A few things.

Saying we have all fourth lines on this team is really fucking stupid and it ruins the credibility of whoever says it. In some cases, hyperbole can be humorous, in this case, it makes you look like a dumbass.

I wouldn't want Malkin unless we could trade Gerbe, Connolly, and Rivet for him...which would never happen. That dirty fuck can keep his bullshit stick work in Pittsburgh.

I've been okay with the officiating this year. Tonight it was awful.

Lalime looked how he always has, physically capable (he played GREAT outside of the gaffe), but it seems like he loses focus at times.

Rivet was bad, Connolly was worse, and Gerbe is indistinguishable from Matt Ellis. Unable to bring any offense, incapable of being physical and just kind of taking up a roster spot.

With Connolly's poor play and Rob Niedermayer's sucking, we have issues at center. I wouldn't mind moving some combination of Connolly, Stafford, Rivet, Gerbe, Butler and draft picks for a 2nd line, or a 2B center.

_________________
Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Move Pomminville to the first line (might work better with Malkin). Put Dupuis (since I suggested him) on the 2nd line and try Hecht on the other wing.

Now there's an experiment!

Without going into detail as to why I feel the way I do, I have to ask, why does it make me look like a dumbass to state what my opinion is of the team, in accordance with the product that I see on the ice this season?

Is it because it doesn't "jive" with your opinion of the produc? Or is there an actual logical explanation to that?
The reason I ask CV, I cut my teeth on this team, since it's birth and mine, with the French Connection, on up through the "80's", into the Lafontaine/Molginy era, to the Hasek runs, the horrible experience thru the early 2 thousands, the lockout, the subsequent runs from 05 to 07 and the fall out from failures of that era as well.

I not only stand by my statement that this team fields 3 fourth lines. The stats speaks louder than me, and from the looks of this season, I need not defend my statement, the team speaks for itself.

_________________
Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Just watched the highlights and damn, if only Vanek didn't hit that post and well of course Connolly's turnover led to a goal, a pretty damn good deflection goal if I might say so myself, and stupid glove pass too to take away a goal by us.

_________________

He was holding onto the puck too long, made a couple nice moves but he also turned it over a couple times. He's gotta get it deep and work the offence from the forecheck.

_________________
Driver of the Tyler Ennis Bandwagon, Ridin' shotgun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon, chillin' on the Luke Adam Bandwagon


Eh

Every time I make love to my Wife, I tell here this just before I go doggy style on her.

_________________
Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Honestly, if that were Enroth who did that, we'd be like oh.. he's a rookie. But because it's Lalime, we're saying shit about it.

Lalime had a solid game. Other than that gaff, we were given chance after chance to win that game, but just couldn't convert. Can't blame this entirely on Lalime.

_________________
Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

I'll address your post in two parts.

Part I:
You're old and have seen more hockey games than me. Good for you. I don't get what that has to do with anything. The fact that you've been watching the Sabres for a long time doesn't make you any more credible, it doesn't make you any more credible as an analyst and it doesn't make your armchair GM moves and team assessments any less preposterous. Sorry. (I think that's what you're trying to say, right? By asking if my opinion is different and then citing your fan "credentials," you're attempting to imply that you know more than me because of these "credentials"...right?)

Part II:
I thought you said all fourth lines which is my mistake. That error aside...
How many fourth lines have totaled 8 goals and 14 assists? (Or 11g and 15a depending on who you pick on our second line).
Or 5g, and 15a...yay Nieds, Grier, and McCormick!
Even just looking at the four worst teams in the league, NJ, EDM, TOR, and NYI:

The devils fourth line of Mair, Vasyunov, and (I dunno who the fuck their fourth line RW is, so we'll say Clarkson who I believe is a third liner) has 3 goals and 5 assists.
The leafs fourth line of Orr , Brent, and Sjostrom has 5 goals and 3 assists.
The oilers fourth line of Stortini, Jones, and Fraser has 6 goals and 5 assists.
The islanders fourth line of Gillies, Sim, and Konopka had 0 goals and 3 assists.
Even the caps fourth line of Bradley, Perreault, and Steckel only has 5 goals and 8 assists.


And that's taking guys who are playing every night, so those are probably mostly third liners. (I just sorted by ATOI and took the lowest LW, C, RW with 10+ games). What team is good enough to stick Connolly, Pominville, Hecht, or Stafford/Ennis on their fourth line? Where are the stats that back up this argument? Or are you just going to tell me that you've been watching hockey for a really long time and you know what you see?

(And if you want to adjust totals up to make ATOI equal, then you can adjust right back down to make the level of competition equal.)

I agree that the second and third lines have been underperforming. Connolly, Hecht, Grier, and Niedermayer have been disappointments, and seeing Stafford and Pominville get hurt sucks. I would love to move ANY of these guys (and especially the first four). But there is nothing to back up the assertion that any of our second line guys wouldn't crack the top three lines on any other team. I'm actually astounded that you claim to actually believe this instead of just using hyperbole to attempt to strengthen your point that the second and third lines suck. (We have eyes, we can see. No strengthening necessary).

