SabresFanInRochester

Your response prompted me to go back and look because the screen I looked at showed Edmonton in 29 and Buffalo at 30. Regardless, that's when I noticed they have a link for the NHL Lottery. Edmonton and Buffalo are tied -- 44% chance that either will finish last, and a 29.1% chance of winning the coveted spot. If I read that correctly, 44% chance Buffalo finishes last (TOUCHED BY BOYES was correct in his explanation of how they determine future results) and a 29.1% chance of winning the lottery. Need to find a way to get St. Louis and the Islanders to drop lower.

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL.html Thought this was interesting... even though Buffalo is currently in 28th, the stats site projects Buffalo with a 78% chance to finish the season in 30th. It's a neat site. They use the prior games to predict the outcome of the future games. I remember using it a couple years ago when Buffalo was making a playoff push. I didn't think I would be using it to see the odds that they win the McEichel sweeps.

I am not a fan of most reality television, but I have a weakness when it comes to Celebrity Apprentice, Undercover Boss, and Shark Tank. They're all business related, and I think that's my draw. Besides those three, if it's not a sporting event, I don't watch it. I haven't watched a television series since Rescue Me ended, and prior to that it was the Shield. For the most part, I agree with LGR4GM.

"10 p.m. - CBS closed primetime in first overall with 8.48 million viewers and finished second with a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 for "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" was second with 6.89 million viewers and won the hour comfortably with a 2.4 key demo rating. Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/tv-ratings-galavant-and-celebrity-apprentice-start-well-nfl-wild-card-dominates-sunday#0UCzmf7eZVOl2F2p.99BC" Your television only gets CNN? Talk about somebody has to watch it...

No need for us to battle on this. As a Sabres fan who never cared for Derek Roy's game, my point was that Roy's still hurting Buffalo by not scoring a clutch goal. You bring up a good point with your question -- does the order matter? That is embodied mostly into the psychology of the game and that area fascinates me. In baseball, a lineup order matters because you want to get on base with your lead off and get him around with your cleanup. In hockey, does your team want to shoot first, or defend? Do you want to have your strongest player go first and establish a lead or save him for an ace-in-the-hole? Statistically, it wouldn't really matter if someone scores on their first attempt, or if they score by going last. But psychologically, do you give your team a lift if you score first? Or put added pressure on the other team? Or get into the goalie's head? Or even help your goalie relax. NHL players perform at the highest level and would likely give a canned response of "it doesn't matter" but their mentality has to be impacted in some capacity. When Oshie scored his shootout goals during the Olympics, I was astonished. The opposing goalie thinking -- he keeps beating me glove-side... is he going to try glove-side again? Or the opposing Russian shooters frustrated with thoughts that one person is taking them down. Did Oshie's confidence grow after the first couple rounds, or did the pressure mount when he was repeatedly called on. (Statistically, you would think confidence soared, but only he will know the answer to that question.) I just love that stuff! That is why I love sports -- you can see how people respond, and you can judge a lot about their character as a result. Off the topic, but related, last night on Celebrity Apprentice, Pierce Morgan was on the advisory board and made a comment to Jamie Anderson, an Olympic gold medalist, that I had a problem with. Jamie was asked who she would fire, and she didn't want to give a name, so she said flip a coin. Pierce said that as a competitive athlete she should know how to go after her competitors more aggressively. Especially in Jamie's sport of snowboarding, you don't go after your competition -- do you hope that your competitors fall and give you an easy gold? Or do you want them to excel and challenge yourself to do better? I think a true athlete realizes that if you rise to the occasion, you don't need your competition to mess up to exploit them. You would already be able to beat them and so why cheapen the victory by doing so. Pierce doesn't see it that way, and that's why I think he's a weasel. Pierce wanted Jamie to make someone else look bad to make her look better. If you perform at the top of your game, you don't need to do that. One other off the topic comment from Celebrity Apprentice, Shawn Johnson was asked in the boardroom if she thought her team won, and she said no. I think that is refreshing, but the reaction by some was that she shouldn't have said that. If you know your team laid an egg, why give the canned response and pretend. She knew that the other team had a better performance and she identified and justified that . I think that is strong! I wish some businesses and most politicians were more along the lines of this mentality instead of the tactics they currently employ. Could you imagine winning a political campaign because you're better, not because the opposing candidate is worse? Way too much in this post -- my bad.

I have been laid more than the typical 18-year old, but that doesn't mean I'm a casanova -- just older with more opportunities.

I don't know... that's what the stats say, but drag Kotalik back into the NHL and let him do a shootout now. His numbers likely look great! But past performance does not dictate future results. Ryan N-H, Eberle, Hall, Hendricks, ... and you pick Roy to go first?

