That Aud Smell

Fair. (What's E to the 3? (Wait - don't waste your time on this).)

And where this does not hold up when extended to those who drill into player stats and salaries is that the players' data - unlike the imagined ownership data - has a very direct correlation to what we see on the ice.

I previously engaged with PA on this subject. I have nothing to add to that conversation. I will say: Griping about the owner is a fundamentally different pursuit than drilling into player data/salary, etc. You can remain essentially poetic when griping about the fat cat owner. Also, has PA in fact been a Pegula Deep Diver? Are we thinking more of @Ghost of Dwight Drane? I can't rightly recall.

GOT THAT DOG IN HIM

Top heavy team getting rolled.

Yeah, for New York lakes, excepting the Greats, I'd roll with your favourite in the ADK. Mine's Sherman Lake in Warrensburg. There's a family horse ranch there. We vacationed there a couple times - years gone by. Special place.

Deftly-managed. Both clever and obstinate. Full marks!

TUPAC LIVES!

Btw, @PASabreFan, the data can lead to revelation as well.

As is the norm, if you poke and prod and probe (ooo la la) enough with PA, you reach something (arguably) beautiful. Maybe not correct. But artful and earnest.

We wore onions on our belts! As that was the style. And we liked it.

Binary compartmentalization is the hobgoblin of a stunted mind. Or this:

It occurs to me: I often do the same.

This isn't unfair. From a business development perspective, though, it's missing the mark. A league like the NHL should be doing everything in its power to cater to and grow the segment of its fanbase that is fairly rabid for the game (and all of its associated details). Call if their "small, weird cohort." The league stands to make an outsized amount of its revenue off that small weird cohort.

Lol - I legit have no idea what the bleeped out word is. "Sonny Smell" has a certain ring to it, no? Also, do not come for my Woke Credentials, for they are impeccable. I chuckled.

Vibes?

Compiling a list of the Pegula hirings with the Sabres would be a truly discouraging exercise.

Take it easy with the body-shaming humour, Pops. Very out of step with current mores. There's the latest shift in what's being criticized as being a "small" group of Sabre (hockey) fans. The extent to which Sabre (hockey) fans consult a resource like Cap Friendly exists on a continuum. Lots of people access the site. I'm an older Gen Xer, and I would consult it occasionally. I encourage you to take an L here.

This one too from Arthur: “But the NHL still sees this very basic stuff the way a mythical dragon views his trove of gold: jealously, selfishly, stupidly.”

Great read. This especially: “What won’t be a question is that the NHL won’t like [published salary data] because the NHL is a small town disguised as a $6.5-billion (U.S.) sports league. The league considers its salaries to be proprietary information, and more or less thinks fans should just watch the hockey, eh? Which is about as reductive a view of a sports league as you can imagine. You! Watch game! Buy tickets, hats, jerseys! No think! Be fan!”

@LGR4GM getting after it with a Nerd Content Dump.

It's more the vibe, not the actual people pictured? Still not sure I see it. A funny photo, though, for sure.

Gah! I knew there was some aversion that he got dragged for.

To review: Forton was an assistant or associate coach at Niagara University for 12 years. Then he was an assistant at UMass Lowell for 2 years and an assistant Harvard for 2 years. Then he had a cup of coffee as a Sabres assistant in 2013-2014. From there, he began his time as a Sabres scout. On further reflection, the guy was well qualified to serve as an NHL scout with a focus on NCAA prospects (which is what he did initially for the team). It also occurs to me: Wasn't Botterill reportedly averse to drafting or signing NCAA players? That might explain why Forton so strongly prefers working for Adams, who himself was an NCAA player-prospect at one time. /Stick tap/

yeah - i was joking above. i actually appreciate the effort. i was surprised to see how much jerry forton sabres content there is. shows to go, i guess, that, even for a fairly serious fan of the team (me), there's gobs of content out there that can go unnoticed, unconsumed. a corollary to this: i subscribe to nearly 20 substacks of writers whose work i have enjoyed. i almost never read any of what they publish. there's just so much stuff out there.