nfreeman

From the Athletic: "The Flower" played 961 games for the Habs, recording a franchise-best 1,246 points. … Lafleur was born on Sept. 20, 1951 in Thurso, Quebec and was taken with the No. 1 pick by the Canadiens in the 1971 NHL Draft. He won Cups with the Canadiens in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in the Canadiens’ 1977 Cup win. He led the NHL in scoring three straight seasons from 1975-76 through 1977-78 and won the Hart Trophy in 1976-77 and 1977-78. From 1974-75 through 1979-80 he scored 50 or more goals including an NHL-leading 60 in 1977-78.

I am legit looking forward to each game at this point, which is pretty amazing given how buried in the standings they are. I will continue to reserve judgment until the games and standings matter, which hasn’t been the case in the last 7 weeks. But I don’t think the team spirit and fast, exciting play they’ve been showing is a mirage either. It’s also very reasonable to be excited about Power and Quinn next season, and possibly JJP too. And if they bring in a real goalie and a solid defenseman this summer? I am going to make all kinds of outlandish predictions for next season. Go Sabres.

It was a skinny guy named Wayne.

RIP. He was a superstar and a worthy contemporary of Perreault.

We'll never know, but the real problem with the ROR trade may have been that it was simply unnecessary. The trade occurred in the summer of 2018, which was the summer after JB's 1st year as GM and Howie's 1st year as coach. That year was a disaster, as the team, which was not tanking, nevertheless finished DFL. My guess is that JB, like his successor KA, determined that the team's culture was rotten and the solution was to remove ROR. Having made that decision, JB made the best deal he could for ROR, likely subject to the crippling condition imposed by TP that the acquiror needed to pay ROR's $7.5MM bonus, because TP wasn't going to do so. But maybe removing ROR -- who was a very good 200-foot player, a legit #1C or #2C and accordingly a precious NHL commodity -- wasn't needed. Maybe the right combination of coaching and other personnel moves could've fixed the room. The same summer ROR was traded, Barry Trotz, who had just won a Cup with the Caps, became available and was immediately snapped up by the Isles, who immediately improved from Sabres-level joke franchise to solid playoff team. Meanwhile, it became clear the following year, Howie's 2nd and last year as HC, that he was in way over his head as a HC. Also that summer, JB decided to let Lehner, an RFA, leave the Sabres without offering him a contract or getting anything in trade for him. He signed with the Isles and immediately had a career year, with a .930 SV%. Meanwhile, JB signed Carter Hutton, who may have been the worst goalie in Sabres history. Maybe if JB had kept ROR, given up on Howie and brought in Trotz, a better goalie and one or 2 other good-character pieces, the Sabres could've made the same jump the Isles made. Again, we'll never know.

1) Team MVP -- TT by a nose over Dahlin 2) Rookie of the Year -- Samuelsson 3) Comeback Player of the Year -- Skinner by a nose over KO 4) Unsung Hero (player who doesn’t get enough credit) -- Jokiharju, who has enabled both Dahlin and Power to excel 5) Top Forward -- TT 6) Team Norris -- Dahlin 7) Team Vezina -- Anderson Edit 8.) Most improved player. (I knew I was forgetting something). -- TT 9) Team Selke -- Nobody has really earned this IMHO. TT and Tuch have been pretty decent on the PK, so maybe one of them? 10) Peca Leadership Award -- KO by a nose over Tuch 11) Ramsey Defensive Defenseman Award -- Samuelsson 12) Rico Best Winger Award -- Skinner

I think DM likes Joki quite a bit and that Joki is therefore a lock for the top 4.

I agree with most of this but I think the bolded is a bit off. I think JB absolutely thought Berglund would be a major contributor, both on the ice and in the locker room. He may or may not have also thought Sobotka would be a solid 3rd-liner as well. JB not bothering to determine whether Berglund, who became tradable only due to his agent butchering the administration of his NTC, would rather jump off a bridge than play for the Sabres was grossly incompetent, and one of, unfortunately, many such terrible moves by JB.

I think it was both. The culture change was necessary, and effective, but not sufficient to produce the results we've seen over the last 7 weeks until we got healthier and thus iced a better team.

But Tuch joined the lineup on Dec. 29, and the Sabres were terrible in Jan. and Feb. IMHO, they didn't start playing better until some of the injured forwards returned (or in VO's case, got healthier). That gave them 3 to 4 legit lines, instead of 2 NHL lines and 2 AHL lines.

