PerreaultForever

Absolutely. If one person's belief is equality and inclusion and the other person's belief is discrimination and exclusion, they are most definitely NOT equal. The notion that there are two equally valid sides to every issue in our modern age is a falsity magnified by the internet. Religious people should simply put aside their prejudices and think a little harder about what Christ would do. Inviting everybody in was kind of his thing.

If Ovechkin wanted to leave the league over that issue well good riddance and he can go ask his buddy Putin to pay him his salary. You're right about the CBA though. Nothing will ever change unless it hurts the bottom line financially. Lastly, any "religion" that discriminates against any group is a bad religion. Don't judge lest ye be judged and all that.

The ethical statement becomes a political statement when it's public. If you're a celebrity/athlete/etc. what you do publicly gets noticed, and as such is a political statement. My own view is that the league should have it in the CBA that players must participate in team events such as pride nights and if they don't, fine, but no game cheque for that night. It's not asking that much really and fits in with code of conduct issues. I know some people will disagree with that, but it's hardly an issue of freedom or any sort of "I want to live in a country where they are free to follow their beliefs" type thing. There are lots of jobs - most jobs, for most people - where you have a dress code or at least have to dress a certain way or not wear certain other things and you get no choice in the matter or you get sent home without pay or fired. It's still a free country all the same. These people are privileged individuals who get a lot more freedom than the average person does and I have zero problem with their organization telling them to wear a jersey for the team's image and marketing on any given occasion. They'll still be free. That's not going away over this and you know it.

Well that would be a Colin Kapernick type situation wouldn't it?

I think they are tired too. Veteran team, not the fastest even when rested, they are wearing down in this playoff push. Young legs on the Sabres had the edge.

Ya, EXCEPT, the political statement is actually the guy who refuses to wear it. I mean think about it. It's putting on a colourful jersey for a few minutes. It's not that big of a deal. Doesn't say anything really about you and your religion or beliefs or even your prejudices. It's just wearing a jersey in a warm up. When you refuse to wear it you know you are drawing attention to it and then and only then you are making the intentional political statement, and you're right, that has no place in sports.

Nobody plays more boring hockey than the Islanders. Some sort of poetic justice maybe for Kyle to score the late winner. Good for him. So this was good. They usually struggle against this sort of hockey but they found a way to plod their way through it. That's what it takes to win in this league. You don't get to play the way you prefer every night and you have to adapt to what you face. Some definite positives here.

Of course, but as always, there is a middle ground to cap floor and cap ceiling.

The NHL likes to have hockey going all day Saturdays. This has been the thing for quite a while. I'm fine with it. My game is 2:00 in the afternoon. So we played a team that plays the kind of hockey we prefer and we won. Now we play a team that doesn't play the way we like. They are pretty much built for an opposite type of hockey. I suspect this one gives us a lot of trouble. Speed and the PP could save us, but I doubt it. I'd guess a low scoring grinding affair that they take over in the 3rd.

I know. My timeline isn't the same as KA. I pretty much speculated about that when he was hired. Doesn't change my mind though. This season was a missed opportunity imo. I think a really good GM has to have a little more flexibility and adaptability in his "plan". You basically stick to your plan and philosophy but you don't dig your heals in and get stubborn. You have to be willing to speed it up or slow it down as moments and opportunities present themselves.

We've gone over the home thing with young teams before, but I do sometimes question Granato's line matching at home. he seems stuck on the same idea most of the time whether it is working or not. As for Bedard, to quote Torts recently "tanking is asinine". We learned this already have we not?

Reinbacher would be a good pick if it's 10th or more. otherwise, I'd try to go for D in the second round if possible.

I don't disagree with the general sentiment of what you say at all. Matter of fact, I don't think Buffalo's 3rd pair could even make the Bruins roster. They buried Mike Reilly in Providence and although he is not great, he's definitely better than Bryson. Zboril's better than our bottom pair as well and he can't crack their line up when they are at full strength. They're a cap ceiling team we are a cap floor team. That matters too. That's also part of why we will miss the playoffs though. We could have had a better team filled with young guys and all this development but also with a few more veterans and players who could have gotten us there. Everyone knows what this team lacks, the only real argument will be how much faith you have in the next wave of prospects and do we need 3, 4, 5 or more guys to fill the holes. Pretty sure the people who say do nothing and stay the course will be a tiny tiny minority, if they exist at all. (But that might be what KA does and says unfortunately).

