#anyway if Sheari ever said

[tennessoui]

Have you ever watched the show Bones? Lots of good banter. It definitely reminds me of my two favorite idiots. I'm finally watching it all in order and just saw the episode where the main characters have to see a therapist. It's work mandated; they're not together yet. And all I can see is the couples counseling au. They even get a questionnaire for homework. This was me when that bad boy came out. I was like I saw this in a fanfic!

Omg I’ve seen a few seasons of Bones, but I don’t think I’ve seen the season that episode is in but yesss absolute vibes but also only if the therapist was then like so now you guys need to hold hands when you’re not holding your government issued weapons

[readingbythestreetlights]

i was tagged by the wonderful @crimsonicarus to share a snippet of one of my WIPs!!

i couldn’t decide if i wanted to post a bit of my mcstrome one or my mick/esteban one, so here’s a snippet from each!! (my apologies, the first one is a little long.)

despite all the rain

Dylan really isn’t a big fan of taking faceoffs against McDavid, but they are, quite frankly, the easiest part about playing him.

Training for faceoffs is less about the speed of your body and more about reaction time. Dylan has good reflexes. So when the arena goes quiet for that split second between the time the ref blows the whistle and when he actually drops the puck, Dylan steadies his breathing. Track the puck, don’t look at your stick. If you don’t win it immediately, do what you can to wrestle it from the other guy–don’t let him pass it cleanly back.

Dylan takes a shaky breath, not looking at the yellow CCM stick in front of him, instead watching the referee’s hands, preparing. Then the puck drops and he wins the draw, sweeping an easy pass back to the defense.

Whip’s earlier acknowledgment of the energy was on point; it’s one of those games where all the lines are working hard, some of the guys who usually fly under the radar finding important moments to shine through. Alexeyev has a quality block, rewarded with pumped-up hollers and stick taps on the shin as he passes by the bench. The bigger guys are doing their thing, throwing their bodies around and getting some good, clean hits in there.

The Capitals aren’t in a playoff spot at the moment, but they could be. There’s still a month and a half of the regular season, enough time to play catchup to the current Wild Card teams, still only behind in the runnings by a handful of points. This road trip is important. Dylan imagines the announcers are probably saying something about how this little Pacific swing could quite possibly define the season for the Caps— to make the playoffs or to not make the playoffs?

With the game tied at one going into the second (a powerplay goal for Osh and a killer snipe from Nugent-Hopkins on an odd-man rush), the team knows they have to take it up to the next notch, understands that they have to capitalize on the puckluck and good vibes tonight or forever hold their peace.

McDavid gets the puck stripped from him early in the period. The Caps bench is full of cheers and shoulder bumps at that.

Dylan would be lying if he said he doesn’t feel the need to prove himself every time he plays Edmonton. When everyone’s eyes are drawn to number 97 anyway, it’s easy to pretend that there’s no extra reason Dylan’s gaze follows McDavid between shifts. It’s easy to pretend that there’s no reason Connor would or should look back at all.

Dylan still wishes he would.

It’s early in the third that the floodgates fully break open for the Caps, the score having been stuck at 3-2 Washington since the middle of the second. The fourth goal is Dylan and the fifth might as well have been credited to him, fishing the puck out in a tough battle against the boards and deking out the defensemen before giving a slick saucer to Sheary, the pair of them getting herded into a good old Tom Wilson hug after the goal.

Dylan and Connor’s eyes meet as Dylan skates toward the bench to high-five the boys. It’s brief eye contact, but God, it has meaning.

won’t we see you once again? (in foreign soil, in foreign land)

Mick doesn’t bother too much with getting to know new people. He prefers consistency, enjoys conversations threaded with inside jokes, old stories, no expectations.

Esteban had looked pretty in the Spanish sun, his eyes appearing amber and his grin as inviting as ever.

Mick had let himself enjoy it. He was single now—no guilt for appreciating the beauty of life.

Offering up Mallorca just made sense. Mick, for some reason, has never minded showing Esteban the places most dear and private to him. He likes it that way.

Thinks the lack of walls between the two of them is nice.

Thinks the lack of walls between them could one day amount to a lack of physical distance. Hopes, anyway.

Esteban wears that grin no matter who he’s with.

Still, Mick hopes the way the French driver bites his lips softly while in conversation with Mick is purely reserved for just that. Conversations between just them.

[smollandtoll]

HC: Glasses & Greys

While we’ve seen other people with glasses in the NHL (flower, sheary etc) and know it’s perfectly normal to be able to play with imperfect vision/contacts, we’ve seen Geno with glasses but we aren’t convinced they’re a permanent situation. Like we can't imagine Geno would be great at putting in his contacts before getting to the rink ever.

Headcanon where he for sure (fer sher) does have glasses, thick ones that he always slumps into the rinks wearing -- OR MAYBE HE GOT THEM RECENTLY IN HIS OLD AGE and everyone teases him about them of course, but Sid is like high key INTO IT.

He would look so adorable and irresistibly nerdy in glasses. Sid catches himself staring at G on one plane trip as he nibbles on his necklaces and reads, big hand cradling the spine of the book delicately, eyes shuffling effortlessly over the text that's completely indecipherable. And then he just can’t stop looking, every time he catches a glimpse of Geno even in his peripherals he has to look over to peek at the glasses.

So then Sid has to figure out how to manage the fact that he is NOTICEABLY UNABLE TO STOP LOOKING and it’s making him extra awkward.

He’s just endlessly newly soft with his glasses that then only emphasizes the transformation he makes back into FrattyJock!Geno when he’s playing a game or just working out in a snapback with his contacts in y’know? That Geno, Sid is obviously also into, but like he didn't know HOW MUCH until there was a contrast.

On planes and in tape review sessions and at meals he’s always in glasses now and that’s also when he’s in like hoodies and t-shirts and soft lumpy cardigans and nice suits, and then suddenly on the ice or in the locker room he’s all BDE (BGE) and swagger

Stick a fork in Sid, he’s done ladies and gents.

Basically this HC is Geno getting old gracefully. Everybody assumed he wouldn't because he loves flashy toys and he's vain as hell even though he's not the best looking on the team (it's more a competition thing than anything) and instead he just casually accepts his glasses, easily accepts he's like becoming team dad: "Team Papa,” he’d correct the rookies, “team Dad is Sid."

(cue Guentzel snickering about their coparenting the team)

When Sid inquires about his change of heart about getting old -  just to check in and stuff y'know captainly duties, nothing more, he's definitely not enjoying a brunch with Geno alone more than he probably should - Geno quietly admits that the older he gets the more he longs for family, and that he wants to be taken seriously by potential significant others, and wants commitment and children.

Says all of this while he can't take his eyes off of the chubby smiley baby at the next table over.

What's that? Oh, Sid's heart just leaping out of his chest and tucking itself in Geno's pocket?

"Want be taken serious, Sid. play game for a living," with a rueful smile "So I'm try more to be okay with old." He'd pause and his smile would turn into a teasing smirk. "Not even Captain of team that plays silly game!"

