LGR4GM

I'm being too hard on power

No it didn't. It simply took Krueger going away.

You know what's really hilarious? William Eklund is a playmaking lw with some grit... Buffalo needs a playmaking lw with some grit.

William. Eklund. Also he wasn't even the best defender in that class. Luke Hughes was that draft and Mason McTavish too but the true top guy in that class was and impo is Eklund. But he wasn't 6'6" and you can't teach size! And defensemen that tall are rare! (Buffalo has 4 now, Power, Mrtka, Bedkowski, Kleber) The Sabres bought the hype, didn't value the underlying traits enough, and decided he was the best player even though he's a passive player.

And as Zucker said, "hope isn't a strategy"

Trading for Dumba? I'd hope he didn't think of that. Terrible idea.

Personally still amused that all and I mean ALL of the big talking heads were like "lol Buffalo, they dumb dumbs" after that trade and almost the entirety of Sabrespace was like "oh thank ***** God, an nhl center"

Casey Mittelstadt last season: 0.7g/60, 1.1a/60 Ryan McLeod: 0.9g/60, 1.5a/60 So not only did McLeod outscore 2nd line center Casey Mittelstadt, he was more efficient with the ice time he got as well. It was not a case of simply more ice time, McLeod legit improved. Mitts hasn't topped that assist rate since leaving Buffalo and has never topped that goal rate. If Casey Mittelstadt is a 2nd line center than Ryan McLeod is a 2nd line center. On top of that, McLeod had about 62% d-zone starts compared to the opposite for Mitts with 36% and yet... McLeod was only a few xgf lower compared to Mittsy. Just interesting to look at how perceptions drive narratives.

What Improvements did Boston make that I am forgetting?

That's exactly what happened in College Football. The SEC and Big10 added teams and buy all the good players. A few of the historically good schools outside of that realm will compete but everyone else is picking up scraps. The strong got stronger. There aren't enough NCAA College Hockey programs for this to work that way. Canadian Jrs and AHL will still be strong places to play. We have to remember a lot of the Canadian Jr kids won't be NCAA eligible until they are 18, 19, or 20 depending on the their schooling. It also means there are more spots in these other leagues for late bloomers to get ice. As others have said, my big concern would be USHL and NTDP.

Luke Osburn is probably our best LHD prospect and might be our best D prospect outside of Mrtka. I think he makes team USA.

https://thehockeywriters.com/philadelphia-flyers-should-set-sights-on-viggo-bjorck-not-gavin-mckenna-for-2026-nhl-draft/ Viggo Björck the center out of Sweden. He's good but he's short at only 5'9" so his true combine number will be important come June.

Don't forget Dahlin getting injured really broke the defense. If we assume he plays 80 games, that might get you those 4 wins.

Unsure. My first thought is no but maybe there's a carve out.

"Hello, rumor has it that the Dallas Stars were recently in discussions for a trade with Pittsburgh. Could Crosby be about to find a new home? We shall see" xoxo gossip girl Basically it's crap like this.

They also changed the AHL/NHL transaction rules.

Oh thank God. I was worried about where we were gonna put Roobroeck

Mitts has gotten 50+ points once. Who cares if he paced for that some other time? Also since his 50+ point season Mitts ain't done *****, meanwhile the second McLeod got more toi, he performed.

Hmm. Maybe? Idk, Mittelstadt has been a slacker for a bit. I didn't love the Byram trade because it didn't make team building sense. That said, you're probably right that 2yrs ago I wouldn't have been happy.

So Mitts is a 2c but Ryan McLeod isn't? I think that take is ***** nuts. Mittelstadt has 1yr with more total points than McLeod and 0 years with more goals.

I'm not sure why they'd trade for Byram with Harley and Heiskanen there.

He is still under contract for this season at 7.75mil so hard to tell. Dallas had to clear a bit of cap just to get under for this year. They had 8 D under contract as well, it was a logical clear and puts them about 2million under the cap now. They may try to keep him if his salary is around 10mil but I think if he wants closer to Rantanen's 12million they could move him. This could also open up enough space for them to do something like move Robertson for players that make more than his 7.75 salary as they would be able to move him and add back 9.5mil in cap roughly. Basically I don't know haha but wanted to write all this out as a thought exercise.

McLeod had 3sh goals and 3 sh assists. He only had 2 pp assists. That's 8 points on special teams. No idea how that compares to others.

Anaheim could use Byram, yes. They do have Jackson Lacombe who is a very good LHD and Pavel Mintyukov who is still very young. Byram would give them another LHD option to pair with a few good RHD in Gudas and Trouba and youngster Luneau. It isn't a perfect fit but I could see them being interested. Their defensive pipeline isn't massive either so you might have to add one of the 400 RHD prospects (not Mrtka) but perhaps Strbak to the mix. I don't know is my answer to your question but McTavish is interesting.

The price to dump a 3.75mil defender is a apparently that guy and a 2nd round pick