That, and different people prefer different styles and as such their "solutions" vary accordingly and that's what we get to argue about.

Figured we had a shot at winning this one. They play a similar style to us and it's all that open offensively minded fast skating hockey that some of you love. We are comfortable in those games and we came out on top. That, and it's the goat heads.

Jersey might give us the kind of wide open speed game we like so winning this one seems more possible imo. Not probable, but possible.

I can't agree with this but leave it at that. It's far from a "trivial" thing. An example of how it shows up and impacts is how teams play in the hard and dirty areas. The front of the net. One of the Sabres constant issues is lack of net front presence and poor defensive play in front of our own goalie. Lots of our players just don't go in there or fight for that real estate but on teams where players have each other's back (like the Bruins, but lots of others as well) they drive the net and fight for rebounds and whack in lots of dirty goals. All of these things make a huge difference but as I said, we won't agree so leave it at that.

I guess it was cliche. They didn't have any wings to pass around this time. There's always a way to spin everything in sports positively or negatively for isolated examples, interviews, coaches comments and so forth but you can discern patterns and similarities over time and year after year. Is your actual argument that the Bruins culture is not superior to the Sabres in every way? Is it just a media driven illusion? Sabres are the same. Would that be your position? There is an argument that winning makes that sort of thing easier and automatic but I'm not sure that's true. Leafs win lots of games but I'd make the same argument about the superiority of the Bruins culture over theirs as over ours. It's an argument I've made for years here and it keeps repeating. I see the contrast constantly because the Sabres being as bad as they have been has driven me to watch more Bruins games. I used to watch the Sabres games first and live but at this point I often do watch the Bruins game first and the Sabres game after in replay because I am pretty sure the Bruins game will be better hockey and better entertainment. Every year I wait for the flip when they fall and Sabres rise but so far it hasn't happened. Briefly this year the culture looked like it might be changing, but if you look back I said at the time I thought it was fragile and sure enough it appears to have broken again. My build philosophy was/is and always has been. Build the culture first. get rid of anybody who doesn't buy in. then add the talent starting from goal out and with that you will have a long lasting and enduring winning team. Sabres believe in reversing that process. So far it hasn't worked. I'm going to be interested to see if we rise faster (which you'd think we should) or if Philly does. They seem to be coming out of an era of dreadful management and bad decisions, bad trades, bad drafting, and a complete cultural collapse. End of the season here they do seem to have changed their culture first, now it's a question of the subtraction and then the new talent. It looks like they might be following my method. Maybe Sabres will be better. I'd hope so with all the picks and prospects we have (including Philly's) but again, not yet. Time will tell. Bottom line, it's really hard to be a Sabres fan.

It's still lazy. If you don't have the time to reply and provide a counter argument why say anything at all? Now where can I find a F U emoji for people questioning my validity as a "fan"?

Ya they have good goaltending, but that's not the reason. Lot more to it than that.

Apparently I'm not a Sabres fan so I guess I will post this. The interesting thing to me is how he turns the question about Marchand not shooting for an open net to try to get him 50 into praise for Marchand sticking up for Bergeron. The point, if it isn't obvious, is a contrast in culture. This attitude is what the Sabres need. But what do I know, I'm not a fan. So I guess I must be a masochist for watching every single Sabres game .

he got 4 minutes. Montreal did get a power play. Bruins post game comments all praised it, including the coach.

check your grammar rules . If I am talking about them, I use they. I was a Sabres fan before you were born and your attempts at invalidating it are offensive and idiotic.

I'm curious what Sabres fans think of this: is this just one more example of why you hate Marchand? or is this what the Sabres should be doing when somebody runs Dahlin late?

I love it when lazy people put the red x up but don't bother to offer a reason or a counter argument. Lazy Sabrespace posting perhaps reflective of the lazy team they support. Now let the red x's begin.....................