All Activity

NHL mock on NHL website

Agree they may have been Dahlin-less. But a world where Bill Zito inherited Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Kane, Bogosian, Lehner, Okposo, Ristolainen, McCabe and Ullmark and didn't hire Phil Housley would have been interesting.

I’ll be shocked if those draft slots aren’t occupied by the softest players on the board. It’s what the Sabres do.

Well we need to get the dirt bags quite frankly. That’s why JJ, Quinn, Muel, Power can all find new homes with their replacements being slightly less talented but 1000 times scummier and dirty. We need the guys you mentioned or someone akin to them. It should have been done with drafting. It’s not hard to find a kid with daddy issues ready to extol his problems onto some chumps face. Instead we get draft picks like Karabacek or Kisakov. Stop trying to find the next Kucherov and starting banking on one of the multitudes of dirtbags you drafted to pan out and become Marchand. Helenius is a nice start. Some of the later round guys the last couple of years could turn into what they need but they need them now. Give Bennet or Marchand $10 mill per.

This thread is pushing me towards Carbonneau at 9. And then Nestrasil at 39.

Given the players you listed as the core 4 that would be starting the year after trading Ryan O'reily trade following the most disappointing season of the whole drought era. The 2 years after that were not much better. Thompson and Dahlin really did not produce at a high level until Granato took over. Think of the patience we would need to have had for that team to come to fruition. Maybe 4 more years. As others have posted most of the upswing was age related. 3 out the 4 of those players started in the NHL very young. If we waited sure we would be a good team, Maybe a great team, but I feel were almost at the same point now as we were then talent wise. I think this can be a very good team with a few up grades.

Should trade it for a top 4 rhd. This team has awful defense outside Dahlin.

Put some respect on Drew Stafford's name. Dude jumped right in and ate a few from Chris Neil. I still respect him for it.

My hope is that the Pegulas, Adams, Ruff, and the players still possess the capacity to be embarrassed by their individual and collective performance over the past five years, especially when compared to what they watched in this year’s SC playoffs, and that they prepare in this offseason to come to camp with a different roster and commitment to change the culture. Playing for each other matters. Winning matters. Apologize for the run on sentence.

Maybe even inconsistently a playoff team at this point (their division is stacked), but still at least a threat. A competent GM and owner who aren't anxious to dole out 1-year or 2-year deals to their best futures (Reinhart, Ullmark) while dishing out big term/salary to unproven (Samuelsson) and nice, but not core pieces (Skinner) could easily have walked into the 2022-2023 season (missed the playoffs by 1 point) with Granato as head coach and Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, and Ullmark on the roster. Toss in a trade (let's say a 1st + prospect + something for then-third-liner Alex Tuch so he could blossom in the top 6 on your team), and you'd still be cap compliant and ready to go. You might not be able to pay Skinner 9... but he'd probably have taken a lot less to stick around with a real GM. Now... when you get to the playoffs, your run-and-gun is going to get destroyed, but you can start tweaking from there because you have your core and they know they're on the ascent. UFAs join those teams. NMCs get waived for, and NTCs don't list, those teams.

1.

Not to be confused with the Draft thread and discussions. This is simply: What would you do with the 9th overall selection?

I think you are missing the point of my post. The assumption that we had competent ownership means the decision to tear down to nothing doesn’t get made and likely a team like Arizona finishes dead last instead, and oor rebuild core does not contain Sam or Jack.

Competence would have prevented us from being near enough to the bottom to ever have a sniff at Dahlin.

Bottom line... eventually without leadership change all players on this team will want to leave this cesspool of dysfunctional incompetance... and those that dont want to leave it... I probably dont want on any hockey team I am vested in... or at minimum question their rationale... like I am 38 from here won 5 cups and my elderly mother lives here and they are over paying me.... ok, I can get that... but other than that if you are not clamoring to leave because your desire to win and not be looked at as a member of the Mickey Mouse club of failure and laziness then I really dont want you... the rebellion within to me is the only thing that will precipitate change from above... When 2 or 3 core players bolt or request trades and the others are buzzing... maybe then TP will go... Gee! we might have a small issue here...

I think you’re missing the point of the post. All of those players were on the team or in the system in 19-20. That’s a great core and at least some supporting talent (Ullmark’s much better than anything that has followed). I think even with INCOMPETENT management and coaching, you keep that team together and at a minimum, it’s a consistent playoff team.

The “he’s made a lot of perplexing decisions “ is still a problem for me. Firing JBOT and hiring Adams was really the only decision that came out of nowhere. There’s no doubt that his decisions haven’t worked and led to abysmal failure but until he promoted Adams all his hires had been vetted and most recommended by the NHL’s management team. Even Lafontaine, who seemed spontaneous was being advocated for by the league.

McDavid had 33 points in 22 games, tying Draisaitl for the playoffs lead -- both of them 10 clear of Reinhart/Tkachuk/Verhaege. McDavid was hardly a playoff bust. He was a stud in every game and series. He and Draisaitl simply ran into a better team, particularly when Florida had the last change. If EDM had the depth (and goaltending!) to run McDavid and Draisaitl on separate lines, maybe they could manage it. But when they're paired together, Florida just drops on Verghaege-Barkov-Reinhart or ERod-Bennett-Tkachuk. And they still have Marchand-Lundell-Luostarinen as a "3rd line". That's 3 centers that can limit the damage and Marchand is on the flippin' 3rd line as a scoring threat. We have to dial it back on this belief that a star player can do everything in team sports (even in basketball. Those '90s Bulls were the better team in each and every series; heck, they finished 2nd/3rd in their division when Jordan wasn't even on the team for the season.)

it's a big lol from me at the take that McDavid is a playoff no-show, choke artist. (his dunderheaded whiff of a back check last night notwithstanding.) otoh, he's been bumping up against some kind of ceiling -- encountering the limitations that a single other-worldly hockey player will encounter when trying to win a Stanley Cup. ice hockey is the ultimate team game. and the panthers are -- quite obviously -- the best team in the world.

Absolutely. Not a dirt bag like Bennett, Marchand, Tkachuk. But a guy who will use his size to go to dirty places and who will stick up for teammates and who will punish d-men on the forecheck. On a contending team, he will have teammates who will drag him into that level of play and the stakes will demand it. I've seen him do it at times.

My best guess on Tuch is that they will keep him until the deadline. At that point, if the season is going well and we are in contention, they will hold on to him through the season with the hope that the improved team performance entices him to stay (assuming he has not already re-signed). If things go as they typically do and we are out of it by the deadline, then it will be clear he is not coming back and he will be traded (hopefully by a new GM).

You can envision Tage being a physical menace?

Y’all notice Jacks neck has never been an issue since leaving Buffalo?

When you have a core of Eichel; Tage, Reinhart and Dahlin the tank worked to perfection unfortunately they couldn't figure out the 2nd part and that's how to rebuild out of it

He says he grew four inches in one year, wow