darksabre

Come on, I want OT

I would like the Sabres to be confident enough in him to give him the Chabot deal. I think that's the only way you get the value from him you need. That makes me very uneasy.

It's all going to come down to timing. How confident are the Sabres locking him in long term right now? They would be wise to not wait, imo. Because I think if they bridge him and he goes off they're screwed. They're going to have to pay him and he's not going to take a discount like Hedman did. How much you wanna pay for it?

I'm not that convinced on Doughty anymore. Seabrook and Keith aren't in the same league as Dahlin should end up being. Hedman is possibly the only good example of a franchise D man actually making a difference in the last decade and he took a hometown discount to do it...

I have no concerns about Rasmus being an elite defenseman. The question lies in how much that is going to end up costing us. I've expressed before that I believe elite defensemen are often overvalued by teams at the expense of the rest of the roster. Erik Karlsson's career has been a total waste of money. Shea Weber has been and will continue to be overpaid. Drew Doughty? Brent Burns? Great hockey players to be sure, but none of them are pieces that I consider essential to success.

While I am drawn to Occam's Razor in most circumstances, I don't think it's quite that simple here. I'm sure "riding the hot hand" might have been part of the decision, but there are most certainly other factors involved as well.

Well, the point I'm trying to make there is that if you're worried that the Pegulas influenced a coaching hire because they were worried about what their reputation would be if they didn't hire a guy with previous head coaching experience, that appears to not have happened here. It's one angle to look at it from.

To expand on this and my thoughts further, it'll be interesting if this hire ends up looking like a bold/risky move, or the safe bet. There are a lot of variables that can go in to it. Did Adams/the Pegulas want someone more experienced, but they couldn't get them? Or didn't want to pay them? Did the Pegulas decide they would stay out of the way and not worry about their GM making a hire that would make them look bad? Did Adams make this hire because he's not worried about it blowing up in his face? He could have hired an experienced coach who would born more of the blame. Is this a confident move? Or is it the safe bet? Time, and details, will tell I suppose. At the moment I think it's a bold move. But...

The thing about Granato is that if this doesn't work out he probably still escapes it relatively unscathed in the eyes of the fans. He's got no baggage from old jobs. He's not a coach fans are primed to hate. We're all going to end up rooting for him to succeed and we probably won't fault him if he doesn't.

Fine. Great. Win some *****in games.

Retired Honestly though, I'd probably own a nursery/garden center or something. Working at one was my favorite of my ***** jobs growing up.

What

I cut them that morning!

Got to take Fred Stanfield's '72 Cup Ring for a spin today

They honestly probably don't mean anything. Like, they could have lifted together the day before and they'd still be saying that stuff because meaningless gym banter is exactly that.

These are just two dudes broing out over some weightlifting. I wouldn't be looking for nuance in their words. Chyeah.

Sure, but a guy just talking the usual bro speak about lifting just seems entirely inconsequential. I think you're putting way too much thought into this lol

I'm not sure I'm taking away the same thing from those comments that you are. Why is "throwing weights around" what you're fixating on here?

Distinct possiblity we're just moving from one era of suck to the next era of suck. Exciting.

Yeah they got boned

I'm not gonna look it up because I don't care. But I like the comedy of poor Risto finally getting a chance at a reset on his career and it ends up being with a team that is arguably actually worse than Buffalo.

NJ and Risto seem like a perfect fit.

I've got a whole stack of in-progress tomes at the moment, but today I'm reading the third installation of William Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm. I don't have anything to say except that it's excellent. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345548639/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_S9WH8KPX9XAPV1AN28P6

Fleury vs Price will be fun

Yup.