Doohickie

A not unreasonable take. I would say he needed to get out from under Eichel to unlock that level.

Baby steps, grasshopper. Playoffs this coming year. Cup next. 😄 A friend here in Fort Worth posted a video of the Bandits win on FB. The crowd was loud and enthusiastic. I pointed out that you don't see crowds like in Fort Worth at an NLL game. Buffalo drew six times more fans than Fort Worth this season (Fort Worth population is just about a million people without suburbs and without the rest of the DFW area). I also commented that in all fairness, most of those Buffalo fans would rather be at a Sabres playoff game.

...but then you're picking glass out of your car for years. My son has a rider on his insurance that covers keys locked in car. He got the locksmith over a couple weeks ago. Didn't cost him anything out of pocket. (A few hours later I found the keys under his bed. 😮 )

Just like their expansion brethren, the Sabres, the Canucks think that can win by only playing half a period.

You got this, Nucks.

Well *****.

The exchange rate there has changed dramatically over the years. I remember when you could get a dozen donuts for less than $2.00. Now they're about $2 each.

Yep. I liked Reinhart a lot, but the one trade that really set this team back was the Foligno trade.

Suzy Bogguss was outstanding tonight. Every song was great. It was just her on vocals and rhythm acoustic guitar, and a stand-up bass player and lead guitar who both provided backup vocals. The sound was great. This pic is from the last row (the venue only has about 200 seats).

It pisses me off when he shows any class and disrupts my narrative of him.

My reply to that is, WHY NOT? From reports, Kevyn never even approached Casey or his agent about re-signing him. That just puzzles me. By all accounts Casey enjoyed it here. Maybe he would have signed a team friendly deal. We'll never know, will we?

Repeated for emphasis. Preach, brother.

28% of their skaters in the playoffs are former Sabres.

My workweek is 4 x 10, Mon-Thu. Normally I come into the office Tue-Wed and work from home Mon & Thu. But we got a call from Spectrum saying they were doing system upgrades in our neighborhood this week and could have intermittent outages, so I've been in the office all four days. Which sucks.

fify

I think the argument in favor of keeping Johnson is that the way Samuelson plays, especially the shot blocking, puts him at risk of injury. If you trade Johnson it means you're left with only Bryson as an option, and with a second injury you're dipping down into prospects/tweeners. Remember 2006.

I disagree. I think Lindy would have gotten this past year's roster to the playoffs as is. That said, I won't be surprised if a rookie or two make the club, but I do expect some of holes created by outgoing players to be filled by established vets. What he's saying is that it simply doesn't correlate to more wins.

Start with pullup boy. He's been good in the playoffs (as I knew he would be... I just wanted it to be with the Sabres).

I'm sure the analytics guys saw something there. 🙄

Looks like the PhenomenOtter is more of a MediOtter tonight.

I'll see you down at the Luby's for the earlybird dinner.

That would make me sad. I think he's a good defenseman already and likely to get slightly better. But if he's a 7/8 D (or lower) for the Sabres they're not utilizing him properly and possibly could fetch a nice forward.

I haven't looked in detail, but my impression was that he was pretty much goalless for the first half of the season and came on quite a bit in the second half. EDIT: Okay, I looked. His scoring was pretty even at 2 goals per month with no goals in October or January... and three in March. But looking at the goals, the ones marked with * were from in tight (8 of 11 goals). The remainder were from the slot. He's scoring goals from where goal scorers score goals. 11/22 shot from edge of crease* 11/30 shot from slot off faceoff* 12/13 rebound shot from top of crease* 12/15 loose puck shot from edge of crease* 2/13 shot from top of crease* 2/19 tip in from low crease* 3/12 one-timer from slot 3/14 tip in from slot 3/14 EN 4/11 tip in from net front* 4/15 deflection from edge of crease* One last note: On Goal #7, he scores on a one-timer from the slot, but just prior to that he was down next to the goalie. As he saw the play develop he shifted to the "quiet area" in the slot where he would be wide open for the shot. It's that level of hockey sense that makes him a potentially great goal scorer.

That aspect sounds like Benson. Style of play not as much, but that aspect is Brierish.