Love going to bed and waking up seeing we're in the second Cold War

My child's school just emailed about SNAP benefits and fundraising to provide meals to kids over weekends. This is where America is in 2025

First time I've watched an NHL prospect and the first thought was of Flash the slot from Zootopia

Watching some Markus Ruck and hooo boy this might be the best hit I've seen all year by Baur Dumanski

Michigan/Western Michigan and Denver/BC on the same night is a college hockey fan's dream

Adam Valentini with the PP goal. Gahhhh what am I going to do with this kidddd in my rankings

Michael Hage is a demi-god.

Jayden Perron is so gross this year

🚨 New on Smaht Scouting — @austin716.bsky.social’s latest, “The Ranking Before the Ranking,” is live! He shares his thoughts and early rankings ahead of our first 2026 NHL Draft rankings call of the year. See which players are making their case. 🔍 smahtscouting.com/2025/10/23/b...

There needs to be a NHL/scouting term for a player who is physical and hits people, but only does so in situations that doesn't impact the play. For example, watching a player and they only finish checks on people who have just passed the puck.

Well...first it was Julien Maze. Now...it's Tommy Bleyl. Wooo boy that kid fun to watch #2026NHLDraft

Michigan plays Western Michigan on Thursday and that is what is getting me through this week.

The US government showing up on Bluesky the day before No Kings is about as ominous as it gets

Here is my Buffalo Sports Rant Thread: - It's time to put Shavers in Coleman's spot. I can't watch an X receiver who's only route tree is get manhandled for 10 yards on the sideline - Please find someone to replace Cole Bishop - No more TE/WR jet sweeps - Please god let Hairston be ready week 8

Jeremy White is going to tee off tomorrow morning

Take longer to throw a flag

Alex Lyon giving up a wide open net for an easy goal. Going to be a long afternoon

Agree. Naurato recruited an entire team that plays his brand of hockey. Its mesmerizing to watch

Charlie Cerrato is still the man

Sean Tschigerl being back in my life is *chefs kiss*

Clarkson up 2-0 at the end of 1. McKenna on the ice for the second goal...

I've seen a lot of Xavier Villeneuve as an opponent of players I was scouting, and today was the first day I scouted just him. I'll say that this was probably one of the worst games I've seen of him offensively, and he still did shit like this

I finished tracking McKenna this morning and here's my general thoughts: He's one of the most fun passers I've ever watched. He's so unselfish almost to a fault. However, his feet are so inactive. Doesn't really move to space offensively or defensively. He's still my top ranked player. But...

Great points! Diggs is one of my favorite Bills of all time, but... He was pretty much Tyler Lockett after he caught the ball in Buffalo. That "fight for extra yards" and "slam the turf when he gets tackled thinking he was going to break loose" was 100% Diggs' emotions for that Bills game.

Watching some Cohen Klassen and of course he's feeding Julien Maze😍

🚨 2026 Draft Watch 🚨 Julien Maze’s dynamic start in Regina, J.P. Hurlbert’s high motor in Kamloops, and Nikita Klepov’s scoring flair in Saginaw stand out early. Full breakdown by Austin Garret ⬇️ smahtscouting.com/2025/10/07/s...

Bringing back the bi-weekly blog posts until I get into December and start just writing scouting reports. Some general thoughts to start the year and a tiered ranking of North American players as of Sunday: smahtscouting.com/2025/10/07/s...

It's been a pleasant first few weeks scouting as I continue to find myself tracking players that I'm interested in and not falling out of favor with. Rylan Singh may be one of these defensemen that climbs my board throughout the year. One of the best, so far, at activating at opportune times

My friend group chat is wondering if we can pull a D2 and get out of these white jerseys

Agree

Im so out on Keon. He cant run a route and they keep force feeding him

Diggs will always be on my Mt Rushmore of favorite Bills

I was supposed to get back home today mid-afternoon and I was going to write the first bi-weekly article for the 2026 draft. Stayed longer with the 16yo after a violent weekend for him after a slash severely sprained his wrist and couldnt take faceoffs and a knee-on-knee. Scored the game winner tho!

Lol Charlie Cerrato

Good for Aidan Park getting on the board

Michael Hage is on the board with a...6-7??...celebration

I didn't think Valentini should've gone to Michigan this year, but if he's going to avoid having to play with Horcoff and Draper it may pay off...especially if they keep him with McKinney/Schifsky

Jayden Perron is so back babyyyyyy

The genetics are strong in these Fantilii's

Adam Valentini with his first assist 2:07 into his first NCAA game

This tracks. The height of my social media use was Twitter in 2019. It was a boom of Twitter group chats about the Sabres and prospects. 2025: No longer on Twitter. Facebook is off my phone. Only on Instagram/TikTok when my wife or friend share something with me.

I will say "I want it that way" got the entire Sabres arena singing last yead

Also, I don't think I'll ever end up with data like the game I just did of William Yared. The basic takeaway came out: let him one-touch pass to the slot but otherwise...don't ever let him touch the puck

I like Daxon Rudolph. I don't think he's going to play on an NHL PP. Therefore, when I rank him, it will look like I don't like Daxon Rudolph. The joys of putting out rankings to the public

If Maze plays at like 90% of what he did this game for the rest of the season he's a lock for my top 15. Don't even care about his size.

No new faves emerged the first 13 days of scouting the 25/26 season. I've fallen in love today, though. All hail Julien Maze

I just realized that Gavin McKenna's first game is against Cullen Potter next weekend and that has me giddy

I'm really excited to how Yegor Shilov develops over the course of the next 6 months. He's already flashing some super, super fun offensive talent

My bold prediction for the 2026 NHL Draft a week into scouting it: Don't trust NHLe this year. Points will come but it's going to be a result of meesssyyyyy hockey.