Robviously

How close do the Sabres need to be to a playoff spot on January 1st where we just say "F it" and go for it this year? If they win their next two (both against Tampa, so a tall order) that might be enough to call it right then and there.

So you guys gonna keep this thing going? You could delete the thread now and save yourselves a lot of disappointment. Learn to settle for less. "We Are Buffalo."

Quick Question: Why are we letting Emelin rough up our captain for a second night in a row?

Biodork is watching a future game.

Feeling more patriotic after that.

No, but not in the way that you'd think. I already feel like the Sabres are too good to finish dead last in the league ("The Eichel Spot"). Win or lose tonight, that part already feels settled. Now what I'm watching for is how far away from last they'll get and what that will do to our long-term trajectory as a franchise (spoiler-alert: nothing good). The playoffs are still a ways off. And winning in the playoffs is still a million miles away. The Sabres aren't actually good; they're just capable of consistently dragging other teams down to their level and grinding out ugly 2-1 wins thanks to great goaltending. That keeps us out of the basement but nowhere near the top.

Bust.

He came back and played.

.........huh? Wait, wait, wait, didn't all the smart people tell us the Sabres were still destined to finish dead last again this year? After all, they were SO BAD last year. And CORSI. God-Corsi demands it! No one even batted an eye when we signed Gionta, traded for Gorges, and then signed Moulson. None of that was supposed to be enough to even dig us out of 30th. And now we "knew" it was "bottom 7 finish" before the season started?

Don't worry, guys. They'll still finish 30th because something something Corsi. #KillMe

It's the day after Thanksgiving, man.

I haven't seen anyone post this yet, but Zemgus is currently *7th* in All-Star voting. https://allstarvote.nhl.com/en-us/LeaderBoard

Yes and no. This far out, most of the visual effects aren't done, but they'd still be far enough along that you'd have some choice stuff to include in the trailer. Plus lots of trailers (especially teasers) feature effects shots that aren't 100% complete anyway. (The famous White House shot in Independence Day changed from teaser to final release.) And this teaser still had a bunch of CGI. What's resonating with me is *how* these shots look. The first thing we see is John Boyega sweaty and out of breath. I can't remember if anyone was sweaty and out of breath in the prequels (maybe Episode III?). The girl (Daisy Ridley, I'm Googling all these names now) jumping on the speeder reminds me of Luke jumping in is speeder to get home in the original when he realizes where the Empire would track the droids. Lastly, those shaky shots of the Stormtroopers going into battle. All of the armies and battles in the prequels were so sterile and dull; they didn't even *try* to make them look that intense.

Leave my personal life out of this.

I had the complete opposite reaction. I stopped caring about this franchise over ten years ago after Episode II when it was clear the prequels would have zero plot and the characters would all be fairly robotic and one-dimensional. The prequels were so bad that I was less interested in the originals and didn't even care when the new ones were announced. This teaser, with roughly ~1 minute of actual footage, actually got me pumped up for Star Wars again. There's some actual energy and urgency to these shots and it looks like they've recreated the "lived in" feel of the planets from the original trilogy. We see a dozen stormtroopers (i.e. actors in suits) going into battle and it's more exciting in those couple seconds than ALL of the footage of the bazillion CGI clone troopers we saw in the prequels. I'm actually excited about this now; I didn't think I would be.

Surely the fourth time's a charm after Return of the Jedi. The Millennium Falcon shot at the end...

Here's a scenario: The Sabres end up with the no.3 pick. They take Hanifin. What do you do with the rest of the draft? The Sabres defense will be set up for the next decade but we'll still need help on offense. And the Blues and Islanders picks might not be until 20-30 range in the first round. At that point, I want the Sabres doing everything they can to move up to get in a position to take Strome (assuming Strome keeps up his pace during the McDavid injury). Or Marner or Barzal (top ten picks who will be long gone by the STL or NYI picks). Or even Svechnikov or Korostelev (top 20 guys). Basically, if you get Hanifin, move heaven and earth to also add someone with all-star potential up front.

The Day-After-Thanksgiving games were my absolute favorite to go to -- a combination of the long weekend and the official start of Christmas season. I'll throw in a hockey take: Girgensons should score tonight.

Thanksgiving hockey in the OHL: Nick Baptiste makes his Otters debut tonight in Erie and Bailey is back on the ice for Kitchener.

Good Lord, can you even imagine what this board will be like that day?

Five...five dollar....five dollar footlooooooooooooong.....

True. It can happen to anyone, especially with all the blatant head-hunting that the NHL allows. All the more reason to build around guys who are heads are not level with everyone else's shoulders.

Yes he was. Do you remember how and why his career in Buffalo ended?

Hawthorne Effect. An increase in productivity in response to a neutral change. Also, from the little bit I know about these teams and players, there's some logic to these guys filling needs for their new teams if the trade does happen.

The trailer for Jurassic World looks awesome: They made a new Jurassic Park movie that I actually want to see? What??