Taro T

So, at a minimum Adams & this kid's agent expect Russian hockey players to still be able to play in NA. Maybe that hand wringing over the Amerks having nearly 0 prospects is a bit premature. Sweet. 🍺

Really expect people to be very pleasantly surprised by what Olofsson brings next season when healthy. Could see him in the 30 goal club & not strictly a 1 trick pony like Skinner WAS prior to this past season.

Skinner Thompson Tuch (it's the top line until it isn't 😉 ) Hinostroza Mittelstadt Olofsson Girgensons Asplund Okposo Krebs Cozens Quinn Spare: Versatile bottom 6 vet in either the Lazar or Sheahan mold; Peterka gets a call-up to the Sabres around Thanksgiving (US version) Expecting the lines to be fairly balanced in ice time overall but ranked the in order of ice time. (Lines 2 & 3 could flip based upon opponents. That "4th line" could be a RAV Line redux.) Samuelsson Dahlin (Expecting Muel to not suffer the sophomore slump; his game is just too elegant defensively) Power New Guy Bryson Jokiharju Spares: Pysyk & Fitzgerald. (Yeah, they're both righties, Bryson & Pysyk can both slide to their off side in a pinch.) Expecting ice time e to be very unbalanced. Fleury Luukkonnen (Lord help us should MAF get injured. Expecting (hoping?) Anderson saves Adams from himself.) Realizing it's ridiculously few moves for an off-season, but just don't expect the BIG trade to happen & Adams & Granato are high on the kids & leaders.

True.

Gut feel is that his drop-off is as simple as running out of gas at the end of his 1st full pro season. (Remember he dealt w/ a couple of issues last year (mono & sports hernia?).) Haven't noticed him on the ice in ~ a month. He was the most noticeable F on the team before that (as the stats well document).

Yes,he told a STORY. A very entertaining one at that. But to say Koivu couldn't play the rest of that series because of the events of that story and NOT because of the eye injury is not credible when compared to the actual events.

But that's NOT what happened. Game 2 was in Carolina. Game 3 was in Moe-ray-all. He played in both. Both were after he'd been hurt by Rivet. He stopped playing ONLY after catching a stick to the eye.

And not saying Koivu & Rivet weren't screwing around prior to that game in Carolina, nor that the toilet didn't break possibly even cutting Koivu. But to believe he got 30-40 stitches before that game & then played more than 23 minutes that night & got an assist on the game winning goal and then played over 9 minutes into the 2nd period of the next game until he got high sticked in the eye by Williams and then could not play any more in any of the next 3 games because of his butt boo-boo rather than his eye injury strains credulity at a minimum. THAT is what doesn't pass the smell test. He could play a game and a half while being unable to bend over (which is possible - Lemieux did it many times with his back troubles) but then AFTER suffering an eye injury which required hospitalization he couldn't play again because of the butt cut & not the eye trauma. Does that HONESTLY pass the smell test for you? How?

Fair enough. Only heard the version on the podcast. And what he said in that did not state that he played in Game 3. (Though he in fact did until he got high sticked by Williams. He did not play again after the high stick.)

Three actually.

3 people who have never been in my kitchen. 😉

Not really calling him a liar, but rather saying that there's a very good chance he was embellishing at a minimum. His wouldn't be the 1st "war story" that became more impressive 15 years after the incident was over. And posted info from the actual game logs. Koivu played more than any other forward the Habs dressed that 2nd game. Could he have simply been battling through? Sure. But that doesn't seem to fit Rivet's story. And Koivu really did take the stick to the eye in game 3 and never returned after it. He also went to the hospital that night and did not play again in that series. Was that all a clever rouse to hide Koivu's REAL injury (that he'd logged more than 30 minutes after suffering per Rivet, but never played another minute after the eye injury even though just his being available had clearly left the team playing better). If he could play through it for a game & a half, why couldn't he come back at all after the presumably imaginary injury when his team really needed him? Doesn't make sense.

Pretty sure this is from that game 3

No, he said "and he didn't play a couple of games after that, we lost the next 3 games after that."

Or ALL the news reports at the time were "fake news" and his face wasn't really bleeding after he took the high stick. It was all an elaborate rouse. 😄

(OK, was misreading what you'd written, but you are overlooking the fact that the league would have to give the NHLPA something to gain that concession from them.) And, again, there is no friggin' way the NHLPA is going to let a team hold the draft rights to a player for more than 4 years unless the NHL gives them something of value back. What are you proposing the league give to the players to "solve" this problem that isn't actually a problem for all but at most a handful of players?

She & Don said something early on in the broadcast about how her voice was about as ragged out as Don's usually is & that she was recovering from something. Presumed she was on some sort of medication, but who knows.

You mean the FOLLOWING summer after the waiting period to begin FA starts in February as per the proposal the post you referred to was referencing? Again, no way the NHLPA would go along w/ that IMHO.

No, Koivu played in Game 3 in Moe-ray-all & took a high stick to the eye from Williams & didn't play again that series. And, if you listen to Rivet, he says Koivu didn't play in game 3. Not calling BS on his story, (well, maybe 😉) but things didn't happen exactly the way Rivet related the story. Koivu left game 3 in the 2nd period w/ blood dripping from his face after the high stick from Williams. (Which somehow the entire reffing crew managed to miss. But the ref did help him to the bench. So, there is that going for them.) Koivu played a Habs forward most 23+ minutes in the double OT game 2 they won in Carolina the night he'd supposedly taken 30+ stitches in the arse. He played 33 shifts & had the 2ndary assist on the game winner. (He must've recieved REAL good Advil that day to play that much & still matter in the outcome.) Now maybe he was able to get 30+ stitches & play 10 minutes more in game 2 than he had in game 1 only a few hours after getting his arse cut that bad before game 2 and his real reason for not playing again after going to the hospital in Moe-ray-all during game 3 was due to his arse still being sore 3+ days later, but this kid ain't buyin' that baloney. No, no, really NOBODY on the team except for Koivu, Rivet, & the trainer knew ANYTHING at all about this horrific injury that REALLY DID happen but somehow didn't affect his play. Doesn't Rivet like to fish? Seems he might have had a record haul w/ that trip. 😉

Slightly different subject. Have never been under Broad St, but have seen photos. Need to check that out sometime. Know several people who have proposed repurposing that space. Some cool ideas & some just plain wacked out.

Might as well be there. As long as he's out of the east, it's good. Do you really think he'd join on out there at the beginning of the rebuild? (Presuming that's the direction they're heading.) You think they might just retool on the run?

Sometimes. He also was hot garbage at times which is why Gerber also got a start in that playoff run. IMHO, injuries were a far bigger factor in the run. They were on their way to getting swept by Moe-ray-all until Williams high sticked Koivu in the eye. As soon as Koivu was gone, so were the Habs. Don't recall who, if anyone important Joisey lost, but the Sabres run of "win a game, lose a(nother) D-man" is well documented, as is the Eulers' goalie breaking in the Finals. Carolina didn't lose a player that mattered until Weight went down in Game 5 of the Finals & was promptly replaced by Eric Cole. They had 14 skaters dress for every game & Weight played all but 2 & Whitney missed 1. 16 of the 18 skaters had a sum total of 3 man games lost. Un-friggin-real.

You're welcome. 🍺

Bummer. It's good for rivals to have people that are bad at their jobs.

Needing to clear waivers or not has nothing to do w/ him having a 1 or 2 way contract, but rather his pro experience & age.