apuszczalowski

And yet the 2 of them, together, on the same team, have only managed 1 cup win in almost 10 years AND, are tied in a first round series with the Columbus Blue Jackets.............. Is Kane the best player in the world? Outside of Buffalo and their fans, No. But he is a great player when he wants to be and is in the top level of talent in the NHL Thats fine if say Crosby was only interested in personal stats and not being on a winning team (like what people say about Ovi), but its not always the players fault that they can put up great individual stats and not have many team wins/acomplishments. Its not like Crosby is out there being greedy and its preventing the Pens from winning. Chicago has a better team around Kane then the Pens do outside of Crosby and Malkin.

If that were true, and there nothing to say it will be, then the League should be able to step in and fine the franchise while taking away their picks in the draft cause thats basically Tanking and robbing your fans Yup, grab a seat along with the oilers fans, next to the panthers fans, and there may be some Islanders fans in there too!

Sure, but it doesn't mean he plans on/expects to have the best odds or to be in the top 5 with the Sabres own pick.........

He's just being realistic and making sure that expectaitons are lower.Realistically, they won't be able a playoff team next year without ALOT of things going their way and some luck. Not saying it won't or can't happen, but realistically it won't happen. The plan is to improve the team, but not have people expecting a complete turnaround in just one year. I do think that they are planning for next year to be a huge difference from this year, but just not Huge enough to make the playoffs

I don't know if its ehrhoff or not, but you are correct, his comment appears to be that they are about 99.9% likely to buyout Leino, but are 50/50 on using their other buyout on someone else (which could be Ehrhoff although I think they would rather move him for an assett then let him go for nothing)

Too many people have been ruined by the lowered expectations of having an imbecile GM for too long A GOOD GM can acquire talent through many methods like trades, FA and the draft. This idea that you need to have a Crosby talent to be a winner is not true, the pens have him, a #2 overall pick in malkin, a #1 overall pick in net, plus others and yet they have only been able to win 1 cup since the lockout. The Bruins don't have a one fo these types of players and they have a cup and are favorites to win this year.

Basically, they aren't going into the offseason and next season with the goal being they want McDavid. TM has said there will be turnover of the roster, and they will be active in FA and in Trades (word is that pretty much every player has a for sale sign hung on them) Will they be a cup contender next year? No Will they be a solid playoff team next year? No Will they be a team fighting for a shot at one of the wild card spots in the playoffs? Maybe but most likely not Will they be a better team and not at the bottom of the league again? Yes I have no doubt that TM will be very busy this offseason, and many of their collected assetts will be used in deals to obtain guys that will make this team better. I don't expect them to be in the market for guys who can only provide immediate help, but they will be going after guys who are either about to break out. Murray has already shown this by obtaining guys like Conacher, someone with experiance in the league now that can help and has potential to get better, and Neuvirth who he has said he thinks can be good. Theres going to be a few surprise moves this offseason in trades of guys some might have thought wouldn't get moved (Ehrhoff? Grigorenko? Enroth?) but might be able to get them some decent young player who has potential to be better.

From what I got about Murrays comment on FA and getting players to want to come here, he means they won't be chasing guys down and sending Terry out to convince them, or have another Leino situation where they jump and overpay to get someone to come here. They will go after guys and make offers that they are comfortable with to convince guys to come here, but don't want guys who don't want to be here and only take the deal cause they are chasing money its also why I can see him dealing Ehrhoff early in the offseason. He was one of the guys TP had to chase to come to Buffalo and it doesn't appear he wants to be here. its also why I can see Ott being a target of theirs this offseason, because he is someone that if offered would be willing to come back for a fair deal and wouldn't need to be forced to come here

I bet this is when they announce who they are letting go from the staff As for TP and hearing him speak, he will probably just flash something fancy to the fans to draw their attention away from this mess and have them swooning over him again as the saviour. Hes already done the new lockerroom/arena upgrades, building some new hockey rinks for the city, and going permanently back to jerseys that are close to the originals. If I had to guess, he would probably throw something out like he is working on a deal for the Bills to keep them in Buffalo.

Theres a very simple move the league could make with the draft that could make teams think long and hard about making their focus on the draft instead of improving the team to make the playoffs and its to make the entire positioning in the draft of the teams not in the playoffs based off of a lottery. In other words, all the teams that don't make the playoffs get a ball in the lottery, they then draw the ball for each team and thats the order you pick, so you could finish with the worst record in NHL history, but still draft outside the top ten, instead of being guaranteed at worst the #2 spot. There would then be no reward/incentive for finishing the worst and it would make the competition for the final playoff spot better cause more teams would put up a fight to get in The part about manipulating the roster for the draft was about the trade deadline, that I do remember, IIRC it was a comment he made when asked about the trade deadline

Although what Murray said was a little different, his comment is pretty much saying that you go into the season with the intent of being a good team and trying to win. If the trade deadline comes around and theres no chance of the playoffs (outside of a miracle) then you might make some moves to set yourself up for a better draft pick instead of making moves to try and work the miracle. He wasn't talking about heading into the season with the goal of getting the #1 overall pick I remember him saying it too, but I believe it was when reffering to and being asked about the trade deadline, that its something you do when you get to the deadline and your far out of a playoff spot your focus then might be to sell and try to get a better draft decision. I don't believe it had anything to do with that being the intention at the begining of a season

