nfreeman

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.

Congrats TB! You too Housley.

Just curious -- do you attend Sabres games or other sporting events?

Interesting.

My recollection is that he said that he was leaving, that he wasn't going to attend the meetup and that he wasn't going to continue updating some threads he was working on -- so a pretty comprehensive cutting of ties.

Interesting. I can definitely see it playing out that way. Separately: it occurred to me last night that in the various arguments in this thread last year about whether it was Jimmy or Chuck who was at fault in their conflict, I neglected to say that really, both were wrong. Jimmy was wrong because (as I posted last year), he doesn't get to take chances with other people's livelihoods and reputations, but Chuck was also wrong for not appreciating the good and loving qualities that his brother has.