That Aud Smell

I say this without anything other than the most vague sense of things (... actually that probably goes without saying): The assessment above reminds me a bit of a goalie like Grant Fuhr. He was of course regarded as a clutch goalie, but, again as I recall, when you looked at his numbers, they looked pretty leaky -- even by the standards of the time, I think. I'm not sure what that means. But the idea of the Sabres being a team that regularly scores enough to cover up soft goals surrendered by their clutch goalie who then makes key saves to secure high-scoring wins is ... something.

Even girls?!

He sounds … satisfied?

LET’S GO, BUFFALO!!

Wait. Seriously?

Good observations. That Krebs kid is really coming on of late.

i think "bum" is too harsh, but, by my eye test, he definitely seemed to be on the ice for an inordinate number of dangerous scoring chances. sure enough, when i looked at the natural stat trick advanced summary, they logged him as 9 high-danger chances against (even-strength) and 3 HDC for (even strength) when he was on the ice. oof. the advanced stats also confirm what i'd seen about the cozens line -- that was a rough, rough night. not sure against whom they were skating, but they got sh1t pumped. and none of them got more than 9 minutes at ES.

You may think it's candy, but ...

how do i fade that.

The disconnect on this one is just galling. Elam is a baller. It's obvious that he's good and can maybe be really good. But he was a bad fit for Frazier's scheme at the time he was drafted. And I'm not sure that he'll ever learn to be a good fit for it. Shades of Ronald Darby, maybe.

I won't own all of the statements above (some are over-simplified and/or embellished), but I'll stand by my concerns on those topics as I've expressed them. I think they did remarkably well to finish with the record they did. But they seem to me to be trending downward. And I think that trend started with the second half of the Green Bay game (Halloween). The fact that they won as many games as they did is largely an expression of what an absolute freak show JA17 is. (Quick example: Remember that game-saving throw to Diggs against Detroit? Crazy town.) I'm not sure what Las Vegas will say about their Wins over-under next season, but, if it's 10+, I'd be tempted to take the under.

Recall that McDermott essentially hired Beane. They are a package deal. If one goes, the other must go as well. At least, IMO. This was a great post. I agreed with everything there. This take above, especially. We were walking out of the stadium last night, asking: What's this team's offensive identity? What is it? And what you said above is the sum total of it: "Josh, go do something awesome." The team's OC needs to have multiple plays in the bag that will manufacture easy yards. IT seemed like nothing was easy this season - at least in close games or against good teams. When you have a mutant at QB, it should be fairly easy to get those easy yards because the opposing D has to respect him so much. Fun guy. Fun personality. But, when they ran that play for him yesterday, my son muttered: "He's ... it's like he's not even fast." He should not be in the plans next season.

Let's go, Buffalo!

This is a really good post. As it stands, the AFC belongs to the Chiefs and Bengals. Everyone else exists on a lower tier. Beane & Co.'s performance at the draft has become a problem. They've missed, or at least failed to hit, on too many early round guys. There's been 3 RB's taken in the first 3 rounds, but mostly replacement level play to show for it. There were 3 edge players taken in rounds 1 and 2 over a 2-year (?) period, but none of those guys made a peep against a decimated O-line yesterday. Gabe Davis is not a good WR2. The list goes on. Sadly, this team has taken steps back from the height of its powers. The high-water mark appears to have been the 13 seconds team. And even setting aside all of the holes on their roster, it's the coaching that most concerns me. They've built a wonderful culture, but they are not getting it done against good teams when it comes to game planning and game day adjustments. Go Bills.

UPL honouring Miller with a failure to track a puck from distance.

Okay. So … for the next ~12 years.

He’s gonna responsibly gobble 25+ a game for the Sabres for the next 15 years.

Lol - Rayzor saying Gibson was out for a stroll.

I was gonna post: The Thompson line needs to chill with the cross ice passes when they gain the zone — other teams are sitting on them.

Had to take the dog for a walk. WOOOO!!

I have the NHL feed - the commentators are excellent - especially the colour guy. Who are they?

Tuch’s a (very?) good top-6 player with some flaws and limitations. And “the boys” clearly like him. I just never thought effort was something he lacked.

Hear, hear. The dissonance between the score and the run of play was FREAKIN me out at the arena.

Sweet. Is Chicago on there?