Taro T

The team certainly seems to have reached an inflection point. The monster question is will Adams be able to bring in the right guys to fill the few remaining holes to have them see the exponential rise that they seem to be on the verge of? Personally, expect the odds are good that he will. (Though if he doesn't, pretty sure goaltending will be the culprit yutzing the works up. (File that last bit in the "No Schlitz, Sherlock" folder.))

Will be very surprised if Adams doesn't bring in a top 4 guy on D this summer. Expecting 1 other 3rd pairing / tweener guy as well along with 3 or 4 guys specifically for Ra-cha-cha which won't factor into anything. Expecting he'll not make any additional upgrades to the F's (with the only real changes being Savoie and 1 of Rousek or Kulich make the roster out of camp and Olofsson gets traded away; maybe 1 or both of Okposo and Girgensons decide to walk) or G but really hoping that's incorrect. And really want a PK specialist 4C brought in. Varlamov too. 4 pieces, is it really that much to ask for? Doesn't seem like it, but expecting to only get 2 of them. (The 4D and an extra 6D.)

And the reason we have DTv is back when Empire still existed, Time Warner bumped it up to a pay tier (replaced it with the Hallmark Channel on their regular package). Rather than pay $5/month extra for the tier that included Empire switched to DTv and started getting Sunday Ticket. That decision cost TW a truck ton of money through the years.

Half way there. 2 down, 2 to go. Was getting a kick out of the TNT announcers ball washing Nylander. "He's putting on a clinic." Yep, didn't get an assist but started the play that got Florida back in the game and then was the place where scoring chances went to die at the other end.

Give Power a legit partner rather than Jokiharju and a lot of those "defensive issues" clear up. (Provided he finally figures out how to not deflect the puck past his own goalie. THAT issue wasn't on Henri.)

Bummer. That statistical slide he went on after getting injured on the Florida trip near the AS break really took the wind out of his sails. He was getting hyped hard before that. Hopefully he gets it next year.

Would like to see at least 1 more team do that and ideally 30 more do it.

Not sure why the Thursday complaint thread hasn't been opened in 2 weeks. Had a couple of pops tonight for the 1st time in a while. Probably best that that thread isn't open. Whatevs.

They had it down pat in the late '80's. The Wales Conference played on day 1 of the playoffs and the Campbell played on day 2 and they kept alternating from there on out the rest of the way. But TV money f'd that up and we're never getting it back. Carolina was the Sabres kryptonite this year (that last game when Carolina had nothing really to play for not withstanding). Watching the Devils (who are the Sabres with a couple of additions 1 year earlier) get destroyed in game 1 just reinforces this kid's belief that the Sabres would've been a lot better off in the 8 seed rather than the 7 seed (and obviously either was better than the 9 seed). Carolina was the Sabres kryptonite. They do what Buffalo tries to do so much better. Soon our boys will be there, but not yet.

F1 takes the puck carrier, F2 takes the (now loose) puck. F3 cycles down low to give an option to F2. F1 cycles back high. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Gee, Power ended up a Calder finalist. Never saw that coming. 😎

No, jam is only what you use on radars and only one would dare to give the raspberry to Dark Helmet.

Expect there's all sort of field hockey specific training there.

And nearly forgot, 1 of the best things Adams said was that the PP needed to be better too. (Not just the horrible PK which also needs to improve.) Agree with him, with the personnel they can put out on both units it needs to be cranking more than just 5-6 weeks out of the entire season.

