Taro T

The problem in '94 was injuries. They were so thin at C due to injuries that they wouldn't let Derek Plante go to the Olympics. That was also Hasek's NHL coming out party. The '95 team wasn't terrible but it was seriously overly expensive for the results it garnered & EVERYONE with any value except LaFontaine & Hasek was traded away for prospects & picks which led to a really talent deficient team the next year which was the origin of the "hardest working team in hockey" moniker. That was the only truly goonish Sabres team ever & people loved them even though they lost A LOT.

Well, it's a bit more convoluted, but one (or more) of those guys COULD be loaned to another franchise's AHL squad. Kolzig was loaned to the Amerks nearly a lifetime ago & Binnington was loaned elsewhere for a more current example. That said, though bringing in Mann would be a good thing, don't see it happening. And would, when all are healthy, have Anderson & UPL in Buffalo, Tokarski on the taxi squad. Portillo & Levi in Ra-cha-cha (finding a way to at least give Levi & maybe Portillo too a game or 2 in Buffalo after the trade deadline has passed & the Sabres can have every single player in the system in Buffalo because they aren't hitting the cap at pro-rated $750k increments. Dell sits in Ra-cha-cha in case either Levi or Portillo falter. And Houser ends up odd man out in Cincy w/ Robson. With Levi & Portillo coming in, don't see Dell nor Houser back. (Houser deserves an AHL gig & there won't be room.) Tokarski probably goes away too, but that presumes another NHL quality guy is around. IF Adams plan is to run UPL & Levi, Tokarski splits time w/ Portillo.

Should be at the end of summer. Nearly said that as well, but figured that was complaining too much. 😉

Me likey bringing back the World Cup. Me no likey shutting down the NHL for 2-3 weeks in the middle of the season. Me likey not having to drive to Buffalo in February. But overall, me no likey.

Holy ####. Mike Tirico just gave China some serious crap. (Not nearly as much as they deserve, but really did not see even this coming.) ####ing awesome.

Still believe Murray's failing was more due to his being unable to see the human component to his players. He seems to have completely discounted personality & chemistry in favor of pure physical assets. He got the "talent" part right but completely failed at "chemistry." Maybe that falls under your 2nd option, but would split hairs & say they are distinct.

Tokarski? 😉

Anybody know how close UPL is to returning? Also, curious if people think that would land Tokarski on the taxi squad or back in Ra-cha-cha (presuming Anderson is still healthy & effective when UPL is finally back)? For Houser's sake, hoping it would be taxi squad for the Toker.

Adams doesn't wear the 1st 9 years of playoff misses & the 10th was following a direction he doesn't seem to have wanted to go but followed anyway, so he seems to have garnered a mulligan from ownership for that. This should be year 2 of his rebuild, but expect he's sold it as year 1. He's not getting punted for missing the dance in year 2 of his preferred rebuild plan regardless how much we might believe that is too much rope for anyone to get. And they aren't dumping any of the "talented kids" for anything much short of McDavid. Would be absolutely shocked to see Dahlin, Power, Krebs, Mittelstadt, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, or any of the 3 prospect goalies in a trade.

Like Darth said. Absolutely.

Battling through career threatening injury can definitely affect one's outlook & work ethic. Lemieux became a man possessed after the back issues & Hodgkins. Good thing for Gretzky he didn't have that same drive when he was younger because at minimum he'd have company in the 200 point club & he'd very likely have a few fewer records. Similar thing happened to Barasso after his daughter got leukemia. Had she stayed a happy, healthy kid the Pens might not have won their 1st 2 Stanley Cups. Don't know that it'll give Eichel a new focus, but it could. And that said, don't believe he didn't want to win or didn't care. He definitely was the reason for many of their few W's. Do believe he was not a good choice as captain.

The guy that was the OC of the best college offense this kid's ever seen who's also now been an NFL OC is an absolute no brainer as the QB coach. He also conveniently gives them another in house candidate to replace Dorsey when his Josh painted resume gets him a promotion elsewhere in the league. What's not to love?

Dumbest. Trade. Ever.

Pretty sure this is spot on. The interesting thing is, they'll have to spend some money on somebody, unless cap hits they bring on this trade deadline have a year to go on their deals, to get to the floor. Keep hoping it's going to be spent on a goalie, but could very well see them planning on going w/ UPL & Levi if he continues to look good down the stretch. Want that money on a goalie because this team should be entertaining next year if they can actually trust the goaltending. And if 2 of the 3 kids move past that guy, trade him at some point for something else they need. At least for the 1st time in seemingly forever, it doesn't look like rejoining relevancy will be moving farther away again this off-season. (The COVID off-season not withstanding which teased us w/ the possibility of relevance) Just, w/out a goalie, it won't be getting appreciably closer either. REALLY want them to be relevant THIS coming year, even though they'll likely miss the dance again.

It won't secure his spot in the NHL. That'll be highly influenced in how he plays in the NHL if he gets a shot there this spring. But it could influence them to put him in Ra-cha-cha after signing rather than the NHL. This kid's expectation is Levi performs well in this tournament.

Figured he was based out of CO. It seems, going back at least to the early '90's, that the bulk of the sports medicine surgeons set up shop out there. So, that where he's based or is it elsewhere?

Would put money down the cause for him appearing human traces back to 1 of those 2 reasons.

Don't know why, but that word "speak" just sort of seems like an understatement there.

What Josh wants, Josh gets, Josh help us all. 😉

How much is it worth to you for him to do so?

GMs matter. So does having a historical precedent matter. The GMs saw Vegas fleece several GMs that overthought the process that 1st go around. When it was Seattle's turn, GMs actually realized that they would lose a middle 6 F, a 4/5 D-man, or an NHL backup goalie and that while it stung, it wouldn't really damage their own team in the grand scheme. Had Seattle gotten 1st crack, it very well could've been Francis reaping the rewards of other GMs fear of losing that one guy they really didn't want to lose (for no apparently logical reason) making their brains go to mush and McPhee thinking about what might have been.

Great. The board hasn't lost enough good posters over the last lost decade, maybe we can run a few more off for year's old hyperbolic takes in the heat of the moment. 😒

LT it very likely is fixed. Next season is the huge Question Mark. And IF Levi doesn't need a year in Ra-cha-cha - then awesome. But until he proves to be a Carey Price-like unicorn (& even he spent a significant portion of what would be Levi's next year in the A), he's not one. Not expecting Portillo to be a unicorn. Have said on multiple occasions, believe Levi will be the real deal. But even with that, until he's ready, he's just potential. Here's to hoping he's ready.

They'd probably be dumb enough to believe it, but the NFL chooses which team (or teams in rare instances) to have the player enter the hall as a member of. Considering the Bucs won the SB last year, could see the league letting them claim him as well.

Why would he mention the Cheats when announcing his retirement FROM THE BUCS? Let Cheats Nation go back to its original natural state of existence that it was in prior to January 2002: worrying about whether the new GM & HC will get their beloved Jints back to relevance.