Alaska Darin

I saw them live last year. They were fantastic. Schenker and Jabs can still shred.

Welcome to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The best postseason in sports.

The base contracts are the same but there are bonuses available based on performance that can greatly enhance the value of the deal. This was one of Jack's.

Until Jack turns 27 or has 7 years in the NHL, Buffalo essentially controls him. Even if he signed a RFA offer sheet somewhere, the Sabres will match it. The only way that doesn't happen is if the team is so loaded that they'd rather have the 4 firsts (which is what we should have done when Vanek signed in Edmonton).

The Frozen Four is a lot of fun. If you have the chance to go, it's worth the money.

As of 2 weeks ago he was leading EVERY forward in the NHL in ice time. That's not a good thing and it's reflected in his production at both ends of the ice.

The cupboard was pretty bare when he got here, really. The deal that kinda pissed me off was for O'Reilly because it contained both Compher AND the 31st pick in the draft. If it was one or the other I'd have probably been OK with it but I don't see how taking McGinn's expiring contract (then not keeping him) makes sense with the 4 assets we sent. I was happy to see Grigorenko go because he has bust written all over him (thanks Darcy). The Lehner move is either going to look great or really stupid. There isn't much middle ground. I don't subscribe to not trading First round picks above the high teens (traditionally they have a ridiculous bust rate) but for Lehner?

Franson was never supposed to be signed. We went after Oduya but lost him to Dallas. Franson was pretty much what was left of a really bad FA class that season. Gorges has never been the same since his injury last season. He has a lot of mileage on him and he should be playing 3rd pair minutes, where he would be most effective.. Defensemen are always going to be tough to find on the open market. The great ones almost never come available anymore and the ones that are above average get contracts that way outpace their production (Shattenkirk is going to get a ransom in free agency from someone). Murray needs to beat the bushes this offseason and find at least 2 real NHL defensemen and some organizational depth as well. I think the idea of trading the 7th pick in the draft for Fowler is lunacy. It's pretty rare to get to draft really high in the NHL, so those picks need to be held onto unless the return is dramatic. Fowler is a nice young defenseman but he's never going to be a Norris Trophy winner.

The word on the street is Babcock wanted Buffalo but his wife wanted Toronto. That's not on the GM or anyone else. You're trying to find places to justify why you don't like Tim Murray. Each "argument" is ridiculous on its own and made even worse when added together. The people who told you "over and over again" that the Sabres would contend for a playoff spot also caveated their responses. This team had terrible injury luck this season, starting with major injuries to Eichel and 2 of the top 4 defensemen. No one with half a clue should have expected the Sabres to contend with Bogo and Kulikov each missing over a third of the season. There simply isn't enough organizational depth at this stage of the rebuild to sustain long term losses to those players. I'm not willing to call him a loser because what he's done so far is significantly increase the talent in the organization in an appropriate amount of time. He hasn't been perfect but no one is and I don't care if he's nice to the media because the media is retarded. If I were the Sabres GM I probably wouldn't do that well. I wasn't brought up in a hockey family. I don't have an uncle that can fleece me in trades while pretending to give me advice and I'm not sure how to scout players. I might have accepted that trade to get Fowler on the team or maybe not. One thing I would actually probably do better than Murray is listen to other people. I don't always think I the smartest guy in the room and I don't look down on other people. So once again, your entire opinion is because you don't like the guy. Let's bring back Darcy. He was nice to everyone. Nice take, StuckinCincy. You don't like him because he has a neck tattoo. Good for you. The jury is out on Lehner, which is where it would be on any 25 year old goalie at this point in his career.

bull **** revisionist history. Detroit was more than happy to give Babcock a king's ransom to stay. To say nothing of the other coaching vacancies - he also visited San Jose, you know, the team that went to the Finals last season. You clearly don't "get it". It takes a LONG time to rebuild a franchise that's been blown up. High NHL draft choices generally don't make a huge difference for at least 2 seasons, most even more. MURRAY'S TENURE IN BUFFALO IS BARELY 3 CALENDAR YEARS. If you think comparing a GM to a head coach is valid, you're an idiot. Let's play this game: What would you have done differently? Be specific. Tell us what free agents you would have signed at the price they'd have taken to join a team that was CLEARLY not going to contend in the short term. This one never gets tired. Where do Buffalo's goalies rank in the NHL behind the defense you keep bashing. Yeah, now STFU.

