Randall Flagg

All good stuff, and last sentence, I agree about this season - the most frustrating thing about it is that it's the culmination of the previous two more-frustrating ones. The season itself definitely beats either of the last two in entertainment value

I mean I think if they saw it the way I do (which is surely simplistic and lacking in information they have) they'd make the change just to benefit the team, if they thought it would. So it sure might tell me that I have it wrong. But that's not enough for me to abandon the idea, I would need to see their point of view fleshed out and then be convinced that it is more correct Edmonton fans described Ralph as a bit stubborn, so it could be nothing more than him sticking with this idea too for sure, but again, none of us really know the discussions going on internally

I do apologize to triumph - my comment was uncalled for. You're not one of the worst posters here. Nobody is, we're all great. That being said - people will be mad at the worst franchise in the league by wins and losses since the Pegulas have taken over, until it's better, and that anger will be especially prevalent after nights like last night. It might be best to just avoid the forum on days like today if you don't like that stuff.

We'll drop the gloves, spend our 5 mins in the box, and get over it!

And I like him, that's just the overarching, meta battle I felt taking place in this conversation, so I phrased it that way for dramatic effect I do stress that I'm not saying "Skinner is absolved and Ralph is to blame." Just, we have what we have right now, what do we do from here? That's my suggestion, simply because I think it would work. Get a 2C this offseason and we can go back to Ralph's original idea. And hopefully Olofsson will better handle these minutes. I'm sure he will.

It's an irreplacable role, you do it better than anyone!

update: Team Montour is fine: nfreeman, darksabre, Flagg, dudacek, pi2000, DarthEbriate, WC Team middle ground: Swamp, True, freester Team Montour sucks: inkman, so many posters in random GDTs that I just can't remember who said what, but I swear there are a lot of 'em

What about that season with the Ducks? 22 mins in a WCF run, Fowler, Lindholm, Manson the other guys?

You're thinking of the 4th time he did it, this would be 13 I think

Ooh, a "Team Montour" member. Team Montour is fine: nfreeman, Flagg I guess?, darksabre?, ... ? Team Montour sucks: most other posters

You whine more about other posters in a given week than I whine about this team in a given month. It's way more insufferable to bitch about people on a forum than a hockey team that has won fewer games than all other franchises in the league since the tank ended And some poor reading comprehension there - you compared this year's team to last year's, while nothing indicates we are any better at that this year than last year. "3/4ths of the time in our own zone" is some riveting incorrect information

I don't care why Ralph set it up, I just think we can both bring Skinner back from the dead and improve the play of the single most important part of our team, which isn't good enough with Olofsson there, with one single move. Hockey-wise, with how Skinner plays and produces historically, my explanation for why it would work feels pretty sound, and you did nothing to address it, so I'm going to stick with it. I'm not bashing your coach, I'm trying to fix problems that are currently plaguing your coach's lineup (I don't mean this to come off as mean as it does, I just feel that you can get touchy for things that may tangentially implicate Ralph, especially if it paints Buffalo Bill in a positive light, have removed the 'boyfriend,' which was uncalled for) Meanwhile, show me some film of his horrendous moments versus Columbus and Ottawa? Are you including when he had to play defense on the shorty? Not a good look, but that's not something I'd expect him to know how to do, and so it's not nearly as "horrendous" as, say, Eichel's mis-play in the NZ leading to the 4th Ottawa goal, defensively. Otherwise, I'm not ignoring anything, though I may be forgetting something. Those games could have been plucked out of his hot stretch last year.

Yep. Though I don't think he's gonna get one now. I know he's trying (yes, we hear you, 15 different hockey "analysts" tweeting that he's trying) but this is not the time that teams are willing to part with these kind of players for the kind of return they would get

It's not about finishing, for the offense. They're the worst in the league at sustainably creating chances from dangerous areas of the ice, not at finishing. Your second line isn't true at all. Like this year, two of our four lines were effective at keeping the puck, and two weren't. Like this year, we were middle of the pack in any stat that you could propose to proxy for time spent in our zone versus our opponents. Actually, some even suggest we were in our zone less often last year. You're consistently one of the worst posters here because you couple snark like your last line to mediocre hockey content like your first two

Crazy that we have one single NHL center under contract for next season, and the only other guy on the roster that is a bonafide NHL center that we could re-sign is a 4C