Oh goody. More temper tantrum gibberish. Do you understand that "may or may not have been part of the problem", which is what I wrote, is not the same as "wasn't part of the problem?" Do you understand that people are going to disagree with you from time to time, and when they do so it may be simply because they disagree with you, and not just "fake slander and bad faith arguments?" I'm not sure how it's "obvious" that I wouldn't want Reino on my team when I say that he's a very good NHL forward who's having a very good season, and that at least 30 NHL GMs would take him over VO. For the record, I would rather have signed Reino to an extension last summer than traded him. As for Hammy being "literally" the only person to criticize Reino's character, here's Mike Harrington, another Sabres beat reporter who is around the team much more than we are, on Reino and how his teammates felt about him: https://auburnpub.com/sports/hockey/mike-harrington-stop-with-sabres-tank-talk-as-team-begins-rebuild/article_fdd83589-9808-545f-bb4f-c721f4011b1e.html As for his skating -- don't take my word (or the word of 90% of Sabrespace) for it -- let's see what he and his teammates have to say: https://theathletic.com/834449/2019/02/23/how-sam-reinhart-has-turned-himself-into-a-steady-points-producer/

Until the very end. Until they pry the keyboard from my cold, dead fingers. Both of these are obnoxious. As for the substance: is the actual engineering report available anywhere? I was only able to find this, which was commissioned by the NYS ESD: https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/news-articles/ESD-Bills-Stadium-Analysis-Summary-FINAL-11-1-21.pdf It isn't an engineering report, but rather an overall assessment of refurbishment costs vs costs of a new stadium. There is almost no detail about deterioration/structural integrity of the upper deck. Frankly, @Contempt's analysis upthread was better. OTOH, it looks like Erie County commissioned a separate engineering study, which found that repairing the upper deck was feasible and would cost much less than the ESD's report indicated. However, in a classic bit of NYS corruption, that report is only available in a heavily redacted form -- here: https://www.investigativepost.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Didonato-Stadium-report-redacted-11_05_21.pdf For those who are interested, here is an article analyzing the situation in detail: https://www.investigativepost.org/2022/03/30/stadium-rehab-costs-lower-than-advertised/ I'll say it again: WNY needed a new stadium to keep the Bills. But it's not about structural issues at the Ralph. It's all about the Benjamins. And since the decision-makers have zero incentive not to spend other people's money, it's going to happen.

Am I remembering incorrectly, or is it better to be in the red for xGA and CA, and better to be in the blue for GF, xGF and CF?

IMHO it's not as crazy as it seems at first glance. Reino was a good young player who spent his first 6 NHL years in a highly dysfunctional environment. Like most young players, he was pretty inconsistent during his 1st 3 seasons. His productivity took a major jump in his 4th season, Howie's 2nd and last season here, and he maintained that productivity for 2 more seasons under Krueger before stepping it up again this season on a loaded Florida team. He'll end up this year with about 30 goals and 80 points, and 3rd among forwards in ice time on the Panthers, who are tied for 1st in the entire NHL. That is a very good season. As a Sabres fan, my main criticisms of Reino's game were that (i) he may or may not have been part of the problem here, but he wasn't part of the solution, (ii) he generally disappeared for lengthy stretches of each season, and those stretches coincided with the periods in which the season slipped away from the team and (iii) slow skating. Still, he has developed over time into a very good NHL forward and I'd guess that both KA and most here would prefer he was still on the team. This is VO's 3rd NHL season, and his first in a non-Covid, non-Krueger environment. He was highly productive as a rookie, with 20 goals and 42 pts in 54 games, before slipping to 13-19-32 in 56 games in his 2nd year. He's since bounced back with a fine 3rd year -- 20 goals and 44 pts in 68 games so far -- despite being out or substantially impaired for a large chunk of it with a wrist injury. He's improved each year, he can score it and pass it, he's a very good skater and he seems like a good team guy. If he stays healthy, I kinda expect him to score 30+ next year. Reino is more durable, more solidly built, more adaptable, better on the boards and probably has better hockey IQ. VO is faster, perhaps more skilled and perhaps a better team guy. It's not impossible that VO's productivity will be more or less equivalent with Reino's as VO's career progresses if VO stays healthy and if VO's teammates improve to the level of Reino's current teammates. Right now I think at least 30 NHL GMs take Reino, and rightly so. In a few years though it might be less lopsided.

