X. Benedict

I don't think that can be right. Herb coached at Minnesota before taking the Olympic team, and then he went to Europe before coaching the Rangers in the early 80's.

The Badger. So associated with Wisconsin they just called him the Badger.

Fair point, but I'm not going to worry about it now.

Interesting move. That changes the landscape for the rest of the coaches not named Babcock.

In Buffalo's case, yes. Reinhart and Eichel will be on entry levels. Don't think of it as how much you pay O'Reilly, but consider how much you are investing in the sum of your centers. Eichel and Reinhart's low entry level contracts would subsidize O'Reilly's.

My philosophy on building a team: The one position that you overpay for is center. Get O'Reilly,extend him, and have center ice locked up for the next 6-8 years. He's good.

Forsberg didn't come in the league until he was 21, IIRC. All I said was his strength on the puck (mostly the protection part), and vision reminded my of Forsberg. There are limits to comparisons. Eichel is RH, of course. You aren't going to see Forsberg numbers out of Eichel IMO. The league is a much different place.

No. We have superstition and conjecture. Now hand me my rabbit foot, but I suppose you are against that kind of thing.

I had a discussion with a junior coach the other day who had been watching Eichle and he asked me who I would compare Eichel to. I said his strength on the puck and vision remind me of Forsberg.

Love is like an ice hockey game.

Holy crap I love this kid.

I'm of the opposite opinion. There is much more talent in the league top to bottom than 30 years ago. The athletes are bigger, faster, stronger and drawing from a world-wide talent base. 30 years ago, no russians, only defected czechs......and I just look at the talent on 4th lines today around the league today compared to years ago. These guys are phenomenal athletes. Play, on a night to night basis, is much more intense than when only 4 or 5 teams missed the playoffs. Adding teams has made the nightly competition much more fierce and meaningful than when standings didn't change after Christmas and teams played for ties on the road.

That's awesome. Thanks for doing this.

Actually, I'd be excited about Richardson too. I'm trying to think, but probably the only guy younger than him that has played more NHL games is Jagr. Richardson would pretty much throw hands with anyone too, though he wouldnt go looking for it. Here's him and Brad May

Eich should take Evgeni's elbow as endorsement. Nice compliment.

Money? I'm betting he wants a pay-grade better than a 4th rounder. He's likely to start in the AHL. I don't think he's ready for the NHL just yet.....but he's got some nice skills.

Mike Reilly going to go to free agency? Hmmmm. He's a nice player. Could screw Columbus.

Game effort by USA.

I think I catch your drift, but ..... Rodrigues was a nice signing, but he's a Cory Conacher type depth project. He was one of the top 10 free agent forwards out of the NCAA. Eichel hasn't even played a pro game yet. Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves overvaluing his potential line-mates? ____________________________________________________________________________________ I'm liking the play of these "College Kids" they are giving Russia all they can handle and the Rooooskis are frustrated. Russian throwing some cheap elbows rather than taking the body, and they are missing passes. It is like they already hear the criticism for losing. US kids look like they are having fun and playing a disciplined game. Well coached.

I think Russia can get frustrated. They really have the pressure here, and demons of Sochi. That really was a dumb penalty by Malkin.

If I had to personally put percentages on Buffalo's next coach...... Richardson 40% Babcock 20% Deboer 15% MacLean 10% The Field 15%

I hardly think Rodrigues was a favor.

Great album Live at the Regal

Thanks for these gems.

:lol: