dudacek

I would hope that this week, of all weeks, Kevyn is not focused on interviewing and negotiating for new front office staff.

Driedger's numbers are intriguing but brief. Not one of those goalies is as good as Linus is right now, and none of them is an answer for more than next year.

Two other Sabre tidbits: Adams did well getting what he got for Staal; it's a buyer's market and the buyers are waiting for the prices to go down. The price may have only been a 4th on deadline day Their over/under on Sabre trades was 4, but they think Adams needs to start the ball rolling soon. They said he doesn't have the staff, or the experience to pull off a bunch of deals on deadline day, even just in terms of handling the paperwork.

I listened to the same podcast, and I took that as Adams is getting calls on Risto, Reinhart, Dahlin and Ullmark and that he doesn't want to trade any of the four. I read the "foundational" comment referring to "core players that you don't dump at the deadline." It's not really clear from the delivery whether the foundation referred to just the latter two, or all four, but it was followed up with a basically you'd have to over pay to get one, where he was very much referring to all four. The other interesting blip out of the Sabres segment was Lebrun floating the idea that Hall might not get traded — basically that when it comes right down to it, no team with the need will have the cap space to make it work. Dreger basically told him he was nuts and Hall will be traded. Also, I believe it was Seravelli who said Miller and Sheahan will have interest.

Kinda cherry-picking no? Where are Glass, Tippett, Anderson and Rasmussen on your list, all of whom went before your bunch?

I find Hall post-COVID to be full of bursts of ultimately pointless energy between stretches of morose navel-gazing. He's got some obvious one-on-one ability, but there is no end game; so many of his plays are either ill-conceived or poorly executed and he doesn't display much chemistry. I have no idea how many of his assists are secondary, but I believe a ton of them were not why a goal was scored. He looked great on the Mitts goal last game, exploding out the zone on the rush and putting a crisp pass on the tape. Those plays have seemed more the exception than the rule.

Other than a rare exception like Eichel, what centres are regularly carrying the puck out from deep in the defensive zone? Through the neutral zone at time, but I don't see it happening much coming out of our zone. It is primarily the job of the defenceman to do this, sometimes by skating, more often by passing to a winger. I sometimes think line driver means different things to different people. Sam Reinhart generally makes the game easier for the players he is on the ice with because he gets you the puck when you want it, and he gets himself where you want him. We know he's Jack's favourite linemate, and I suspect he is probably the consensus favourite of anyone on the team. Reinhart does get knocked down at times, but the idea he constantly loses puck battles is both wrong and utterly misses the point. Wayne Gretzky lost most of his puck battles, but so what? Sam retrieves pucks better than anyone else on the team and he makes plays in the dirty areas more than anyone else on the team, mostly through positioning and anticipation.

Why is Linus carrying this "injury history" label? He missed a month this year and a month last year. I'm not aware of anything significant prior to that, in North America or Sweden except that elective hip surgery thing, which is neither injury-related nor degenerative. There is nothing that raises concern as a recurring issue, like Okposo's concussions. Seems to be pretty standard for a pro hockey player.

For me it's more of a question of whether we get a better return now, at the draft, or at the deadline next year.

Driedger: 15 NHL games prior to this year Grubauer: better stats than Linus, had similar stats to Linus at a similar age when he was acquired for a 2nd. Going to make good coin this summer Talbot: similar stats to Linus, backup last year, SP .908 and .893 the two previous years Fleury: similar stats to Linus, $7 million cap hit Smith: similar stats to Linus, 37 years old, a pure stopgap who had terrible numbers the previous two seasons, losing the number spot on two different teams Varlamov: similar stats to Linus, signed to 4 years @ $5 million per, cost a 1st and 2nd to acquire Lankinen: Worse stats than Linus, the 27 NHL games he played this year are the 2nd most he has ever played as a pro. Going into the season with him as your #1 would be like us handing the reins to JJ. This board would have melted down Linus has one peer on that list as a developmental prospect who showed steady progress and now has arrived: Grubauer, and Grubauer is going to get paid this summer. Rask, Fleury and Varly are/were expensive acquisitions, Bernier, Smith and Talbot are veteran stopgaps enjoying good rebound years after three straight down years, Anderson is those guys two years ago. Lankinen and Driedger are out-of-nowhere keepers. Linus has gotten better every single year. Literally. He arrived as an NHL starter last year and as a stud this year. Linus Ullmark has allowed more than three goals just once all year — the 4-3 OT loss to Philly. His last "bad" game was Jan. 9, 2020, when he allowed 4 in 30 shots against the Blues. He consistently gives us a chance to win. He's probably the best shootout goalie in hockey. There isn't a Sabre who does his job better. He's focused, consistent, calm, competitive and talented. He's also young enough that he will be good for a while. He is actually what you dream happens when you draft a goalie in the late rounds and patiently develop him. Chucking that away to sign Freddie Andersen to a one-year cross-your-fingers-he-rebounds deal is pound-foolish, because all that does is mean you are paying Andersen big money or looking for his replacement a year from now while Linus gives some other team a fighting chance for the next five years. Bet on your guy, reward him for rewarding you.