_________________
Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Also, you kids and your trade talks are ridiculous. We know Darcy isn't going to do shit, so I don't know why any of us are in fantasy NHL 11 land. It just won't happen tomorrow, let alone at a trade deadline.

_________________
Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

Younger fans are often the first to say that it doesn't matter how much experience you, the older fan, have watching a sport or how much extended exposure you have to a variety of circumstances that not just govern play, but help in analizing the dynamic of front office behavior.

Co-inky-dink?




I think what he meant was that the Sabres have:
one 2nd line, two 3rd lines and one 3rd-and-a-half line.

I don't think merely watching something for an amount of times makes you any sort of authority. There is something gained in observation, but significantly more gained in inside knowledge, training, and experience. I mean it's not like watching your parents drive for 16+ years makes you any sort of authority on operating a motor vehicle.


If he meant that then he could have either said it from the beginning, or agreed that he was exaggerating when I called him out on it. Instead he reiterated that he firmly believes that this team has three fourth lines (it doesn't), and that the stats support this argument (they don't).

Personally I think we have a 1.5, a 2.5, and two 3.5s. Both add up to roughly the same amount so whatever.

_________________
Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Honestly, it doesn't matter if you've been watching hockey for 50 years at all when discussing anything at all. Just because you've maybe seen 7 times the amount of hockey games then anyone doesn't mean jack shit or give you any more reason to say your opinion or assessment of this team is better than what I would have to say or think about the team.

I may have only really started following hockey since the lockout, but I would bet on it, I know as much if not more about hockey then some of the people who have been around or at least watching hockey for 10 times longer than myself.

_________________

Went to the game tonight, just some thoughts...

The refs were terrible. Easily 2-3 (if not more) penalties that were just not called throughout the 3rd period.

Vanek played like a beast, whenever he didn't make a good play, he was downing himself, which i'd rather see him do then showing no emotion. Cannot count how many times he said Fuck tonight.

Gaustad is a beast on faceoffs. He had a good rivalry going on with Downie. Tell me, how is it goose got a penalty for unsportsmanlike while Downie does the exact same thing and actually THROWS punches while Goose had his backed turned and no call?

Kaleta played well as well. He "drew" into atleast 5 situations that could have been called penalties against Tampa, not sure why they weren't. Hella crosschecks.

Pommers played well for the most part but no avail, nothing on the scoreboard.

Connolly is terrible. Should not be a sabre.

Rivet, cannot defend him anymore. He is too slow and his career is done. He may be a good leader, but he is not good on the ice any longer.

Lalime played well, except for his blunder. Although i'll admit, we're saying that a lot about him.

I do not understand how Gerbe never grew in his life. Watching him next to Myers....I mean wtf happened in his teen years?

Overall, good game to attend. If we're going to lose, we better keep it close.

I actually agree with everything you said, though I'm not quite as high on Pominville.

_________________
Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Agreed. That was one of the stupidest mistakes I have ever seen a goal make but, other than that, he played a good game. It could have been worse, much worse.

_________________

My questions... seriously now....

1 - Do we agree it is time for Timmy to move on? Clearly making more fuck-ups than being productive... Contract ends at the end of the year so he should be moved between now and the trade dead line. Again, Im a huge Timmy homer, but his play has been extremely sub par, especially on the PP... IF Timmy is moved, can Ennis or Gerbe man the 2nd line C? Do you move Goose up until next year when Adam might be ready? Or do we really ride Timmy out?

2- Stafford. Its no secret we started winning once Staff got hurt. I don't like him in the top 6... do you give him another chance? Where do you stick him? Or would you try and move him and keep Ellis up?

3- Rivet, should he be starting any more? I understand he is the captain. And You dont want to send your captain packing. But hasn't Butler looked better? I like the D and depth on the D, so I don't want to really move anyone there. I think D depth is key for a play off run... the question is should Craig be a healthy scratch until an injury occurs?

I do like what I have seen out of the team recently. Roy and TV are on a mission... its great to get those guys going... But i still think there needs to be a little tinkering... Yes, they have shown they can skate with anyone... But the recurring Tim Connley Turn Over Show needs to stop! I just don't think Rivet can keep up any more. And I like how this team plays with out Stafford, so why should he be given yet ANOTHER chance?

_________________

Yeah...because Lalime is an NHL veteran...he shouldn't make mistakes like that. A better comparison would be saying if Miller had made the same mistake, justifying by saying he's an elite goaltender and that sometimes people fuck up.

Here's the caveat - Lalime hasn't done anything great, and isn't new to the game. A blunder like that magnifies his weaknesses, and deservedly so.

_________________

I agree and he always makes mistakes when the games are close. He had strong games against Montreal and Tampa but in both games he made mistakes that cost us the game. I think it's a mental issue, he has no confidence.

_________________

Watching hockey for a longer period of time simply gives you a larger pool of observation to draw an opinion on. It doesn't make you more correct, or give any more weight to your ideas.

gah, that sucks. thats not really toskalas fault. thats a bouncing puck, and the only way to combat that would have been to rush out and hope you meet the puck at a short hop. otherwise, there isnt anything you can do.

_________________