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There is such a thing as a player not being talented enough to play with your most talented players. Never stopped Jochen Hecht from playing with Brière, or Mike Grier from playing with Drury. Or Evan Rodrigues from skating with the top guys in Florida. People shouldnt be basing their line choices entirely on offence. Line chemistry and matchup success is what matters. In theory I have no problem with Greenway playing with more talented players if he supplies what the line needs.

Norris is not a playmaker, full stop. Never has been. He has topped 20 assists in a season just once, including AHL and college. He has just 67 assists in 239 NHL games.

I see Terry has a nice big 100 million yacht so he is abandoning this sinking ship.

It's true about Greenway, but I want a veteran grinder beside Kulich. Open up space for him and Tuch to do the scoring. As I said, I think Adams failed by not getting another top 6 player so I'm working with what's there to create line chemistry and complimentary function. Similarly if Norris can be the playmaker, that can allow Tage to be the sniper. Zucker is the reliable 2 way vet to cover for them but again, ideally, I'd prefer an upgrade. No he's not, but we are missing one (if not two) so line chemistry and function is my focus.

Not necessarily. Some players simply aren't suited for playing on the top two lines. However, Benson is.

In your opinion, has the arena reached the stage in its lifespan where putting more money into it is not worth it? Just as the Orchard Park stadium reached a diminishing return on rehabilitation investment, it seems that the Key Bank arena has gotten to that same point where it would be better to invest money in a new arena rather than re-patching the patches that already exist.

The one thing that his play indicated to me is that he had enough confidence where the lack of confidence issue was not a concern at all. Was his offensive game hindered by his lack of strength and weak shot? Of course it was. But that was primarily because of his lack of strength due to his age. However, when watching him play I never felt that he was a liability or hindered the other players on his line. There was a scrappiness to his game that many other players lacked. I don't know how much more physically developed he will be entering in this camp. It may take more than a few years for him to reach a physical maturity before his offense will be more developed. But I'm sure that based on what I saw last year that he will be a contributing player and not a fringe player for us. In making a judgment that can't be proved or disproved, I would say that he benefited more playing in the NHL last year than he would have if he stayed in the juniors and dominated. That's how I see it.

Honestly, maybe I'll hate them less if they leave and come back. Unsure if three years is enough time for that.

Considering how late into the offseason that we are, it does seem like Guerin took plenty of time.

Is there anyone who has got a whiff of Benson playing tentative hockey? I feel like your criticisms are of a generic “young offensive star not lighting it up” variety, not real observations of the player, his game or his mindset

Some GMs don’t spend much time worrying about how happy a player is.

Same could be said for just about every player on the roster.

Sure there's learning the pro game but there's also a level of confidence you'd like your prospects to maintain during that process. We'll see, if given the opportunity, does he have the confidence to take chances on the offensive side of the puck.

Pretty cheap for 60 point center.

If you want to rebuild on the same spot is that a 3 year job?

This is a good post. To clarify my take here: my premise is that NHL experience generally makes for better NHL players: most walk before they can run. Therefore, the 150ish games the actual Benson has played should make him better prepared for the coming season than a hypothetical Benson who played his last two years in junior.

I think the 32nd is reflective, nor am I outraged.. but in the end... if any team were to get a failing grade how could it not be the Buffalo Sabres after 14 seasons of abject failure on just about every front... so I could care less what the grade is as long as they are 32/32 but its almost like F doesnt exist... like what do you have to do to be considered a failure ...

As a qualifier, every player gets one path to the NHL (some more winding than others, but a single path nonetheless). The reality is that if a player fails to reach their potential, there is no way to know with certainty whether that failure relates to a poor development process or to the player simply not being good enough. So, I really don't think it is possible to say that Benson's offensive game has been, will be, or won't be stunted by being in the NHL; that is, unless he develops into an offensive star, in which case it can be said that being in the NHL from day-one, didn't hurt his offensive game. Benson never went back to junior and we will never know how going back to junior might have impacted his game. That said, I don't think there is any way to say that Benson being in the NHL for D1 and D2 means there is a better chance, let alone a "far better chance", of a breakout this year. There is, relatively speaking, a long list of forwards drafted between 11th and 15th overall (Benson was 13th), who did not fully make it to the NHL until D3, and who had rookie seasons that would qualify as a "breakout year" for Benson. Respectfully to my fellow Benson admirers, there is a tendency to see Benson as a different sort of Cat who was/is uniquely able to adapt to the pro-game as an 18 year old right out of junior, while also thinking that he somehow doesn't have traits that would have allowed him to develop in junior ("He's too good for junior and going back would have stunted his development"). Benson is a unique Cat. He would have developed fine either way and would, in my view, be a legit rookie of the year candidate if he was coming into the NHL this season.

D'oh! Twice. Boychuk and Bishop.

Benson for example, is going to do better playing with top 6 guys than Cozens, Krebs, or Lafferty. If he plays with Thompson and Norris it is going to click for him fairly quickly.

If my AHL coach is skating my 19 year-old #1 prospect forward 25+ min/game in regular season action against 30 year-olds and AHL/ECHL-level scrubs, I'm firing that coach into the nearest exogorth. All situations, key shifts at game's end? Absolutely. But I'm not running them into the ground. I'm emphasizing NHL-length shifts and quality over quantity. Give me a prospect with 17-18 targeted minutes a night vs. overextending.

My theory is balanced lines don't work. When you take really good players and put them together, they'll score more in total than if you separate them and put them with JAGs. The reason is you usually need to string together multiple good plays to score. If you have just one guy making great plays, they'll usually die on a JAGs stick before they get in the net. My daughter's hockey team last year was a great proof of this concept (yes, obviously not the NHL 😀). They had 3 good forwards that could see the ice and make good plays and 6 that were defensively responsible, but didn't have any offensive instincts (3 lines total). The coach initially ran 3 balanced lines but the team couldn't barely score on any of the lines because the 3 girls with offensive skills weren't getting the puck or had no one in the right spots to pass to. Eventually the coach put the 3 offense minded girls together and they started scoring a LOT and became a pretty good team. Again, it's not the NHL, but it proves the concept that multiple good plays are usually needed to score goals.

Where is Daddy Danny Wegman?

The team sucks, nobody goes. I don't believe the attendance reports. The place looks 25% full for any game not against a Canadian team. Just move the games to the Harbor Center until the thing is knocked down and rebuilt. But seriously, maybe play at BCA in Rochester temporarily?

I was at the infamous Colorado game they were up by 4 in and then lost. We were in the car and exiting the deck when Colorado won... you could tell what was coming. I spent most of the last few years getting 200 level tickets, anytime I went to the 300 level it was awful. Cramped, no food options, dark and dingy. The 100 concourse was fine other than the terrible signs and paint but Keybank looks like a guy who would rather focus on his NFL team owns it.