Sid, abruptly: “do you want to be the captain?” Like he would give him the captaincy in a heartbeat if Geno asked.

And he probably actually would, like he loves being in charge and being the one responsible for the team but he knows what a good captain G would make. If Geno really wanted it, he’d feel bad not giving him a chance to be in that role.

Is this the aging gracefully headcanon where Sid gets grey hair and G gets glasses and they make plans to retire together with 8 kids and get fat and happy?

We think it is, friends. People growing old together is the best kind of love, it just gets so comfortable and domestic. They’d both be such happy dads. It starts with the glasses and receding hairline.

Sid starts greying at the temples (some greys and some whites, a few here and there) and they both get smile lines around their eyes. G’s pooch gets a lil more pronounced and Sid gets a bit more padding around the middle, but their butts stay firm until they’re like 60 because, that much muscle doesn’t just disappear.

[SIDE NOTE: esp not in the booty. RDJ said that in the 90s there was like a stair master craze and he got himself a bum from it and he's done literally nothing else since then and still has that booty. Moment of silence for RDJ booty]

After retirement Geno probably spends like a SOLID YEAR on the beach. Like we’re talking he doesn’t leave Miami for anything. He’s not wearing pants for 365 days, Sid, so stop nagging. Sid can’t handle that much sand in his crevices (and there are so many now!) so he comes and goes and enjoys the photos of fish Geno sends him.

When they are together they sit on their front porch in the mornings and do crossword puzzles together - Geno reading the clues and Sid giving him the answers which Geno then ignores and pens in whatever dirty words he wants.

Professionally neither one of them can really stay away from hockey for long. Geno gets drawn back into the politics of the KHL and Sid gets pulled in approximately 357 directions from the NHL trying to get him in every position under the sun. They all think he is accomplished and qualified for all of them.

Sid quietly spends Geno’s year of beach exile doing some online and in class courses and gets a Bachelors’ degree. Like it’s probably a BFA or something. He’s wonderfully bashful about it and Geno is so so so proud and his degree hangs in a place of honour next to all their stanley cups in their inevitably massive trophy room or whatever.

Geno when he’s sufficiently tanned gets into all his side projects with new enthusiasm. He loves investing in weird fitness apps, and fashion lines, and fancies himself a bit of a shark tank kind of guy.

(Don’t get Sid started on Shark Tank, Geno is addicted, Sid thinks it’s ridiculous and that the more original Dragon’s Den is clearly superior)

Anyway G would be more low key with his hockey, more professionally affiliated with Russian hockey probably, doing hall of fame stuff and ceremonies etc etc. But on the flip side he definitely  coaches a timbits level team and doesn't push them at all, just likes to watch them waddle about and encourages the goalies to get up when they fall, cheers them all on, gives them advice when they ask for it, tows them around on the ice.

"Coach GENO!"

“G! G! G!”

He gets a kick out of how tiny their skates are and gets really good at fixing braids that have come undone under helmets.

Sid, on the other hand, lives his true dream to fade into the background and gets hard core into stats analysis. Nobody has eyes like Crosby except Crosby, so he uses it to his advantage and starts revolutionizing the way the Pens’ back end works regarding stats and player development. No more Jack Johnson situations on Sid’s watch. Just Sid in his happy place, poring over spreadsheets and watching tape all day and talking hard hockey numbers.

And of course he probably also becomes a backseat owner of the pens, buys Mario's shares that is, because eventually Mario will get old and grey and only golf and lounge in the sun as is his right. (Geno aspires to be that level of retired but alas).

We’re not sure they have kids in this universe. But considering that was the whole reason Geno decided to be okay with getting older we are pretty sure they do, like maybe 8. Maybe 3 dogs (little annoying ones and one classic Golden Retriever to run with Sid) and like 5 cats. There’s a bird at some point and Geno hates it but Geno is its favourite person and he relents and sings it songs in russian while it dances on its perch.

The bird learns Russian.

Geno doesn’t actually hate the bird.

image source

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 41 - TBL - Warm Bodies

6-4 Regulation Loss

The season is now halfway over. It’s also got halfway to go. I suppose it’s a glass half full, half empty kinda situation. I imagine the first half of this season has evoked some pretty strong feelings along those lines of optimism and pessimism one way or the other. There’s a lot to unpack there and Midseason Thoughts will be out tomorrow so read that. This is only going to be an incomplete lookback on the first half that was. After all, there was a New Year’s Eve game last night and a big narrative coming into that game. Jeff Skinner got injured in one of the games against Boston and here we find ourselves once again down another forward. And here comes the snide remarks about the surplus of defenseman that don’t really help the problem with forwards dropping like flies. Well guess what: I’m there. I’m ready to be mad about this shit too! It’s January when you’re reading this. January 2020! Jason Botterill was hired in May 2017. He’s closing in on three years on the job. Sure he didn’t get the coaching choice right the first go around and we restarted the rebuild and yatta yatta yatta; but how has Rebuild 2.0 gone so… uh… terribly? There were poultry changes in summer 2018 after the accidentally super shit season that got us Rasmus Dahlin and then in 2019… uh… he moved out Nylander for Jokiharju. You can’t look past the Jeff Skinner trade and signing, the risk and reward of that, but barring the Henri Jokiharju trade that was far and away his best move. The defense is changed but the forward ranks are… actually remarkably similar to Dan Blysma’s last game behind the bench. That whole conversation was brewing and then came the Skinner injury. The Sabres are now the furthest out of a playoff spot they’ve been all season at five points back. That’s something we’ll talk about in Midseason thoughts. The team was up and down in the first half but mostly down. Meanwhile everyone is sorta thinking one move for a top six forward saves the day. True or not we were hungry for a move when… *drum roll*… Rochester American Dalton Smith is signed to a two-way contract so he can be called up to the NHL… uh… say what now?

This is literally the kinda thing you joke about a lazy General Manager doing. At first glance he’s just a goon you’re signing for the kinda things boomers dribble about on Facebook: he’ll bring grit to a roster the Coach and GM say doesn’t need any more grit! Smith wasn’t at Training Camp you see! His game is improved dramatically you see! He’s got… lots of penalty minutes in the AHL! Okay, I give up. I don’t know what they’re doing now. If you’re going to tell me with a straight face Smith was brought up as a Skinner replacement I guess I’ll agree he is in fact a warm body. This is just a team of Jack Eichel and a bunch of warm bodies right now anyway, eh? The most logical answer is a very unwelcomed one: the idea he was brought in to “take care of unfinished business” with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is, the Sabres needed a guy to avenge the Dahlin injury back in November. So we used up a contract on a guy to come up from the A to punch Erik Cernak in the face? Is that the plan? Look Jason, we understand trades maybe risky, but we’d prefer you make one before going with the lowest common denominator within the organization. Remember a dozen games back or so when I theorized it was never the plan for the team to make the playoffs this season? I put together some pieces including the opinion of John Vogl who said exactly this. The huge salary opening this summer allow a lot of room for movement… but they’re also somehow in cap hell too? Is that what’s stopping you from taking this season seriously, Jason? The theory is basically confirmed now and I’m not going to lie: I am very turned off by it all. Other NHL clubs should take note: this is how you turn off your fanbase. You’re already on a pretty ugly skid? Make a really bad roster move when the obvious choice is clear as day for all to see and make it about fighting. Honestly, who was dying to see Dalton Smith fight Erik Cernak? Whose opinion of this club’s season is now changing because of him skating four shifts all game and almost getting into a scuffle? We even got a video of Cernak getting fighting pointers from a teammate at the Bolts practice! You have one of the most talented rosters of the decade coming to town for a New Year’s Eve game your billing as a big deal and you’re intending to give them a punching match? To top it all off about an hour before puck drop Joe Yerdon at the Athletic broke the news that Evan Rodrigues asked for a trade upping that number to three players who want out. Summer 2019 Sabres twitter would have gone to Defcon 5 with that news but five months without a GM has made us cold, hopeless husks. On that cheerful note, let’s do that hockey!

