nfreeman

Hammy: there are "quite a few" players that "despise" playing for DDB.

Very nice.

I think it's quite possible Jack's agent/friend/family member leaked it to influence TP and GMTM. Because most GMs get a 2nd bite at the choose-a-coach apple. OK, but what else is he going to say? Now that is some high-quality smarm. Last season, the way Hammy characterized Gionta's reaction to Kane missing practice was utter BS and clearly fabricated to support Hammy's story. Having said all that, my 2 cents are as follows: - I don't think Hammy fabricated his "inside sources" statement. - I think Eichel's agent could easily have leaked it to Hammy in order to try to get rid of DDB. The agent might've concluded that leaking it might be the only way to be confident that TP would get the message, - Even so, it still seems more likely that the "inside source" is Eichel's brother/mom/other entourage member -- among other reasons, I'm not sure a high-powered NHL agent would give Hammy the time of day. - I thought Jeremy White's take was interesting, but he stopped well short of saying that his sources have told him that DDB is going to get canned -- it was more like his sources told him that Eichel heavily criticized DDB, and Jeremy theorized the rest. - I still think it's greater than 50/50 that DDB gets canned. Keep hope alive! Interesting, and very possible.

I should've clarified that by "raw numbers," I was referring g to goals and assists, and extrapolated to a full season. And on that basis, I would take Matthews' g-a-pts season over Jack's. Goals are more important than a few extra assists. As for nuances -- while I don't dispute Flagg's (as usual) excellent work, I also think there's a bit of stat shopping/cherry picking going on here. Corsi and Fenwick are pretty widely used, both in the fancystat world and on this board, as metrics for possession -- and Matthews' are much better than Eichel's. Certainly Eichel is better than Matthews in some aspects of the game. I think Flagg's point about zone entries and exits, and TB's point about carrying the puck and running the chessboard are rboth well stated and mutually reinforcing in this regard. But we can't ignore overall production and overall possession -- and we certainly can't ignore team success or an experienced coach choosing one over the other either.

Raw numbers: again, FORTY GOALS. SECOND IN THE NHL. AS A ROOKIE. Fancystats: Matthews had better Corsi and Fenwick than Eichel this year. So I don't see where Eichel drives possession better. To be clear: Eichel had moments this year that made me think he's gonna be a top-5 player in the NHL pretty GD soon. And he could certainly end up showing that he's better than Matthews. But Matthews had more of those moments this year, is much more highly regarded around the NHL -- including by the only coach that had both of them on his team and led his team into the playoffs.

1. No one outside of WNY thinks Eichel had a better year than Matthews this year. Matthews' raw numbers were much better, as were his fancystats. 2. Matthews was the best player on a playoff team that looks like it might win a round. Eichel put up numbers and showed zero leadership on the 5th-worst team in the NHL -- a team that went backwards this year. 3. Last summer at the World Cup, Matthews was well ahead of Eichel in the rotation, there was talk about the coaches not being too impressed with Eichel and Eichel rode the bench for long stretches.

How many NHL GMs would take Eichel over Matthews? I'm guessing zero.

Regarding Matthews' season vs Eichel's: I don't give a crap about PPG. Matthews had FORTY freaking goals as a rookie.

This may yet prove out, but there is zero basis for asserting it now. Matthews had a far better season as a rookie than Jackie boy did as a sophomore. Completely agree that the Leafs didn't tank in anywhere near the same way the Sabres did. Completely agree that the Leafs winning the lottery doesn't mean that the Sabres' tank was a failure. One thing has nuttin' to do with the udder. But the Sabres' tank was unequivocally a failure. Straw man. Those weren't the only 2 alternatives. We f'd it up because we adopted a plan that required a 1-in-5 chance to pay off -- and any plan that relies on a 1-in-5 chance to pay off is an idiotic plan.

I think the problem was more that they were a terrible possession and shot generation/shot prevention team, which caught up with them, AND, critically, they had a deeply disturbing lack of heart and will that manifested after the bye week when a playoff spot was within reach notwithstanding their systemic and roster issues.

