and I hit the snow!Anyway, Hawks are in the thriving metropolis of Western New York to play the worst team in the league. Thing is, by hiring Ted Nolan to coach the team again, the Sabres went from being a contender for All-Time Bad to just being regular bad. In fact, I really wouldn't be surprised if the Sabres have been better than the Hawks since New Year's.
Of course, the Sabres just dismantled even further. They sent Ryan Miller out and got Halak back, then sent HIM out. Steve Ott is gone, Chris Stewart came back. They got rid of Matt Moulson as well. They traded for Rusty Klesla, who went to Washington for Martin Erat, but Klesla refused to report and will probably never play in the NHL again. The Sabres are stripped bare, but man do they have a lot of prospects and draft picks coming up. They've also invested greatly in downtown Buffalo similar to the way Mike Ilitch has in downtown Detroit, and it sounds like the U.S. development team might move to this big new training facility they're building there. This team will be very good down the road, and they're going to give the Niagara region a lot to be excited about. Not that they'd ever show it: despite being known as A Great Hockey Market, everyone is either depressed from living in Buffalo or descended from the button-down Englishmen who settled Ontario and New York, and so Sabres games are conducted in near-funereal silence, even when the team is awesome. Of course, being out east, this is only really a concern for us to the extent that the fracking baron who owns the team might try to sign Patrick Kane next summer. For now, though, they're liable to try really hard and possibly win with whatever the hell is left on that roster. Honestly, I approach every Hawks game from here on out as one that they can find a way to lose, even against the worst record in the league, because that's the kind of team they've proven themselves to be since 2014 started.
Around the league, the Blues are four points up with a game in hand (both teams play tonight), the Avs are a point back with what I believe is an easier schedule. I don't think they're catching the Blues. They're either just not good enough or they don't care enough; I can't tell which. At this point, it's just about trying not to finish in third place, though that would be my prediction.
Hawks: 37-13-14 (88), 32-19-13 adjusted (77), 83.077 expected, if you're six points back of where you should be based on goal scoring, something is really amiss
Sabres: 19-36-8 (46), 13-40-10 (36), 36.642 expected
Hawks: 3.375 scored (1st), 2.547 allowed (12th), 0.828 differential (4th)
Sabres: 1.921 scored (30th), 2.889 allowed (23rd), -0.968 differential (30th)
Hawks: 44/204 21.6% on the power play (3rd), 188/196 80.6% on the kill (22nd)
Sabres: 31/212 14.6% on the power play (25th), 173/211 82.0% on the kill (15th)
Winning would be nice!
_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.
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