Taro T

And Skinner's deal actually is bizarrely beneficial this season as it and the Boychuk deal get the Sabres to the cap floor. It'll almost definitely help in that regard the next 2 years and possibly even the next 3 years. The last seasons are likely the only ones where it caused a tangible effect on the lineup. And it won't likely cause any tangible effects until at least the summer of '24. And even that might be mitigated if the cap is rising again. Plus, Botterill walked 1 of the bridges right into the Summer of COVID. Literally just dumb bad luck, but not as sure that Adams could do a proper extension w/ Sam that summer with all the uncertainty about the owners' cash flows. Maybe it could've gotten done, but a LT deal that summer would've been tough for ownership to swallow MHO. BUT if Reinhart were signed for the same term as Eichel, does Jack bring his concerns to Adams/ownership upon Kevyn's hiring? Likely not because he knows they aren't going to willingly walk away from both Tankfruits coming out of COVID. Adams' calculus might change as well knowing that if he does trade Eichel, now Sam needs to go as well. It definitely changes the dynamics at a minimum. And that's just looking at differences under Adams. Likely things are different under Botterill as well.

Mainly being in the COVID world that Ra-cha-cha to Moe-ray-all teleporter is non-functional. 😉 (He wasn't called up w/ Olofsson being out, Biro got the call.) For like the past 6 weeks or so.

This'll be the game to either get St. Louis over 0.500 or back under with the rest of his crew. The Sabres usually matchup well w/ the Habs, so looking for that W for the boys in white w/ blue & gold trim. From yesterday's practice report seems there's a good chance Dahlin is back. Rare for the good guys to pitch 2 stinkers in a row (by quality of play, not results, clearly by results 2 in a row (or 4 as the case would be) is all too common), so those should let us see a good effort. Can Tokarski play like the pre-COVID suffering Toker? That's the big Q. If he can, should be the start of a 1 game winning streak.

Nope. Ended 2 days ago. The Finns had fun. Well, most of them. Apparently 1 cross country skier suffered a rather unusual injury waiting in the cold & wind for his event to start. But, overall, the Finns did well.

While that is true. It is Huberdeau that is 7th in points over that time, not Reinhart.

Slovakia has only competed in the Olympics since '94. The Canadians, Americans, Russians, Swedes, Czechs, & even the Finns have had deeper talent pools available to them every time except this one. They don't get credit for all of Czechoslovakia's myriad medals.

Would definitely say it was his more glaring one. Still believe not offering Reinhart a LT deal when he gave Eichel his was a bigger mistake. Considering how that decision cascaded, IMHO a case can be made to that effect.

Would bump the GTer up to a 1B/ starter to cover the very real possibility that UPL nor either of the other kids are up to being a 1A/ starter. But other than that, spot on.

Yeah. If he makes the team eventually, it almost definitely is as a 4th liner. But, to see what he can bring would prefer to see him given Olofsson's spot rather than bumping a guy with no future to slot Biro in "where he belongs."

Pretty sure his game went to heck when they rolled out the "Tradavious White Goaltending Academy of Louisiana" (or whatever the title was). Not claiming ANY causation, merely that the correlation was fairly spot on.

"Subtle IS" ... makes a #### ton more sense than "subtle TO" ... Combined w/ the other typo had no ####ing clue what you were actually trying to say.

OK, we give. Wtf does the bolded mean?

Also, though we don't really want to be throwing away 2nd round picks & prospects to get a guy or 2 w/ some experience that can help, this team currently has prospects that aren't going to fit in LT in anything above a 3rd line role nor likely even a 4th line role that some other GM might see as a fit for his team. So, including them in a trade wouldn't necessarily be throwing them away. The prospect going out doesn't necessarily need to be Quinn nor Peterka. A guy like Routsalainen or Biro or even Murray or Asplund might not really have a future here w/ such a glut of guys their own age w/ higher upsides, but maybe they fit in on a team w/ a more balanced age distribution that is looking to get younger & cheaper. Nobody saw the Aisles completely getting their D on the right track a few years ago at a total cost of 2 2nd rounders, yet Boychuk & Leddy were that cheap & fixed a lot of issues.

Yeah, Peterka has been the creator of a lot of Biro's chances. But Biro is still filling that complementary role well. Wonder if they'll give him a fighting chance to earn a spot & put him into Olofsson's slot or if he'll take Bjork's spot w/ Hayden & Eakin?

JJ only has 7 more games in the show if his ELC is to slide another year (IIRC he was up for 2 games so far). He'll be back, but would be very surprised if he gets to game 10.

Taking the playoff spot. Once you're in the dance anything can happen. And, there's likely a 1 in 4 chance that if you're there you get the playoff choking Loafs in the 1st round. Getting to the 2nd round would be way more beneficial & would be within their control. Wouldn't trust that genie to be true to his word. 😉

Nice, well thought out argument. (But it was the Selke, not the Norris.)

And if (when) they miss the playoffs by a handful of points but still win a lottery draw that is COMPLETELY different than going into next season w/ UPL & Levi penciled in w/ no true plan B & no upgrade to the RHD depth and "shockingly" ending up w/ the 28th best record. Heck, missing the playoffs by 4 points AND winning the Berard sweepstakes is just about the optimal outcome based on where they sit now. But winning a lottery w/ ~2% of a chance of doing so is NOT planning to do so. Setting up a roster that needs a whole lot of luck to keep from finishing 28th IS planning to try to lose and is NOT acceptable.

A - ####ing - men.

Ah, so you were cheating. 😛 🍺

???

Figured any mention of that would be deleted/relegated right quickly. Extremely sad day. The virus hasn't just taken obscene #'s of lives but appears to have taken Austrailia & Canada with them too.

As said in one of the (at least 3) threads that mentioned that trade, being down 5-0 after 2 can put GMs in desperation mode.

Literally. Suzuki blew up Holl behind the Loaf net. Then about 30 seconds later Muzzin threw himself into Widemon's knee. (Blew a tire, but the result was bouncing his torso off his knee & his head off the ice.) The Muzzin thing was a little scary. Apparently he's just back from a concussion, probably suffered another.

Apparently being down 5-0 to Moe-ray-all at the end of 2 causes GM's to enter desperation mode. 😉