Thorny

Those that can’t do, reach

Fulp? Who’s penning this crap

When I was a kid I knew this other slightly younger kid who would opine that, if only a few of my birthdays would be accidentally missed, we could be the same age one day. Used to inwardly chuckle at the impossibly but frankly, me catching you, due to you missing an opportunity to post is somehow seemingly less likely

It’s actually kinda funny. 10 years of posting, all through the absolute muck. All of it Relatively positive poster, all things considered

Holy Schnikes I’m nearly at 40k just need a few more placeholders like this post

It’s so glaring it’s almost easily ignored due to sheer obviousness: but Norris sitting firmly at 1C is probably where things live or die. You simply need to say “Norris is 1C” for that to be driven home Dalton Smith? Or Timothy Dalton

Here we go now here we go now here we go now here we go ah ah ah ah

I guess time has softened my perception of all things that didn’t bite me in the ass repeatedly

Thankfully we have a plan to make it up by simply committing to playing defence - that was always on Adams’ ledger for “Year 6”

At the very least it drives home the magnitude of needing to get Tuch signed (though again I really, really don’t see it being an issue)

I can’t even remember who the third guy was at this point but as Vanek / Roy alone had more points in 2006 than those 3 combined this is one I won’t concede

All work and no play make thorny a dull boy

Yes? Sorry is your opinion that Byram didn’t severely benefit from Dahlin, and that Brian wasn’t the best player on his pair? Why don’t you just focus on my post pumping Power’s tires I’m tired of my takes literally never being positive enough for you lol. Byram is the goat and I am sorry and apologize and will not take issue with any comparison made to franchise keystones of the past - I officially concede (regardless of the demonstrably poor relative metrics)

Interestingly we still refer to it as the “Vanek and Roy” line because in the 19 years since no other prophesized versions have capably supplanted the memory

Damn me and my skewed perception I forgot about this year’s annual edition of the new “Vanek Roy” line

That second line is like bleach in the eyes. Thankfully line 3 looks fine Though even there Danforth is fairly dollar store

Anecdotally I don’t see too many lofty expectations. Divide seems to be mostly between those who would be ridiculously satisfied by merely making the playoffs and those who will admirably find a way to be satisfied regardless. I really don’t see too many demanding more than the bare minimum

Agree and I shudder to think of what Campbell’s numbers would look like if he was fortunate enough to line up beside a top 10 player in the world for a season

Hate it? It would be a revelation

There’s SO much written about the guy here I had to double check his age to make sure he was still 22. After all this time we still seem to collectively undervalue the development time it takes for players to become the versions of themselves they are ultimately most closely associated with (see: Finkle and Einhorn, who we traded at older ages than Power and “aren’t the same guys elsewhere as they were here.”) I feel like this idea even works more strongly against top picks as not only are expectations higher out the gate, we forget sometimes they have a much higher potential runway for development, too. The best players are almost always the adaptable ones - the ones that can adjust over time while picking up new skills and learning to harness the ones they have against the best competition they’ve faced. It just takes time. The fact this is the case even more so with D-men only drives the point home further with regards to Owen.

The AL east is ours!

Ok Edit: deleted. silly me for trying to create a discussion point - I should have realized the aim is now a radicalized board and this thread was merely for stating good things that make us feel better and also that can hypothetically happen.

- I’m honoured - why?

On the flip side (apologies if these are supposed to be 2 polar opposite, extremist threads) the biggest reason for hope is that making the playoffs is something that should just happen, eventually, because it’s literally not a significant accomplishment (as much as it will be and feel that way, for us). It’s not hard to do. The Sabres a mathematical outlier isn’t just something we say: frustration stems from flipping a coin heads 14 times in a row presumably by doing nothing we’d make it in reasonably short order - we have to be actively be handcuffing the proceedings to fail this much no, Adams surely didn’t “do enough” by the prism of a team that’s missed 14 straight and should be treating the season like a can’t miss rather than a “maybe make”, but frankly we could easily make the playoffs standing pat just because, again, it’s not difficult Does it prove Adams’ plan correct if he scratches a playoff berth for the first time in 6 seasons? Of course not - we know he’s a poor GM and his plan was bad. There’s nothing that can be proven and luckily for us it doesn’t need to be: we can simply get in because mediocre teams get in all the time

I don’t know that the trade makes the team better but it definitely will make the D unit better unless he’s some sort of outright net negative like Cozens, or Hellebuyck - who was “bad on breakaways, which we give up a lot of” and who wouldn’t have helped this team at all