To be clear I am not, nor have I ever been a hockey player. Anyone who makes the NHL, even for a single game like Dalton Smith, is a better athlete than I will ever be. Each and every player on that ice could murder me quite easily. However what unfolded in the first and third periods of this game was a glorified badminton match. The shots were 10-3 in favor of Buffalo in the first, but the game did not even kinda look that way. At least two of those Bolts shots were off the post, the team MVP candidate hot on Jack Eichel’s heels. Ding-Ding-Ding. The Sabres got another impotent powerplay early on after Steven Stamkos tripped Eichel. Ralph Krueger did a very interesting interview this morning on WGR550 where he was asked about the lackluster powerplay. One quote sticks out: “Whether we score or not [on the powerplay] is irrelevant.” There is very little additional context needed, that’s the quote. He was making a point about how even fruitless powerplay help team confidence 5 on 5. I’m no hockey coach either but… uh… I think that’s some motivational bullshit, Ralph. Luckily I didn’t actually rear end the car ahead of me in the Tim Hortons drive thru when I heard that line. The slight edge the home team developed in this game became apparent late in the first and the Sabres got a goal almost by accident. Curtis Lazar peeled a puck off the Lightning as they attempted to exit the zone and shot it over to Conor Sheary. Sheary, tardy on getting out of the zone evidently, almost one-timed it and the shot snuck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to put Buffalo up 1-0.

Steven Stamkos and Jack Eichel both had shocking misses in the first; like wow, you had the whole net and didn’t get it in kinda misses. Both visibly realized their mistakes. In the second period Conor Sheary got an early assist when he put the puck on net where Marcus Johansson edged the puck in. All of the sudden the Sabres were up 2-0 and I doubt many of those assembled in Key Bank Arena thought this would be the way it would go based off everything going on off ice. Linus Ullmark and a tough defensive scheme wouldn’t hold up forever and almost inevitably Andrei Palat shot one in five hole. The powerplay goal for Tampa felt as mocking as it did inevitable. But then somewhere deep down in this team they revived the clap-back energy, just for a little bit. A minute later Jimmy Vesey takes the puck over after a fortuitous bounce and gets his first goal since the dawn of time. If you took even a minute to be shocked you’d be forgiven but you’d miss Jake McCabe doing what Dalton Smith got an NHL contract for: fighting! McCabe got into a bloody boxing match with Andrei Sergachev after a hit on Eichel he took issue with. To be fair to the cavemen not reading this, Dalton Smith did have a little spat with a player in a white jersey earlier in the period, but McCabe was the one who really brought your almighty grit. The lengthy penalty record now somehow put the Sabres on the penalty kill. Enter Jack Eichel stripping a Tampa forward on a botched pass before charging down the ice, undressing two defenseman and a goalie to backhand it in for the 4-1 lead and a shorthanded goal. That was at about the halfway point of the game. That beautiful Jack Eichel goal that will certainly be in the season highlight reel… was halfway through this game. Before the second period ended the disaster would begin: five unanswered goals started with another powerplay goal for Alex Killorn followed by Tyler Johnson snipe about three minutes later. The second period ended 4-3 Buffalo. The game would end 6-4 Tampa. The Lightning completed their season sweep of the Sabres in a comeback fitting of the next level shitty decade this club just concluded. Shattenkirk, Killorn again and then Anthony Cirelli with an empty netter, I’m not going to torture you with the details, it’s easy to imagine how that went just off experience.

Like, comment and share this blog. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing the first half of the season in Midseason Thoughts. We’ll be looking ahead to the back 41 games as well although it seems very clear they don’t matter to the Front Office. This club is within spitting distance of a playoff spot and are posturing to try and get further off by the end of the month. When I say this team is a collection of warm bodies and Jack Eichel, I mean it! I think I speak for a large swath of this fanbase when I say I’ve lost confidence. A move was necessary six months ago, but it never came. Sure I still like the Coach but if he’s going to pass off motivational smart talk as a definitive strategy for a hockey team to win enough games to make the postseason even he is going to lose me at some point! Tomorrow we get Edmonton coming to town and I doubt they’ll succumb to the Sabres quite as easily as last time. I have no more confidence in this club and honestly I feel like they’ll need to win us back when there is a playoff team in town! Well… that’s all folks. Happy New Year! Talk to you tomorrow. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. The Winter Classic was fun this year. I wish somebody had told me Dallas and Nashville hated each other two years ago.

[hazel3017]

How does time-travelling-future-son-of-Sidney-Crosby!Conner Sheary feel about being out of the playoffs due to injury and having to watch his brother?parallel-universe-time-travelling-son-of-Sidney-Crosby!Jake Guentzel light it up with his/their parents?

Lol, I was so worried Jake Guentzel as time travelling conor sheary’s time travelling little brother from another dimension where their parents died in the reverse order would be too difficult to follow, but you have got this down, anon! Thank you! Anyway, this turned kinda darker than I had planned. Follows: 1, 2, 3

Conor sees Dad go down and stay down. He swallows, looking away from where Dad is struggling just to focus his eyes, and he sees Jake.

His brother has gone grey, all the blood drained from his cheeks. He looks about as sick as Conor feels.

He wonders who feels the fear more acutely. Jake sees the parent who raised him, the guy who kissed all his hurts away and held him when he cried.

Conor sees the dad he never met, the one he’s learning to know now. He sees the guy he’s spent all his life longing for, wondering what he was like and hating that he never got to find out.

Until now.

For a wild, brief second, time stops and Conor thinks, What if he doesn’t get up? What if this is it?

What if he won’t get another moment with him?

But then Sidney is being helped to his feet and time starts moving again. He doesn’t look right, but he’s mustering up a smile in Conor’s direction. Conor hadn’t even realised he’d jumped over the boards.

Sidney says, “I’m okay,” and it’s not until Conor hears the gutted, “Sid,” behind him that he understands that Dad isn’t looking at Conor, but at Papa.

