thewookie1

I think he honestly tried to but got shot down by Pesce himself. Your #1 DMAN does not have to be some defensive superman. Cale Makar isn't some defensive wizard but he does enough and gets help from Toews. As Dahlin grows and gains experience he will naturally get more effective defensively. He's already made great strides and is one of the few to have an edge to his game. This is your biggest problem; you have this overt love affair with the Bruins and everything they do. No defense and Grit are a problem but there is zero need to reach Boston's levels. Chicago won 3 Cups with shooty passy possession hockey that had a trio of solid to great defenseman and a very limited amount of overall grit. Hell they even beat your "godly" Bruins back in 2013. The Sabres definitely need a more structured coach, but one that understands how to play a fast up tempo game and not neuter Dahlin's offensive instincts by filling his head with 50,000 defensive responsibilities. Guys like Cozens should be very capable of playing under a more structured system as long as its predicated on speed and pressure versus slow clutch and grab styled trap based strategies. Tochett's system would probably work here pretty well to be honest; there would be incongruencies with Skinner for sure but for the most part I think it would work pretty well. After all, most of Vancouver isn't exactly famous for their physicality besides Zadorov whom was acquired in-season and JT Miller. Quinn Hughes is far from a physical defenseman and is arguably more offensively skewed than even Dahlin and yet they are having success.

Have to join you on that one; he jumps up way to much and really shouldn't be.

Doesn't seem possible based on CBJ's needs being very similar to our own. Plus I have zero interest in trading them Power or Cozens for him.

I was rolling my eyes at the "Told ya so" not exactly the point you were stating

Tanev, is very much in a similar boat with how often he is injured. Shot blocker style dmen are more often injured than those who aren't actively using their body to stop 95mph slapshots. If I were Granato, I would of called Niklas Hjalmarsson or even Jay McKee to show some pointers on shot blocking.

Oh Muel, why can't you just stay healthy? So far his contract hasn't been working out, but the good news is he's locked in at a rate that will only look better as time goes on and the cap rises. I was fine with the contract at the time of its signing; felt it was a little rich but a livable deal nonetheless. So far its been an abject disaster due to Muel being made of glass. However, he has shown signs in the past of being a solid defensive defenseman and perhaps this surgery will fix whatever has ailed him this year and we can look to a better Muel in the future. Thorny, must you look to agitate the masses with an "I told you so" when its not all that impressive when you aren't exactly positive about much to begin with. It's like celebrating throwing a baseball into the ocean from the deck of a cruise ship.

Enjoyed their little 2 min video of Dahlin in the aquarium; he definitely has a solid dry sense of humor and it looks like it runs in the family lol

After Kucherov finishes they show the two of them and their faces both said they weren't exactly happy. Perturbed might be a bit extreme though, at minimum I do feel they were annoyed by something at that moment. Now watching it back again they look bored with a hint of ugh. Effectively it looks like they were more annoyed they didn't get a show versus angry and Kucherov.

I had the entirely opposite reaction to the BS he pulled. The whole All Star game idea has been bastardized to the point of being a joke but if you’re there at least put effort in for the many kids in attendance. Hell even Makar and McDavid looked pretty perturbed by his display. It’s honestly fascinating though how Russian players have a tendency for hating these events. At very least Ovi always looked to make it fun for himself and his fellow players. He made the best of it.

They aren't excuses, I'm not saying we've done a marvelous job only that those two are unusual cases in which doesn't flow naturally between good and bad and back again. The Bruins are like zombies and their fans deserve utter misery yet their team continues to hum along even while their top players retire and leave the roster. Both skill and luck go into this. The Canucks are far more normal than I first thought upon looking at their standings over the years. 22-23 83 pts Miss Coach fired over difference of opinion 21-22 92 pts Miss Coach fired after slow start 20-21 50 pts in 56 games Miss 19-20 78 pts in 69 games (Made it to 2nd round after winning Qualifying Round) 18-19 81 pts Miss 17-18 73 pts Miss (Sedin's retired at season's end) 16-17 69 pts Miss 15-16 75 pts Miss 14-15 101 pts (Lost in 1st Round) Based on this, we should be aggressive this deadline and offseason in order to jump start everything with a new coach next season.

Vancouver was a strange case; they'd been good 2 years back, terrible last year and then great this year.

Actually they acquired a 1st for taking him, and now got another for sending him away.

Never said the Sabres were better, only under different circumstances.

