K-9

Only if Jordan Palmer says it’s ok.

I understand now; you’re not a fan of finer points or the big picture. A rare combination.

I didn’t know he could play center. That might be the perfect position for him. You can’t coach what that kid shows attitude wise.

He looked good the few times I isolated on him. Technically very sound. I liked Risner’s attitude; he plays with an edge all the way to the whistle and on EVERY play. He’s gonna piss off his share of DLmen along the way. I wasn’t that impressed with his footwork though. If he’s gonna stay at T he must improve in that area, simple as that. Playing him inside at G would mitigate that greatly.

Arguments against honest work? WTF are you referring to? I certainly didn’t imply Belichick didn’t work hard for everything he earned along the way, just that he “started” his career in football as a child breaking down game film for and assisting his dad in game plans, etc. I thought my intent was obvious. You just missed it. But back to the point; that is your take on Palmer’s ability as an instructor of QB fundamentals is absurd, lacks any factual insight, and contradicts what his own clients have stated. But perhaps the biggest laugher was your asinine suggestion that if Palmer were so good, he’d be a coach in the league. He’s making hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing QBs for the combine and the leadup to the draft as well as having several clients that continue to work with him after their careers have begun. Becoming a coach would mean an astronomical cut in pay. Why would he even entertain the idea?

All well and good until you can’t get a stop when you need one.

One of the most myopic takes in TBD history. Congrats! Oh, and Belichick got his start breaking down game film for his dad at the Naval Academy as a 10 year old. He was a football prodigy for crissakes.

Bad QB play is hard to watch.

Somewhere on line is a stating trainer breaking down the strides of various NHL players, including Eichel and McDavid. IIRC, McDavid's advantage lies in the sheer number of strides he's able to take, while Eichel's is the power generated in each stride. Eichel may be the fastest straight line skater in the league as he's able to achieve top speed after a couple strides, which is a huge advantage when you consider how much of hockey skating is done from a stop or slow glide. But watching McDavid churn around the corners with no stop in his stride was amazing.

Yep. And 90% of the game is half mental.

Given JBott's often stated importance of developing a winning core in the minors, I see him doing his best to keep that Amerk's team as tight as possible late into the season. I can even see Pilut being sent back down late if our place in the standings indicates little hope making the playoffs. If it were up to me, I'd get on with the youth movement and bring up Nylander, Smith, and Guhle now.

The single element I look for in an individual, especially in a fast paced game, is what he does in the split second he has to make one play or the other. All the great players have the ability to posses the puck that extra tick of the clock to give them the time to make the better/best play with the puck. While everyone else is in a hurry around them, they let the play slow down and come to them. We have two players that do that with regularity: Eichel and Dahlin. Nobody on the Amerks showed that tonight.

Roch wins in a 7 round shootout. Glad they came back to force the OT, but I wasn't impressed by anyone as being NHL ready. They wouldn't be worse than several of our current players on the Sabres, but certainly not ready to help in any big way.

He's been unnoticeable tonight, but so has the entire team. Not NEARLY as bad as Scandella, though.

Two things: 1.) UB needs to understand they are going to get everybody's BEST game and need to respond accordingly. 2.) UB's inbound plays from the offensive end line suck. Badly.

I think the safer currency would be Ricky bucks:

This is the most critical aspect of the scouting process to focus on and why we need to take with a grain of salt the positive and negative hype we hear all week. EVERY ONE of the draft eligible prospects will have had EVERY snap of their career broken down seven ways to Sunday by the scouting community before draft time. If a prospect's outstanding senior bowl week doesn't match up with what he's put on tape, he's not going to rise much, if at all. More important than the play they display during the week, are the interactions they have with various team personnel and their teammates throughout.

JohnC is right about a lot of things, including this Sabres team. Not selling our prospects for a (miniscule) chance at the playoffs, for instance. I'm hoping he's right about a 20 point increase in the standings over last year, but I can't see it since the Sabres have to play .500 hockey to get there. Outside of that fluky streak, .500 hockey is something Housley and Co. haven't come close to achieving.

Nah. He's found his niche. Finally. Albeit the exact opposite niche he was expected to find here. Then again, Angry Larry and Girgs, regardless of who fills the other wing, have been driving play all season, so he may not be as valuable there as I think. JohnC is right about Okposo in that he doesn't want to park his big, strong frame out front and engage often enough. I wonder if he's a little shell shocked after that concussion and subsequent threat to his life. Can't say as I blame him if that's the case.

Hold the fort on trading Okposo; he’s doing well with Angry Larry and Girgs on the mucker line. Yes, we are paying nearly six times what a typical winger on such a line usually commands, but he’s not the offensive force he once was and that contract prevents us from moving him to a team not in the market for a 4th line mucker. He may be a grossly overpaid mucker, but he’s our grossly overpaid mucker.

Paths of Glory

The difference between last year’s QB class and this one is on full display. Lock looks like the best of the bunch, but that’s not saying much.

I remember liking this when it was first posted last year. I like it even better now. Thanks for revisiting this post.

I knew their win streak wasn’t indicative of who they really were as the underlying analytics suggested as much. But fair or not, that catapulted them into playoff contention where .500 hockey (not unreasonable, but it if it is, that’s even more telling) the rest of the way would virtually guarantee playing meaningful games late in March. We are sub .400 since, let alone even. But it’s not a question of them not being as good as the streak suggested, it’s a question of being as bad as they were last year. They are closer to that reality than not as their previous 23 games, every bit as good a sample size as their first 25, suggests. Last year, they had a 16 point regression from Bylsma’s team the year before. You’ve projected a 20 point increase this season to an 88 point finish. We need 34 points out of the remaining 68 to get there. That’s an even .500 clip. Something this team, under this coach, aside from that fluky winning streak, has never come close to showing they are capable of. I’m glad they can be competitive against better teams. We saw that last year as well. I’m dismayed we can look like crap against worse teams. Something we also saw last year. It all amounts to treading water and going nowhere. Bring up the kids and commit to seeing what they may bring if given the time to develop at the NHL level.

Bold strategy indeed, Cotton! Hey, it worked with Molson! I hope we are not a buyer as I think it’s a fait accompli that we aren’t going to the playoffs, I don’t think we have any vets to fetch a decent return, and I don’t want to risk losing our prospects. Waive the dead weight, bring up the kids, and start the youth movement! And screw Housley if he doesn’t like it.