Because Dad doesn’t know yet. Papa doesn’t know.

Only Jake and Conor know about the bond they share—blood ties, yes, but not a family, not really. Not when they’ve lived their lives separated by time and reality where one parent is alive where the other is dead.

They could be a family, though, Conor thinks, hopes, and knows that that is what Jake wants too—if fate doesn’t screw them over and lets Sid and Geno be together the way they should have been in either time, in either dimension.

There’s no time to worry about it. They still have a game to play, and Conor can’t even look at Alex, a man that is as good as his uncle. A man that has seen Conor grow up.

Conor turns away from him and thinks, You loved him too.

In his own time, he reminds himself, though he wonders if Alex still has feelings for Sidney in this time.

“You stole him from me, you know,” he overheard Alex tell Papa before, solemn and sad, usually two beers short of drunk.

“I know,” Papa had said, equally as solemn, and then, “I miss him.”

Conor feels off the rest of the game. They make it to the first intermission and Dad isn’t even in the locker room. Only Papa is allowed to see him in the dark room. Conor’s eyes meet Jake’s, and he sees his own worry reflected back at him.

Three minutes into the second, Conor goes down as well.

“Fuck. Shit, Shearsy, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you.”

Conor knows Horny hadn’t meant to run him over, but jesus, the man is built like a freight train.

“I can’t—I can’t see straight,” he says, and then Chris is there and he’s being helped off the ice.

“Done for the game,” he hears Chris tell Sully before they make their way down the tunnel.

Done for the game. Done for the playoffs, he fears. His head is killing him.

He’s led into the dark room. Dr. Vayas is there, but no Dad, and then Conor hears the retching. He looks at the closed door to the en-suite. “Should he—?” He grimaces as Sidney throws up again, clearly audible even from this side of the door. “Is it okay for him to be alone in there?”

“Sarah is with him,” Dr. Vayas says. “She’ll take good care of him.” And Sarah is about as good a medical assistant as they come, but Conor still worries. “Now let me check you over. How’s your reaction time?”

Conor very definitely has a concussion. So does Dad.

He worries more about Dad than himself. He tries to think back to the times Papa had mentioned Dad’s concussions. Did it happen like this before?

Are Jake and Conor changing things by being in the past? By merging two dimensions?

“I don’t know,” Jake whispers, later, back in the apartment they share with Rusty and Junior. “I don’t remember Dad talking about this.” He curls closer around Conor on the bed, careful not to jostle him. “Are you okay?”

Conor swallows. “Yeah,” he says. “Good as I can be, I guess.” He misses Papa, his Papa, misses his brothers and sisters. It helps having Jake here, but Conor still can’t help the homesicknesses, the wondering if he’s stuck in the past forever. It’s been almost two years.

“We’re not ever going back to our own timelines, are we?” It slips out before he can stop it. He’s got Jordan here, the team, Jake, Sid. But he misses being a son, a brother.

He misses home.

“I don’t know,” Jake says again.

They don’t speak more that night.

[carey-pricemas]

Speeches- Sidney Crosby (Mom and Dad Part 4)

Ok so my posting schedule was messed up today. It's been one of those days, ya know? But anyway here's part 4 of Mom and Dad! One more part then this mini-series will be over! But I do have other Sid imagines to get to (see queue!)! So enjoy guys!

Warning: a few bad words

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

              You smoothed out the white dress out as you sat down, Sid sliding your chair closer to the table before he sat beside you.

              "Alright shut up" Geno yelled. You laughed at the Russian's demeanor, leaning closer to Sid.

              "All of your hockey friends and he's the one you chose as your best man?" you teased.

              "It was him or Nate." You laughed. Hockey players, while making you laugh on a daily basis and making your job much better, were not the greatest for making heart felt speeches.

              Especially not Russian men.

              "Hi." Geno grabbed his champagne flute. "I'm not good at speeches. Too much English." The crowd laughed. "Know Sid long time. Good hockey. Good person. Good leader. Know Mom little less." Kessel stepped up and whispered in Geno's ear. "Oh right. (Y/N). We call mom. Inside hockey joke." There was more laughter throughout the crowd. "Mom make Sid happy. Happier than Stanley Cup." He looked down at his girl and smiled before looking back at the crowd. "Happy as my Anna make me."

              "Aww" you sighed. You weren't going to cry. No! The guys would never let you live it down!

              "Mom keep us healthy. Keep us in shape. Just like dad. Good addition to family." Geno turned to look at you and Sid. "Thank mom for making dad happy."

              Anddddddd... there went the tears. Dammit.

              "To the newest member of Penguins family." Geno raised his glass and there was a raising of all the glasses before Geno took a long sip. You maid of honor, your best friend since kindergarten, stood up and took the mic from Geno.

              "Alright my turn." She turned to look at you, tears sparkling in her eyes as she shot you a smile before turning back to your guests.

              "I've known (Y/N) since she was a wee bitty Caps fan." There was a mixture of laughing and booing around the room. Sid squeezed your hand, chuckling. "When she first graduated she had no idea what she wanted to do with her degree. Then she happened upon a job with the Pens. Straight out of college." She winked at you. "Lucky bitch." There was laughter around the room. "Started as an assistant. Doing menial jobs, but then last year when the other trainer retired, (Y/N) took over." Your friend paused. "You know the first day she told me that she wasn't sure she could help the enemy?"

              "Enemy, eh?" Sid teased. You rolled your eyes.

              "I was a Caps fan" you replied. Sid leaned over and kissed your cheek.

              "Now (Y/N) is marrying into the enemy lines." There was a laugh. "Sorry your fake marriage to Nicklas Backstrom didn't work." You snapped your fingers in a 'darn it' gesture.

              "Backstrom? If you wanted a Swede..." Hags called out. You laughed.

              "In all seriousness though" she said as the laughter died down, turning to face you. "I'm so happy for you. Like Geno said, you make Sid happier than the Stanley Cup. But in reverse, he makes you happier than a bottle of wine and a Caps Stanley Cup win." She swallowed as emotions took over both of you. "I love you, (Y/N), and I couldn't ask for a better person for you than Sid. To (Y/N) and Sid. To mom and dad." Once again the tears were taking over as you pushed your seat back and moved to hug her.

              So what if you weren't doing what the wedding planner wanted? It was your wedding!

              "I love you" you whispered in her ear.

              "Same, babe. I'm so happy for you." You pulled back and stepped back to your seat, Sid standing to help you into the chair once more. Your friend turned to the rest of your guests and laughed. "Someone couldn't stay on track."

              "No moms ever do" Bones yelled. A bottle of bubbles was thrown at his head. "Ouch" he mumbled. "MOM! FLOWER THREW BUBBLES AT ME!"

              "Shh" you said through your laughter. Laughs flowed through the room once more.

              "Alright" your friend said. "No more throwing bubbles, I never thought I'd have to tell the adults that, and have a good time!" She set down the mic and moved to her seat. She looked at you and tipped her glass in your direction before taking a sip.

