TrueBlueGED

Mike Harrington ‏@ByMHarrington 45m45 minutes agoMore Bylsma said Eichel-Kane were going to be 2nd shift of OT... Tatar-Larkin started for DET and he liked ROR-Okposo against them. #Sabres Well at least he was going to put those two on the ice together...... :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

If McCabe is out for an extended period of time, Risto may actually die on the ice.

And Zetterberg complained he wasn't called for a hook in OT :lol:

Eichel and Risto have been credited with assists on the Reinhart goal. Nice.

Travesty. His goal, however, was not.

Thanks :beer: I'm just sitting here in awe. He actually made a lateral movement!!! CODY FRANSON!!!

:death:

Cody Franson led a rush that had me on the edge of my seat. I repeat, Cody Franson. Edit: What I really should have said was Cody Franson carried it in in electrifying fashion. But y'know, we don't have the talent to do anything other than dump and chase.

Thread lock in 3...2...1...

At least Deslauriers isn't playing. Baby steps!

Hyperbole alert! Hyperbole alert! Yes, surely O'Reilly and Okposo and Reinhart add zero to the team. Yup, the two spots in the standings could have been accomplished with only Eichel added to the tank teams.

Paging Tim Murray. Paging Tim Murray. Reclamation project alert! Reclamation project alert!

I can't possibly be the only one who doesn't have the faintest idea what CharDee MacDennis is.

He should've taken his brother's road: Sweden first, then AHL to close out the year.

And when was the last time we were regularly making the 2nd round? How likely was that to happen during the tank years had we chosen to keep trying to win? Hell, even when we were good, how many big free agents would even give us the time of day? NY, Boston LA....yea, they can muddle their way through as a middle team and still get the big names. We can't, and we never could. Even with daddy warbucks and a new locker room, we couldn't even get Brad Richards to meet with us.

This is the most unenjoyable hockey season I have ever experienced. Yea, because Hossa-type players are coming to Buffalo as free agents. And we already had Kessel. His name was Vanek. Edit: I could go in. Risk Nash? We weren't on his list of approved teams. We couldn't even get Jimmy freaking Vesey to come here. Your method of building a team is every bit as pie in the sky chasing the end of the rainbow as tanking.

I had way more fun during the tank than I am right now :lol:

I don't think you can reasonably run the zillion different "what if" scenarios to get an answer, though. It could easily have turned out much worse not tanking, too.

Maybe Briere wasn't clutch, maybe he was just lazy in the regular season.

Sure, but I'd rather be intentionally awful and end up with Eichel than unintentionally bad and end up with Noah Hanifin. I think what stings about the tank is it was two consecutive seasons. One in isolation would've been less painful by a notable measure.

He won't. Don't worry. In fact I eagerly await all the "Jack Eichel took awhile, but he's finally grown into a superstar" hot takes that will accompany a coach who runs an offensive system. Still better odds than finding a group of 12th overalls that can win the Cup.

It's okay, I don't hold your incorrectness against you :p

But gave Dan Girardi a zillion dollars because hits and shot blocks and size! That's what a real defenseman is!

I fully supported the tank, still think it was the right thing to do, and I'll happily do it again 15 years from now if we don't fall into Jack's successor.

Maybe, but not necessarily. Have to be smarter than other teams. Guys like Stralman and Daley do move, just gave to a) have a GM who recognizes their value and b) a coach who can utilize what they do well. Obviously Stralman is much better than Daley, but you get my point.