Yes. It was very specifically referring to the situation after Levi arrived, it was not referring to the upcoming season. Separately, an item that stood out IMHO was Adams saying he expected the team overall to be even younger than it was this season. With everybody on the roster being 1 year older than before, simply losing Anderson doesn't make that happen all by itself. (Yes, knocking a 41 year old off the 23 man roster lowers the age, but everybody else on that roster is 1 year older, so you knock off 22 years replacing him with a 19 year old but you add 22 years with everybody else aging 1 year October to October.) Especially when it is likely another D-man gets added to the mix and he will likely be older than the team's average age. Which would imply that at least 1 of Okposo or Girgensons isn't back and that there's a really good chance that 1 or 2 of Savoie, Rousek, and Kulich make the opening night roster. None of which is overly unexpected, but considering how in his press availability right after the season ended it sounded like it was up to Okposo whether he'd be back (and IIRC Girgensons too, could be mistaken on that front) maybe Kyle's pretty far along in that decision or the team is making it for him. He spoke a lot about Ventura and a fair amount about Bales. Never heard him mention Karmanos. Not sure if that means anything regarding the Pens or not. He also did mention Mittelstadt at 1 point. Jokiharju too. Those were the only 2 of the board's whipping boys that got mentioned for whatever that's worth. Most of the rest was the core (though never heard Skinner's name) including Levi, Frick & Frack, and Greenway. Very good interview. Jeremy and Joe had good questions for Adams and he gave what seemed to be thoughtful honest answers.

He could, but there are limits to how much salary can rise or fall throughout the term of the contract, and for accounting purposes, the contract will count the same against the cap each year at total money earned over the life of the contract divided by the contract term in years. Signing bonuses really only get a guy his money earlier in a given year than he'd get it as pure salary. It also isn't subject to escrow withholding, but if the player ends up being due less money (due to HRR being lower than expected) than the nominal value of what the contract stipulates he'll need to pay money back. (Kind of like how the government withholds money from your paycheck then you either get some back at the end of the year or owe some when taxes are filed.) A signing/roster bonus in the NHL just adds to the base payroll of the player for that particular season, it doesn't get spread across multiple seasons like an NFL signing bonus does. Also, NHL contracts don't get altered during their duration unlike NFL contracts. And there are very few performance bonuses allowed and they are only allowed under special circumstances (ELCs, old vets signing 1 year deals, guys coming off major injury) again unlike the NFL. And that's why the NHL's cap is a hard cap and the NFL's is for the most part largely imaginary. (Eventually, it becomes real in the NFL, but teams are able to put off the hurt of big deals for many years.)

Varlamov.

Nope. Umbergered as in Meier got left in a pool of his own drool with no idea of where he is just like when RJ had his last name converted into a verb.

Hoping FLA wins it all. Have mild dislike to outright disdain for every other team left in the tournament. Carolina - blank them and their whining over baby eating along with raping and pillaging. Joisey - Don't care that Lindy Ruff is there nor that they actually play fun hockey now, they ushered in 10 years of the most boring hockey EVER. F' those guys. TO - The diatribe would be too long if it starts. Vegas - No. Not with all their Cap shenanigans. Krackers - No. If the pricks would've joined the league when they were supposed to, rather than a year later the Sabres would've lost Hutton or absolutely nothing. And losing Hutton would've been addition by subtraction. Give us Will Borgen back and the Sabres find 2 more points through 82 games. Eulers - Probably should want them to do something as the Sabres have become the 21st century version of Edmonton East (as opposed to Muckler's efforts to make Buffalo the 20th century version of Edmonton East) but something annoying about that franchise. Dallas - Maybe someday after they drop the puck at the blueline to the left of Hasek they can earn a championship; but until that puck drops, F' those guys. The Swamp Cats ruined the B's dream season. And they did a great job hosting the ASG this year. Sure, why, not.

The verb is Umberger. As in, Meier just got Umbergered by Trouba. (And suppose it could be said that Meier skated into a Trouba-door and it twernt open neither.) And yes, it sure did look like shoulder to head was the primary and initial point of contact.

Hmm. 22 goalie in his 2nd professional season. Was in the USHL 2 years ago. Veddy Eeen-ter-est-ingk.

DTv says the game is on ESPN, not ESPN2.

Didn't Huberduberdeau sign an 8 year contract upon getting traded to Calgary? Can't see him having much leverage to get out the door unless he was willing to go scorched earth in an attempt to get out the door and just don't see him being THAT guy. Guess it's moot now.

Pretty sure Pilut got out of his KHL contract also.

Be annoyed by whatever floats your boat (or sinks it, more appropriately). If you want to be annoyed, go for it. Personally am glad that FLA beat the B's and am hoping FLA beats the Loafs. They'll probably need those 2 playing well to do so.