              "Ok" the DJ said, directing everyone's attention his direction. "Before we eat, I want to get the bride and groom out here for their first dance!" Sid stood and held his hand out for you, leading you to the dance floor. You held your breath as you waited to hear what song he had picked.

              "Nervous?"

              "Um yes. I hear from reliable sources that you had help picking out the song." Sid shrugged.

              All of the sudden a horn sounded. A very familiar horn.

              "No" you said, eyes wide. Sid grinned as the boys started to cheer. Then the notes of 'Party Hard' by Andrew W.K. started. "The goal song? Really?"

              "The guys suggested it and..."

              "Sidney Crosby!"

              "GUYS!" Sheary called out. "MOM AND DAD ARE HAVING THEIR FIRST REAL FIGHT!"

              "SCORE!" Murray yelled out. The rest of the boys grumbled and exchanged money. Your family looked on as you and Sid continued to slow dance to the rock song.

              "They bet on if the song was going to make us fight or not." You shook your head in disbelief. "Haven't we learned our lesson captain?"

              "Yeah, yeah, yeah" Sid said. He kissed you gently, pulling you closer. "Next time do it myself."

              "Exactly." You paused and looked around the room. "Sid?"

              "Hmm?"

              "Despite picking a terrible first dance song, I love you." Sid giggle-honked.

              "Love you too, (Y/N) Crosby."

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

If y'all can't figure out what the final part of Mom and Dad is about then idk how to help XD Up next though: Luke Kennard!

[thornburgrealty]

Second road win two nights for clubmates suns who 1

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I’m ready to give him a half- of jerseys supply DH 1B backup, then move on to Palka whomever. After graduating from Harvard, Professor Hubbard began his teaching career at University, moving to Columbia 1988.

from WordPress http://www.thornburgrealty.com/2018/07/04/second-road-win-two-nights-for-clubmates-suns-who-1/

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 70 - PIT - Better Days

We’re racing to the bottom at this point, right? There was a moment during this game when everyone live tweeting kinda realized: shit, they could be in 26th place by the end of the night! We already know this collapse has been historic but what if we became the first team to occupy first place and last place in the same season? Ottawa has to go on a run! You got to laugh, or you’ll cry, right? Six straight losses dealt just absolutely mercilessly to the heart of Sabres fans… or at least the ones who are still watching. The wheels coming off in February was one thing but this… this is some divine retribution. Is Mike Harrington actually God and he’s endlessly punishing the Sabres for the tank? Buffalo hasn’t scored a goal in three games! Sure, they’ve come close to a goal here and there but holy shit! You would think one would accidentally go in through nine periods of hockey but here we are! Can all the Jack Eichel haters climb back into their Chevy Suburbans and fuck off now? These two games have been Exhibit A in why Jack Eichel is crucially important to this team. Never mind his scoring touch, this team felt rudderless these last two games. They looked out of it from the moment Phil Kessel scored. JP Dumont and Danny Briere made a luxury box appearance at this game. Who didn’t get emotional at that camera shot? If not for nostalgia than the sudden fear of Jeff Skinner walking to Free Agency. That last Briere Sabres was the last one that won a playoff series. Mind you, the Sabres won the division three years after Briere-Drury but that last playoff win was almost twelve years ago. As the throngs of Penguins jerseys flooded into the Key Bank Center for this game John Vogl pointed out you would have to be no younger than 17 right now to remember the Sabres last playoff win. I don’t want to restate again and again how disappointing it is these guys didn’t coast into the playoffs this season but gee, I’m 24, I scarcely remember 2007. I was in Middle School calling sexual reproduction gross and certainly not paying attention to hockey! I don’t really even have a sense of what a good Sabres team is either! Now I don’t know if I’ll see it. I don’t know if they’ll score again, does anyone? This game was just a drag dragging a drag of a drag hockey team! Yuck.

The first period actually wasn’t a total nightmare. No goals were scored by either team but the Sabres looked like they were knocking. Moreover, one of the prime knockers was Alex Nylander! There is an alternate reality where that line of Casey Mittelstadt centering a line of Tage Thompson and Nylander is the break out rookie dynamo line backing up the Eichel line to the playoffs. I don’t mind that line starting right out of camp next season assuming they’re all still Sabres. Perhaps that’s your third line assuming new guys come in, but we’ll see. With that little dose of optimism has to come the heaping shit sandwich of some Phil Housley inspired insanity: the defensive scheme in this game was awful from start to finish. Look at any opportunity the Penguins set up and you’ll see what a basketball fan may call zone defense. I don’t know what the fuck to call it except terrible. That’s not how you beat this Pittsburgh team. We could’ve swept these fuckers in the season series for the first time in recorded history had we won, right? The last two games against these guys were defensive battles. We have a coach who is supposedly one of the greatest NHL defensemen ever and this is how he coaches the blue line? There was a decent powerplay for Buffalo late in the first but nonetheless Carter Hutton was just barraged with high-danger shots. I feel so bad for him and Ullmark; any blame they take for this is trivial at best. Sure, they haven’t but up November numbers lately but its clear they’re not the reason the Sabres are losing at this clip.

Shit started rolling down hill in the second period. Conor Sheary continued to play well against his former team as he was involved in probably ever other Sabres shot but none of his would go through this game. It was Phil Kessel who benefited from one of those back-and-forth split-the-defense plays to tap it in on the powerplay. I could’ve done without the hordes of Pens fans in attendance cheering after that goal. If Pens games are going to feel like away games now too than that’s one of our bigger problems as fans in the immediate future. Yikes. Rasmus Dahlin got a nifty little breakaway shot before the Penguins next goal but everything is sad right now for Sabres fans so that made me worry he’s frustrated in this situation too. Brian Dumoulin scored a goal that looked accidental. It was just an aerial puck on net, and it went in. That was just weird, unlucky shit. Then Patric Hornqvist’s goal a couple minutes later was preceded immediately on the Sabres broadcast by RJ and Rob Ray discussing how Hornqvist has made his career being a net-front guy. It was like a bad omen. It was spoken into existence. I didn’t bother with the third period; I knew they weren’t coming back from that and I’m a loyal fan, I sincerely am but this shit was so fucking played out. It felt like we were all in on the same joke only its one of those self-deprecating jokes you tell to appear likeable. Garbage. This game was garbage. Nick Bjugstad is a Penguin now and he scored a goal straight off the bench like he knows what fun hockey looks like. Eight minutes later at 18:02 into the third period Jake Guentzel cashed in on a deflection and the final score of this garbage dump game was 5-0 for the visitors. It’s official now: this is the second time in Sabres history the team has gone three games without a goal. The first time that happened was… pause for dramatic irony… last season. Poor funnel guy was so sober watching this game. The poor guy took a shot from the funnel at the end just for the hell of it, but you can tell he was fully cognizant of each and every shitty Sabres moment in this game.

