nfreeman

So my son and I made the game-day decision today to attend Islanders-Senators. I was able to procure lower level, row 15, close to the blue line seats for $59 per ticket on seatgeek including fees. Not a high-profile matchup, to be sure, but it will be my first live NHL game this season and I'm kinda psyched to go with my son. Plus I don't think I've seen Karlsson live, so that should be interesting. (Actually, between him and 2018 UFA Tavares, that's 2 top-10 NHL players.) I'll report back if anything remarkable happens.

i thought the Sabres couldn't get anything going on offense at all until they switched up the lines in the 3rd, with Foligno moving up with ROR and Reino, and Kaner moving up with Larsson and Gionta. I thought they created a lot of chances in the 3rd and it was a pretty exciting period. i thought Kane was the Sabres' best forward last night. It looks like he is out of DDB's doghouse as he had over 18 min last night -- 4th-most among forwards. Nilsson played another very strong game. Bogo brain-locked on Carolina's goal but otherwise skated well and looked pretty good. That hit he put on the Carolina forward on the left boards was amazing. Has anyone seen Sam Reinhart?

Other than the absence of Ennis and the demotion of Kane, these combos seem pretty similar to what many would've predicted before the season. It's kind of interesting to have Moulson and Kane fighting it out for that second line winger slot.

I'm going to request that you (or anyone else with a good STH story who's ready first) start a thread that is dedicated to that type of story.

So, sophomore year of college through senior year? Interesting.

So far Gionta hasn't looked like he is out of gas -- i.e. he's looked much better IMHO than Legwand looked last year. If he's able to keep up this pace for the entire season, I'd be fine with a 1-year deal at about $2MM. If one of the kids from Rochester makes a push, it will be someone other than Gionta that gets displaced (again, assuming Gionta keeps up his current level of play).

Very nice.

Risto isn't quite there yet, but his play on the GWG -- seeing the open ice and the opportunity for a 3-on-1, accelerating into that ice, calling for the puck and then burying it -- was the kind of play that a no-BS star defenseman makes. Okposo isn't quite a star IMHO but he is a very good, professional, smart player. That was a terrific play he made on the GWG. I didn't like Lehner's play on the first NYI goal, as he seemed to get caught flat-footed deep in his crease -- but otherwise he was terrific and won the game for his team. Good for him and for the Sabres. Kane got under 14 min again and most of his shifts on the 4th line, but also seemed to get a number of shifts with ROR and 2nd PP unit. He may be working his way out of DDB's doghouse. Falk seemed reasonably steady. I had no problems with Kulikov's game last night, although others here seemed to. Boychuk's hit was suspendable IMHO. We'll see. Overall, I would've liked to see them come out stronger last night -- NYI dominated the 1st period -- but they showed some heart and determination in sticking with it and pulling out the W. Now they need to keep it going.

So, do we know whether Kane will start the game on the 4th line?

There was indeed talk, but it was along the lines of "the owners of the Islanders would gladly move to a new arena in Queens if someone else paid for it." So nothing real.

I do not think a new hockey arena will be built on LI anytime soon. There is no public money for it, and the economic rationale for privately funding it simply does not exist. I also think that the Islanders -- like most US hockey teams -- will start to draw well when they start putting a consistently good team on the ice -- and that that won't happen until they get a new GM -- which I think is likely to happen after this year.

At your service (and pleased with doohickie's vigilante tactics albeit somewhat conflicted).

Me too.

Congrats!

I assume you mean "the most logical spot for him to be when DDB is PO'd at him and trying to send him a message," innit? (This is the impression I got from DDB's interview on WGR the other day.) Or do you think that Moulson is a more effective player than Kaner?

Interesting. So you'd like to see, say, Reino centering Okposo and Kane at even strength and working the half-wall on the PP? I kinda think though that Reino had a number of opportunities at center while Jackie Boy was injured, and failed to deliver -- although to be fair there wasn't much in the way of scoring wingers for him to work with, since Kane and Ennis were also hurt and Zemgus and (to a lesser extent) Moulson just don't have much to give at this point. You are right that I haven't watched the World Juniors. One question about that experience though: is that a tournament where defense tends to trail offense -- thus making it easier for offenses to flow and produce -- especially given the offensive talent on the rosters? i.e. is offensive production at the WJ level perhaps not correlative to NHL production, given the (putative) disproportionately large gap between WJ defensive talent/defensive scheme/goaltending and those factors on the NHL level?

I know there's more to it than just linemates, but putting Reino first with Eichel and then with ROR doesn't seem like it should handicap him. What do you have in mind for him?

I'm afraid it's gone for good unless we enlarge the nets or shrink the goalies.

I'm not done with Kane, but it's certainly possible that GMTM is. We'll see. Separately: that wasn't exactly a goaltending showdown last night. Budaj was well out of position on ROR's goal and Eichel's 1st goal was one of the weakest ones of the season. For his part, Lehner was pretty spotty on LA's 1st and 3rd goals, although he did show up during winning time.

Did anyone else notice that Kane exuded zero joy last night after scoring his goal, which was a huge goal? Rayzor mentioned that he had been dropped to the 4th line for most of the 3rd period before getting that shift with Eichel -- maybe he was PO'd.

It's not a straw man, that's for sure. (Now, if I had said "everyone who pushed for the tank said we'd win a cup this year, and we aren't going to, so the tank is a failure" -- that would've been a straw man, because it's an obviously ridiculous standard that no one actually said.) And I'm not gloating. I wish I had been wrong about the tank. And there is still quite a bit of time for that to end up being the case. But at some point (e.g. if the Sabres don't make the playoffs this year or next year), we need to stop kidding ourselves about the efficacy of the tank and recognize that it's chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Correct, although I might add that there are about a million better uses for the $250 Sunday Ticket price tag than the privilege of watching them 16 times.

This post isn't just a straw man. It's a straw army.

After a few years of not buying the NFL Sunday Ticket, I was seduced by Rex's bravado and bought it both last year and, after some hesitation, this year. If Brandon, Whaley and Rex are not gone after this season, I'm out again (still keeping my tickets though).

It shouldn't be seen as incomprehensible, or even odd. Tanking usually fails to produce a winning team, and instead leaves the team in the wilderness for a generation. That is the most likely outcome here as well.