Randall Flagg

And they're all smart enough to know exactly what the others are thinking and doing. Stone, Patches, Karlsson, there are some seriously cerebral guys in huge roles on that team. I liked them before, but when they acquired Stone, it just went next level. He's been one of the top ~5 players in the world since he went to that team IMO, even though the early G/A/PTS didn't show it. Edit: By "before" I just meant last season before the Stone trade. Not trying to pretend I didn't think Vegas would be terrible for years

Dude last spring Vegas was playing some of the best hockey I've ever seen, in round 1. The way they played game 7 before that major call, and then the furious race to tie it before regulation ended, I was speechless. I think they're a serious cup contender just because of how seamlessly they play as one entity

It's a same that my sister automatically hates Johansson forever because he took #90 so soon, because while I don't think he's a long term answer at 2C, if he stays healthy, we're really going to like him. Cross our fingers though, because he's one of those guys that seems to become a horrifying player if injuries happen and linger

I'm not sure why this discrepancy exists, but between this and the preseason each has had, I'd go with Ullmark tomorrow.

McCabe is my guy

The Leafs' stars are incredible. And Barrie gave an early taste of why I was so high on him in my defenseman-points-predictions

Ovie's gonna pass him next year in a million fewer games

Wow that's incredible. I knew Ovechkin was top-tier on the PP, but I wasn't aware that he is unquestionably the best PP scorer ever. Edit: Didn't see Mario's PPG/Game ratio.

Could definitely see the Krueger-Eichel relationship being a great thing for Jack's game. I don't think the Phil-Eichel relationship was a negative, in fact, I think Phil helped Jack grow as a leader. But Ralph could be that next-step kinda guy.

Leafs fans on twitter are continuing the conversation they have had there and on hfboards since preseason 2018, that Rasmus Sandin is better than Rasmus Dahlin

Surface stats don't tell the full story of Sobotka in St. Louis during his last year, but I know you've read me going into that enough to last a lifetime ?

Hahahaha the dude that Matthews was a jerk to scored

Ceci was bad next to Erik Karlsson. I can't imagine he stays next to Rielly long

Nice play Mitch ya goof!

I'm outlining how I evaluate players. I said in the very post you quote that I don't expect Ralph to do the same thing, with access to more information than I have. Rather than calling it unrealistic crap after an obviously shallow skim of what I actually said, how about you explain what parts of that philosophy you don't like? It has served me incredibly well over the years in my quest to fulfill my lone hobby - understanding as much as I can about my favorite sport in the world. I'd be thrilled to flesh it out more and give more examples.

Like 'em or not, Toronto Octobers are usually insanely entertaining. Gotta catch some of the cup champs. And Vegas-SJ is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries out there. And the last option is McDavid vs. Pettersson. Whatever you watch, you're going to enjoy it

My formula, which I stick with because it has served me well in my own personal player evaluation, for preseason, is this: For players who have established themselves to be anywhere from useful to great in extended NHL action, take into account 0.0% of what you see in the preseason. The reason for this is that NHLers that aren't obviously old, who achieve the level of usefulness-to-greatness, regress in any meaningful way about 0.00001% of the time. For players who suck or haven't established this yet, let preseason games be 25-30% of the material for your evaluation and predictions for what they'll bring in the regular season. I'm not saying that coaches don't have more access to info or ability to process hockey stuffs than me, but this works for me and never burns me in either direction, by being fooled by bad players or reacting too harshly to good ones. Doing the former can lead to bad lineup decisions. Doing the latter leads to Moulson's 14 game tryout in 2017, Griffiths' presence on that same roster. 40 games with zero goals for Derek Grant. etc. Ralph can do what he wants but Evan Rodrigues and Vlad Sobotka cannot change my own view of them as hockey players with preseason "performances" (if contributing to zero goals for, with three against as a line in 66% offensive zone time with a 40% expected goal share, while he did the same old same old with marginally more success because it was against garbage hockey players, can be called a "positive performance") Their NHL regular season track records and trajectories are far better both statistically and by any anecdote imaginable at predicting the players they will be the following year. The hockey is just miles ahead of preseason hockey. They both will have the opportunity to change their perceptions starting Thursday, by compiling weeks and then months of new meaningful visual and statistical data.

The game in Pittsburgh last year was so crazy. It should hopefully be exciting win or lose.

And I already think they're nearly there defensively.

That was entirely what I was trying to find. You can feel it in your gut that it's happening, but this game is so hard to put parameters on. Even when I saw "stuff" I couldn't really describe how you'd make us do the "stuff." Like wtf does Bruce Cassidy and Dave freaking Hakstol know because their teams were goddamn impressive in that regard And Hakstol and the Flyers just made me ask why we wouldn't be capable of the same thing, while we instead flounder uselessly with three forwards in the slot, none of their sticks open, none of their feet moving, while the point men fling limp wristers into shin pads off their back foot flinging limp wristers, have fun with that one ink

Goalofsson, a good defense, and our good forwards like Jack, Sam and Skinner. Also healthy Johansson will be a pleasant surprise even to people with good expectations for him

The best most-forgotten-about game from last season was in Anaheim. We destroyed them. The goal count was narrow, but it really felt like we had a good team that night. Of course, they were still like 5-1 or something at the time, and we didn't know (well, the stats people were already yelling about it) that they'd fall off a cliff

A lot of our offensive potential is going to come down to if Ralph can break the chains of Sabres teams in recent history, independent of coaching staff. Though you're always limited by talent, I do think there's some degree of offensive efficiency that can be attained through proper coaching. I have no idea of Krueger has got that coaching, but I don't have evidence he doesn't yet either. All of those things I saw other teams doing in that summer video, that I couldn't put names on, but I've never seen us do. Coach, have our guys learn that stuff!

Four OT/SO losses in such a short stretch would be maddening

It would just be easier on the equipment crew too, to slap the A on a player who guarantees no sweat will touch it