I don’t know how to approach this team anymore. I suppose Eichel coming back next game and the raw desire to hold up Carolina on Saturday in anyway possible drives me but what are we really doing? 11 games left and no chance of a playoff berth: what are we doing? I for one have more or less moved onto the soccer season which, thank God, starts in March in America. I am more excited for Congressional committee hearings at this point than the next Sabres game. The Bachelor is over now too. Hmm… yeah, I suppose there is just another coming of that awful helpless feeling we’ve experienced too much the last few years. The Coach is bad, he doesn’t think there is a pride issue in the locker room but holy shit, just watch the games. The GM has signaled very subtly that change is coming but what that is and how effective it will be after we already had a wicked off-season last year is just a big ugly wildcard. Elliotte Friedman did a radio hit in Toronto this morning and confirmed what should be obvious at this point: Jason Botterill is not afraid to be aggressive and move some parts out come June and July. There are a bunch of wildcards with the big club and unless you’re getting real engaged in Amerks hockey like me right now, your hockey life might be quite shit right now as a Sabres fan. Hey, the Draft Lottery will happen on April 9th this year! That’s super early. I hoped the draft lottery wouldn’t be the most exciting part of Sabres life in April this season but here we are! Let’s hope Danny Briere came to this game to cast a spell to reverse the fortunes of the franchise again and ensure Jeff Skinner doesn’t walk in free agency.

I apologize to those of you who follow me for hockey takes and see me tweeting soccer now. I really appreciate your follow, sincerely I do, but that is for my mental health, fam. All kidding aside, it is humbling to realize the New Look Sabres blog has something of a following now. You brave few are a fun bunch and I appreciate you. Like, share and comment to get the word out on this weird little thing. I can’t help but imagine if you hopped on the Sabres wagon in September with me and rode through this first season according to my takes. For one, wow that’s a cool choice you made. For two, this season kind of feels like a microcosm of what this whole decade has been like as a Sabres fan: heartbreak around every turn but some fun times mixed in there that just gives you that little flash of better days that must be ahead. Ops, I said better days! The folks who remember the last decade of the Sabres just started balling their eyes out. This is probably a better time that not to wrap it up! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I want to apologize to Ben Mathewson: the Bruce Boudreau idea is a fun one. I did in fact get him confused with Randy Carlyle because of their similar faces.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 11 - CBJ

I was going to save Rob Ray using the term “Gloryhole” to describe Artemi Panarin’s second goal for the P.S. but I couldn’t help myself and that is just everything you need to know about Rob Ray the broadcaster in one hilarious live TV misspeak. Was he misspeaking? I feel like he used the word totally seriously just not fully realizing what it means… you know in sexual parlay. I actually missed that epic call, I had turned off the stream; not in rage, OT does make the heart race, but I was at my wife’s grandma’s house deep in the Finger Lakes. They aren’t the people to forego a game in the World Series for an October Sabres game. Rob Ray had a pretty classic gaff about that too but this isn’t a Rob Ray blog, this is New Look Sabres. I got to say, I don’t know if I would go through the effort to watch a stream on my phone on Saturday night for last year’s Sabres. This game is pretty indicative of the New Look Sabres I envisioned naming this blog. The Columbus Blue Jackets have proven themselves to be the frustration factory of hockey in the playoffs and if the Sabres ever want to get back to those they will need to beat some CBJs this season. The Buffalo Sabres did not look out of place against these guys and that says a lot.

Tage Thompson made himself useful and got an assist on Kyle Okposo’s first goal of the game crashing the net 98 seconds into the game. Two thoughts on that: Tage Thompson sat the last several games and several Smart Sabres folks pointed out the uselessness of not sending him down. He has taken his time to get comfortable in the system and didn’t look great but if he can start producing he ought to stay. I won’t be offended if he goes down at this point but hey, silver linings, right? Second Thought: Crashing that net. Look at most of the goals the Sabres have scored so far this season, thirty goals to be exact, and the majority will be crashing that net. If the Sabres score goals I’m not upset but is crashing the net the substitute for all our guys not shooting from the point? Just a thought, it’s more rhetorical, I had a lot of time to think about this game. Pierre-Luc Dubois shot from the point. After receiving a pass from Panarin he shot one high on Linus Ullmark. Five minutes later Jeff Skinner found a puck sent from McCabe and launched it two-hole. For the second time in two games a Sabres goal got challenged and stood. I could get used to this. The Sabres would enter the first intermission up 2-1 on the home team. Then the second period happened.

The Buffalo Sabres shut off. They got a single powerplay opportunity but it was the first period since maybe the San Jose game when we saw the Sabres just fall flat. Did they play their game? Perhaps they did: Jack Eichel screeched in on Joonas Korpisalo and got robbed. It wasn’t Sabres who scored this period. Artemi Panarin was a man on a mission scoring 94 seconds into the second in a goal that I will say was sick because I, like anyone with two eyes for hockey, want that guy on my team. He made Ristolainen look like he didn’t know ice is slippery. Those cannon blasts just kept coming and Cam Atkinson scored twice 32 seconds apart to put the Jackets up 4-2 through forty minutes of hockey. I am not even going to defend my boy Linus Ullmark in this period. The whole team sleep walked through this period. Then the New Look Sabres got back in the final frame. Jason Pominville scored on a behind-the-net setup from Jack Eichel to get the game within one two and a half minutes in. Two minutes later the Sabres highlight of this game happened. It took eleven games into his first full NHL season but Casey Mittelstadt scored one, a sausy one on the powerplay but it was his. That’s one monkey we all ought to be happy is off our favorite child’s back. The two teams traded chances for the rest of regulation; one shot by Columbus’ Anthony Duclair was taking a gentle stroll toward the line when Sam Reinhart fished it out. That may have been the play that secured the point in this game as this one went to a brief OT before Artemi Panarin out maneuvered three misaligned Sabres and won it. Sabres lost in OT 5-4 and altogether you probably love what you glean from the Blue and Gold team in this game.

I brought up crashing the net earlier because I think it’s a really interesting point of study in Phil Housley’s system. I am no expert, that’s kind of one of this blog’s calling cards, but does a net-crashing team not play fundamentally differently than a shoot first team? This league is overwhelmingly going in a speed-first direction and that’s made defenses slimmer and agile. Not many teams beat the shit out of you in front of the net anymore. It’s a good strategy for now, but I am just not certain how sustainable it is. It could also be a fair analysis of this team’s strengths by the coaching staff. I looked at those thirty goals Buffalo has scored, aw yeah its cool having that many goals through only eleven games, and very few lead you to believe any skater on this team prefers to shoot from the point. Jack Eichel’s overly-selfless pass-first mentality is well documented but I couldn’t find anyone really who jumps out as an honest-to-God shooter on this team. Kyle Okposo, who has looked like a new acquisition as of late thank God, stands out as something of a shooter but who else? Conor Sheary scores slappers from close up, minus well just call him Lumberjack Conor at this point, Jeff Skinner has scored more of his goals rather tight in there and I’ll leave Sam Reinhart alone for now. Jason Pominville even shoots from a place he can hear the goalies breathe. Maybe I had too much time to think about this game.

