IKnowPhysics

Just ran across that looking up stats for Del. Good read. Here's hoping.

Kind of an in-your-face response, but he's not overstating it. Lidstrom was the balls. With SEVEN Norris trophies, he was a generational talent, like Ray Bourque before him (5x Norris), Bobby Orr before that (8x Norris), Doug Harvey before that (7x Norris), and Eddie Shore before that (4x Hart, before Norris trophy existed). Easily one of the top ten defensemen of all time. My favorite part: He's not an ######. He's a purely class act 100% of time. Always.

For many schools, you're right. Especially those in B1G. And I want UB football to be better and their facilities to be better. But there's a LOT of D1 hockey schools that aren't like that and don't need FBS football to drive the bus. UB could be one of those schools, if they would commit to hockey.

There's actually a lot of insight about the process from that vid, and you can extrapolate/speculate just a little to gather some interesting nuggets and/or put the bigger picture together. Trading: 8th overall to Dallas for 10th overall + _____ - Upon decline, Dallas, drafted Nichushkin at 10th. Devine may have been correct that they would have picked Ristolainen, because they later didn't want to (or maybe were unable to) move up to 9th to take Nichushkin. It's also possible that Dallas was afraid that Buffalo would take Nichushkin, but you'd think they'd maybe try to move up to 9th as well (maybe they did try, unknown). - It's unknown what Dallas offered with the 10th round pick. It's possible, but unlikely, that they offered the 29th overall pick. Could've been the 40th overall or 54th overall. 3rd round pick was 69th. 16th overall to San Jose for 20th overall + 49th overall + _____ - Upon decline, San Jose still wanted to move up to grab a defenseman, and did so by trading 20th overall and 58th overall to Detroit in order to grab Mirco Mueller at 18th overall. That tells me that either had Mueller (unlikely), or some forward (I don't think so, but who knows), at 16th overall, or they saw an opportunity to grab Zadorov as their D pick. "Jimmy wanted to know if we were in or out on this deal." - Only two GMs are named Jim in the NHL, and both are sometimes referred to as Jimmy: Jim Nill (DAL) and Jim Rutherford (CAR). While this line could've been referring to the Dallas offer, it just as easily could've been referring to the trade offer from Carolina for 5th overall to Buffalo for 8th overall and Andrej Sekera. It's speculated elsewhere that Carolina was targeting Sekera from the get go, and Buffalo (later, in the 2nd round) chose to go with the deal they made, Sekera for McBain and 38th overall (JT Compher), when they saw Compher slip down. Picking: Ristolainen. Devine said they'd been watching Ristolainen for two years and had idenitified him as "their guy" and the player most capable of playing in the league right now (this probably isn't comparing him with the top three guys, but guys in the 4th+ overall range), and in this context, he'd had butterflies in his stomach in the days leading up to the draft. - Seth Jones indisputably would not have slipped to 8th overall, but if the Predators pick Ristolainen for some reason, maybe Buffalo would have had to scramble just a little to figure out who "their other guy" is. - It's also within the realm of possibility that given the #5 pick, we still would have picked Ristolainen, but because we expected him to be available at #8, we didn't execute Carolina's initial offer of 5th overall for 8th overall and Sekera. Maybe if Nashville takes Ristolainen, we take that trade with Carolina to get Seth Jones at 5th overall. - As above, it's possible that Ristolainen was desired by Dallas, prompting a trade offer to move back to 10th. Zadorov. They idenitifed Zadorov as a player they wanted that was slipping, at least before the 14th pick. Regier identified him as the player available he thought would have the best NHL career, and chose to take him instead of a forward. Devine referred to as the player that you select if you "want to get tougher to play against." When he was available at 16th, it was "a no brainer." Devine said he would've been shocked to hear that we got both of these guys at 8 and 16. - Haha, it's pretty clear that we didn't give ###### about Wennberg and Pulock.