When the 2014-15 season began, my expectation was that the Sabres would be horrible, and so I was in favor of the tank, while the youngsters developed. I have seen great things out of the kids -- Zemgus, Risto, Zadorov, and Grigo. I even consider Myers young and love his game this year. When they went on their excellent 14-game stretch, and blew past Carolina and Edmonton, I thought maybe the team matured and the kids were ready. Even though statisticians were showing the Sabres were still horrible, I wanted to believe things were different. It appears it was just a fluke as they are playing some really bad hockey again. I think the youngsters are learning, but still a ways off, especially with consistency. And I really want to see Myers stay in a Buffalo jersey. Every team has a whipping boy, and Buffalo has at least three -- Stafford, Weber, and Myers. I think that's based on past year's efforts, and I like the game out of all three, although I would hope that perhaps only Myers remains as the core. If you can get future assets for Stafford or Weber, okay. The team has historically played poorly without Myers, and although someone is going to pull up their record with and without, or his plus-minus -- anecdotally, the team is better with Myers in the lineup. With that -- Tank baby. Since Carolina got Stahl back, they seem to be improved too much to contend as a last place team. I think we can pass them and reclaim 29th before the end of this week. I am worried about Edmonton. They just acquired Derek Roy and that can only help their tank. I have never been a fan. I watched their shootout loss a couple games ago and when they started with Roy as the first shooter, I immediately thought they were trying to lose on purpose. No way Roy is more talented or better in a shootout than all the young guns in Edmonton. I hope they can pass Edmonton, but I could really see a 29th place finish for Buffalo and some team wins the lottery knocking Buffalo to the 3rd overall pick. Perfect world in the sports today would be Edmonton knocks off the Islanders, in regulation, and Tavares contracts the mumps -- because I would never root for someone to get injured. I cannot believe the Islanders are as good as their record shows and I wonder how fast they would plummet without Tavares. The Islanders on a 20-game losing slide is the tank I most want to see.

I think Hodgson will flourish as a winger and will be the team's leading scorer. We will see the youth parked in the bullpen for another year -- juniors and the AHL. The team's work ethic will grow by leaps and bounds without Leino and Ehrhoff on the ice. Kaleta will have his best season. I think he will embrace the Nolan way and be rewarded for his effort. Ennis and GIrgensons will lead by example and earn the "C" and "A." The biggest difference in the Sabres being more competitive will be the play of their special teams. Their PK will be led by a cuthrought shot blocking mentality and their PP will have better puck possession and creativity led by Ennis feeding Moulson and Gionta. Stafford will still be the whipping boy even though he will enjoy an above average year on the stat sheet. The biggest controversy will be over who the starting goalie should be. Enroth will have better save percentages and goals against but the team will appear to play a better defensive game with Neuvirth in the net. The 2014-15 Sabres will still take their lumps, but they will not be embarrassing to watch as the effort will be there. Even though they will still finish last, it will be encouraging to see improvement in the team and will ultimately live with the leftover choice of Eichel or McDavid as the lottery system once again will reward a team that did not finish last. I think our special teams coaching has been pathetic and that will change this year. Trying to stick to a system that lacks players who fit the system is done. Instead, players will be allowed to use their strengths. Buffalo will be able to attack more... borderline force the puck, as their players will be allowed to use their talents. Ennis will be able to hold the puck and work from the wall without making the point man shoot into the defenders shin pads. Myers will be able to carry the puck in and when he dumps the puck off, we will have someone there to forecheck. I think we will see something refreshing this year. Do I know anything from an inside source? No. Is it a ton of wishful thinking... yes.

leasetrader and other similar companies charge a transaction fee and do all the work, some of which includes locating a buyer. Since you already have the buyer, you may find their fee is too steep. You may still want to review their site as they might walk you through the steps of the transfer. But, I agree with most of the above posts, it involves having the lease company completing a transfer on your behalf. Good luck.

I am thinking just the opposite... for this year. I would love to see 6 SOLID D-men. Without addressing scoring, Buffalo could be in a similar position again next year and lock up the #1 or #2 in 2015 and then they can take all the O they want, beginning with McDavid.

I was unable to hear it but one of the Sabres tweets was about how players are not going to be handed positions. They need to earn it. I like his no-nonsense attitude, but then you think about how Leino played 18+ minutes in the last game. He's talking out of both sides of his mouth. I hate that!

I entered. I do not think he has a chance at scoring. I think Buffalo will be worried about Leino taking a dive and avoiding buy-out through injury. Even if he doesn't play, I say he gets an infected hangnail over the next 30 days.

Good insight. I thank Arcsabresfan41 and BRAWNDO for sharing the two links that I referenced -- one to see predictions on points, and the other that showed the odds of Buffalo finishing last. My comment about seeing progress without the W's -- I want to see something click that carries over to next year. If their identity is going to be that of the toughest team to play against, I want to see that in their remaining games, not just a sprinkling of effort, or buy-in from one line. Or I want to see the PP suddenly click. Or the defensive assignments are figured out and they can lock down opponents without blowing assignments. One of those components alone is not enough to translate to automatic wins, but it would be one thing they could hang their hat on for next year, instead of having to try to fix everything. One other important question -- how many days until they can buy-out Leino? And do you think they bench him at the end of the year, once they have last place locked up? That was written, tongue-in-cheek, but on the serious side, if Leino gets injured, Buffalo wouldn't be able to buy him out, right? That happened last year and I think they were stuck with him. I could see that little SOB faking something to prolong his career because no one else is going to want him.