Babcock had enough respect to visit. Murray has been here 3 drafts and has gotten Kane, O'Rielly and Okposo. There weren't many quality free agent defensemen available in any of the last three seasons that Murray hasn't tried to sign. He hasn't hooked them but in reality there are too many factors to just point the finger at him. While Bylsma has struggled, he is a Stanley Cup winning viach who came to a team that wss really just starting a rebuild. Your crusade against Murray is very tired. This franchise can't keep changing management because it doesn't work over a short period.

What does "more lethal" mean?

Since it's women's college hoop...yes. I'm not sure when we started hating excellence in America.

Not really. To put it in "like" terms: This season's Sabres (as disappointing as it's been) already have more points than ANY Edmonton team for the last SEVEN seasons. They were under 67 points FIVE times during that period. Our rebuild didn't really start in earnest until the off season when Darcy was fired. That happened in late 2013 and that season ended in 2014. The following draft got us Reinhardt, who wasn't ready for the NHL and then the tank happened. So really we're in season 3. I think it's probably comparable to how the Blues were built. So in reality this was really the first season with the possibility of contention but there were simply too many injuries for this group to overcome. Hopefully this off season nets us a couple of NHL quality defensemen, with at least one of them being a Top 3 type guy.

Edmonton's has been going on for a decade...

No. The rules have changed. Eichel was the last guaranteed "worst finisher can be no worse than 2nd in the draft" pick. 1. All teams missing the playoffs are in the Lottery 2. Teams with the least points get more chances at winning the Lottery 3. The 1st overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls 4. The 2nd overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls 5. The 3rd overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls 6. Remaining lottery teams, sorted by points, fill out picks 4-15 7. Ties are broken by teams' total number of regulation and non-shootout overtime wins (ROW), and then head-to-head if still tied 8. Playoff teams that did not win their divisions and did not make the conference finals, sorted by points, are assigned the next picks 9. Playoff teams that won their divisions and did not make the conference finals, sorted by points, are assigned the next picks 10. Conference finals losers sorted by points are assigned picks 28 and 29 11. Stanley Cup runner-up is assigned pick 30 12. Stanley Cup champion is assigned pick 32 13. Note: The new Las Vegas franchise will be slotted at #3 for the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery

Matthias Jabs from the Scorpions. He's rarely mentioned when people do "best rock guitar player" lists but that dude is a terrific guitar player.

Nope, no players or teams get special treatment.

1. It's just about impossible to "hit Jack Eichel like that." Eichel is a pretty aware guy on the ice and is pretty tough to line up. 2. No, I wouldn't because it's a hockey play and sometimes **** like that just happens. Has nothing to do with the teams involved, it's a garbage suspension based on the evidence but it's pretty much the standard shitshow from the geniuses at the NHL. Shut your cake hole, ya Leafs fan. Don't even try to pretend the NHL doesn't favor some teams over others. There's a veritable avalanche of evidence to the contrary. Put a glove on and let someone give you a hard two hander in the hand with a hockey stick. You won't wonder for long.

No kidding. 3 games for that? Jesus H. Christ.

They need to cut the show back to 10 episodes because they don't have the writing staff to keep the show interesting enough. There are more than enough plot lines/interesting characters to have the "2 seasons in one" concept they're going for but they're getting lazier as time goes on and everything is as drawn out as this sentence. There is an internet rumor about some kind of romantic relationship between Darryl and Jesus. If that happens, the show will be Dead to me.

The Sopranos debut in 1999. You watched it a generation later.

1. All in the Family. Turn on an episode today and it's still hysterical and relevant. There was nothing like it on television and there still isn't. 2. The Sopranos. The show that revolutionized modern television and gave birth to virtually every great non-network show that followed. Hail. 3. The Wire. Sharp, relevant, thought provoking. Amazing writing and a level of grit that has yet to be matched. 4. Seinfeld. "A Show about Nothing" managed to be hilarious for its entire run. A terrific cast, led by a comedian who couldn't act at all. 5. NYPD Blue. Incredibly controversial, especially in the early years. Brought nudity and profanity to network television while telling great stories. Like the Sopranos, everything that came after it owes NYPD Blue a debt of gratitude. Honorable Mentions: Deadwood, The Shield, Rescue Me, M*A*S*H, Star Trek, and "The Larry Sanders Show".

He's got plenty of endorsement deals and eventually Hollywood will come calling. He's not in MMA for the long term.

Don't be surprised if he takes the Mayweather fight and then never sets foot in the Octagon again.