Kelly the Dog

I believe Bylsma and/or Murray said that flat out in an interview after the draft, that they may play Eichel a little differently at home when they have the matchup advantage.

When Zero Fuxgiven traded for Kane I initially thought maybe he gave up too much. Until I saw that Bogosian was flat out a better player than Myers and then I no longer thought he gave up too much, but that it was probably a steal.

Interesting from that article, as it pertains to Gus, Reinhart, OReilly playing wing instead of center-- "Lightning GM Steve Yzerman, asked if the playoffs made him debate whether Steven Stamkos is a centre or a winger. “Why not both? I played both in my career, and it helped me. It’s more about who he plays with than where he plays.” I just don't see any spot for him. He's not going to play in the top six. He sucks as a checker. He won't do much if anything on the fourth line. Where would he play?

Those are the lines I want although Larrson should be the #4 C.

Gone are all the players who would disappear or loaf or go through the motions like Staff, Hodgson, even Zads at times. Gone are all the players who shouldn't be in the league. Gone are all the players who worked their ass off but really don't have the pure hockey talent to survive and prosper. Gone is the coach that was more concerned with compete than scoring and defense. With no stars In their place are big, tough, hard working self starters with some skill or a boatload of skill, and a Stanley Cup winning coach with a couple solid assistants, a future bona fide superstar and two or three potential star players in Kane, OReilly and Reinhart.

I think fans in all team sports often misinterpret contract demands as players being mercenaries and money grubbing selfish bastards. Some of them surely are. But money is the only way sports measures players against other players. A ton of it is ego and respect. If you offer a contract less than another player it's not that he has a million more dollars than me as much as you think that guy is better than me and he's not. Someone else will pay me more because they know I am better. It's bragging rights, or more accurately "worth" almost as much as actual money.

No question it should not be questioned. ;) It could be a huge error. Kane could blow up. Lehner is a madman. Oreilly may never be worth the money. We are all betting on his pretty good reputation as a talent evaluator. But even the best ones miss 50% of the time. Guys like RoR are pretty low risk.

I was thinking today that Murray likely told Moulson and Gionta and Gorges that pretty much this is what he was going to do. He wouldn't publicly say this, but I think this was his plan all along. To get rid of everyone, get McEichel and make a couple of blockbusters for proven big name guys who fit his idea of players, like Kane.

He'd be a really good pairing with Risto, too, I think.

I think I like the idea of Pysyk with Bogo, and then Gorges to help McCabe. Bogo showed more offensive skills than I thought he had. Pysyk and Bogo together could get quick transition passes out, too.

That would have been great. I know his family pretty well. At least he got to go to a great city and franchise.

Not only that but he said exactly what he was going to do when he took the job. He's going to sell off everyone that is UFA, he is going to get rid of anyone that does not want to be here, he is going to acquire big tough hard working team players who are hard to play against, and if guys who are in their early twenties and established top six or top line players are available, even if we have to take on some contacts with them, he would pick them up in the middle of the season or on draft day in exchange for some of his best assets. He's done exactly that in about a year and a half.

Good post, Deluca. Plus, Murray is not always going to be like this. He will have players of his choosing on the team and won't have to be making risky monster trades and giving away assets he didn't draft or three for ones, etc. within one year from now he's going to have an entire team of his players (or his kind of players) and it won't be so swing for the fences.

I'm trying to think of one thing I don't really like about this kid, other than growing up a Bruin fan but that wasn't his fault. He's got size, speed, vision, talent, toughness, a shot, touch, good passer, can hit, great attitude, work ethic, leader, confident without arrogance, seems to love Buffalo and love the challenge, mature for his age, media savvy, cares for his friends and family and teammates, the stage is never too big, a winner. Jesus Christ. Well, not Jesus Christ, but...

I can't remember how many countless hours I spent in the last couple years sitting Indian style in the middle of my living room floor with 12 of my favorite Hockey Cards, arranging and rearranging four rows of three each and contemplating all of the infinite possibilities with my Jerry D'amigo, and Zac Dalpe and Porter Flynn, and Flynn Porter and Phil Varone and Matt D'agostini and Zenon Konopka and Ville Leino and Cory Conacher and Luke Adam, etc, trying to mesh playing styles they could feed off each other.

It cannot be over-emphasized that in every team sport, one star player is way, way more valuable than two very good players or three good players. Kane and Reilly are all but star players already.

There is a difference between mercurial players and so called head cases on the ice and ones off the ice. They both can hurt your team but they are different. On the ice, Kane is known for relentless hustle, and being the ultimate competitor. He's no problem whatsoever on the ice, in fact he's a role model. Same with O'Reilly. He was a problem and distraction over contract and money and would he even be there, etc. all that goes away when he signs a new contract. On the ice he's a firebrand and everything you want in a character guy.

Yep. We should all adopt the Zero Fux Given attitude of Murray. In fact, he should probably change his name to Zero Fukksgiven, kinda like Zero Mostel or Ryan Fitzgibbons.

One of the keys to the Lehner trade is exactly that. It's both a bridge and a look to the future. If it pans out, and Lehner turns into a top 10 or higher goalie in two years, he's going to be 25 and growing up together with Eichel and Kane, OReilly, Gus, Ennis, Risto, reinhart, etc.

Murray thinks like Whaley thinks with the Bills. Good GMs think short term, mid term, and long term all at the same time, and work out all kinds of scenarios like with algorithms in their heads. Fans think in terms of each individual deal. Not saying that Murray is going to be right or Whaley is always right. But there is a clear plan and strategy and it's always at play.

You also can't look at it in a vacuum. If you want to just look at a trade concerning draft picks, in the Kane/Bogosion example you used, Murray committed highway robbery. He got a 3rd overall and a 4th overall for an 11th, 16th and 23rd plus a second rounder.

I don't think what can be underestimated is not only the players that Murray brought in but the kind of players, as well as the ones that got shipped out. Grigs was a could have been. Zads I really didn't want to see go but he is a lightning rod. Hodgson is gone. Every guy he brought in is big, tough and self starter, even the Legwand and McGinn throw ins. There isn't one player on this entire team that isn't a hard worker on the ice. Even our new goalie is a maniac. The addition by subtraction as well as the talent and the experience brought in makes this an entirely different kind of team.

This one is my favorite so far. That one would have me wanting to watch every one of the lines rather than having to wait for one or two or three to finish their shift quick to get a decent one out there.

A couple things are a given, like we all can't wait to see Eichel, and probably how good is Reinhart, and O'Reilly. Lehner, too. Personally, I can't wait to see Kane play with these guys, and I can't wait to see Ennis play with good players.

Oh I pretty much agree with you. He was set on Lehner and he really didn't care what he paid for him as long as it was not outrageous. And Lehner may not be good. I hated the trade initially and only barely accepted it later. In fact, I'm even rationalizing that we should look at the trades together and no one would have minded the 21-Z-Girgs-Compher for ROR-McGinn and then the 31 for Lehner-Legwant would look fine. That's crazy, I know. Ha. Right now, like you said, GMTM had a great day. We will know in 2-3 years if Lehner sucks, is pretty good, good or very good. Each of those are probably 25% although as of now I still trust Murray's ability as a scout, so I think it's more likely to be the better two than the worse two. I just love that we have a #1 goalie (only because they are all a crapshoot), and hopefully the Goalie Whisperer will stay on and do his magic on a slightly more talented guy than Neuvirth and Lindback and Enroth. This team could make the playoffs.