That Aud Smell

I'm getting those excited feels. Last time the Sabres made a run, they were drawing, in part, on the experience of a group of guys who had sucked diesel fumes together in the A and had great success.

Peak Connolly is among my top-10 favourite Sabres of all-time. So much fun.

McDermott’s bad with the O. But, Holy Moses Jesus in a Christmas basket, he’s not Peterman-might-actually-be-good bad with the O. A washed up journeyman off the street came in and did stuff with the same plays and personnel on a week’s notice.

Potshots at N. Peterman from J. Peterman are weak sauce, but hardly bullying. Words matter. Their meanings matter. Peterman is not being bullied there. He’s being mocked in a mean spirited, and fairly unfunny, way.

STH price?

I remember that guy.

Yeah - I sorta got this tangent started on the wrong foot. SDS's remarking that the Bills FO and coaches may have information, experience with Pryor that we don't have, which info/experience were negative, is a very reasonable supposition to make.

And, frankly, thank goodness for that. And by that I mean both that (1) it's encouraging that this market would still support such a bedraggled club to that extent and (2) it's encouraging at this market would not continue to sell out that arena given the team's recent performance.

Those would presumably be grounds for termination. But @SDS was intimating that there are non-public/unknown reasons that would excuse Benjamin's performance, or otherwise contextualize his continued presence on the roster. My bad. I read that wrong. SDS is pretty clearly talking about Pryor. Which - pfffffff. Whatever. The guy's pretty obviously a problem child.

That's fair. Did someone say upthread that this game was like the other side of the coin from that Rangers game earlier in the season? When those two games are taken together, we can see that the team is getting what it deserves.

I reckon so. That guy's ability to keep that team churning seems like a form of black magic.

And what might ... [Paul Harvey voice] the rest of the story ... entail?

Last night’s win was just this side of a fluke. A fun fluke, but a fluke. If you simulate that game 10 times, TB wins 8.5 times (ha). So, 17 of 20. 85 of 100. Lots of work for this team to do; lots of growth needed.

Seeing the Bolts report about calling up Cernak reminds me: When the Bolts are in town, you'll see a LOT fair number of SYR/CNY Crunch fans in the building (with their Bolts gear). Which I have always found fun. Those are some serious fans.

Bills released Pryor. Not Richard. The guy whose first name I can't spell.

As I understand it, playing slow doesn't refer to quickness in smaller spaces. It's more about how (quickly) the player processes the game and how (well) the player makes decisions on what to do with the puck and/or their positioning on the ice.

Agreed. If you've watched Thompson play - including in the preseason - you should have seen that his straight line speed is good. He's not quick. And, as dudacek notes, he plays slow.

these guys are in town on friday.

White Tweeted to the effect that Skinner is currently shooting at about 21% His previous career high is 14.4% (rookie year). His career average appears to be about 10.6-10.7%. Obviously, he's never played alongside a play maker as gifted as Eichel. But, even so. He's bound to cool off. Question being: When?

Right. I was trying to determine whether that's the predicate of the joke.

Tough sledding. Let’s go, Buffalo!!

Love Crimson. This one is eluding me though. In the Court of ... ?

An imponderable mystery. I've never seen or read anything to indicate he's a faith-based sort of fella. Have you?

Pegula, presumably.

It’s been a minute. Do people doubt that McDermott is the de facto chief football officer of this franchise? He effectively hired the GM. He’s the voice of the franchise. He stuck with Peterman as long as he could — well beyond when reasonable minds would have. The fact that he begrudgingly let go of him doesn’t undermine the theory that he’s at the top of the organizational pyramid (second only to the Pegulas).