That Aud Smell

That's the idea, I reckon. I'd prefer to see "WR" in that top spot. There'd be a logical symmetry to extending Diggs and drafting a top flight WR whom they really like.

I gotchu. He does have a sort of brutal efficiency.

The Diggs deal is going to free up money (to sign a veteran DB, I hope) - his cap hit is reportedly now ~$10.5M this season and ~$14M in 2023 - before it jumps up in 2024 to ~$25M. And by that time, the cap should make that $25M hit quite manageable. I also wonder whether the team might be foregoing a plethora of cheap labor in this draft (because many of them would probably not make the team), and targeting a specific player (and trading draft assets to move up and get him).

I don't get this at all. He's our best fundamental #fancystats player while dealing with among the highest quality of competition the team faces. I can understand not seeing him as your RW1, but placing outside the top-6 seems a bit much. Unless, of course, we're into that "top 9" scheme and he's getting as much ice time as the other top 9 lines.

It can be challenging at times to have the top line have 2 average/less than average passers on it. Skinner is definitely a below average passer, imo. I think I heard Granato speak to how that line is a bit of an anomaly: No pure playmaker on it. Just three guys who hound the puck, want the puck, and more times than not shoot the puck.

There's an amusing account in unofficial Sabres Twitterland who had a thread last night about how the Sabres should be permitted to replace the last-qualifying-team from the east in the playoffs. Mostly for the lulz. But there's a kernel of truth there as well. 3 games over @deluca67.500 will do nicely, especially given the quality of competition. Started with "Granato has made Thompson into a very good top-6 NHL centre - holy crap!" Moved into "Dahlin is really coming around ... holy sh1t - Dahlin is awesome!" Now reveling in "Mittelstadt is an effing BEAST on the puck and may become a PPG player or close to it." Seriously. This team is good.

Foot on the gas until there are no more games to play. Let's go, Buffalo. Minced Wraps!

*This post* has me choking up.

I’ve thought that as well. What a gift that could be. Will be!!

I’ll read through this thread later. For now, I just want to say that I was on the road and at a college’s ‘accepted students’ reception until the end of the 2nd. I watched the 3rd on my phone - first at the hotel bar and then in my room. By the time the horn sounded and Rick was behind the bench, I was in tears. I could feel so much - just through that little HD screen. So beautiful. Thank you, Sabres. Thank you, Rick. Was just thinking this. When the camera showed his face before a restart in the 3rd - I saw intensity, passion, joy.

Edit to add: There's a player on the Sabres right now who I can imagine being effective with the sort of thing that Thornton did in the story described above.

This is an interesting insight. I will add: The younger players' inability to carry forward when he left was more a function of their own shortcomings -- not a proper leader in the bunch. But still - your point is a compelling one. Fair, fair. As for the weight training, I seem to recall it was when he would insist that players get in the weight room (after a loss, e.g.) that struck me as like *daaaaaamn*. The insistence that players consume lightly seasoned chicken and lightly sauced pasta with lots of easily digestible vegetables prior to a game mostly struck me as amusing, at worst, and very instructive, at best. The shutting down of the music is perhaps more emblematic of the kind of leader he was -- ultra serious, maybe even dour. But, like I said, there's many ways to skin that cat.* That 05-07 team does not perform at the level it did without Captain Clutch. No doubt about it. *There's a story I heard someone (a player) tell once about Joe Thornton as a captain. The team had lost a critical game of some kind - maybe even in the playoffs? And they were on the plane back home (San Jose?). The plane was quiet. Some mix of fear, anxiety, brooding, anger, resentment, etc. And Jumbo Joe gets up out of his seat, cracks a beer open, and starts this speech in the plane's aisle to the effect of "f**k's wrong with you guys, eh?! never lost a f**king hockey game before?! lighten the f**k up!" he's swilling brew, chugging shoulders, and then he starts talking about some dumb play he made that led to a goal against in the game, then ribbing other senior guys for dumb stuff they did in the loss. The story ends with the team turning things around immediately after that plane ride. It's a great story about leadership on a hockey team. Many ways, like I said. And some captains are capable of different speeds, modes, styles. I do get the sense that Drury had one speed, one mode.

I heard it’s a sellout. So glad for that.

I appreciate your putting a label on this -- it's what I noticed most of all. Dude was frequently a terror in the O-zone.

as arbitrary as this sort of thing is (or maybe not, if you have data, i guess), i feel like consistently average NHL goaltending would have yielded this team a bit more than 12 points - maybe closer to 20?

I feel like you misspelled "played with energy and largely dominated the run of play."

Inspiring. The outcome was a bummer, but that team was *flying*, and I loved watching them. What a game 37 had.

Ha - what? It is widely accepted that he is a grade 1 pr1ck and arsehole. Just the other day (in response to someone likening Tuch to Drury), I resurrected my standard cracks about him shutting off Brian Campbell’s boom box in the locker room, dragging players into the weight room after a loss, and mandating super bland pre-game meals. The guy is probably an all time best seller at the jerk store. But for those 2005-2007 Sabres, his leadership was instrumental in building a Cup calibre team. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Holy spit - that is incredible. When I looked at his hockeydb, his stats were curious. He absolutely tore it up in years 1 and 2, got shipped to EDM in the Gretzky deal, tore it up there for a year … and then soon thereafter got shipped to DET (maybe too hard to be in EDM as part of that trade?) … and things started to fade. He even wound his way back to LA at one point for a while. Fascinating.

I mean, LOOK at this mofo. is he about to sell me some homeowners insurance? or be the 1st US player to score 50+50 in a season?

If I needed more proof that my hockey fandom was sort of spotty in the late 80s, here it is. I can barely recall who this dude is/was.

As to the first question: Yes. As to the second question: No. And I would not be concerned about the tail wagging the dog in terms of stadium and field design and layout. This is primarily a(n American) football stadium. Absolutely. And, as others have posited, there can be a roll-away feature for the first several rows, if needed. Hockey arenas (including the Sabres' KeyBank) have this design element to accommodate concerts when they come into town. I think this is all exactly right.

He did - and I hope that's the solution. I don't think that's a risk. IMO, making international soccer part of the facility's available uses is an excellent development.