This team looks capable of comebacks and that is as refreshing as it gets. More than one observer across the bloggers, beat reporters and newsmen said following this game that this matchup last year… or really any season since Obama’s first term, would’ve turned into a rout. Buffalo comes back now and that’s what good teams do. I will gladly take a few OT heartbreaks that result in a point than fighting the urge to turn off the game before it’s over. Speaking of things I don’t want to turn off: how do you like this blog? Yea, I am talking to you with the shirt. It’s nice to see feedback come in certain non-word ways but it would be cool to read it in text too. Share this, like it, heart it, all of the above, and just spread it around. Know someone stressing about that OT loss to a team that is probably better? Send this to them. Hey you, this ain’t the old Sabres, these guys are allowed to lose tough games if they’re going to fight that hard in them. Well anyway, Tuesday night Calgary comes to town on the back of a faceoff against those cardiac kids up in Toronto so maybe we can put out a fire with one of our own. A home and home with Ottawa awaits us later in the week and a win streak here benefits not only how the rest of the season goes but also divisional bragging rights! Let’s go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I really hated Artemi Panarin in 2016. I thought he stole Jack Eichel’s Calder Trophy but as I have matured as a hockey fan I realize it wasn’t so much an injustice as an armed heist.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 82 - DET - Clinched the Offseason

I’ve been meaning to go to a Sabres road game for years now. Initially I had plans to go to Columbus way back in October. Life happens and that trip was scrapped for a trip to visit a friend in Virginia the following month. When I bought the tickets to this game and made the hotel reservation it was December. I hadn’t accepted the team was in the early stages of the collapse yet and I speculated the Sabres could have already clinched a spot by game 82. If they didn’t than oh, what an epic battle they would put on to clinch it in the last game of the season! Oh, how I was wrong. Somehow I still made the journey across the Niagara Peninsula to the Motor City with some happiness in my heart about this team. It was an interesting little stroll around Detroit. My wife and I had been warned again and again by every baby boomer in our lives to be careful in Detroit. Parents love you so I’m not mad but what is this reputation of Detroit being a scary city? It was delightful! Between the Renaissance Center right on the river to half a dozen other cool destinations around the City, we had a great time. I’m not doing an ad for Detroit here, but it was a fun road trip destination and don’t let anyone tell you not to come here. Anyway, the Arena is new: Little Caesars Arena, or the Pizza Palace if I’m going to be rude about it, was pretty rad. I was disappointed there weren’t TV’s in the bathroom stall doors but whatever, it was the best hockey arena I’ve ever been to far and away. If you haven’t looked at the standings lately your smart but you may not know Detroit is also in the dumps at the bottom of the league as well. In spite of that, the arena was packed. Hats off to you guys for that. You Red Wings fans were pretty nice across the board too. There was one incident that wasn’t really an incident that I’ll get to in a bit. This game was a shockingly good one to go to and it leaves a good taste in the mouth for the Sabres future even though we all kinda hate them right now. Let’s just say we clinched the offseason in compelling fashion!

This game was far more fun than I expected. Honestly the pregame ceremony was just so wicked that I would not have felt bad losing to the team that presented it, especially when the Sabres season is this far gone. I was still in the daze of that smoky pregame cult ritual when Sam Reinhart outmaneuvered Jimmy Howard right in front to give Buffalo the early lead. It was weird being the only shooting out of my seat after a Sabres goal, but I did it. It was fun catching the sounds of about three other Sabres fans in the section I was in. One was within high-fiving distance! When Zemgus Girgensons drew a penalty, I was shocked to learn that legend Chris Chelios has a son named Jake Chelios. Evidently there are several legendary NHLer’s kids on this Detroit squad. Buffalo took an early lead in shots in this game and the passing was great on their part, but Detroit was just not good in their own zone. Rasmus Dahlin went bar down from the circle on the powerplay to get the road team ahead 2-0. I felt thoroughly blessed at this point already and when Anthony Mantha scored in the dying second of the next Detroit powerplay I wasn’t really even mad. It was nice to hear their goal horn but if there are any Red Wings fans reading this, please comment what the goal song is because I didn’t hear it. The second period was bizarre: the Sabres pulled away. First it was Conor Sheary redirecting a Casey Nelson shot and then it was Jeff Skinner going in dirty. He skated through three defenders and just pulled one over in the slot. It was classic Jeff. It made me really amped on one hand because that put him within one goal of 40 on the season but on the other hand, gee, I was fearful it would be the last Jeff Skinner goal for the Sabres I’ll ever see.

Zemgus Girgensons potted a weird one and we went to the second intermission up 5-1. Now at this point my wife is telling me to tone down the celebrations because there was a kid in a Red Wings jersey several seats down crying. I didn’t do it, but the Sabres did and I we were wearing their jerseys, so I obliged my beautiful bride for a little bit. Then the incident happened that I alluded to earlier. I got cheering Jack and Jeff. Both of those guys could hit a goal scoring benchmark in this game if they turned on: Jack with 2 to get 30 and Jeff with 2 to get 40. Jeff Skinner had already scored one in the second so he was knocking at the door for 40 and I started verbalizing something like “You can still get 40, Jeff!” There was a young woman behind me who simply and solidly uttered “Doubt it” after I said that. I am a good Christian man, she got no reaction out of me; but oh boy was I all in on Skinner getting that next one now! At 10:27 of the third that’s exactly what happened. Whatever ECHLer kid that they put in for Howard juggled the Skinner tight angle shot through his arm pit and in. Sam Reinhart went right to retrieve it and if my wife was not taking snapchats I might have cried. I hollered for his resigning with no shame. The Sabres had a 40-goal scorer this season for the first time since Tomas Vanek in 2008. That was eleven years ago. We got to witness it again this season. He still doesn’t have a contract and let me say this with not an ounce of humor in my voice: Signing Jeff Skinner this offseason is the Buffalo Sabres’ Stanley Cup. You do that and we won it. For all intents and purposes: that’s our Cup this offseason. Brandon Montour scored a slapper he looked a little embarrassed it went in and this one ended 7-1. The game was reminiscent of the second Ottawa Senators game this season back in November, but I feel like a jackass even thinking that. Whatever, it’s over and the only thing we clinched was the offseason!

