LTS

I work from home. If my wife disagrees with me... But most of my co-workers are in college heavy markets so I hear about basketball and football... No one talks about hockey. All good by me. Any the only response to any Leafs fan is either 2004 or 1967. One being the last time they won a playoff series and the other being the last time they won a Cup. and yes.. most people have no idea what they are talking about.. they only regurgitate mindless chatter from others.

First and foremost, it's a 2nd round pick. The third round will not officially begin until after this pick. By stating 3rd you are clearly trying to misrepresent the situation. If you'd like to use the exact number of the pick that would be good as well. Even if it is the last pick before the third round it's still NOT the third round. As for the rest you are insinuating that Buffalo would not have planned for an eventuality that an NCAA draft pick might not sign. I don't believe that for a moment. Each year a prospect says they would rather stay in college would only increase the risk. Anyone can point to not drafting more defense, but it doesn't mean its because they thought Ryan Johnson was the answer. Buffalo has top end defense covered. They need some mid-tier defenders and those are available every year. The only ripple effect is that the Amerks need some more D next year.. and I believe they already went and signed a few.

Given his recent health issues I expect him to retire. If he doesn't he might try and stay and shape to be a late season signing to help some team. I don't expect a full season from him.

I think it's one last chance for UPL to show what he has. Although I'm convinced he will get traded anyway. A Friday night game that means little in the standings versus an 80 degree night in April in Rochester. I don't think the Sabres are winning the battle for my schedule choice. Bring on the margaritas!

Then you'll be happy to know they've gone away. The RR is an NHL wide initiative.. one and done. Although I like the white pants.. but to each their own.

And if that happens.. great. He clearly did not want to be here and Adams only wants players who want to be here. No big loss. I think Fox is the most notable player who has gone through college unsigned so he could sign anywhere. Kevin Hayes did it.. he's good, but not great. Vesey just played his 500th game but we all know he's JAG. Sign or don't sign.. he's not moving the needle either way.

I definitely don't agree. I also like to think I am pretty impartial on those things but one doesn't know until one is in that moment. I'd like to find out though. 🙂 To me the rule can be simplified to remove "distinct kicking motion" and instead basically focus on the concept that any motion of the leg towards the net other than a regular skating stride will be considered no goal. Both the Fasching goal and the Giroux goal would be disqualified at that point as they both used their legs to direct the puck at the net. It might not have been a "kick" but it was most certainly redirecting the puck with the leg in an effort to put the puck on net. I'm awake this morning and still quite happy for Anderson. The guy has earned so much respect in the league and while it's sad that it comes to an end for him it's also awesome that he's had a 20 year career and can go out knowing that he did it the right way.

Ray said in the broadcast that an email came out and it was determined it was not a distinct kicking motion. That's the explanation from Toronto. I'll call as much BS as I can about it.. but clearly the Sabres should practicing using their skates to put pucks in the net. I would argue he was trying to kick it to his stick which would be a distinct kicking motion. NHL wants more goals.. that's how you get more goals.

UPL will be traded, it's that simple. As far as the board being full of loud, bad, opinions... don't you put yourself in that group by giving your opinion?

Very much so... the attacks tend to stand out much more.

Devon Levi has a sample size of a handful of games. That's true for fans just as much as its true for other teams. He shows a ton of promise, but the trend is generally that it gets worse before it gets better. I give a little credit to the notion that the Sabres built a roster so that Levi would sign. He's signed. At this point the kid needs to really earn and this team needs the best competition it can get. They should absolutely go sign someone who can be a starting goaltender... if one is available. I see people who want to annoint Levi here but in other threads talk about how "nothing is a given for next season".. damn right. Nothing is a given. Go get another goalie.

Now.. this is indisputable. I can't believe there's so much discourse over this. I can't believe we're still going around and around attacking each other over "what might have been". It's only what.. the 243rd thread this season that has evolved into this? Even if we could evaluate a single decision made we lack the macro view of the situation to know what lateral impacts would have happened if a move had been made. Just like we lack a view of the impacts of moves that were not made. You want to be mad they did not make the playoffs.. go nuts. You want to be okay they didn't make the playoffs.. go nuts. I just don't understand the need to attack each other over things. Especially those things that we clearly don't know enough about and as such are nothing more than pure speculation. Or maybe we're aren't attacking each other and I am just reading the situation wrong.

There's plenty of time to debate ifs and buts. For tonight I am going to just be happy that this time was not eliminated until game 80 of the season. There's only one direction now.. the future. I'll be looking forward to it.

That's 100% correct... but he's now established himself as a player who is worth $7.1M.. so I used that number. He's an even better bargain on his current deal. 🙂

You can go back to any point you'd like. The concept of improving is one that moves in a forward direction. As such, looking at history to try and discredit the present is pointless. The question about Mitts now is whether he will stay at this level of production. That level of production has value on the team, especially if you improve the scoring ability of the players around him. Trade? Maybe.. but between free agency and other resources on the team, I think it would be wider to use those first.

