smokinandjokin

Smokinandjokin shot a 5-under 67 at the Masters yesterday.

How many other teams in the NHL can boast a roster of homegrown talent like this: Year drafted / Player / Round / Overall selection '97 Tallinder 2nd- 48 '97 Afinogenov 3rd- 69 '97 Campbell 6th- 156 '98 Kalinin 1st- 18 '98 Peters 2nd- 34 '98 Kotalik 6th- 164 '99 Miller 5th- 138 '00 Gaustad 7th- 220 '01 Roy 2nd- 32 '01 Pominville 2nd- 55 '02 Paille 1st- 20 '03 Vanek 1st- 5 '03 MacArthur 3rd- 74 '03 Paestch 7th- 202 '04 Stafford 1st- 13 That is absolutely incredible. 15 players who have made significant contributions this year who were drafted and raised in the Sabres' system. Getting Tallinder, Max, and Soupy with lower-round picks in '97 was an incredible draft. Other steals include Miller at #138, Kotalik at #164, Paestch at #202, and Gaustad at #220. I'm not sure what other teams' rosters look like, as far as drafting and raising their own players, but the Sabres HAVE to be among the best in this category. Considering the sometimes blind luck of the hockey draft, where you are evaluating and drafting players when they are still kids, this type of success is remarkable. Other 1st round picks on the roster or in Rochester include: Connolly (5th overall, '99, NY Islanders), Jeff Jillson (13th overall, '99, Sharks), and Zubrus (16th overall, '96, Flyers). Drury (3rd rd, 72nd pick, Quebec Nordiques 1994) and Teppo (2nd rd, 29th pick, Winnipeg Jets 1986) were both drafted by franchises that no longer exist.

My only concern playing the Leafs is that the Buffalo season-ticket holders who have playoff tix know that they can make a mint off of those saps from Toronto, and would probably end up selling their tickets to the games in Buffalo for $300-$400 each. You can't blame someone for essentially paying for the rest of their playoffs by selling the Leafs games, but it sure would be strange to have a 55/45 crowd in favor of Toronto in a playoff game at HSBC. Of the three, I'm not sure it matters...However, the Habs play Buffalo pretty tight, and if they get Huet back, you never know...

Doesn't the NCAA use some formula that grades out poorly when transfer or juco players are factored in? I thought I remember hearing that, but I'm not sure... Either way, Huggins is a seedy cat who manages to put a good squad on the floor. He definitely takes the talent with the baggage when he's recruiting...

Don't discount what 3 or 4 years in San Diego can do to your impressions of other places, though....Let's not pretend that 31 degrees and blowing snow is something that Turner enjoys flying into on April 5th... If I'm an RB, and I see the way the franchise has traded away two 1200-yard rushers with the hope of finding something better, I would have a few questions for the boys in the ties before I signed anything...

You've got the man all wrong. Ralph's plane- pretty sweet. I've heard it's very nice. Anything for the great Michael Turner!

NICE! He is on fire!! You can tell he's got a little Mogilny streak in him...Alex would have those 3-4 game stretches where he would score 7 or 8 goals. Vanek is similar in that once he gets 1, you can almost see his game lift and he goes even harder for #2...

The Dean- you may need to edit the thread title to include Vanek...I feel like these stats need to be shouted-- What a 2nd year! 42 G, 40 A, and the league leader in plus-minus with +44. He's 23 years old!

I just did. Look at that roster...Solid goaltending, tight defense, and plenty of offense. Are Drury and Briere absolutely huge for this team? Of course. And I'm not saying they'd be just fine without them. However, they also wouldn't fall to #9 in the conference. That roster above without Drury and Briere might not win the division, but they'd be in the hunt...You're nuts if you don't think so...Plus you have to assume that some type of move would be made with the money that is freed up if they both leave... A healthy Connolly, a healthy Max, year 3 of Vanek, year 3 of Pominville, and year 2 of Stafford makes me think the offense is in good hands....Add to that a few ~20 goal scorers like Hecht and Roy and Kotalik, they'll be alright. Also...Lindy Ruff will be around....

That's funny

LSI- Central and South America are well-known for their beautiful yet cheap prostitutes. Prostitution is the world's oldest profession, and for that fact alone, both the proprietors and clients in this industry should not be thought of as second-class citizens. As a self-professed video game addict, I think the chances are slim that you will be able to meet a normal girl and work some magic. Therefore, it is my recommendation that you travel to the 'sexy time' district in Buenos Aires and purchase yourself a fine looking woman for an hour of exploration. Wrap it up, maybe a shower afterwards, and you will be good to go. I think a little pootie tang will set you straight, and hopefully down the road it will spark an interest in females, rather than in Death Squad III video games. And if you're out on the street trying to score some ass, it means you're posting here less, which benefits everybody! Safe travels, have a good time

He's talking to you, state of Connecticut.