Good breakdown. I'd quibble a bit -- the Clarkson trade was under the prior regime, they gave their goalie a fat 5-year contract, the LTIR for Lupul is pretty questionable and they are eating $8.6MM in cap hit for the guys in the minors -- but many of your points are valid. However, I think their cap management has benefited greatly from simply having a bunch of really good players on their ELCs. Their 3 best forwards -- one superstar, one star and one maybe-star -- are all dirt cheap. They also haven't yet had to bite the bullet and decide whether to give a decent but not great homegrown player a fat extension (although if those are Sweet Lou's decisions, he'll probably continue to be ruthless about it and generally make the right calls). We'll see. This story is far from written. Certainly the Leafs are ahead now though.

What is the support for the assertion on asset and cap management?

Correct. Specifically, 4 minutes on 450. And, for all you instant-gratification-needing, soft, irresolute millennials: preheat that toaster oven.

Awright Flagg! You're going to crush it. And those tall, blonde, corn-fed southwestern cowgirls -- hoo boy they like wrasslin those skinny northeastern boys!

I will respectfully predict NFW on Franson returning.

Captain America is not irresolute. Just the opposite.

Since we're free associating here, I'll note that Paul Byron has turned into a nice player for the Habs. Also, if you take 3/4 of a handful of M&Ms, and 1/4 of a handful of peanut butter M&Ms, and mix them together in your hand before inhaling them, the effect is quite pleasant.

Most of Harrington's opinions were reasonable enough IMHO (although I don't think the team views how Eichel interacts with the media as indicative of his leadership abilities or lack thereof). But, as always with Harrington, there was zero we didn't know already. No inside perspective -- because I think he has zero sources in the organization or the locker room.

As always, the question is not what you want to happen, the question is whether you believe it will happen or won't happen. I think he's gone after GMTM meets with TP this week. I think DDB and GMTM had to have their pressers right after the season because that is SOP, and doing otherwise would've created a poopstorm that they wanted to avoid. I also think GMTM didn't want to totally decide until he interviewed the players, which couldn't happen until after the season ended. I think GMTM and TP probably wanted to sit down for at least 1-2 full days to do the end-of-season debrief, including the DDB conversation, that it will happen this week, and that DDB will be let go. Keep hope alive!

OK -- I've now listened to the presser in its entirety. I think it's better than 50/50 that DDB gets canned this week after GMTM meets with TP. It sounded to me like there was too much criticism -- on fundamental matters -- directed at DDB for GMTM not to have decided that he wants to get rid of him. This might be new-poll-worthy.

For the record, JJ50 -- who produces plenty of good posts but also a number of unfortunate ones, did post to the effect of being happy to see Polak's injury, and someone else seconded it. Those were pretty poor efforts. I also think Millbank's exultation after the Leafs won was pretty mild, and that a number of posters overreacted to it. Millbank has been here for a long time, his communications are always respectful, he's seen a ton of hockey and knows a lot about it, and the board is better when he's here. If the Sabres had risen from the dead the way the Leafs did this year and then won a dramatic playoff game on the road in 2OT to tie the series, I suspect that plenty of the posters here that post on other team's boards would've been quite a bit chestier than Millbank was. So let's chill out a bit.

I too would like Reinhart to be better than Draisaitl, but I don't see how anyone can think that at this point. Draisaitl had 60% more assists then Reino, so I don't see how one could claim that Reino is a better passer. Draisaitl is clearly much better than Reino at the role of winger on a superstar center's line. I suppose there is still hope that Reino will turn out to be a better center than Draisaitl, but we'll need a new coach to find that out.

Draisaitl had 29-48-77 this year, including 19 even-strength goals. Reino had 17-30-47 this year, including 8 even-strength goals. He had a stretch this year of something like 25 games without an even-strength goal. Draisaitl is bigger and faster. That is a significant difference.

Here's a criticism of GMTM that seems reasonable: Draisaitl at this point is a significantly better player than Reino.

That Habs-Rangers game was great. Shea Weber is a freaking rock.