LTS

I back that. That's what happened to my MCLs in a game in almost the same situation (except I was in the crease and had my skates go out). I'd hope for 3 weeks for Eichel. I was 22 at the time and certainly nowhere near the athlete Eichel is (nor the training staff) but it was a little over a month before I was finally able to walk and turn without feeling like I was losing support in my knees.

Your first mistake was believing that he shops for his own suits. Clearly he does spend the same amount of time on both. :)

MOAR HOCKEY! That's all.

The Leafs could be a good trading partner for that purpose. They've a few extras lying about right now.

I know I’ll be in the minority. I like them.

The angles of his knees say MCL. Although when I had both my skates go out like that once and I did strain both MCLs I could not get the strength to stand up. Once I was helped up I could “skate” off. It was a good win by a team that seems to be gaining confidence. Beating the Bruins is damn near impossible these days. There’s a lot to like in their game right now.

Should be fun... I'm going to watch just for the Risto/Marchand entertainment. It should be worth it.

First, it's not 2019 yet, so even if people practically guaranteed it, it's not over yet. Second, no one predicted the GM being ousted which changes a lot of things. Third, the Sabres are not historically bad today. It's actually fundamentally impossible since the Coyotes are below the Sabres in the standing by 5 points. The Coyotes would have to be historically bad. The Sabres are just bad. Fourth, Jack's potential is not to continue to be 17th in the league in scoring when this team is better. Finally, it's reasonable to think that the team has enough talent at this point to actually make a notable improvement in the standings next year given certain changes. The Avs are certainly evidence of that line of thinking. I don't know if the intent was ever to be as bad as they were, it's kind of just what happened. The Rangers and Blues did not rebuild from nothing. So when Richards and Stastny don't work out ... wait.. Stastny didn't work out? He's 4th on the team in scoring behind Brayden Schenn and Schwartz who've never had seasons like this. Yes Tarasenko is above him but we'd expect that. but anyway, they were not rebuilding from basically nothing. Rebuilds happen because they have to happen. The extent of a rebuild may vary but then sometimes you have to cut more out just to remove the bad parts. Recovery is inevitable, but some just take less time to do it which brings everything to your last point. You have to get everything right and knock every single move out of the park. Either that or you have to be incredibly lucky. Right now the Oilers who have been the poster chidlren of how NOT to rebuild a franchise have had the benefit of drafting what pretty much everyone agrees is the best player since Crosby and yet they still suck. They won the lottery in the year the best player was available and they aren't making the playoffs. We were drooling over 15-16 because we had been through historically bad and as fans we looked for hope. It just wasn't meant to be.

Yep. They're offense is amazing. Their goaltending is terrible and against a good team, 7-6 is not a victory they are going to get.

Last year: Crosby - 89 points (25 PPP) Malkin - 72 points (23 PPP) Kessel - 70 points (30 PPP) None of those numbers are near where they are this year. Last year the Penguins were 2nd in the league in GF 5on5 with 185. This year they are 25th at 91. Last year is how they have success. This year is how they limp into the playoffs and get trounced.

Really? His team sits last in goals allowed and near first in goals scored. He has 3 UFA D for next season and 4 UFA forwards (of which 2 are his top scorers). He has to surpass Columbus or Philadelphia to get into the playoffs and you know both of those teams will upgrade at the deadline. He has two moves. Upgrade his goaltending or write a twitter post to the fan base about how they'll try again next year after hopefully signing John Tavares. I am sure Tavares will be ecstatic to see his GM squander a chance at the playoffs by not upgrading goaltending, especially when there are goaltenders available, including one who just beat his team last night.

Agreed. His entire demeanor, on the ice and off the ice, has changed. He's playing a complete game and you can't see anyone outworking him on the ice. The post game comments last night were excellent. He showed that he had paid attention to everything going on in the game. He is? You think Barzal keeps up this scoring level when other teams don't have to focus on Tavares - Bailey - Lee? I don't think so. He's protected right now. In addition, he'll have to keep this up. Maybe he can, but I wouldn't say he's at Jack's level. He reminds me very much of Gaudreau.

Congratulations to the Sabres on the 1000 mark. Let’s not take so long to get to 2000 eh? Good win. Should not have been that close but that’s what we get with this team.

Both are bad and clearly the shot off the end boards doesn’t happen if they clear, BUT that’s still 100% a save Lehner has to make. That’s a goal from each of the 23-15-71 line. Nice.

Hey Rob? That’s all on Lehner. No one is getting to the guy getting the puck off the end boards. Terrible play by Lehner.

Eichel with the Carubba. Who called it when it happened?

The only difference is the goal to shot ratio.

Yup. I concur.

Just got home. Loved seeing 2 goals on 4 shots in the 1st. Botterill probably dialed Snow and hung up each time they scored. These whites look good.

No on has to take on Kane or Nash at the deadline. It would be status quo and that could be fine. Except one GM isn't going to believe that another GM isn't making a move and they will jump and then everyone goes. That's how it works... the expectation that every GM in the running for Kane or Nash will be content to sit around and drive the price way down is unrealistic. What makes it worse is that GMs might have a ranking for Kane or Nash and they might not want to be stuck with one or the other (or one can't get Nash). Someone is going to jump to get the guy they want... the fear of missing out and not succeeding in the playoffs is going to haunt the buying GM more than anything Botterill has to endure. As the tension heightens it will come out that a trade for Kane is imminent and that will break the logjam. Be it true or not.

That has to the dumbest PR move. There is no need to send that out at this point in time. It only invites more questions and makes the locker room that much worse for the rest of the year. Oh well, perhaps they need to clear out a few levels above AV.

They brought the stink back with them. Clearly the Amerks did not employ the CDC foreign microorganism cleanse before letting them back in the building.

I'll miss the start of the game and by the time I get home.. if things are that bad.. I'll miss the rest of the game. We have to hope for the Sabres to light up whoever is in goal so as to encourage a Lehner trade. :)

The only way to have traded Kane weeks ago would be for the return you stated he would get today. There are no shortage of media members, etc. who have said there was no market for a move. The only way would be to sell cheap and even then maybe not get anything. The top two rental forwards are Nash and Kane. I assume that both NYR and BUF will eat 50% of remaining salary for both. So we can look at the following. Nash is restricted to where he can go. Nash has a higher salary requirement. Nash has 15g and 10a on a team that doesn't totally suck. Kane can go anywhere. Kane has a lower salary. Kane has 16g and 20a on a team that totally sucks. There's no need for doom and gloom here. Just gotta be patient at this point. The market is playing itself into its eventual position.

The Sabres don't care about taking on a horrible goaltender. This season is shot anyway. The question is what can thy get from the prospect/pick pool from the Islanders. Given the number of UFA that the Islanders have coming up I would imagine they are not going to be looking to trade prospects that are near ready. Given that the Islanders have two 1st rounders (if I am not mistaken) it might be possible to get one from them. If not and they have given up on Ho-Sang then perhaps he is available. I am not sure you can get D from them at this point. I don't think any GM is judging him on his current performance. We all see that he's checked out and so do other GMs. I doubt anyone believes that the current Kane play is indicative of how he will play once traded. He's basically in self-preservation mode. An injury now insures that he misses out on a playoff run and lowers his payday in the off-season. He NEEDS to be traded now. Once moved he can put it all on the line and that performance will be what adjusts his UFA payday up or down.