That Aud Smell

Making him the first Sabre to do so, yes? Not for nothing: 70 is a number of some significance for this franchise.

He showed his nerves on his first couple of shifts (failed to make a routine play along the boards in the 1st period), but then settled in quite nicely. We can look for him to compete for a spot in the bottom 6, right? Also, as for Evan Rodrigues: I feel like his game has already tailed off.

Was gonna say. Low 50s is something Sabre fans can recall.

That sort of thing seems like it would be low-hanging fruit for someone like Harrington.

And he's going to skate with Rodrigues (sp?) and Foligno. FFS. I will never get the thinking on this sort of decision.

Ennis had a terrific game. Someone posted (Twitter) the shot attempts for/against when he was on the ice -- it was like 17-3 for the Sabres. And, yes. Eichel looked checked out. Very disappointing, since we were at the game. Is true.

It didn't sound like a scuffle to me -- it sounded like someone was ranting about what had gone down, what was going down. There's something preceding the "F*** OFF!" -- something that seems to build to that point. I went to the game (but not the fan appreciation party in the plaza -- sorry, PA -- no live stream), and Eichel seemed fairly out to lunch.

Got eem.

That is pretty great. Although the weird spacing issue with the first " quote" mark is distracting.

Kenny Linsman.

I can't recall Thornton ever turtling. He generally answers the bell. And for good cause, too -- he's done his share of dumb sh1t.

By "piece of work" do you mean POS? I went and watched the near hit. Tkachuck went airborne because Doughty slid under. Otherwise, that might have been a fair hit. That elbow from earlier in the year, OTOH, was feckin' awful.

Duly noted. With all the water under the bridge, my working sense is that Terry is actively involved with Bills' personnel, but generally defers to his experts, and is more lightly involved with the Sabres' personnel and more fully entrusts such matters to GM TM and co. Because foobaw and the Bills were always his true object of affection anyway. (H/t PA.)

What's the point of that Anderson Cooper video? Christ. Eff that elitist prick. Those giggles might have foretold today's political climate. Oh, and solid work, d4rk, dissing the humorless maniacally focused of a captain we had who, absent an AHL D corps, would've delivered us a Cup. Also, I don't buy for a minute that ROR's leadership hackles are up. More and more, his wee Timmy Ho's fender bender seems more reflective of his locker room character than many of our previously imagined fantasies that he was the future Captain.

Hmmmm.

I wasn't, and am not, trying to equate this Reinhart benching with disciplining your kids. Not at all. They're not comparable, imo. What I was observing was how pervasive it seems among certain populations (age groups) to evade taking full, unequivocal responsibility for an error. "Yeah, I screwed up, but -- dumb rule, bad application."

Not if I have anything to say about it. Honest to God. I'd bet dollars to donuts that, if asked, my kids would all say that taking responsibility and expressing sincere remorse for errors and omissions is "job one," and that it's unacceptable to undermine that process by folding in a bunch of self-serving crap. SAM REINHART MAY NOT BE FINE.

Well, that gets to the heart of the matter, I suppose. What's more important? Respecting the chain of command and your role as the proverbial good soldier, or giving sway and ventilation to your own personal feelings of having been treated unfairly? Sam may not like or much respect the holder of the "office" of head coach (if you'll allow it), but damn it if he isn't bound to respect the position when addressing this sort of thing. Fwiw, my own teenage kids pull this same sort of crap. They accept responsibility and apologize ... but, not really. Not really. Drives me around a bend.

I'm definitely of a mind that a better, more modern-minded coach could be getting more out of this roster. That said, Reinhart doing anything but saying that he'd violated a team rule and paid a significant price, that he regrets what happened and the fact that he couldn't be there to play with his teammates, and that he's now moving on, are all, taken together, not a great look for #23. One of my fave follows on Twitter, Dave Davis, said the same, and I agree. Maybe it's a generational difference. Anyway - I don't much care for how he responded. Didn't the BN substitute "exrement" for "sh1t"? That was amusing.

Eleven posted somewhere here that it's been reported as fact that Pegula is (directly? heavily?) involved with personnel decisions for the Bills, and somewhat so involved for the Sabres. There was no link, though. He recalled Tweets. My working sense, fwiw, is that, yes - Pegula involves himself in a substantial way when it comes to who's being selected, signed, etc., especially insofar as the Bills are concerned.

Um. Yeah. (I too funking lerved Neo's most recent yarn -- such a worthy subject too.)

To be clear(er): I never really thought that there was something there insofar as PSU goes -- at least, not beyond a desire to whitewash unpleasant (but otherwise non-incriminating) aspects of your past associations. But it's evident that the Pegulas have done that with several areas of their lives -- not just with the PSU connections.

I'm going this Sunday. I'll report.

^ Well, then. I'm not sure what to say. The promotional schedules for pro sports franchises are planned and put together during the offseason. If you Google promotional schedule NHL hockey, you will be linked to a series of press releases (many of which look quite similar to one another) that are hosted on nhl.com from a variety of franchises. Whether your franchise is a contender or rebuilding basement dweller, you should be making these plans to thank and appreciate your fans. Or nah? In point of fact, the argument can (and should) be made that, if you have devoted fans and your team stinks (and has stunk for 6 seasons), then you have even MORE reason to schedule giveaways, promotions, thank-you nights, and the like.