matter2003

Neutral... It introduced some bad elements but it also greatly increases interest and viewing of the games when people have something on the line.

Can't fire all the players so it's gotta be the coach... They played that annoying defend at all costs style for the first few seasons pretty well and once they had a 1-0 lead it was pretty much over... Didn't work so well this year...

Actually in this case yes I do in regards to what they are building. Depends on the players makeup. Many athletes like challenges, and this is a great spot to come in and make a big difference to the success of the franchise. There is excitement in the air about what's going on and I am pretty sure it's not just among the players in the room...other players around the league are starting to take notice. It was clear the catalyst for this was the return of players from injury and the additions of Tuch and Krebs. There is no reason to think with a few more pieces added to the mix, better goaltending, more growth for the young players and some more time in Granato's system that they won't continue to get better. They played at a 102 point pace since March 1st. I honestly think that over the course of an entire year that probably is a little too high right now but I think they are capable of 90-94 points next year. Probably will just miss the playoffs but will be in it til the end of the season. So why wouldn't a player want to come to a team that is potentially getting ready to go on a run with a bunch of young talented guys?

Why wouldn't they? This is a young, up and coming team. Adams said they won't do anything that will create a roadblock for the younger goalies they expect to have in the system like UPL, Levi and Portillo...perhaps they are afraid they are merely a place holder until one of hem gets here?

LFG!! I was not wanting to see this season end prior to reading this but now I REALLY don't want to see this season end after... Can we just fast forward to October???

I believe they just broke the record...in Calgary/Dallas intermission it was said shots for the game were 83 to 69 which would combine for 152. Still showing 83 to 68 on NHL.com which would have tied the record if this is accurate.

This Rangers Penguins game is crazy...huge number of shots for both teams...wondering what the record is for most shots on goal in a game because they need to be getting close... EDIT: record is from a few years ago when playoffs were in August. TB vs Columbus, 151 shots total(88 for TB, 63 for Columbus) Currently at 138 for this game(73 Pittsburgh, 65 Rangers), 14 shots from breaking the record.

For me it is Evan Rodrigues...he has blossomed into a pretty good player for the Penguins and I can't help thinking he would have really excelled under DG. Career high 43 points and 19 goals this year, probably could have put up similar numbers here.

I don't want another 40 year old goalie.

Hoping we get a goalie and one or two additional pieces to help accelerate the rebuild. Gotta be the right fit, we don't need anymore random FA signings that end up playing the worst hockey of their careers here What are you hoping for in FA with the cap space available?

So here is why I think with their current lineup they are much closer to the team from end of February onward: 1) Ridiculous amounts of injuries, especially to goalies killed us for quite some time. Having to trade for a goalie because you have 5 injured and have no backups left in the entire organization? Are you freaking kidding me? Middlestadt and Samuelsson were out for much of the early part of the year as well. 2) The additions of Tuch and Krebs as well as the return of the injured players around the same time made a huge difference. Team went from scoring 2.67 goals per game to 3.2+ goals per game since the end of February. The more they played together, the better they gelled with each other. 3) Owen Power is going to be an absolute man child for us next year. 4) Additions of Quinn and likely Peterka further bolster the scoring on this team, which is already showing signs of being at minimum league average in that department, if not above average during this timeframe. 5) Assumption is they will find a goalie to help out since all current options save for UPL are terrible(yes, Anderson actually sucked...he just got a lot of goal support most nights). This will by default make them better than they were at anytime this year. 6) Tons of cap space(40.3 million is the most in the NHL) allow them to find one or two quality FAs to further bolster the team and accelerate their development. I fully expect this team to be in the playoff race going into the last few weeks of the season next year. I don't think they will quite get there but they should be very close.

Sighing as I think of listening to Dan Dunleavy for the next decade or more.

Me as a software engineer

Guess he's an AHL lifer. Must really suck to be an elite AHL player and never really get a chance in the NHL

Just randomly looking at some of the AHL players and noticed the AHL points leader with 101 is a local product from Williamsville...nice! Does he project to the NHL or is he an AHL lifer like Gage?

61 points in 45 games...dude won't be there next year to terrorize the AHL

Okposo is captain by default, he doesn't need a C...everyone in the locker room respects the hell out of that dude.

Great way to send off RJ...a Sabres win in oooooooooovvvvvvertime!

Ullmark was always getting hurt for multiple weeks at a time every year, so not sure it was such a bad thing that he left.

I am not buying this really. Anderson's metrics were terrible. Among the worst in the NHL. What really happened was we got Tuch and Krebs, Mittlestadt came back from injury around the same time and we got some other guys back as well. The goal scoring went from an abysmal 2.67 to over 3.2 goals per game since March 1st. Basically we started scoring a lot more which made the bad goaltending not seem as bad as it really was because we won in spite of it.

Apparently they already were on the golf course? Hopefully they have one good performance left in them tonight. Building is going to be packed for RJ's Last Call and he deserves a better send off than last night's effort. Didn't watch the game last night with the NFL draft going on but I didn't miss much it seems. Did anyone punch Brad Marchand in the face? That's always the first hope I have when they face the Bruins. I literally hate him as much as I do Laviolette

Guess it's another game they don't have it.

That article is fantastic! And even the O'Reily trade is looking pretty good with how Thompson has developed.

Haha, well what should have been GW drives if the defense got it's head out of it's rectum.

Not really. Philip Rivers will likely get in and he had less playoff success than Allen has already had. Allen has the highest all time passer rating in NFL history in the postseason, has had the only perfect offensive game ever in NFL History, playoffs or regular season, against NE in the divisional round and likely had the greatest 2 game stretch by any QB in NFL history against NE and KC with a ridiculous 149 passer rating, 9 TDs, only 14 incompletions and 2 GW drives within the final 2 minutes of the KC game. Additionally, he also has numerous accomplishments already where he is the only player in NFL history to have done it, or is on a list with 2 or 3 all time greats. If Rivers gets in having none of those things, which seems likely, Allen getting in would be a mere formality. There has never been a QB like him in league history. Elite at both running and passing, with most likely the strongest arm ever(according to Sports Science measurements it wasn't even close---Allen threw the ball so fast they thought their radar gun was broken because nobody had ever come close to throwing a ball with that velocity), and the ability to beat a defense with his mind also. The greatest defensive coach in NFL history in Bill Belichick literally has no answers for him and simply told the host of his show that "he is a real problem". He has not forced the Bills to punt in over 2 games now. Belichick was so impressed with Allen after the playoff game he came to the Bills locker room to seek him out to talk with him. Not sure how many players Belichick has ever been that impressed with to do that for but I'm guessing it is a pretty short list.