How would you replace him?

I have not heard of this happening in B.C. We are significantly behind you in the percentage of population being vaccinated and the regular population stream of vaccinations is still above 70. The Canucks would not have been eligible until June based on the plan our government is following.

Couldn't agree more. Except I would have had started these conversations few weeks ago, and either have my answer, or contract negotiations well underway.

Is it more unreliable than other positions? Are there more Jeff Skinners and Ryan Johansons in the nets? I don't think there are. If we sign Linus for 5 years and $5 million and get 1 great, one bad and 3 solid seasons, aren't we getting our money's worth? Aren't we better off than signing a different Carter Hutton every year hoping one turns into Darcy Kuemper? Then letting that Kuemper go because we don't give goalies term? So for Jack's $10 million has given us one very good, one great and one bad season.

Bales was behind the bench last night. Typically under Krueger he was the eyes-in-the-sky.

This past week or two is the first time we have seen Casey translating the style of game he showed as a junior to NHL rinks: the pace, and the hands. He has the ability to bury pucks like he did with his wrister last night, he just wasn't able to get open to use it. He has looked like an NHL player, but he hasn't sustained anything yet. It will be interesting to see how good of an NHL player he can be. Luke Adam? Derek Plante?

Even though I agree with your take on how things are trending with those players, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Mitts, Tage, Bryson and Cozens have a combined 10 goals this year and Borgen has played 8 NHL games. Ullmark, that's a different story. That guy is a stud. Sign him right now.

I missed Murray. Good catch. Price and Bob are overpaid, but not at $5 million.

Also, to the ***** I used to read a lot on here about Sam being a passenger who rode Jack's coattails. Better not be the same posters who are saying: "Look at who Skinner has to play with" "Look at who Hall has to play with" Look at who Sam has to play with. I don't see him stuck at 3 goals.

So glad to see him looking like himself again. I'm a big fan, but the first two months of this year he looked done. Maybe those injuries were more troubling than we knew? Also, when was the last time he was used in a top-six role like he is right now?

Ton of good stuff in the OP; Kim, however, needs to be replaced with Terry. I think Eichel, Ullmark, Krueger and COVID created a perfect storm that exaggerated how bad this team is. But it also reinforced the fragility of the core group. I think it would be a mistake to "blow it up" trade for futures, and start from scratch again. But I think it would be an even bigger mistake to come back with the same core and trust a new coach to be the cure.

On topic, I believe Sam has had only two stints of any significance as a centre, his rookie year, and that abomination to start Housley's first season where he skated between Pouliot and Griffith. I've never bought into the sentiment that he got a fair shake at centre and failed. He's played maybe 20 games in the middle over his career and pretty much all of them with replacement-level linemates before he turned 22. I've never bought into the idea that he's too slow for the position either. Never mind that his speed "issues" are overrated, his positioning is so sound it is never really an issue. That was a very fast Ranger team last night and his speed was not an issue at all. I hope this experiment continues for the duration of the season.

Are you talking about the guy that hit 25.4 mph as he blew past a Rangers' Dman last night? Where the heck did that come from?

With all due respect @Curt, was Ryan Miller voodoo? Certainty costs money. I know you're saying there is no certainty with goalies, but that's the case at every position. Even Jack Eichel can have a two-goal season. There are 16 goalies making $5 million, then Kuemper at $4.5 and Bishop $4.9 million. Of those 18, I'd say I'd say maybe four are guys their teams aren't comfortable with anchoring their creases: Schneider, Jones, Rinne and Quick, and the latter two certainly were at that level when they were 30. Ullmark has graduated to that level. You aren't going to get his equal this summer and pay less than that. The alternative is just opening every season not really clear if the guy in your net is going to get it done. We've been in goalie purgatory since Miller left. I'm really tired of it. Ullmark is our ticket out.

Admit it Sabrespace, Ullmark is much, much better than any of you realized. Give the man his money.