Of Buffalo's 17 remaining games, only 7 are against playoff teams and other than Boston, St. Louis and a distant Montreal, the half of those 7 games are against bubble teams. Some of the teams... Carolina, Islanders, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, ... are playing as bad as Buffalo. I do not think Buffalo is intentionally tanking, although with Leino playing quality minutes, one might wonder. Just from the quality of the opponent, they could go on a run and finish ahead of a couple teams in the standings. I really don't want to see that. I want to see progress, but not wins. I've suffered all year. To see them play .500 hockey and ruin their chance for the highest lottery odds at the #1 overall pick would be unfortunate. I remember a site that showed a team's chance of making the playoffs and the statistics of how they should finish out. I wonder if there is a site that shows the team's odds of locking up the #1 pick? And just curious, I remember a poll at the start of the year that asked everyone for their guess of the number of points earned by the Sabres this year. Did anyone guess fewer than 60?

I tried to scroll through most of the posts but I did not see this addressed anywhere: Can a team lose a preliminary game and still win the gold? I am pulling for the USA, but I really want to see Miller get the net. I don't know what the plans are for Saturday vs Russia, but if Quick chokes tomorrow, I would think Miller gets the nod against Russia. But is it too late to medal by then? Any clarification is appreciated. (The way the hockey Gods look upon me, Quick posts a 50-save shutout.)

Have your finances in order at least two months (bank statement cycles) prior to beginning the mortgage process. The money that you plan on putting down should already be in your account for those two statement cycles. If you go to a mortgage banker today and tell them you want a $200,000 mortgage, they are going to ask you for tons of documents, among them bank statements showing $40,000 (20%) in your account. If you have to come up with all or some of that money, you will be hounded and scrutinized the entire process. By contrast, if you need to borrow money from mom and dad, or you need to move money from an account you don't want to disclose to your banker for whatever reason, do it now. The money will reflect on two statements, and they will not question the origins of the money. If you have demonstrated that you have the means for a down payment AND can satisfy the debt load with your current income, this should limit the amount of financial records and documents you will need to turn over. One other tip -- provide the necessary paperwork to your mortgage banker and leave the country. If you are available, they will call you relentlessly asking for documents that you already provided. And they will call you for stuff that you really don't need to provide.

Have you seen how bad this team is? They do not have the talent to flip a switch and suddenly be competitive. Nolan does not want a youth movement and would rather they develop in juniors or AHL. So do not expect an influx of youthful talent next year. Veteran free agents are not banging down doors to come to hockey heaven. Acquisitions include D'Agostini, Konopka, and Omark, which is the only signing out of the three that I actually like. To rule out a legitimate chance to finish dead last again next year is more preposterous than someone holding out hope for McDavid.

Any idea what the salary cap means to the Sabres this year? My assumption is that they need to shed $10 million just to start the season.

I have seen players and goalies break their stick across goal posts and never seen a call. Last, year, I saw a Florida player wipe out his own goalie with a tomahawk chop, and even though it was his own team, there was not a reckless related penalty called. Cannot recall someone getting reprimanded either during the game or after for swinging a stick. Heck, you could even include Peters "golf swing" against Toronto. Not intended to physically harm, that had just as much disregard for the opponent to draw a game misconduct.

Thoroughly disappointed by tonight's effort. Not the lack of offense, but by the skirts that the team donned while they sashay around like a bunch of merries. The fact that no one came up big for Miller is a huge shocker and has to be viewed as a joke around the league. After Miller was laid out, for the remainder of the game, everyone was backing down. Our forwards were all afraid to go to the front of the net because they didn't want to get roughed up. Boston constantly had someone in the crease and the difference is on the scoreboard. Even after a save by a Sabres goalie, Boston would have someone right in Miller/Enroth's face, and there was no effort to stop that behavior. Buffalo got pushed around and accepted it on all fronts, and that is embarrassing. My point is echoed by the HockeyBuzz blog writer from Boston below: Yet, while Miller didn't expect the hit (wink wink when you see a bruiser coming at you full speed), it was the utter lack of a response by the Sabres that left more than a few completely puzzled. Coming with an admission from Buffalo forward Paul Gaustad that the team didn't respond the way they should have, Ruff wasted no time in throwing 'Goose' under the bus, noting "Well, he was on the ice." Thrown into a hypothetical situation when asked how the B's would react had it been a Buffalo player on Thomas, Lucic kept his answer short and to the point. "We wouldn’t accept anything like that. We would have taken care of business," Lucic quipped. "But we’re a different team than they are."

Please let me know if you are interested in either 2 or 4 seats. The tickets are located in the 4th row (100 Level II) putting you right into the action! I have a mini-pack, and will have some extra tickets through the season. If someone is interested in attending a game at face value, I would consider selling the tickets. (Please don't ask me to consider accepting less for the tickets... if my family and friends are paying me full price for the seats, I have a hard time giving a discount to someone I don't know.) :P Go Sabres!!!