darksabre

DRINK LOTS OF WATER.

lol this is literally my co-worker.

America's addiction to the myth of rugged individualism will eventually be its downfall.

The Canes look a lot like they did last year: a team that plays the game right but seems to be missing one crucial something or other that would put them over the top. We'll see how the series plays out but I wouldn't be surprised if they get bounced again.

Man I haven't had Rollos in forever

I am positive that SKOR bars are actually Canadian, no? Huh, I guess it's a Hershey product. I wonder why I associate it with Canada?

It's already going in the Twitter comments. There are a lot of people who seem concerned about unvaxxed people going maskless and I guess I don't understand the hubbub? The pandemic has been largely combatted not by some people doing as much as possible, but by many people doing the absolute bare minimum. It was enough. So for those of us getting vaxxed, we're doing the bare minimum, and the results will be the results. It's been this way the whole pandemic. The unvaxxed people going without masks have likely been acting recklessly the whole time, and they were never not going to. There's really nothing that could have been done about them.

I saw those posts yesterday and just shook my head. We've seen so many teams go from the basement to the playoffs with one good off-season put together by a savvy GM. Whether or not Adamanos is up to the task remains to be seen, but there's just no reason to think they can't or shouldn't try to make the playoffs next year. You can absolutely build a competitive team in one off-season. It just requires that you not be completely incompetent.

So weird to go from watching playoff hockey back to...regular season hockey...

There are definitely some kids who have the right attitude, Cozens for example, but they're still lacking seasoning. We'll see, but yeah, they're not anywhere near this level as a team yet.

He's already pretty good at missing games with injuries so

Yup. I put the Panthers feed on and it's chaos. Dude called Vasilevskiy, the opposing goalie, Bobrovsky, their goalie. Come on man.

I really wasn't even planning to watch much playoff hockey this year but this series looks like it might be the one to see.

I'm curious if perhaps there was a deal on the table for him at some point in the last 12 months and it was close enough to done that his agent knew and therefore Jack knew. That's the way I'm reading his language at the moment: that they've actually already tried to trade him and he knows they're still looking at it.

Things are really reading to me that it's not Eichel who wants to be traded, it's that the Sabres FO has decided to move on from him. I really hope it's not true, but the language being used by both Adams and Karmanos sure seems to be hinting at it.

I was stunned they even let him in the building for the skills challenge last January before the pandemic.

The thing to keep in mind about Barnaby is that, even if he makes a good point here and there, he's still an absolute scumbag moron.

I don't know what you're talking about. We're having a lot of fun!

Good post. This is definitely the logical partner to my thoughts from yesterday regarding how weird the whole situation feels. It's distinctly possible that this whole thing blows over. I'm not able to see myself agreeing with the people who think Jack is as good as gone, because I think things would make a lot more sense if that's where we are headed.

I think, if Jack's goal was simply to create movement through chaos, he's going to be disappointed. This certainly doesn't help Eichel though if his goal is to be perceived as a mature adult and a piece you build a team around. You can't have a player constantly going rogue. I'm inclined to agree with you. My opinion on Jack was pretty friendly to him this season. When other people thought he was mailing it in, I felt like he was hurt, and it turned out that he was. He was kinda smiles and giggles though, wasn't he? That interview was a little weird. I'm glad you said this because it's something I was thinking but couldn't find a way to work into the post. It would be absolutely wild if Jack isn't trying to get traded and this whole thing is ONLY about the surgery. Look at all this chaos. He wants a surgery that no one in the league would recommend and he's bringing hell down on his team over it. For his reputation's sake he better be trying to force a trade. I really gave no idea what to make of him. I think he just wants to win. I don't think there are sinister motives. All good questions. I think the surgery vs. patience thing is going to be a big player in this. Is there a team out there willing to trade for Jack and then let him take the risk? That would be gutsy.

I know we already have multiple threads going about Jack being traded, etc, but I have a specific thought that I want to explore as it relates to strategy. The Eichel presser, followed several days later by the Adams presser, seems to paint the picture that these are two parties at odds with each other. Eichel blasts the team for not letting him pursue the treatment he wants. He says that there's a disconnect. The team, rightfully having no benefit of the doubt, is painted as inept. Not hard to do. Adams comes to the stand today and essentially quashes Eichel's line of argument. There is no disconnect. They know exactly what the situation is with Jack's injury. He's not surprised, he's not mad. Which makes me go "hmmm". Regardless of the goal of the Eichel presser, it's safe to assume it was deliberate and calculated. And he and his team surely must have been anticipating the rebuttal from Adams after several days of outrage. They couldn't possibly have been anticipating a different response from Adams, right? No, they knew they were getting this. So we're all sitting here saying "Well, clearly he's trying to force a trade" by making the team look bad. But has he succeeded at that? I would say he hasn't, and that Adams made a compelling argument in the team's favor. He turned the lense back on Jack. Jack's presser suddenly doesn't pack the punch that it seemed to at the time. Adams responds predictably, and that's the problem. So Jack, in the war room with his team, is saying "Have I increased my chances of being traded by taking this approach?" I wouldn't be so confident. It relies on a lot of assumptions being true. It assumes: -Other teams' doctors wouldn't also reject the medical procedure he wants to have done; -That the Sabres aren't willing to play hardball in order to avoid being seen as a team that you can just force your way off of; -That Adams' reputation in the league is weak; -That the Pegulas' reputation in the league is weak; -That Eichel's reputation in the league is strong; -That calling out the organization publicly was necessary to facilitate his movement. The NHL, we know, is a bit of an old boys club. The NHL has a lot of "unwritten rules". Have Jack and his team committed a sin against the unwritten rules? Would a team look at Jack and say "He might be talented, but we don't need this."? Has Jack strengthened his position, or has he inadvertently put the Sabres back on a more solid footing? The picture isn't very clear to me. But what I see from Jack is a pretty aggressive move, reckless, desperate even. I'm not sure it's the genius move he and his team might think it is...

Oh you bet I am.

I heard what you heard as well. To me it was simply Kevyn Adams, Stanley Cup winning NHLer and grown-ass man, making it clear that Jack Eichel, 24 year old kid, may still have some growing up to do. Does anyone think Jack is a seasoned professional yet? A cagey vet? A mature, steadying hand on this team?

He talked at length about the value of the team to the community, about how it's important to have players who take their roles as representatives of the city seriously. I think the implication is that hockey requires more than just hitting the weights hard.