Crosby: $8.7M Reinhart: $6.5M Eichel: $10M Kucherov: $9.5M Marner: $10.9M Panerin: $11.6M Cozens: $7.1M Yep... I think there's a bargain in there somewhere.

Yeah. Walman did earn the 4 minutes for it.

Mittlestadt has reached the level where you don't move him unless its part of a package that nets a single far better piece in return. The Sabres have other ways to address defense. Penciling in young players over him is a possibility but a risky one. Sure, they MIGHT be good. But the Sabres are at a point where players have to earn their ice time. Mitts is simply a player that you keep on the roster, especially under his current contract.

Like.. even after that person married you once and figure out who you really were... they chose to marry you again? That's way more impressive than fooling two different people. Congrats. 😉 Are you referring to Chychrun here? The one who is out injured? The one with an injury history? The one the Sabres were in discussions on? If so, I highly recommend reading the trade threads about him. I'm not sure if there is much debate left about that situation. ----- Overall the game was trash. No reason for them to let Detroit into that game. It's a good thing that Husso was terrible too. The Sabres do need to adjust their defensive zone coverage. They over commit. When the puck is on tied up on the boards they collapse around the puck. I presume its with the idea that more people around the puck and they will come up with it. However, far too often, the puck is flipped past their containment and it's open shooting for the other team. Even if they do come up with the puck, the other team being on the outside of the Sabres little grouping will be able to collapse and defend any breakout. A win is a win however.. - Love Cozens.. the kid is a bargain.. he'll be an absolute steal if he ever gets better at faceoffs. - Love Skinner - the whole scenario before and after the Jokiharju goal was classic. He's a pretty clean kind of pest.. and I can respect that. - I am definitely not sold on Levi. He does quite a few things I like and he's shown some very impressive rebound control (as in putting rebounds out to his players). But I feel like he's aggressive and teams will learn to use that it against him. I am not saying he won't be good, but to anoint him at this point is premature.

What facts? You have no solid information, you have interpretations of reactions. I flat out said I recognize when I don't have the information required. If you are happy forming your opinion on the basis of news reporting that's up to you. I believe there are alternative possibilities that cannot be ruled out. That's a world of difference. The Internet world today. Everybody believes everything because there's a video about it. Whatever.

Right.. but it's that mentality (and Tage is just one of a million examples) that is the problem. You want players who want to play, you have to protect themselves and the team from that mentality. He had an assist but I don't know that he really did much to earn it. I can't recall the goal now. I know that throughout the game he was stepping off the ice early, he wasn't very engaged in the play. I know that my takeaway during the game was... "He is clearly not ready to play but he's playing because he wanted to." Managing pain or not.. a player should not be playing unless they will be more effective than the person that will be removed from the lineup. I didn't see any evidence that Thompson was more effective than Olofsson. The reason I blame the coach is that you have to have the will to sit the player. You have to evaluate them. It's a fine line though. Imagine Granato sits Thompson and into the media goes the statement "I was ready to play but coach felt otherwise." This fires up everyone. It's happened before. I'm not saying it would happen here, we don't know. I think the coach believes in the player in this case and wants him in there. I assume they put him through enough pre-game paces to feel confident, but I'd have to ask myself if those pre-game paces are good enough... given what we saw. It's over now... so be it.

And Stillman was not on the roster to leave unprotected. I'm also reading all of your "improve the defense" comments. Borgen doesn't improve the defense all that much. And so pointing out Borgen is not really relevant to your point of improving the defense. You can go on and on about how to improve the defense, but at least use relevant arguments. Borgen would not fix the situation in Buffalo right now. Not if you are advocating for players like Chychrun. If you think it takes a Chychrun to improve the team then Borgen is not at that level.

This piece does nothing to change my mind. If you watch Ovechkin he's about as monotone as he can be in some of those "promotional" parts. About halfway through I got sick of watching because it was clear that people were simply going with "Well, he's on stage, so he must support him." It proves nothing. The simple fact is that we do not know about the situation. We know Putin is a sociopath. I'm not sure its debatable. We know some super sketchy things happen in Russia. Clearly Putin is okay with all of it (we like to hold the top of all organizations accountable for the actions that occur under their watch, right?) Bottom line, I am defending Ovechkin. I recognize when I don't have the information required. I am open minded enough to think that there might be more than what is presented in the media (whoever heard of the media being biased or fooled?).

The whole team does not initiate contact that often. It's a coaching thing. They are looking to chip the puck and break up ice versus get tangled up in a body. I hope it changes because until they finish checks they will be limited in what they can accomplish. It's not about hitting everything.. but you have to hit some things.

I would have preferred Olofsson. I would have commented in the GDT but I can do it here. Shame on Granato for putting Thompson in the game. I know Tage wants to play and help the team but he hurt the team last night. He was completely ineffective, even more than Olofsson would have been. This mentality of playing players when they say they are ready has to stop. Very few players at 80% are as good as other at 100%. The skill differential just isn't that great. I don't think Thompson was even at 80%.