It's summertime, let's derail the ###### out of this. No they don't. RIT has been initially successful not because they had great facilities, but because they were committed to their program. They hired good people, good coaches, and then later dumped money into capital investments like a new rink and support facilities (like gyms). UB can choose to play hockey, regardless of what the football score was that week- they just have to make that choice and commit to it. Needless to say, it would very much help to have a few major donors; Jeremy Jacobs (UB graduate and regular donor, currently on the UB Council) has been mentioned in the past. Scholarships in D1 are standardized. Every team has 18 full scholarships, but they may break some of those up to be partial scholarships. As there are 26 kids on an NCAA roster, so not everyone gets a full scholarship, and sometimes some don't get anything. From a quick check, there are no D3 hockey programs at schools that are in D1 primary conferences- either it's not allowed or it doesn't make any sense- reader's choice. UB initially would be a good fit for AHA, like RIT, but could eventually (within 15-20 years) push to move to Hockey East. RIT's just about ready (next 5 years) to make a bid for Hockey East. UB, scholastically, could be contend for a bid in a Big Ten (and there's other reason$ why this makes sense for B1G), opening up the door for some really good hockey, but UB football and basketball are light years behind.

Man, Kevin Devine is the ######. We should never let him leave.

Patience. It'll happen.

Not surprising. There's no news to talk about, so folks end up talking about each other.

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Haha, why even pay for a ticket to the game. Awesome.

This thing, almost. Stolen from here: http://blackbluegold.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/buffalo-media-guide-which-player-to-run-out-of-town-nsfw/

If you try to do too much as a defenseman, it gets complicated really fast. Myers simplified his game and he got a lot better towards the end of the season because of it. He was as low as -9 after 11 games, but then in the next 26 games he was +5 (I don't like +/- either, but it illustrates the story). As such, he was rewarded with consistently more ice time. The way he improved last season shows me he could come out and have a great season this year. I hope he does, but it's another line on this team's long laundry list.

Dan Carcillo was a valuable member of the Blackhawks franchise.

When Myers troubles started under Ruff this season, Ruff had him try to simplify his game and focus on defense first before Rolston took over. Rolston picked up that torch and took it farther by telling Myers something along the lines of "I don't care if you don't score again all year. Establish your defensive game." Every coach will have a system, and I expect Rolston to strongly implement one this season starting in training camp. If it didn't look like Rolston had a system, it was probably a result of picking up the team mid-season.

He must live.

Such is academia right now. Terrible. 'Grats on the hire.

Not that you guys were inferring the Sabres should be interested, but I'm not sure we should be. And not just because we already have a little log jam at D (we could sell the Leafs a cheaper defenseman). While he's arguably the Leafs second best defender as far as offensive production, he's been playing some of the Leafs' easiest minutes for the past two seasons. He did take a big step forward this year and he does produce offensively, so maybe there's consideration for that, but you shouldn't expect he's going to come in and play a shut down role. Is there more room in Buffalo for another offensive defenseman with Ehrhoff, Myers, and Pysyk, all whom are unlikely to move in a deal for Franson, ready to play? History (MAGs, TJ Brennan, Leopold) says no, but if Franson projects to be better than one of the former, then I'm all ears. I think there's other teams that would be more interested. Colorado?

I hear his organization pays lots of young men a lot of money and he encourages them to engage in physical contact with each other and other young men. Stupid.

Ban.

I starting to buy into this a little- I'm getting the impression this facillity has the potential to be a LOT better and higher profile than the Toyota Sports Center (the Kings' sparkling three-rink practice facility; the best rink I've ever skated in, next to maybe the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee). I can't convey how much it helps to have a good rink director- it really makes or breaks the entire facility- and it looks like Fattey could be good at it. I'm looking forward to the whole thing.

I love working in a technocracy.

Brilliant idea of the morning: Marty Biron, upon retirement, should replace Peters.

KS was suggesting Tyler Myers is currently in outstanding shape, but didn't come right out and say it. KS also had reason to believe he'll bounce back this season, but didn't say why (why didn't he say why?? argh). Both KS and AP glossed over the fact that Myers played pretty alright towards the end of last season, and KS could've said that, so I'm not sure what they're holding back. Listening to this show is weird.

So uh, "Drunk History" on Comedy Central's pretty ###### funny.

I'm definitely for that, especially if it means NBCS gets bumped down into regular television service provider tiers as opposed to its current location in the Gonzo Esoteric Stupidly-Expensive Sports Extra Plus tier for most providers now. I hate that.