Kruppstahl

THIS! Hockey is broken right now and it needs fixing. I can't imagine Gretzky twirling around with time and space to make a pretty play. I can't imagine The Flower flying down the wing, hair blowing in the breeze. Or a flowing, passing, coordinated attack coming from the French Connection anymore. There's no room out there and everyone's equipment is now like NFL football equipment. No fear. No big deal to get in front of shots. Hockey is now trench warfare, not Blitzkrieg. I prefer the Blitzkrieg approach. It's 18,000 times more fun to watch. If I want a "strategy" thinking man's game, I'll watch soccer and baseball. That's what I did last night...ditched Rangers Game 7 in favor of pre-recorded Juventus vs. Madrid in UEFA semi-final....great game too.

This is entirely possible and I hope you are right. If Bylsma coaches in NJ, that means he can't coach here. Thank God. We don't want this guy, trust me on this one!

I have no data to support this, but my subjective observation is that as fighting has been reduced in the game over the last 20 years or so, the cheap shots, the hits from the behind, the stick work, and the head hunting has gone through the roof. Were there cheap shots in the old days? Sure, but not like now. I really don't remember the hits from behind into the boards. I very much hope whoever coaches the Sabres next is smart enough to keep some muscle in the lineup to help protect our young budding stars. We don't necessarily need a John Scott type (his type is fading out of the league anyway) but I definitely want a Cody McCormick type or tougher in the lineup. Someone more heavyweight than Foligno (and Foligno knows how to throw 'em). It's simple. Most people don't like to get the snot beaten out of them. If you know I'm going to beat the snot out of you when you do it, you probably aren't going to screw around with my budding young superstar teammate who is 19 or 20 years old. Aside from all that, I love fighting in hockey and hope it makes a strong comeback, though this is highly unlikely. I love end to end action, great shots, great passes, great saves as much as the next guy. But as fighting/tough play has been removed from the game, the game has become quite boring. For me. On most nights. In the regular season mostly.

Yes. If McLellan goes to Edmonton, we are arguably the next best landing spot in the league for Babcock. If he doesn't come here, it will be because he stayed home in Detroit.

In certain ways I see McDavid as Crosby and Eichel as Ovechkin. And there have been many, many times in the last 6 years or so when I thought I'd rather have Ovechkin. It's like comparing...I don't know. A Ferrari 458 Italia to a Porsche 911 Turbo "S". Both are better than 99.9% of all cars and each will go 200 mph or thereabouts, but they have different personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. I'm not convinced, at the moment, that McDavid is guaranteed to be better than Eichel over an entire NHL career.

The scary part is that Reinhart is arguably the "worst" player of the 4 you mention....and he was arguably the best forward in the world in the year of his draft. And you didn't even mention Zemgod. If Big Z gets over his current immaturity problems (late to practice?) and you know he will, add him to the mix. Pysyk is going to be a beauty...Ennis already generates offense all over the ice...Compher is a diamond in the rough right now...BOGO has yet to rise to his highest level and he's a solid, 3rd overall draft pick player. I think Larsson is going to deliver...and we still have a ton of options/draft picks for this upcoming draft, not counting Eichel. We are staged to see the best Sabres team of all time in my opinion. PS: Didn't even mention COHO, Grigo, or Moulson! LOL

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2eci0ht&s=5#.VVFlkOt--lQ

Minnesota is a "nice" team that has some nice stuff going on. The problem is they are about as good as they are going to get (as you point out) and that is not nearly good enough. They're the type of team that can and will win a lot of meaningless snoozer regular season games on a Tuesday night in December. So what.

I see a muzzle brake in there. Looks Wehrmacht. Tiger I, ausf. E?

That's great advice. I would add not to turn the flame up too high and don't over-cook them as as to not dry them out. Also, let the meat rest a good 5-10 minutes after it comes off the grill.

That's a great point, Cereal.

Well you can all go to hell. It's now 9:28pm and my dinner is still not quite ready to roll. I just read all 2 pages of this thread, and now I'm freaking STARVING! I'd freaking kill for a double order of wings right now, from almost anywhere mentioned in this thread! :lol: :lol: :lol:

You forgot to work Derek Roy into the equation. He's always guilty of some crime. Ditto Drew Stafford. Sorry. Didn't mean to. Just exactly when did "compete" become a noun in the English language? I personally blame Lindy Ruff for this outrage.

Well, that's a problem for the NHL. Not sure they realize that though.

Anyone else enjoying the Stanley Cup playoff games tonight? Oh wait. There aren't any. Is it me, or is the NHL one of the worst run organizations in the history of organizations? I only say that because things like their dreadful scheduling this post season are par for the course over the last, oh, 35 years or so.

I think the conventional wisdom is that we will NOT make the playoffs and in fact may be little better than we were last year. Having said that, I agree with you! I think it is entirely possible for the team to catch fire and somehow qualify for the playoffs. The rumor seems to be that Edmonton is focusing on T.M. for their coaching search. If that's true, the Sabres (arguably the 2nd best place for Babcock to land) just moved up to Position 1. Now wouldn't that be grand.

Well we can only hope. Guys like Vanek don't win Cups. We are trying to win the Cup, aren't we? :lol:

Holy hell those are bad. At some point in time, those who design sports jerseys decided to use this new design language which shouts out "graphically simplified corporate logo to be used on letterhead" if you know what I mean. It's not right for a sports team. I still say the best of them all is the Blackhawks logo on the red uniforms....that thing was designed by the wife of the original owner in 1926 or something. Good design is timeless. So is bad design! Those Sabres slug uniforms will still look terrible 200 years from now!

It's had some pretty good energy. That wrist shot goal was wicked. I would dearly love to see TB put Montreal out of their misery tonight in front of the faithful up there.

I see what you mean. Like "Right now" at this snap shot in time, who are the 10 best players in the NHL.

Has Drew Doughty been well represented here? Man, what a minute eating, do it all, horse THAT guy is.

Yes, but not Bobby Orr or Gretz, huh?

Babcock isn't the head coach of Team Canada for nothing. He's regarded as the #1 coach in the game right now. I just don't see him coming to Buffalo. I hope I am wrong. On a scale of 1-10, my interest in Bylsma is a minus 37.

I guess this has to be based on current players in the league? What's the fun in that? Why not open it up to all time too?! My #1 right now among current players would be Toews.

Anyone watching TB vs. MTL?