tom webster

No question that they are more impacted by gate revenue then the three major sports.

This is how ownership wants fans to think. Every owners benefit from owning a team. Franchises continue to increase in value when sold. Even in these troubling times, TV revenue is expected to increase substantially in next deal. Do you really think they would have gotten what they did from Vegas and Seattle if the business model didn’t work? The Pandemic may have been a financial setback. Or it may have been a way for billionaires to cut some costs, cry poverty and come out laughing at the end. The preceding was strictly my opinion.

I think this is rather common and anecdotally has always been referred to as a “sophomore slump.” Your first year, you play on guts, instinct and talent. Then, as teams start to scout you, game plan around you, the ones that stick, the ones that excel, the ones that learn to dominate separate themselves from the ones who can’t. It’s easy to see with quarterbacks in football. With hockey it tends to be more subtle. Only people like yourself, with that scouting sense, tend to notice the difference.

Again, you know history shows little correlation to how well a team drafts. At least not outside a statistically relevant number.

We all want them to be better. The fact is that have have hovered around average for years. To read some of the posts around here you would think they’ve been historically bad. Fact of the matter is that there is a lot of luck involved. Bad timing and some terrible decisions. Some things out of there control, some things in their control. There is a reason that most front office guys who were successful in one place don’t find the same success in another place.

You don’t think ROR and elite goaltending gets them 7 or 8 more wins last year?

Other then Tampa and Boston, no team has shown a consistent a as ability to draft NHL regulars in rounds 2-7. Make any list of your top 100 NHL players, maybe even top 200, I’ll bet 90% of them are first or second round. This is not the NFL, draft choices do not routinely work out.

I had tickets not once but twice. Both times I asked my wife if she wanted to use them. Both times she declined. Then we are sitting at home New Year’s Day watching it and she says, you know, we should have gone. I divorced her.

If you are right and they missed a couple top six wingers and Johnson doesn’t pan, it’s unfortunate but it’s still to be determined. As far as already having Dahlin, I never consider that. If he’s good he’s an asset and if they don’t need him he will be a chip at trade deadline. One final point, you know better then most where Buffalo drafted is irrelevant. There is almost no statistically relevant difference between picks throughout each round after the top three or four.

I don’t deny that they made mistakes, especially the Nylander pick but the rest is still incomplete. Until Robertson and guys like him become top six, they just guys who haven’t done it. The value you place is pure conjecture. I am more a TM, high risk, high reward guy which looks like it might net VO. Like he said, anyone can fill out the bottom six. You continually laugh at Johnson but I still read top four potential, power play specialist and got the 31st pick that’s high return.

2-7 don’t hit for anyone. They got VO, Toronto maybe hot Robertson. The only certainty with the NHL draft is the first two or three picks. After that depends on the year. If the Sabre’s are a laughingstock it’s only because they traded ROR and didn’t develop Lehner. If the Lehner of the last two years was in nets and ROR was the 2nd center, this team is in the top ten overall and no one is talking about 2nd and 3rd round picks.

I’m not moving the goalposts, you omit facts that don’t fit your narrative, like the fact that they didn’t draft one guy but not saying that the guy he was traded for is on the list. We get it, they haven’t drafted guys you’ve wanted them to. I think the results are still incomplete for the last four years. In my opinion they are poised for a good run which runs contrary to your opinion that they have drafted poorly. In the end, that’s the only goal posts that matter. Let’s do this long term. Let’s track these 155 guys for the next three years. How many will impact the NHL? Which team will have the best record improvement. Until the results are in, it’s all just an educated guess.

One more point, while we didn’t draft two, the player we traded for one is on the list and the second is here because we traded three prospects to get ROR who we traded to get other prospect. History is much kinder to Sabre draft history then you are.

Since there are 31 teams you’d expect that each team would have around 5. Add to the fact that Buffalo also has a bunch under 25 and has an elite level player at both center and defense, I’d say they are poised to make a run. I believe they were in Corey’s top ten overall. And again, we continue to talk about these people’s ratings as if they were a guide to the s Stanley Cup. Pronman still thinks Mitts is a high level prospect which I know we both are skeptical.

If Diggs and Brown made plays in the end zone that they made in first four games and all those pass interference calls were counted as complete passes Allen’s day doesn’t look so bad. He obviously missed some throws but Diggs makes that catch in the end zone nine out of ten times and a healthy Brown high points his in the end zone as well. Unlike in the 90’s, there are five or six teams in the AFC that could win it. It will take a hear perfect game to do it but in my opinion, they will be in that conversation at the end.

I’ll be surprised if they don’t beat them by ten. The Pats have almost no speed at all on offense unless Michel plays. Denver completed dominated them in New England and only an inability to capitalize in the red zone made it close. The Patriots are not that good.

Exactly this. People have forgotten how close games are when top teams play. The Super Bowl years Bills routinely had 3-4 games that swung on a play or two. You also forgot the third run by Mahommes that resulted in a four point swing. The Tennessee game, as bad as it looked, would have also been a one score game if two phantom calls didn’t occur. They will likely be 5-2, playing New England at home to go 6-2 at the half way point.

To be accurate, the article does say tentatively agreed. There are still a lot of moving parts in play regarding return to play scenarios.

Patience my friends. Over half the league are expected to be at or within $1 million of the cap. Another quarter of them will have an internal cap. They are still not even sure how many games to prepare for. There is a lot in play here and teams are holding out hope for more leverage and the smart play is to wait it out, but have contingency plans.

You can’t complain about qualifying picks and then do it yourself. Dahlin was his pick. Also, you know better then most that you can’t make a blanket statement about number 8. Some years yes, most years no. Still believe three years out, we MIGHT, have a different view of JBOT’s draft. Making a judgement based on prospect list, while good conversation, especially with nothing else going around, is in my opinion, of little value.

So, if they owe JBOT a number one defenseman, a second line center, two other top six defenders and a goalie you don’t think that will rank as one of the best hauls for 2017-2019? I’d like to take that bet.

This is a post I have been wanting to make for awhile. I keep hearing how bad JBOT drafted but there are still a lot of unknowns. As far as prospects in general, all that really matters is how they end up impacting the franchise and I for one could care less how they are rated before that’s determined.

He negotiated with Edmonton which surprised me, but I guess that’s kinda out west.

The key words Ralph used were “at the moment.” They will add a goaltender.

I think it’s pretty obvious that the Titans have one of the league’s best offenses. Tannehill’s stats the last 16 games are almost identical to Mahommes.