TrueBlueGED

You people need to stop making me defend a coach I hate. Bylsma sucks. Nolan sucks far more.

My fear continues to be they're on the same page.

Latvia played like utter garbage. They were bailed out by an epic goaltending performance. Story of Nolan's career.

What do you think he should perform at?

Yea, and I really don't think we're better this season than last season. I didn't think Murray had a good offseason, and the results this year (on pace for a whopping 1 more point than last season, and currently with a worse goal differential) hasn't done anything to make me re-evaluate that view.

The way I see it, Murray has only been trying to build a team for two offseasons, and the starting point for the build was a historically bad team. That has to count for something, I think. But the clock starts ticking for me this offseason--he has to find a way to shed at least 1 bad contract in a trade (with Vegas hopefully helping on a second), revamp the defense, and get the right coach. That's a somewhat daunting list, so maybe hope for 2/3 of it? Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, we're officially behind where we should be in the rebuild (we should be a bubble team IMO). If we're still behind next year (ie. no playoffs), then I start to think about making a change...particularly if he hitches his wagon to Bylsma to start the year.

Dan Bylsma is a bad NHL coach. Ted Nolan is a bad hockey coach.

My money's on an extension the terms of which will make me a very sad panda.

Showcase! Hey, if Lazar can get a 2nd...

No shame in having been wrong about Lazar. Doubling down on said wrongness, on the other hand...

I think the allure of Kane's potential is diminished--how many GMs are going to really believe he's a 30 goal guy in waiting when he's spent most of his time with Eichel and O'Reilly, and still is only a 20-25 player? He's continued to get injured. He's two years older and only has 1 year left on his contract as opposed to 3. He's had two off-ice incidents, and though nothing came of them legally, it's not the type of thing that's endearing to GMs on the heels of the (nonsense, IMO, but existent nonetheless) stuff in Winnipeg. And again, in general, scoring wingers just don't have a ton of trade value. Edit: Put another way, I don't think Murray overpaid by three 2nds. I just don't think 2017 Kane is as valuable as 2015 Kane.

Hanzal is a center, cheaper, and without off-ice questions. Also likely cheaper to extend. And despite the hot streak, Kane is still probably only going to end up in the low-40s point range after only 35 last year.

Maybe he's just not good and his rookie year was a fluke? And it's not like his rookie year was gangbusters either--even possession metrics and 15 points.

Unfortunately, I think that's quite close to Kane's value. Trade value, I mean.

His possession stats tanked last year too, so it's not like this is a 30 game run. He's got 100 straight games of turd-like performance.

Chicken/egg. After his rookie year, really think he'd have been left to rot if his performance didn't fall off a cliff? I'll take him for a 4th.

It's hard to put into words just how bad Lazar has been as a pro, but I'm going to try anyway: he's been Nic Deslauriers with a better draft pedigree.

Really smart move for the Rags. Think Smith fits in very well with their transition attack.

I think Bylsma firmly believes that his six most skilled forwards should be crammed into two lines. Hence, Reinhart will never get to play center for an extended period with a healthy roster.

I think a lot of it has to do with being married to a rigid "top-6" approach.

I saw. I laughed. Hoppe's obsession with McGinn is downright odd.

I'm just not big on there being an intrinsic value to winning. And I'm certainly not big on it if it prolongs the tenure of a bad coach. In fact, I think it's a net negative, especially if there's a disconnect between him and the core players.

And I just want to have their wins mean something to me. Right now, they don't. They're joyless. I want to believe, and that's not happening until a coaching change is made. I've said before this year is worse than the two tank years for me, and I honestly and truly mean it.

He's spending most of his time with Okposo rather than McGinn.

Yes. Maybe I'm being unduly pessimistic, but I don't expect the gape between Kane's perceived value to the Sabres and his actual trade value to narrow much. Only thing I see shifting the calculus is if his contract demands necessitate a move.