on why the NHL's current lottery system does not work. Awarding the top picks to the worse teams is done in the spirit of parity and competition. However, this has not happened in the last 5 years. Edmonton continues to be a bottom feeder. The wild card is that Edomonton has also been the epitome of a dysfunctional front office. And that should be punished. The leads me to my Award and Punishment model. First, you can only win the lottery once in a 5 year period. The NHL should still have its dog and pony lottery show, but a public spectacle should be made of those who have previous won the lotto and continue to suck. Within a 5 year period, if you win it twice, you actually go DOWN a spot. Win it 3 times, YOU go down 2 spots, etc. I think this will place a greater pressure on owners and front office folks to field a winning product. Purposely tanking will be a thing of the past due to the punishment part and lottery-winning teams will feel an added pressure to improve. In the end, fans will benefit.

While DUI is a very serious crime, I think we can all think of a time when, in hindsight, we shouldn't have been driving. That doesn't make it right though. What does is that he crashed into a Tim Hortons.

Wow. That slide right past me. I'm sure he could catch on somewhere as an Equipment Manager though.

This is nothing more than posturing to get a larger haul. All it may take is the #1 plus another player. With DR there, maybe they'll go for #1 pick plus Pysyk. And don't forget the person who ultimately makes the final decision. It's in the owner's best interest to get Matthews there.

I don't exactly understand what PA was saying in regards to the Hawks, but they are one of the biggest reasons in modern professional sports why a team should tank to be successful.

You could. But that would be a quick self-defeating one.

Even though the teams you mentioned didn't purposely tank at any point, I don't think winning a Stanley Cup is the appropriate metric for judging the success (or failure) of a tank. Let's say the Sabres never win a SC, when you sit down in your seat with your family at FNC to watch Eichel light it up, don't you think it was worth it?

Michael Babcock: http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14901485/nhl-mike-babcock-begins-grooming-toronto-maple-leafs-future Am I still bitter about this? Course not.

I can't believe people were arguing about GMTM trading McGinn. This is a new low.

This is a strange tweet. Isn't it a non sequitur? If scouts routinely go to games, why would a TB scout at a Sabres game be interesting?

And he has a no trade clause. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/matt-moulson-signs-5-year-deal-with-sabres--praises-their--clear-direction-183811868.html

Hmmmm. Surgery is not the standard of care for a clavicular fracture. Either Bob has no clue what he's talking about or McDavid has something a little more than just a fractured clavicle.

Don't you usually wait until after the first date to ask what someone's cat looks like? Although I've seen a few on the first date.

I love Double Jack. Had Noble Citra Showers tonight. Just love Citra.

Drinking Anchorage Bitter Monk tonight. What a fantastic treat.

Belgium, of course. I have a very soft spot for Orval and just love Cantillon. That said, beer-wise, I would never want to live anywhere but the U.S. Without any doubt, better beer is being produce here, but it may be because Belgium and Germany have their hands tied by tradition. I like my cars German though.

Humor me though, with the exception of the Lips of Faith series, what do you consider a good beer from NB? I'm curious. And although "swill" is a bit of hyperbole, I don't understand the draw to SN where there are so many better beers out there. I can understand some of SN's barrel-aged offerings, but their pale ales are just plain tired. There are some many better and new hop varieties besides Cascade. Their Hop Hunter was a complete disappointment after so much hype. I don't live in Buffalo anymore, but I know you guys get Sculpin, Flower Power, Jack's Abbey, most beers from Maine (Another One, Mo, Lunch), Firestone, and even Teo-Hearted, so why pick SN?

I've never seen a beer get a low rating on RateBeer, so I really can't take them seriously. If we want to be a little bit more objective (and I use the term loosely), go on to BA. Now, admittedly, BA over-rates IPAs over beers of other styles. That said, SNs flagship pale ale is getting a 4.06. A 4.06 is not a good rating for a pale ale on BA. That's certainly not a beer I'm going to hunting for. Sure, you can call SN Pale Ale the "standard" for APAs, but that's just because they were a pioneer. Pioneer doesn't equal a good beer. That's like saying Sears is a great department store. Why go out of the way to buy anything from Sierra Nevada when breweries like Stone, Alpine, Deschutes, Ballast Point, Boulevard, etc can easily be had? And New Belgium is definitely a giant leap below SN. Besides Lips of Faith, what exactly are they making well?

My condolences. Serious, if anyone is in Asheville, the brewery to go to is Wicked Weed. Sierra Nevada is borderline swill. New Belgium, with exception of their Lips of Faith series, is even worse. In spirit of thread, just finished Nobel Ale Works Tongue Tickles. Not as good as I Love It or Citra Showers, but excellent nonetheless.

Seems like it opens up great possibilities for a trade then. Or, we could just blame Darcy.

Don't worry, we can just buy out his contract...wait, no we can't.

I agree with that. I guess my point is that if you try to coerce (either with money or other promises) a player into a particular situation they honestly don't want to be in, it's not likely to work out for the best. I think it's clear GMTM has offered Odouya very good money and security. The Hawks don't want him back, yet he has still not signed with the Sabres. I think it's time to move on.

I think Jim Kelly's decision was a result of immaturity. He just needed to grow up and become more open-minded. But for a veteran in the later half of career, he knows what he wants. I don't want to twist his arm and he comes here and basically checks out effort-wise like some older vets often do. Hoff comes to mind. He didn't want to be part of the growing process, so he checked out.