Weave

Refresh my memory. What years did you guys tank? Oh... that's right.

They were epically bad for 4 of those seasons, but you aren't tanking if you are icing a roster including Lemieux, Kovalev, Lang, and Kasperitis, or icing Lemieux, Kovalev, Straka, Daigle, or icing Malone, Tarnstrom, Morozov....... OK they bottomed out here, but were also going through bankruptcy, not angling for drafting first overall. Remember, Crosby was drafted after a lockout in a lottery where Buffalo had as many balls as Pittsburgh did. It is a losing battle. We fundamentally disagree that 1. tanking and rebuilding from nothing is a strategy with more risk than benefit and 2. losing on purpose is always disrespectful to the fans (league-wide). The proper response to the tailspin post-Drury/Briere was to immediately embark on a GM search to identify the guy that is capable of turning the spin.

Pittsburgh did tank for Mario and it is well documented. The rest is correct.

I'll be happy with similar production but they actually show up prepared to play the game plan consistently. That ain't happening with status quo.

When you come right out and boldly announce a plan of suffering, you are going to get more negative attention than when you do it quietly, regardless of how obvious the actions are.

That’s already been answered. The ROR trade didn’t require a tank.

He didn’t suddenly click though. He reverted back to the performance he showed in year 2. Nylander needs a bigger click than that.

Rebuilding can be done whithout the need to finish last. Scorched earth plans like our tank require entire offenses and defences be repopulated. It’s a Herculian task that is inherently high risk and has no more reward potential than a simple rebuild.

He ain’t making the team next season.

Tanking required us to eliminate an entire 1st line, a very good goalie,and replace the defence. You need to hit on every one of those roster spots to call the process successful. The “execution” of the rebuild is inherently tied into the tank. They cannot be separated and graded individually. Those two parts are joined at the hip.

The tank strategy required that many moving targets were hit. The easiest target to hit was Eichel. The success rate of hitting that many moving targets is no where near high enough to justify the process. The process is high enough risk that you shouldn't expect the typical team management to successfully do it as a planned event.

Go figure. Wish losing upon the franchise and then become disinterested when it happens.

I :wub: when Wawrow shows up. So much entertainment in so few posts.

I want him learning to be an offensive force in the NHL, which means putting him with linemates that are expected to contribute offensively. I want him on Jack or RORs wing next year with a plan to shift ROR to wing and Casey to center the year after, once he's gotten a feel for what it takes to play a top 6 role in the NHL. I just don't see his offensive game developing in a role that features him centering JAGs and AAAA players. Obviously, from what we've heard from JBott so far, he feels differently. I don't understand why we talk about him as even a minor possiblity for next season. He's not even close to where he needs to be to have that conversation.

Paint won’t even cure properly here right now...

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Where do i pay?

I’d take Grier and James Patrick please.

If he’s centering a 3rd line with substandard (which I expect) wingers, I think the most we can expect is 25 points unless he gets significant powerplay time.

At least it is warm enough to be painting there....

Amtrak goes from Buffalo to TO. Never done it. tempted to give it a try for a day trip.

He'll have to earn his place on the team in the preseason or he'll be in Rochester. I don't believe for an instant that this GM starts him in Buffalo next year if he isn't good enough to make the team outright.

And I find that interesting. They production has been there. We've never heard a word about him being a bad locker room guy. Maybe it is just an age thing? Noone wants to commit to more than a year because they expect the drop off is imminent?

IIRC there was a general movement in the league maybe 10 years ago towards pairing and playing D men on their "correct" side to better facilitate D man to D man passing so they weren't accepting passes on their backhand. The game has become very D man puck moving in nature. I don't see that changing any time soon.