Trettioåtta

Haha when Kaleta dove at the end of the first, the TB commentator made a disgusted 'urgh' Myers played 14.56 that period, not a bad effort

And in fairness to Ennis, he has a feisty side to him. Gerbe does to, but 5'9' and feisty is more effective than 5'4' and feisty

1) To be clear, i thought that is how it sounded when i wrote it. Basically, what i mean is, you have to give up assets to get something. We need a defensive centre, but it seems a waste to give up more assets to get a defensive centre who is good on the draw, when he would be partnered with Ott, who can win draws. Moreover, it would be a waste to have your two best FO guys on the same line (unless it was a really important one e.g. 30 seconds to go in the defensive zone). Does this make sense? I don't mean we have no use for them, i mean it would be a waste of resources 2) Ah I didn't know that. Thanks. Hard to defend DR then :P

Also he is like 5 times more skilled. That always helps

Without wanting to be a DR apologetic because i agree with you I will say a few things: 1) He traded a faceoff specialist who is strong defensively and through a series or moves acquired Ott - who is defensively strong and good on faceoffs. In a way Ott himself is a strange piece. He doesn't play centre but does take draws and is defensive. He is actually quite a hard player to fit in, because it means you almost need to build the line around him (i.e. you need a centre who doesn't really take faceoffs but does the rest of the duties) 2) Leino is not bad defensively, and I presume DR has some sort of stat that suggested he could fit into our system. The centre thing is a bit odd, but he did play centre in Europe, so it wasn't a wild idea, and i am still a bit confused what made it fail so badly Putting it another way, Leino was bad last season. Stafford is bad this season

Enough people have already commented on the veracity of this post, so i shall avoid doing so, lest you get trapped in your house! One thing I will say, is that I don't think this team needs to be blown up. I think it needs to be retooled. I think our team lacks identity because of this puzzle thing. Players like Leino and Stafford have also contributed to this. It is not DRs fault that Stafford and Leino have both shown top-6 ability and failed to perform this season and last season respectively. It makes it hard to get the right puzzle pieces if you are unsure you can rely on your current puzzle pieces to stay the same shape. Realistically, Leino and Stafford should be top 6 guys. But in most people's ideal line-ups they have these guys either pegged on the third line or off the roster. In Stafford and Leino we should have two 50 point scorers, we have 0 Another crucial identity issue is that of the third line. What is its purpose? We need a shutdown line, but we started the season with a third scoring line basically (if an 18yo rookie is your third line centre, it should be a scoring line not a shut-down line). If we roll 3 scoring lines then our 4th should be our shut-down line, but if our 4th is our shutdown line then why do we have Scott, Ellis, Porter or Mccormrick on it

I agree, he is playing a lot better. But it would be nice to see some points coming in from him

The lightning players were told it is either Ruff or Cooper. To me that implies they offered it to Ruff, if he said yes then he gets it, if he declines then Cooper gets it. Cooper is already in the system, if he is your number 1 guy then you bring him up within an hour of firing Guy, just like we did with Ron

Well said. I especially agree with the 'try-hard' factor - i put it forward a few weeks ago (but in a much less eloquent way :P ) Yes but in this case, the stats say that on average that pick will become a third line player, he might become a star, or he might be a bust. But on average you are having that player for 300+ games (and any playoffs). So yes there is the risk he doesn't develop, but I still think DR got better value for Goose than he deserved because on theoretical average our return was a player of equal skill who would play over 15 times longer. Even if that pick ended up being a 4th liner instead of a third liner, if they play for over 15 times more for your club, they are probably more valuable

Yes, but normally you get that third line player until they are 27, not for 20 games. So Nash gave up a first for 20 games/playoffs of Gaustad, and in turn (in theory) we traded 20 games of Gaustad for 8 years of another player

The players were told the job has been offered to Ruff, if he refuses then Cooper gets it. No idea if Ruff has accepted it though - i think that's what Chz is implying

Big physical shut-down D-man. Nice pick up - wonder what they gave up. Annoyingly this also means they won't be after Leo now

He could have won two but Crosby let him down and only put up 27 points in 20 games. Fleury got let down by his team, Miller lets his team down

If only there was a reason Luongo may have started a series and ended up the equivalent of a healthy scratch...there must be some reason, but I just can't think of it. Their stats are eerily similar, despite Luongo playing behind one of the best defensives in the league...but that makes Luongo the better goalie? It is also Miller's fault that the entire Sabres team doesn't get to the playoffs? Tell me which goalie has consistently made it to the playoffs with a worse defense than Miller

Well yeah, but Stafford is a given. And in fairness, it is only this season he has under performed for his contract. Vanek has not lived up to one year of his

Our Stars are 5 years younger than theirs and we have a large number of young players on our roster. They are in the worse situation fo being old and not contending

Miller's cap hit is higher because we didn't front load the contract, because we couldn't under TG. There are 12 goalies who make $5+ million. Most of them have some sort of loading (e.g. Fleury who had his bridge contract built into his main by making 3.5 for the first two years and 5.5 afterwards; or Luongo who makes $5.3 because he plays until he is 89 or something) Vanek's contract is by far the worst on the team. He plays as a $5.5 million player but gets nearer to $7.5

http://house2house.brighthouse.com/cherish-the-moments-you-are-given/

I don't quite get this idea of Miller's money - the reason he is paid as much as he is is because we couldn't front/backload the contract because it was signed under TG. Here is a list of guys who earn similar money - a lot of them earn less, but not by much, especially when you consider the backloading/front loading (if the goalie is young) Kipper - 5.83 Ward - 6.3 Lehtonen - 5.9 Quick - 5.8 Backstrom - 6 Price - 6.5 Rinne - 7 Lundqvist - 6.88 Bryzgalov - 5.67 Fleury - 5 Luongo - 5.33 Miller - 6.25 That list contains 12 names. If Miller is being paid elite money, then elite refers to the top 10 in the sport. Of which Miller is a part, imo

Stafford has been a 30 goal scorer. He has been MIA this season, but I doubt any team loses out if they trade for him. His stock is at an all time low and a change might rekindle him Helm would be an amazing pick up - one of my favourite players in the league (Lidstrom takes 1, but Helm is top 5). But a) he is on IR and b) I think we have a better shot at Babcock's first born

He will never be Chara or Pronger, he was never meant to be. I don't know why he needs to be either. He is physical enough - last night was good. I agree i would rather see him use his size to knock people into the boards rather than pin them against it (maybe he is more cautious after his suspension). He had 10 fights in the WHL, for what its worth

There is a major difference with changing how a player actively plays a game (e.g. outlawing fighting) and how he is protected. When a player is hit in the eye (e.g. Mark Staal) it is a freak accident, an accident that can be prevented by wearing a visor. When a player is cut around their ankle (e.g. Karlsson) it is a freak accident, an accident that can be prevented by wearing special socks. These guys learnt how to play with a visor/cage their entire life. The best players in the world manage to play with a visor. And to be clear, if you fall down the stairs because you decided not to tie your shoes, then that is your fault and you should not then try and claim money from your employer. So yeah, I have no problem with players not wearing protective equipment, but if they chose not to and are injured in a way that would not have occurred had they worn the equipment then they should forfeit their right to a pay check

I dunno, we still have Gerbe!

Last year Kassian had 7 points (3G +4A) in 27 games for the Sabres. This year Kassian has 8 points (5G + 3A) in 27 games for the Canucks. He has two points in his last 19 games

From behind with an elbow and a head hit. Surely they suspend him for 4+ games if they want these kind of plays to be removed from the game