thewookie1

Best available UFA goalie that was still considered young and wasn't going to ask for an absurd contract that year.

While I would rather sign Mitts; what if we trade him and a prospect to Minnesota for JEE. He'd certainly bring the exact type of center we need in being a literal Selke candidate.

The Rochester take actually makes a lot of sense. It should be developing players into better all-around players versus merely setting them up to play call-up for the Sabres. Vet teams need to have the mini-me model as you hilariously nicknamed as it is meant to allow for quick substitutions in case of injury to allow the NHL team to continue plugging away to the playoffs. What we actually need is a literal NHL bootcamp in Rochester to develop the players versus a pool of subs persay.

I do agree with you about needing more balance; I just feel more guys presently can still achieve that here. Finding balance however is very difficult since the players who fit those roles aren’t traded or are rather old by the time they become available. Plus drafting them is a literal crapshoot. For every one good power forward you get a handful of grinders with little other value and a whole lot of outright busts. I think my disdain for Boston is more the reason for my overt disagreements than the actual overall conversation typically. Aside from Dahlin that is.

Well at very least we don’t have that hanging over our heads

How is it that we score maybe one lucky goal a season whereas at least 20+ go in on us? We made Dallas look bad and yet we still lost because of their damn goalie. We should of ran the bastard, play dirty its not like the refs are going to cut you any slack. WTF was both those 5v3 penalties? Felt like the fix was in with that Clifton penalty especially; on the PK how many times have we seen Sabres take blatant crosschecks with no call. Benson got literally dumped twice in the 1sst in front of the net with the puck nowhere near him and they weren't "I'm stronger and taller" falls; they were crosscheck style falls. This year has been a freaking test in anger management; the Sabres have bad games where you're angry and then you have games like these where they play great and yet lose anyway.

Seems more anger directed at himself

Well since Dallas’s goal we’ve been all over them like butter on bread and Oettinger has stood on his head

I've watched a ton of Blackhawks hockey thanks to them being my father's favorite team. They were balanced, certainly with some great two-way players, but they were certainly skewed to being an offensive team. Its the reason why that Chicago vs LAK Conference Finals is still the greatest series I've ever watched even though they lost. It was an equal battle between two incredible teams with differing approaches to the game. Chicago was always more offensive but had two-way players that could clean up the defensive parts of the game. LAK was a more prototypical defense-first/ goalie out team who finished their checks. LAK won in OT on a fluky shot and went on to win the Cup. Chicago then did it again in the following year. You wouldn't like those Chicago teams though, they rarely hit anyone; they were more akin to Granato's approach of pressure and stick check but little in terms of physicality. They were gritty but not tough guys. (2010 was definitely their most physical version) As for that Dahlin statement, its plain BS. Players don't just cease to grow and change. Defenseman especially get better defensively over their careers due to experience. All while they tweak their games to stay in the show as they grow older. Hell, Erik Johnson started his career as an offensive Dman and by the time he won the Cup he was seen as the vet defensive guy. Also why in the world would you choose Boston as a B team? Boston is literally like the Devil to Buffalonians between their different sports teams. If any city deserves a long drought of ineptitude it would be their arrogant *****. I can understand respecting their style and/or loving Bobby Orr, who doesn't, but they aren't exactly a "friendly" B team to Sabres fans

It really depends on the circumstances to be honest. If she legitimately can play with the guys; then she needs to be able to handle the guys. Now if they were throwing out slurs then her teammates should have taken offense and defended her. Or better yet get one of them with a good slash when the ref ain’t looking. Smaller male players also get bullied in some leagues. The story given feels rather hokey to me however. Akin to a cheesy movie with a “lesson.” I’m of two minds here. Trash talking is very much apart of sports and I’d guess plenty of players have been ridiculed by the opposing team after penalties are called. Hiding behind your gender isn’t any way to become better involved with the general group. And crying over it while saying “Hockey is for everyone” isn’t going to fix the problem. If anything you’ll be looked at worse. Especially if there either a co-Ed or women’s league alternative. That being said the lack of push back by her teammates is embarrassing. Stick up for your damn teammates! You don’t need to start a brawl but chirp back. Part of the issues in the culture today falls into this mindset. Get insulted or made fun of, immediately run to a higher authority and whine about it. All she’s accomplished is making a bunch of men respect her even less. All of this is mute in this case however if this was inappropriate behavior and language. If this was general hockey chirping though; it’s on her and her team to put them in their place because chirping is and should be allowed.

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.