Frankly the Bruins are a freak of nature; there have practically nothing in their prospect pool or the like and yet they somehow keep trucking along against all odds. 3 years in a row they should of died yet haven't for a myriad of reasons but one being some luck and somehow getting two goalies to play out of their mind simultaneously. As for Bruins fans not regretting trades from last year; why would they? They had the best record in NHL history and trying to stack the deck for a Cup win is very logical. They blew it in Round 1 which made it all the sweeter for us but the idea was sound and executed with the proper finesse. But few teams are ever in such a dramatic state of throwing caution to the wind. Those times tend to align with a great regular season with a nigh assured playoff berth or a team with a very elderly core that you're trying to sneak through to the Finals. A team with a shot at the playoffs but no where near assured is going to take a more measured approach because falling short after trading for rentals is a complete waste of assets as well as an easy job losing circumstance. You can't go all-in for perpetuity; eventually the house of cards you have arranged will fall and will fall very very hard. Chicago as well as the LA Kings are solid examples of this but in different directions. Chicago drew out their competitive opportunity long enough to literally cause a collapse. LAK retooled on the fly and while having some lean years was able to find their way back to playoff hockey. All of this just sums up to; I'm not throwing all my assets at a couple targets with the hope we make the playoffs and that's all.

Dahlin would likely be a Top 3 D in the league on a better roster, like he literally looked like last year. I get it, you pretty much hate everyone and that’s your opinion.

Dahlin, Power, Cozens, and Thompson come to mind

Well he’s one of very few players in his category that might actually be available for reasonable terms to acquire and/or isn’t a headcase. There is a very small number of intermediate options that can bring everything we need while not breaking the cap or asset pool. For instance, even if Brady Tkachuk were available I’d not consider him since they’d be asking for Cozens and Power and/or our 1st while wanting to dump Korpisalo’s contract on us. Plus Brady seems a tad crazy and quite literally demanded the captaincy according to some reports. Pat Maroon would be great if he weren’t ancient at this point. Same as Hornquist when Florida may have wanted to dump his salary a couple years ago. Players that can both play, be large and actually like being physical while not having glaring flaws are few and far between. That’s why many here like Boone Jenner, he’s a very good player who fills those roles and with a new coach; perhaps the combination can get Cozens back on his ole work horse ways and convince Tage to play angry more often.

There’s a difference between subtle and overt responses. I’d like to avoid another Eichel or ROR trade in magnitude where we are just praying a piece takes it off the most one sided deals articles that are prevalent in the off-season or anytime the player is mentioned.

We are in agreement. Vancouver is certainly in a position to take a risk while Calgary is divesting from a player they weren’t going to be able to resign. After all he supposedly turned down 7/8 x 8/9mil

I'm sick of Buffalo being the butt of all the jokes; its more akin to city pride than my own personal feelings. I'm tired of always having my city shamed over every little thing while the media will more or less ignore unless we suck whereas they can make fun of us again. If we trade Joker for a better fit, so be it. Marginal differences are as it says marginal. But I'm truly hesitant to give up on a Cozens or Power in order to get a lesser player who could theoretically be a better fit but achieve nowhere near the performance of Power or Cozens and get to hear about it until they retire.

Because you can't win doing the 1st all the time either. Not to mention Buffalo fans get to deal with more BS from opposing fans about how we gave away a star for some guy. I'm tired of that, I want to screw some other team for a change and not always be the one being screwed.

Thompson's a center and plays better as a center so he isn't moving to the wing.

Would you offer Savoie for Jenner straight up? I'd honestly be on the fence if there is reason to believe Jenner could continue his role and production for 2.3 years. He fits the mold of a vet leader who plays physically, has leadership, and isn't a detriment defensively. I have high hopes for Savoie but he's yet another small skill guy and Östlund has shown a bit more range in his style (defensive capabilities and the like) while Kulich just strikes me as a natural goal scorer.

If Lindholm doesn't go back to being a solid defensive center like he had been prior to this season; its not a good trade for Vancouver barring a long playoff run seeing as they won't be able to sign him regardless. Trading all that for about 30 games of a player and then "losing in the 1st round" isn't what I would deem an effective trade at the end of the day. If he helps them win a Cup no cost is too great. Anything in-between is up for debate. As for Kuzmenko, he was a bad fit with Tocchet's style and thus expendable. That being said, if he scores 50 next season and after a disappointing playoff exit, Vancouver outright loses Lindholm; I highly doubt Vancouver's fans will be like, " Well we got to play 6 games in the playoffs so I'm overjoyed....." This is also how you also turn into a long term farm team if your trades seem to always benefit the opposing team. I, and likely Adams, don't want yet another traded player to go have a career year and win the Cup for some other team while we wade in the kiddie pool regardless. You don't necessarily have to achieve total victory in a trade; barring it being a in-division trade. All you need mutual rising of ships or ideally a bit more on your side; but you can't just go around losing trades for the sake of a change.