Marvin

Outside of Buffalo, there still are a lot of people still invested in their pre-draft evaluations. Make no mistake -- there are a lot of pseudo-draftniks who think JA17 is a phony as a (1 + sqrt(5))/2 dollar bill. Aside from the Canadian fans, I think we have seen too many good starts ruined when the calendar turns. For STH to really increase this time, this team needs to be in the playoff hunt until near the end. That requires 30 more points. Meanwhile, clearly ahead of Buffalo as of now are the 8 qualifiers plus the Islanders and Columbus. Even if we assume that most pundits and fans are wrong that Detroit, New Jersey, and Ottawa are all at least a year ahead of us, we still need at least 1 top team to fall back towards us while we leap over the other 2.

Welcome back!

It might be a useful tool that the players are using too much or are even misusing. This is not binary. In fact, I would bet: 1. It's a useful tool for coaches and players. 2. Coaches who don't adapt to it quickly enough will be out of a job before long. 3. Conscientious, mature players use it to improve. 4. Immature players will use the video to deflect blame; the worst of these will use the first time they are right as an excuse to ignore the coach. 5. Players may lose focus on the game because they are overly focused on the video, whether they be in group 3 or group 4. 6. Teams need the proper leadership on the bench and in the dressing room to knock some sense into players in group 4. 7. Addendum: Lindy might be misusing the tech as well. His assistants need to help on this front. Every introduction of technology where it hasn't been before has conflicts like this. Why are you landing on me like I am making excuses for Lindy and don't see the other side? In fact, I am largely on the other side. I just think Lindy has a point which the players should account for and learn from.

I have a couple of other sources who said Krueger made the call. YMMV.

We had a LONG discussion about the Grant Fuhr trade. It was one of the most unnecessary trades in franchise history. Addendum: Welcome back!

Where did you see the thing about Lehner backing up tonight? I spent an hour hunting for it.

One piece of disagreement: the LOG line was assembled by Housley and positively affected all three players' careers. One of the few great ideas he had here.

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Welcome back!

That is almost verbatim the argument I gave my wife when I wanted to order articles from the Thomas Jefferson estate on the debates about religion and the Constitution. I wanted hard copies and electronic copies. (Aside: everyone who tells you that all of the Founding Fathers believed we should be a Christian nation are wrong.) And this is part of the trade-off with progress. I can't stand spell-checkers which change "gaol" to "goal" when I write a comment about the old British spelling of "jail." I really can't stand grammar checkers which are typically wrong with collective nouns. I have turned off auto-correct on every device I own; I only use these tools to double-check when I proofread. I am going to make an argument against replacing reading with movies and against using mathematical technology over learning how to solve equations manually and write proofs. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, we first need to learn blocking and tackling before we learn to make plays. Musicians need to learn scales, arpeggios, etc. to improve performance. Everyone needs to learn and improve their blocking and tackling of reading so that you can understand directions on government forms, the content of books, what is in an e-mail, etc. -- in short, how to communicate from a keyboard. Novels teach you how to assemble and retain information about place, background, character, content, etc. over their length and force you to increase your attention span. All STEM jobs which I know of eventually require that you are (or, at least were) adept at symbolic manipulation; that in turn start with the blocking and tackling of counting and then arithmetic. And for those of us who wanted to be research mathematicians, we needed to learn to write novels which follow the laws of logic, i.e., proofs.

Good luck!

Let me give you another point of view on the introduction of technology into a new environment: calculators in the math classroom. In 1990, I was teaching guinea pig at the front end of math reform with the introduction of graphing calculators to the classroom. In 1992, I was again a guinea pig for the introduction of reform math to calculus. ("Harvard Calculus") I was in an interesting philosophical position. I knew from experience how technology could free up time and energy, but I also knew what value would be lost by completely omitting classical methods. I knew the holes in the traditional curriculum which the reform could fix but saw the potential flaws with having technology in the classroom. That's why I can't take @SDS's and others' view that starts and ends with Lindy's a neanderthal and therefore is no longer a competent coach. (I am willing to even accept the first part ad arguendum. I don't see why the second part automatically follows from the first without a lot more evidence.) Conversely, the conscientious players should have the iPads handy for immediate feedback on their play on the ice because that is the best way to learn from experience because the ideas are fresh in your mind. The issue here really is the temperament of the players. Based upon my time as a teacher of people their age, I am going to be very harsh here and say that it is much more likely that the least experienced players will use the iPad to find excuses or use the evidence as a crutch rather than in a mature, responsible manner. That is why my reading of the piece interprets Ruff's annoyance as, "some of the kids are trying to evade responsibility and the technology is giving them an extra crutch."

Welcome to the board! Welcome back!

Welcome back! And boy, does coaching matter.

I just checked the LVGK page on hfboards. Lehner is out for a 2nd maintenance day. They are running their practises with their other goaltender and an "EBUG", which I presume stands for, "emergency back-up goalkeeper."

It could be that too. It cuts both ways. You portrayed the quote as if Lindy is totally out to lunch. I am pointing out that his argument is not without merit.

Although you are correct overall, there is some nuance here. My reading is that players are not staying focused on the game. If I were a coach, I would want my players to stay engaged and help their teammates. Moreover, his anecdote implies that some players use the iPads to look for reasons to evade responsibility rather than diagnosing issues. It still come off as an older coach not understanding part of the mentality of his youngest players. He needs to adapt, but his players should also understand that his has a point too. Addendum: not to get too political, but this is one problem I have with politics: in most debates, once you peel away the demagoguery and the social media worship, the other side has at least a valid point that should be accounted for. Just as Lindy must adapt to the new realities, the players need to see that he is has good reasons for his opinion.

I thought Dell was still suspended.

Given how long and unlikable the team has been, I can't say I am surprised.

Many kids and adults stopped trying to beat me up because I noticed things on TV better than they could. It was the school day after Boston shelled Joe Daley with something like 72 shots. Hockey was my first social equaliser as the first N-word in my school district.

He died earlier this week. Please someone copy a link to the TBD thread.

I am glad that the team and we fans are no longer the butt of every single joke about the state of the team. It got very tiresome. I am glad that the franchise and the players are getting respect from other players and members of other people in hockey operations. Even pundits may even sometimes grudgingly consider the eventuality, however unlikely, that it might be remotely possible that the Sabres could possibly become potentially not the complete, abject embarrassment which they have been for over a decade.

Welcome back!

The Dream Line. Suggestion: watch Perreault-Gretzky-LaFleur play together from games 1-4 of the 1981 Canada Cup. They were a joy to watch.

"...a new song called Eat-Bite. It's a sing-along song, see, so you've got to learn the chorus..."