I still like the Skinner trade - a known quantity that was gonna cost money. The other pros he has brought in: Jokiharju, Vesey, Johansson, Miller, Montour, Sheary, Scandella, Sobotka, Berglund, Thompson, Lazar, Frolik, Wilson, Beaulieu, Pominville, Elie, Tennyson, Pouliot, Antipin, Nolan, Josefson, Griffith. These are all guys who played pro hockey for at least a year that were brought in by trade or UFA under Jason. I don't think I missed anyone. Leaving aside quality of player - almost all of these guys were fully established as the player they will always be upon arrival. Jokiharju was a good move, but as a prospect swap it barely qualifies for the type of move you're talking about. Nowhere did the cap guru identify a player that would blossom in a new role after being hidden in his current one, thus becoming a value contract. That's how those things get made. That's why my focus was always Cirelli - he is just a placeholder name for the type of guy we're going to need, since already-good 2Cs don't get passed around like colds. You gotta be able to find guys that can fit and flourish on your team. He found guys that played the same way they always have, or were already on the decline, and we play like the collection of those players that we are.

This would be the most black-pilling experience of my life

Ooh you just reminded me of the other thing I was going to post today

Miller, Montour, Risto, Joki. Joki is off the table. I'd keep Miller too. I know that some people will hate me for this, but I'm ONLY trading Risto if it FIXES the 2C position. Not trading him otherwise. fully capitalized intentionally - not "maybe fixes" or "has the potential to fix." Feel free to add any asset we have to Risto, but fix the position. Which leaves Montour and a prospect to Anaheim for Copp, leggo

Why are we rewarding Pittsburgh's player and getting stuck with cap that prevented us from being able to retain on Scandella?

I can't believe these guys keep typing this and hitting "send tweet"

I would say so. I don't need him to go fleece somebody. Just make a trade that fixes a significant problem of your own creation. FIXES, not "fixes" like Johansson "fixes" the 2C issue If you make the other team happy too, so be it, I don't care about them. What percent chance are we confident that this point is reached? I forgot which poster it was, but somebody claims to have talked to someone who suggested that this is the case among GMs. Agreed that it has to be the end if true.

Not to mention actually USING Hunwick for some reason ?

On Ralph: The top line continues to struggle at 5v5 with Olofsson. The way the team is built, they need their top line firing on all cylinders to compete, and with Olofsson all major metrics are substantially worse for the top line compared to without him. In addition to this, the top line scores goals 20% more frequently without Olofsson, and they allow goals 27% less frequently without Olofsson. It may be helping Victor to develop in the tough minutes that come with playing next to Jack Eichel, but it doesn't help the team. Meanwhile, I understand the idea of not giving Skinner minutes he hasn't earned. But this hasn't worked to spur him, because it's not effort that is the problem. This isn't a defense of Skinner, who is on the hook for his own production ultimately, especially with that contract. But he isn't refusing to work. We have seen two of Skinner's best games in a long time both last night and against Columbus, and they continue the trend of him being able to generate, but not bury, dangerous chances. Hell, the play he made to steal the puck, get it to Sheary, almost score out of mid-air, and then tie up the defender's stick so Montour could bury the puck, is probably a top 5 Skinner sequence as a Buffalo Sabre. And it gave us all a flashback of the situations in which Skinner was so dangerous. When there is netfront chaos. Watch his highlight reel from last season. he feasted on chaos created in the area of the ice that the Sabres are historically horrible at doing anything with. He did the same thing to be dangerous against Columbus, and in Ottawa on that first goal. The issue is, he doesn't GENERATE the chaos, he isn't strong enough at making decisions or moves with the puck on his stick to set it up AND finish. He was so good with Jack because Jack can create chaos, and Jeff can finish. We just haven't seen Jeff involved in this chaos, because Lazar, Rodrigues, Sheary don't create it with regularity. At this point, I would say that Olofsson hasn't "earned" 5v5 top line ice time either. He has 7 goals at even strength with Jack in 44 games. Skinner would get to 7 in less than half that time if we move him there, I'd bet anyone on this forum $50. Again, I am not absolving Skinner of his performance of late. I am responding to the reminder that last night gave me about who Skinner is, and am proposing a solution that fixes two problems at once (the top line struggling with Olofsson on the ice, and Skinner being ice cold). Every single great Olofsson moment of the past three games still happens without him on the top line, as they all came in OT or on the PP. We lose nothing except our disadvantage in the only area that we have a chance for success.

We've given a goalie with a .894 save percentage behind a defense that is statistically slightly better than average, 25 starts in 60 games