dudacek

Maybe we have different definitions of 4/5? These are the division's 4/5s based on ice time Mike Reilly/Matt Grelcyck Danny Dekeyser/Marc Staal Ben Chiarot/Radko Gudas Joel Edmundson/Brett Kulak Erik Brannstrom/Travis Hamonic Erik Cernak/Jani Rutta Mark Giordano/Justin Holl Do you think most of those guys are clearly better than Jokiharju?

Jokiharju has been used largely as our 1RHD because he has been our best RHD. He has been our best RHD because Adams hadn’t acquired a better one.

To me, the advanced stats over 60 games suggest we should look at a better player than Joki on the first pairing with Dahlin. They don’t say anything conclusive about him as a 2nd pairing guy. He hasn’t played many games in that role, and the games he has played have largely been with a 19-year-old who has never played in the NHL before. Could we use a better RHD than Jokiharju? Of course. We good also use a better 3C than Cozens and a better 2C than Mitts. Hell, even a better 1C than Tage, and he has 37 goals. I’m not sure why Jokiharju seems to get ripped for being a mediocre 2/3 instead of being praised for being a very good 4/5. Especially when, like Cozens and Mitts, he’s a young player growing into his role. Adams failures aren’t his.

So we’re literally talking not even a dozen shifts for anyone but Jokiharju? And the “weight” of Jokiharju makes Power a tad short of a 50/50 player? To me, this is about as significant as a player going -1 over 6 games on one line, and +1 in his 7th game on another.

I think it would be a mistake to trade Mitts or Krebs in a deal for a bridge goalie or a second pair veteran defenceman, prior to seeing what we have. As a piece in a package for a 25-year-old Ryan Miller, or Chris Drury, sure. i get the sense that people are thinking “they probably aren’t going to be stars, so why keep them?” A healthy Mitts put up 16 in 22 to finish last year and 15 in 26 to finish this year. That’s close to a 50-point scorer on a $2.4 million contract for another year. Krebs has been just a hair under a 40 point pace as a Sabre on the 1st year of his ELC contract. Sam Reinhart put up 42, 47 and 50 points in his 3 ELC years. Derek Roy put up 19, lockout, 46. We are getting good value for the money and each player has room to grow. Let them play, along with Cozens and Quinn and Peterka and see who emerges and how. There’s room for them all on the roster and under the cap for now. Patience grasshoppers.

Really, not quite clear on how Adams is defining "blocking" any more. I mean, if all goes well Levi/Portillo should be college->AHL->NHL backup the next three years, so how much of a block is a 4-year starter's contract really? Do they really expect to give UPL the reins as soon as next year? Even if he takes them, he's going to be paid backup money anyway, so they can afford to overpay the other guy.

No idea what Lou or Varly are thinking. That said, GMs are generally OK with moving $5 million backups. $5 million backups are generally OK about being moved to a place where they will start. *** We gotta be able to do better than Holtby at $5 million. I think his rebound numbers this season are a bit of a mirage. I mean Scott Wedgwood's are better on that team. (Can't remember why exactly, but I've always had the impression he's a bit of a diva too)

Husso almost certainly will get a UFA contract that commits to him as a number 1, a $4 million for 4 years, or some such. I might give him that based on (limited) what I've seen, but I don't think Adams will. I am perfectly fine with him being a 4/5 for the next several years and think he still has it in him to be more. His issues are largely a product of being asked to be the 2D at 22. They will fade as he improves at the same time he gets asked to do less as Power and Mule continue to ascend.

Why haven't we talked more about Semyon Varlamov? One year left at $5 million makes him hard to trade for by teams tight to the cap and perfect for us and our no-blocking. Islanders need cap space and he's become their backup. Yes, he's got a partial no-trade but I'm not sure that's insurmountable His numbers this year are fine. I don't see a better target given what Adams is allegedly looking for.

I think for many (most?) winning trumps all. See Patriots, New England. But the way you do it also matters. See also Patriots, New England. This point is less about “your” team and more about everybody else’s.

The bold is particularly interesting to me. I'm thinking of Adams comments about rebuilding the connection between the players and the fans, and Granato's about the benefits of bringing back the same players next year. Vegas built a team that was easy to bond with and tossed a lot of its key parts to the curb in favour of "better" but less-lovable players. That whole talent versus team debate creates an interesting thought exercise in terms of what wins and what the fan base wants.

Interesting topic on Vancouver radio this morning: the Canucks missed the playoffs because they only managed a single point combined against Detroit and Buffalo. Be nice if next season changed this perception.

This is why I can’t wait until October. No doubt this team is better than it was a year ago. But how much? Will we see the 75-point team we were this year again, the 85-point team we’ve been in the second-half, or the playoff team we’ve been over the past 6 weeks?

With all due respect to your scout friend, I’m not sure why this means much. It’s just another opinion. NHL teams whiff on goalie projections all the time.

My post wasn’t really a judgement on his moves, it was a response to @Zamboni’s skepticism of GM speak. Adams said he was going to trade away the players that didn’t want to be here, acquire players that did, give his young players opportunities, trade Jack Eichel when he got an offer that made sense for the Buffalo Sabres, treat players the way he’d want to be treated, build out an analytics staff, build out a development staff, foster an environment of open and honest communication, adopt a fast, attacking style of play and ice a team that fans can connect with. By and large, these are cultural things. By and large to me, he followed through.

Yet Adams has done, or at least tried to do, exactly what he said he was going to one year ago.

I was never a Skinner fan, but I think the poster you are thinking of was @TrueBlueGED. One of several good posters we seemed to have lost over these dark years. Be great if this team starts bringing back some voices, and bringing in some new ones.

I certainly did not think Skinner had this in him after watching the mess that was the past 2 seasons. He’s not only reclaimed his scoring touch, he’s become a better all-around player.

Any team that blows a 4-point lead this late in the season deserves to be blown up.

I missed him saying that.

I’m not even sure why “the Islanders took them lightly” is considered a shot at the Sabres. I see it as a shot at the Islanders. The weren’t prepared, therefore they got spanked.

Looked like the Islanders took the Sabres lightly to me too. That's a team that we've found impossible to penetrate in recent years, and one that's flirted with a top 10 record in the back half of the season. Seemed easy tonight. Yes, we are better, but unless the Islanders have fallen crazy hard, they've got a better game than that.

This is an oddly timed thread, considering that the attendance has been horrible all season and the numbers have been slowly climbing the past month or two. The fans will come back as the team earns it. They're starting to do just that.

5/1/0 outscored the opponents 26-16

The concept of Will Borgen is something that will never die around here. Guy has yet to play 50 NHL games and turns 26 this year.