So the Caps can, as noted upthread, cripple Vegas' playoff hopes with a regulation win tonight in Vegas. The Caps are safely in the playoffs at #8 in the Eastern Conference (btw, the gap between #8 and #9 is a ridiculous 16 pts), but are jockeying for seeding with Pittsburgh, Boston and TB. So hopefully they'll bring it. In the West, we need Dallas, Nashville, the Kings and Vancouver to keep winning. Dallas plays in Edmonton tonight and in Calgary tomorrow night, while Vancouver plays in Minny and LA hosts Chicago tomorrow night.

Did Petersen say this? It seems fairly likely that he was more interested in avoiding the poopshow that the Sabres had become by 2017 (Petersen signed in LA a couple of months after DDB and GMTM were canned, which happened at the end of the Sabres' 6th straight season with no playoffs).

I agree with most of this, but I think the goalie position is a bit different (as it is in many other respects). There is only one starting goalie slot, while there are at least 9 high-usage forward slots and at least 4 high-usage D slots. A good NCAA forward or defenseman weighing his NHL options knows he has many more possibilities to force his way into a lineup than a goalie does. So while I agree with you that an NCAA player will be attracted to a strong, professionally run, winning franchise, I also think that factor will be less important, and an open slot will be more important, for a goalie than for a F or a D. It's also worth noting that an NCAA player who can become a UFA may be able to choose among multiple strong franchises -- i.e. not just between a strong franchise and a lousy one -- and in that situation an open slot would probably play a bigger role in the decision. Wouldn't Portillo be more inclined towards, say, Washington than towards Florida?

The bolded is fair. As for the last couple of renovations, I thought these were mostly about seating/amenities, and not structural improvements -- i.e. they installed bathrooms at the top of the upper deck, added club seats and boxes, etc. FWIW, wikipedia says this about the most recent reno:

You're right, of course, that nothing lasts forever. But that doesn't mean that structural deterioration is the driver behind the new stadium. BTW, the Sullivans was put into service in 1943, i.e. 30 years before the Ralph. And the Aud opened in 1940 and closed in 1996. The Montreal Forum opened in 1924 and closed in 1996. The Alouettes' stadium opened in 1914 and is still in use. Camp Nou, where FC Barcelona plays, opened in 1957. Could the upper deck not simply be reinforced without tearing it down and rebuilding it? What is this based on?

I too am pretty skeptical about structural issues at the Ralph being a driver of the decision to build a new stadium. The new stadium is all about extracting more revenue from Bills fans. While I don't doubt that the upper deck needed (or will need in the near to medium term) repairs/reinforcements, I would also guess that those could've been accomplished for less than 10% of the cost of the new stadium.

I'll see those crappy Vegas #s and raise you these: Vegas -- 29 games with Eichel -- 13-14-2 Vegas -- 29 games immediately before Eichel joined the lineup: 17-9-3 I'll say it: it seems quite possible that there is something about Eichel's game, or something about his personality, or both, that brings his teammates down.

We need the Kings to beat Anaheim tonight. EDIT: and how about Lindy helping out the Sabres by beating Vegas last night!

Eichel is a better passer and playmaker, and better carrying the puck at speed. TT has a better slapper and wrister and FWIW is better in the shootout. TT is almost certainly a better team guy. Eichel may or may not be faster than TT. TT’s long stride makes him deceptively quite fast. When Eichel was at his pre-Covid peak he was a freaking monster. TT hasn’t shown that level yet and probably doesn’t have it in him (because very few do). OTOH, Eichel only showed it for 10%-15% of his career and may or may not get it back.

I think you're right that if KA brings in a star goalie on, say, a 5-year deal, that would affect Levi's and Portillo's willingness to sign -- but I think it's pretty unlikely that KA would do so. A 3-year deal for a non-star goalie, which I think is much more likely, shouldn't affect their decisions.

I listened to the KA interview yesterday. Good stuff, and I'll note that he touched on a bunch of topics in addition to Portillo and Johnson. As for those 2, my takeaway is: - Neither of them has told the Sabres that he isn't interested in joining the Sabres. - Neither of them has committed to signing with the Sabres either though. - KA wants them in the organization and knows he will have to sell them on joining because they have UFA as an option. - KA is being smart about selling them on the Sabres by staying in touch with them, being positive and supportive, not pressuring them and having current Sabres like Dahlin and Power (and maybe someone else -- I don't recall whom) contact them. (KA mentioned that Dahlin's and Portillo's families know each other from youth hockey in Sweden.) - Johnson and Portillo, for their part, are being respectful as well but are also keeping their options open and will no doubt be following the Sabres next season to see whether the team continues to improve and the organization continues to climb towards respectability. Overall, the interview made me a bit more optimistic about the Sabres' chances of signing them, although I think I'd still be surprised if they sign both of them.