The Sabres ended up not clinching anything terribly meaningful this season. In fact, they fell off so bad in the second half that there are pretty much zero positives to consider going into next season outside of the natural development of the young core and some theoretical moves that range in excitement from Johan Larsson not getting a qualifying offer to… trading away a Ristolainen? Oh boy. I’ll save the recapping and offseason hype for the Season Retrospective but why not some predictions? Let’s talk about how stupid I am! Let’s talk the predictions we made for this season and specifically: my predictions. I said the Buffalo Sabres were going to be 7-3-2 in the month of October. I was close on that as they actually went 6-4-2 but whatever, that was just October. I also said Rasmus Dahlin scores a goal on or before Columbus Day. That didn’t happen but Rasmus Dahlin was already solidly the second-best rookie defenseman in Sabres history. I also just generically said Eichel will have a career year. He took a big step forward and did exactly that this season, his first as Captain. I pitched the super softball that was the Rochester Americans will dominate the North Division. That wasn’t a huge guess, they’re in a good position to win the division now and have dominated all season. Looking back on those thoughts and feelings we had going in it made me think about how we should actually feel about the big picture right now. Even some of the best Sabres bloggers are writing some dark stuff right now and there are plenty of reasons to feel that way; most notably that the final third of the season was an abject collapse. We wanted them to be on the playoff bubble going into this season and they were until mid-February. The goal differential is a totally unacceptable -51 here at the end and that’s a problem of goaltending and lack of scoring. I am very hopeful about goaltending but, once again let’s save that recapping and previewing for the retrospective. I’m not going to rationalize the shit we went through it’s over now. Let it be. Turn your attention to the Rochester Americans and let it be. They won 5-2 over impending Playoff opponent Syracuse tonight. That’s a Cup run you can get behind!

I will be posting a 2018-2019 Season Retrospective Bonanza as early as Monday Morning, so we’ll tie up all the loose ends then. Big thank you for reading all season, you’ll get a bigger thank you in the retrospective, but you guys are the real MVPs! In the totally impossible chance a Buffalo Sabre is reading this: thank you. Thank you and know that we love you in spite of the end result. That said, if you’re still on the team come October: winning is all that actually matters in sports, but I suspect you knew that. I got a long semi-spiritual spiel about human flourishing in sports if you need a little more than that, DM me. If your name is Jeff Skinner and you’re reading this: PLEASE STAY! I BEG YOU! IT WON’T ALWAYS BE THIS BAD, PLEASE JEFF! Do what’s right for you and your family but please stay! We love you so much. Anyway: like, share and comment on this blog. The Retrospective Bonanza will have all the bells and whistles: awards, trash talk, Draft predictions, and much more! Read it. In the meantime, savor what was: a fun season at times. I use “at times” very generously there. Either way, I look forward to writing for you again next season. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. The Rochester Americans legitimately may win a Calder Cup Championship this season. I don’t know if I’ve wrote those words in a while. That’s not an exaggeration. Pay attention if you really love this organization no matter what; they may be the ones to reward our suffering.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres Extra: GM 7

I am back already at the New Look Sabres well! You would think the most depressive New Look Sabres yet wouldn’t warrant extra depression. But lone behold, your truly just can’t keep his mind off this team. It took me all the mental energy I had to not talk about the Sabres with my hair dresser today; and I am low on mental energy with how late I’m staying up lately! Anyway, stick around to the end for the most explosive discussion topic today. 

Firstly, was this San Jose match up supposed to be a meditation on the Evander Kane trade? A bunch of reading going into this game and perhaps even more post-game thoughts I saw were about Kane’s first game against his former team and the like. I mean, it’s hard to judge a bag of magic beans. Unpicked picks are just magic beans until their picked. Should Jason Botterill have traded Kane away? We could discuss how he didn’t get as much as he could’ve for him but Yes, like obviously. There was no way he was one of the guys who was going to get paid out of the old core. Even if you anticipated O’Reilly leaving during last season, did you think it would all be to lock up Evander Kane? Post-Dahlin in the age of this burgeoning new core and the nearing wave of young guns it seems super apparent he wasn’t sticking around with everyone who would be needing money in the coming years but I suppose hindsight is 20/20. I understand how seductive the thought of a Sheary/Skinner-Eichel-Kane line sounds after a loss like this but I don’t think Botterill was ever going to pay that bill. It’s nothing against Kane, I just think that’s a much more hasty view of the roster and this regime is the opposite of hasty in almost every way. You can thank the crimes of Tim Murray for that.

Secondly, there is an absolutely tremendous chasm in Rasmus Dahlin takes. I read takes from reasonable men and women that had him labeled a bust already on the same feed as those saying he’s already only a step behind Erik Karlsson. I understand he’s probably the highest profile d-man draft pick in several decades, perhaps the life of this franchise. But let’s all take a step back and remember this kid is 18. He needs time, he’s not Karlsson yet although I really think he will be within 3 to 5 years if not sooner. That said he’s already looking great in his own zone and last night we saw some straight robberies of the puck from that Swedish sensation. We can’t expect him to run the defense now. He’s not capable of taking over games in this league yet and that’s OK even though he was 1st overall and so highly touted. Here comes the hard part for us contemporary minds who will only take one or the other: He’s also going to be an unbelievable, next level defenseman not unlike a Victor Hedman, Brent Burns or yes, Erik Karlsson. It’s okay to expect that from him but not this season. Have high expectations but please be realistic with your timetable. 

Before I go into the little lightning rod that shot through Sabres twitter today, let’s have a brief chat about expectations broadly speaking. Matt Kopnak (@MattKopnak) on twitter wrote a “harsh truth” take this morning as we all woke up in the aftermath of two straight losses to the Pacific Division. In a nutshell, he said: 

“Ristolainen, Reinhart and Eichel have yet to live up to what was expected of them... and it has gotten to the point where we have drafted players to fill the roles some of these players have failed to succeed in: Dahlin for Ristolainen, Mittelstadt for Reinhart.” 

Matt Kopnak is not only a good follow but he has more than once acted in the role of my Sabres conscious. This point is stinging because it’s so direct, it’s not wrong. Going into this season local and national analysts talked about this year as Eichel’s breakout year which implies he hasn’t been good enough yet. I think it’s fair to say that and I think it’s fair for now to be the time Eichel is expected to become what he needs to be: a 75 to 95 point scorer in this league. He’s got the C now after all. It’s still true with Risto who, let’s all be honest has been improperly utilized as number one defenseman when he simply is not a fit for that role. Hopefully those deployments change. Finally Reinhart is the most monstrous question mark: so monstrous he got a bridge deal last month. That leads nicely into the big, final point here today:

The Charging Buffalo (Another great follow on twitter) retweeted a reply saying Tim Murray declined a Risto for Taylor Hall trade in 2016. It’s true and it sent a little shock wave through our bitter Buffalo bones and made us all imagine what that could’ve looked like. I was mistaken enough to think it had something to bear on Jason Botterill’s GMing but had missed the Tim Murray part. Nonetheless, it’s interesting considering what your GM values. Sam Reinhart hasn’t shown enough for a long tern deal in spite of what we all were thinking going into that bridge deal. We just assumed he was worth several years at a premium now in order to save money when you know... he goes off. So far this season he hasn’t gone off and I think he sits squarely in the same camp as his Captain in needing to produce now. The big difference there is he’s not as safe as Jack Eichel and if he doesn’t produce like the less cynical among us believe he can he’s probably shipped out like Kane before the end of next season. Would Ristolainen be in the same boat had he not signed his long term deal already? If we’re going to seriously talk about canning Phil Housley already we better be prepared to say what needs to be said about Jason Botterill’s priorities. Just my take on it. Maybe that’s more questions than answers. 

Thanks for reading.