Marvin

Dave's a mess.

I would definitely have screamed, "keep your ****ing stick down." I wish the league would consistently crack down on slashes, high-sticks, butt-ends, spears, knees, and slew-foots because people can get badly hurt by them.

I checked the highlights from the NHL. The incident isn't on it. 🤬

For Olofsson, I think that short term, 2-3 years, at mid-range, say $4M, is OK. I expect him to be a 3rd liner on this team on merit as soon as next year with either Krebs or Mittlestadt as his centre. That would be admirable depth and would put him at an advantage over other bottom 6ers in the league.

That would be nice.

I know. I was thinking more of the team in Housley's second season. Having him on that team helps immensely. The defence had improved; some of the over-the-hill players like Moulson were gone; Kane wasn't here (an under-rated subtraction); and the LOG line became a force. Think about it. Casey Mittlestadt is not 2C. No Vladimir Sobotka. So instead of two lines getting caved in every shift, at most one does.

OK. I was wrong. He can top out as a 2C. He has been taking all the tough match-ups on the road and steadily improving. I still think it was a bad, bad trade for the Sabres. That trade set the team back 3 years. If we had had Eichel-Reinhart and Skinner-O'Reilly as top line pairs, then other teams have to shut down 2 lines. Add the LOG line and you actually have 3 NHL-quality lines. That is far better than what we had at the time.

The Toronto Arenas were the original name of the Toronto Maple Leafs when the NHL was founded.

What the heck is that?

Coffee too, right?

Get out of my ****ing cab!

What are the border limitations for American citizens?

IMHO, all 6 goaltenders the Sabres had this season are better than Khudobin. He's fallen that badly.

IMHO, GMKA was hoping that UPL would force his way onto the Sabres' roster and that Anderson was to be his mentor. I really want a surer thing next season.

So I met 2. They certainly wanted the team in the family.

When the Pegula first bought the team, he and his family made themselves very visible at the arena on game nights. The children would move from section to section to chat with fans. I happened to be lucky enough to have been at two games where one of them came into my section. Both daughters are fans and hope to have a family dynasty of Cups from the franchise.

This. 1000x this.

Hamilton? His daughters are, or at least were, big Sabres fans. I wonder if the last decade has soured them on ownership. He's a fan himself. I wonder why he's doing this. The only thing that leaps to mind is that he has lost so much money over the decade that he can't stand losing on the ice and losing money.

You and me both.

OK. I thought you were pointing people towards the accusation that he did not work hard or care to win because he left the Summit Series.

I am looking at this kind of change myself. Thanks for this information.

This accusation was first laid on Perreault and Dionne by Ken Dryden because they did not stay in Moscow for the Summit Series after being benched for game 6. Looking back, I wish they had stayed. But at the time, I wanted him in the Sabres' training camp. Personally, I think it's bunk. The Sabres suffered a lot because of how officiating deteriorated in the 1970's. They also were not as deep as the other top teams. (Like it or not, Dave Schultz was better at NHL-level basics than Morris Titanic.) Lastly, the Sabres had decidedly inferior goaltending compared to the rest of the "Big 5" (Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, New York Islanders). But people look back and blame Perreault et al. Perreault had a lot of faults (e.g., I wish he hadn't been so defencively clueless when he came into the league, whence he might have become a more complete player), but he did everything he could to help the Sabres win.

Much as I loved The French Connection, I have a hard time putting them so high. Just post-expansion, I have the GAG line, LaFleur-LeMaire-Shutt, Gillies-Trottier-Bossy, Hodge-Esposito-Bucyk, anything in Edmonton with Gretzky and Kurri, The Triple Crown Line, Barber-Clarke-Leach, Pappin-Mikita-R. Hull, Stevens-LeMieux-Jagr, and so on, whom I can make an argument were as good or better. And that omitted obvious candidates like The Production Line, The <German> Line (Boston), The Kid Line, etc. And I still haven't hit on lines with the Rocket, the Pocket Rocket, Phantom Joe Malone, Teeder Kennedy, Syd Howe, the Cook brothers, or any of the great pre-depression Ottawa Senators teams.

Here are some ideas for the skills competition: Skating up and down your wing. Defencive positioning. Cycling the puck and maintaining possession. Finishing your check. Proper match-ups on an even-up rush. Proper handling of an extra-man rush. Defencemen choose when to go into the corner with the puck carrier. Shot blocking.

On the underlined: I think you are right, but I would not want to bet anything significant on it. I think your analysis on what this looks like from KA's perspective for this season is the correct one.