bob_sauve28

Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Hockey League debut for the Boston Bruins, playing 3 games with the team in 1955, but he was mostly mired in the minors during the early portion of his career. He played 23 games with Boston over the next two seasons, while serving as a significant contributor[citation needed] on the Hershey Bears club. Smith then spent five years with the New York Rangers organization, reaching the NHL for a 29-game stint in 1961. During this period, he was a dominant force with the Springfield Indians, scoring 82 points in 71 games in 1960.[2] In 1963, Smith finally earned a chance to become an NHL regular after being acquired by the Detroit Red Wings. He scored an NHL career-high 49 points during the 1965–66 season. He was part of a six-player blockbuster transaction in which he was traded along with Norm Ullman and Paul Henderson from the Red Wings to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Frank Mahovlich, Pete Stemkowski and Garry Unger on March 4, 1968. The Maple Leafs and Red Wings were in fifth and sixth place respectively at the bottom of the East Division standings at the time of the deal.[3] He was selected by the Buffalo Sabres during the 1970 expansion draft and served as the team's first captain.[4] Smith became an assistant coach with the Sabres in 1972. The next year, he was hired as head coach of the team's top farm club, the AHL's Cincinnati Swords. He won a Calder Cup in the first of his two years with the team. In 1974, he became Buffalo's head coach, leading the team to a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year. However, the Sabres were eliminated in the second round the next two years, and he was fired at the end of the 1976-77 season. He also coached the World Hockey Association's Cincinnati Stingers for the 1976–77 season and was Toronto Maple Leafs coach for the first 68 games of 1979–80 until being injured in a car accident on March 14, 1980, rendering him unable to fulfill his duties as coach for the remainder of the season. He remained with the Leafs as a scout until being promoted to general manager, a position he held for the 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons.[1] Smith resides in southern Erie County, New York.[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Smith

As requested by PA, I'll start this thread, but I do feel guilty because I'm basically stealing the info from the twitter account, but I guess anyone can post from whatever source including personal remembrances. Feel free to post other Buffalo sports history, I'm just starting it to focus on Sabres, but no problem expanding it. Guess we won this trade! Love the cartoon, too!

Washington??

Florida's Forsling isn't physical at all, but might be their best d-men. Power has got all the skills

The top two lines are fine, if Benson takes Skinners place. The third line could be ok with Skinner, Greenway and..,Krebs/FA pick up No clue what fourth line will like

I was just kidding, piggy backing on the face off debate going on

And for the ladies not to wear short skirts!

Should be a good series with Rangers and Panthers. My guess is team with better special teams wins

Don't worry, he will get run out of town in enough time to be a mature player on a Stanley Cup team scoring for them.

Forsling!!!

This would be a total BS call if they say that's a penalty

Big praise for Forsling, very un-Physical d-man who is the best d-man on the team. Broadcast just said the shots on goal are 50-15 5x5 for Panthers when he is on the ice.

How many faceoffs have you won lately?

We get him, maybe Kane will want to come here, too! 😇

Find the best faceoff guy and throw money at him!!!

I just looked this up https://thehockeywriters.com/2024-nhl-free-agents/ May 3, 2024 by Alex Chauvancy The 2023 free-agent class may have been underwhelming, but 2024 has the potential to be different. Much different. Headlined by high-end talent and plenty of depth, the 2024 crop of NHL unrestricted free agents may be the best we’ve seen in years, even after some notable names have signed contract extensions. Let’s look at some marquee UFAs and present our preliminary top 30. Star Talent Leads the Way The 2023 UFA class severely lacked high-end talent. There were good players, but most were second-tier free agents who didn’t earn top dollar or max term. For example, among the 2024 class had Auston Matthews, but he signed a four-year extension during the summer worth $13.25 million annually. Still, there is plenty of talent without Matthews. Leading the way is Sam Reinhart, who had a monster career season, totaling 57 goals and 94 points in 82 games. The Florida Panthers were again one of the East’s top teams, and Reinhart’s play was a significant reason. Has he priced himself out of staying in Florida? Time will tell, but he will secure the bag one way or another. Steven Stamkos has played his entire career with the Tampa Bay Lightning. While I don’t expect that to change, he remains unsigned as of now as he did when he approached free agency in 2016. He’s unlikely to get significant term since he’s 34, but he’s still a point-per-game player. There will be plenty of interest in him if he hits the market. There isn’t as much talent defensively as there is up front, but there are some intriguing names. Devon Toews was the top UFA defenseman until he signed a seven-year extension worth $7.25 million annually with the Colorado Avalanche. Still, names like Brandon Montour, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei will interest clubs if they make it to July 1 unsigned. Related: Jets Re-Sign Hellebuyck and Scheifele to Seven-Year Extensions Rounding out some of the star talent are Joe Pavelski and Jake Guentzel. Pavelski may be 39, but he just put up a 67-point season. There will be plenty of interest in him on a one-year deal, which adds to his value if he wants to keep playing. Guentzel has been one of the top goal-scorers in the NHL for half a decade, and it’s not a product of playing alongside Sidney Crosby, as he showed after the trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. He will get his money, too.

Wouldn't free agency be a better route, or is that too expensive? I mean, we have cap space, right?