Thorny

It’s wwe and you know it Ya, the NHL is a super dumb league, there’s no arguing it. It has the worst officiating among the 4 major American sports as it’s the only one where you get an entirely different sort of (bad) rules once the playoffs start. I mean you functionally need to build two teams..and as we know, building one can be a doozy Duff cackled about it

Jays seem to be following the Sabres model, unfortunately so much talk about coaching. Sure. the roster needs help. in lots of areas. We are 25th. There isn’t one quick fix. We are way behind now The weird thing is that he’s 18 and officials in this league have a hard on for “learnin’” young guys

I do feel like young players get targeted by officiating more: but everyone knows that. It’s a consequence you have to plan for if that’s your chosen strategy. Ignoring it doesn’t do any good

And 9 one goal wins This is more or less the Gordon Bombay problem Ignore the quote. Made a mistake and it doesn’t let you delete it from the post after on mobile

“This is the last game I̶ you will ever play in M̶o̶n̶t̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ Buffalo”

We HAD possession in zone with over a minute left. It was odd

Funny thing is with Tampa losing this is more less the same result re: playoff odds as 2 days ago

I’m glad Granato found a way to get the goalie pulled for a cool 24 seconds

Can feel a goal Dude lol pull the goalie

Tampa losing. We win this we probably make the playoffs

You idiot

This could be a season turning point

How about now

I might have heard wrong, but I actually thought they were making an interesting point about how, if he isn’t confident in his body for one reason or another, he’s not as likely to skate into the difficult areas with conviction that’s what triggered my post tbh

The commentators on tv are significantly better than Dan and Ray, I’m sorry the are more informative about the Sabres, even, than our home town guys are. They seemed well versed, getting into tage’s injury concerns this year

How many former Sabres are over there? I count at least 4

The post where I explained what I meant, presumably? For those who like you incorrectly confuse “higher in scoring” with “most points”.

Fair enough my dude. I just legitimately believe in the case I feel the stats are presenting. But I’m not trying to take away from the hatred you feel in a sporting sense for the player, that’s the fuel of a fan, that makes the league go round as much as anything. Thank you for saying “all but literal” harm. This place got vile for a year or so.

This strikes too much of a nerve for you that’s why I’m trying to stick to that stats. “Wallow in garbage” etc. Your quote here sums it up fine: “I don't give one ***** if the Sabres did a bad job with the team while he was here” Yes, beyond being strictly relevant to production and this discussion, if that’s not a concern for you in general, we can digress, as the point of disagreement is very clear and irreconcilable

His 2 way play absolutely kicked in in 2019-20. I don’t really know what to say. All the stats, advanced or otherwise, are there. He definitively improved defensively. He was significantly better than Tage was defensively last year. I could get into anecdotal stuff and pull up the various statements on this board lauding Jack for that defensive work in 2019 but why bother. I can’t make you admit he was good defensively that year if you don’t want to Jack was a +5 that year on a team with a -22 goal differential lol

And finally, if we needed any more compelling, objective proof: As Jack was scoring 78 points, the *next closest on the team* was Sam Reinhart at 50 lol. 50. Tage had *4* players closer to him than that 28 point gap. His linemates had 12 less, and 15 less, respectably. COMBINED the gap isn’t as great as the 28 between Eichel and Reinhart It’s not a comparison. Eichel’s season was SIGNIFICANTLY better. One day people will actually admit how poorly we did by this kid. As if he hasn’t already been proven definitively right.

Jack had 78 points in 68 games before the WORLD STOPPED due to Covid. The season itself doesn’t get erased because it’s convenient for a narrative. Jack finished 10th in scoring league wide (his 2nd top 10 finish as a Sabre.) Tage finished 15th. It doesn’t matter if you score a kabillion jillion points, what matters is how many you are getting relative to your peers: scoring trends go up and down. Jack in fact scored more relative to the league than Tage did, he had the better season. And that’s JUST points! Jack finished 8th in MVP voting league wide: Tage finished 15th. How quickly we forget that the defensive improvement and fantastic 2-way play everyone finally admits Jack has actually started way back in 2019. Cause it did.

No, in a buffalo uniform