Thats why i have no problem with them taking this season as a "Tank" year to rebuild. They sold off expiring contracts to gain assetts to rebuild instead of losing them for nothing. If they spend this offseason without trying to improve this team and continue to just sell assetts for future picks/prospects, thats where I have a problem and so should anyone who spends a dime on this team. You should have bottomed out after the cluster###### that was this entire season, this is a team with an owner who says they have the resources to spend and improve, with plenty of cap space, plenty of prospects, and a ton of draft picks, theres no reason they can't be a team atleast competing for the final playoff spot next year.

I think this is really going to depend on the ownership issue.I don't think Wang is going to make any big moves, like firing the coach and GM until they are sold to a new owner. If a new owner is buying Wangs majority share soon, he may feel that they should stay until the new majority owner has a chance to make the move for themselves. For all we know a move could happen soon and Snow is gone before the draft.

I don't quite remember him as a Hasek style "flopper", closest comparrison I remember with him to Hasek was the mask IIRC

Corsi, and maybe Sacco (Teppo would be nice cause he was a good leader when playing here) are the only ones I may consider keeping if it was my choice, unless significant upgrades were available Word seems to be that Irbe will be coming in as the goaltending coach since Nolan liked him from his Latvian staff. Don't know if he is a huge improvement but also can't say he will be much of a step down As for the strength and conditioning/training guys, when it comes to injuries, you have to take a look at the kinds of injuries they are getting and evaluate. When you see alot of guys pulling/tweaking muscles, or they appear out of shape and tired, then thats the coaching. If the majority of injures are from hits (concussions, broken bones, pulls/strains from players falling on the goalies, etc) then its hard to blame the training staff for those

Well, If Garth Snow is the GM next season, the Islanders would be smart to give up this years pick, if they smarten up and dump Snow ASAP, then defering the pick to next year is smart cause that team with a couple of tweaks is atleast a bubble playoff team. With a good GM, and getting a solid player in possibly the top 5 this year to go with a returning Tavares, then making an upgrade in net they are a good team. I doubt that happens with Snow in charge so giving up this years high pick will save him from giving up one of the top picks next year. (Although with Snow/Islanders luck, they probably give up this years pick and end up making the playoffs (getting swept in the first round) and see Tavares leave them

This year can be forgiven because there was probably no "intention" at first to throw this season for a top pick going in. With the front office reshuffling and selling off the upcoming FAs it was inevitable that this team was going to be bad for the rest of the season so I don't see an issue with them being bad enough to get the top pick. There should be a huge issue if this team decides to Tank next season in order to try and obtain McDavid.

The problem with the last "core" was the surrounding cast, they didn't get any additional help, When Darcy let Briere and Drury walk he basically pushed that core out there and told them to carry the team. Who know what the islanders might do, If they give up their #1 this year the the Sabres have 2 top 5+/- picks this year to add to the prospects already in the system. This team is already young enough, and theres going to be plenty of prospects in this system after this draft. who knows what the Islanders will do, I bet no one ever thought they would give up Moulson and picks for Vanek, and yet they did. This team is already stocked with prospects, if they get another top 5+/- pick in this years draft theres going to be plenty of guys to build from. Look no further then the Oilers as an example of a team thats trying to do what everyone here wants Murray and the Sabres to do, collecting high picks to build a core. How about the Panthers as another example?

Thats actually pretty big, that he beat out the Staals, and some other big name players on the Canes and named their MVP

Well they still have plenty of time to change that rule for it to happen............ (or for them to make it their new permanent jersey)

Well thats good, but lets hope that he pans out in the NHL where it matters........

You aren't just going to go from 1st overall pick to SC contender, they are going to have to get back to "fighting for the last playoff spot" and then build up to SC favorites. If they get teh Islanders pick this year, theres no reason to throw away another season just to hope you get a shot at McDavid (and if they end up finishing the season just missing out on the playoffs, theres still a shot they can win the lottery and get McDavid anyways. If they get the Islanders pick, they could end up with 2 picks in the top 5 of this draft, which could give them a combination of any 2 of the top 4 guys in this draft. Just getting back to fighting for a playoff spot would be a huge move for this team, and a great move for devloping the young players, don't underestimate what just being in a playoff race could do for the development of some of these players.

Can't wait to see them raise the Cup wearing these third Jerseys

So who gets the Pom-Poms being given away at this game, the fans attending or the players?

Exactly, why would they go down? TP has the fanbase hook, line and sinker believing in "the Tank", and with a waiting list for Season Tickets, they know people won't give up theirs and possibly lose their chance to get them back when the team gets better. Whatever tickets they have left after Season tickets they know they can sell pretty well to the opposing teams fans so they continue to increase prices every year The price increase probably won't be huge though, but theres always going to be an increase