If both Drury and Briere accept offers from other teams, we are still looking at: Lindy Ruff Ryan Miller All seven of the current defensemen, with Paestch probably moving into the top-6 assuming Numminen retires (after winning the Cup, wink wink) plus.... Roy Vanek Stafford Max Connolly Kotalik Gaustad Pominville Hecht Paille Zubrus maybe Mair MacArthur Peters Ryan And depending on the cap, close to $10M of money to play with. You would struggle to find one team in the NHL who wouldn't take that package right now. Add in either Briere or Drury, and wow....Losing one or both would certainly be a hit to the scoresheet and probably more so to the locker room, but damn if this team isn't well-positioned to remain a force. You will NOT see that roster miss the playoffs next year, a la Carolina this year.

Some of my Yogi favorites (not from the list in this thread): "When? Right now?" Yogi, when asked what time it was. "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded." "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."

[Harry Doyle] Juuuuuuusssst a bit outside. He tried the corner and missed. [/Harry Doyle]

Thanks Joe. You are the resident expert on posts without a point, so I appreciate you stepping in and clearing things up. Actually, my point is that Turner is nothing more than a successful backup right now, the same thing LaMont Jordan was in 2004. For whatever reason, Bills fans have latched on to Turner and are proclaiming him to be well worth whatever draft picks and salary is necessary to get him. My point with comparing him to Jordan was that a guy who averages 6+ ypc as a backup can easily drop into the the 3.7 ypc range as a #1. As for the Raiders line...Jordan went from running behind an OL that produced a rushing champ for the NYJ to running behind the Raiders stiffs. Is a comparison of the dropoff between the Chargers O-line (definitely one of the best) and the Bills O-line (one of the NFL's worst for years) completely unrealistic??? billsoverdue makes several excellent points in his post above- that's my general feeling too. Scroll up past JoeSixPack's canned condescending post that he uses in every thread, and you will find billsoverdue's post. LaMont Jordan is not a failure. I just think the Raiders overpayed, and they admitted as much when they restructured.

A big chunk of his APY that year was from his 70 receptions- he was a proven pass catcher out of the backfield when Oakland signed him. Turner has 7 catches in 4 years!!!! So you're right, let's stop the comparisons. Jordan showed MUCH more than Turner as a backup. And I never called Jordan a bust. I'm just saying he has been slightly less than stellar, and obviously Oakland's brass felt that they overpaid for him, thus the offseason restructure.

How come Willis didn't get this slack when he missed games against the pitiful rushing defenses of the Packers, Colts, and Texans? All that is mentioned around here is that he wasn't even a 1000-yard back.

He did so well, he was rewarded with a substantial pay cut.

I hate to sour the mood and be the voice of reason amongst all of the "Michael Turner is a Pro Bowl RB" chatter. After all, he very well could be a Pro Bowl RB. However, that is what the Raiders thought they were getting when they broke the bank for LaMont Jordan after the '04 season. Jordan was very productive and explosive for the Jets, playing behind NFL rushing champ Curtis Martin. Since then, when he has been asked to shoulder the load as a #1, he has been less than advertised. So much so, that the Raiders restructured his huge contract this offseason. Now, the Bills are supposed to give up some fairly high draft picks in order to acquire a player that has looked good in his role, which coincidentally has him playing backup to the current NFL rushing champ. With that will come a pretty sizable contract that will have fans demanding production. My point is, sometimes players look great filling one role, but turn out to be less than the hype when asked to be "the guy." Not a fair comparison, because the Raiders are terrible? Would the dropoff from the Jets to the Raiders be all that different from the dropoff between the Chargers and Bills??? Here's some stats from Jordan's last season in Jersey: Now Turner: All I'm sayin is, be careful of annointing Turner the next great Bills RB, because if he doesn't fulfill these high expectations, in three years he will follow in the illustrious footsteps of Travis and Willis...Productive Bills backs who were sent packing.

This is Mexico, people. The poor thing was probably landscaping all day, and then was taking the late bus to his overnight shift at 7-11. I would bite, too, if I was just trying to earn a dime and somebody starting !@#$ing with me on the bus.

So, basically, the same production that McGahee averaged in his three years as the Bills' RB.

Not that I ever doubted this fact, but it is good to know that as a man, I will ALWAYS, in EVERY situation, be smarter than a woman. No matter what, men have that going for them. With that said, I don't know where we'd be without hot, dumb, possibly drunk girls in their sexual prime.

Wire-to-wire champs is extremely impressive. The Prez's Trophy would be nice, but I'd say give Conklin two out of the last three games. Buffalo plays Boston, Washington, and Philly- not exactly the league powerhouses. Give Miller a little rest, let Conklin sharpen up in case the unthinkable happens during the playoffs, and lets see where the chips fall. It's hard to believe how long the season really is...Over two months left, hopefully!

I am baffled. I spent the last 10 minutes doing the following: 1) Watching the Alanis video- 37 seconds was plenty 2) Trying to figure out if the "This is awesome, plus Alanis is a total babe" post was serious or not- 9 minutes, 23 seconds