DHawerchuk10

That’s hilarious!

Perhaps in a perfect world, but I find that questionable with the acquisition of Sheary and Hunwick whom you most likely neglected to account for, whom were acquired prior to Skinner. You can say we shouldn't have acquired them, but that's just not how it shook out in real time. With all do respect, many of your scenarios are great in hindsight, but Botterill doesn't have that luxury. With the exception of the O'Reilly deal, the majority of his moves were lauded at the time. Overall I think the team is heading in the right direction, and I like what he is trying to build. Sure, things can be improved on, but lets see what he does at the deadline.

I didn't do the math, but I don't think the bolded could be on the same team. In other words, if ROR was kept, it is very likely that Skinner would not have been acquired due to cap reasons.

The only thing that concerns me about this is that there was so much made about how quickly he processes the game at the draft. Like you and others, I'm willing to excuse an 18 year old defenseman and give him a few years to iron things out, but I'd be lying if I said the thought "maybe this guy was a little overhyped" wasn't starting to creep in.

You are totally right of course. But I don’t think it is wrong to analyze his weaknesses.

I wouldn’t say Dahlin is really soft, but lacks urgency in his game. I think where some folks see calmness, I see someone who is having issues with the speed of the game. I might be articulating it wrong, but always he seems to wait too long with the puck, and gets stripped a lot.

I was reading the comments to the Finland/Canada game on hfboards. The majority of the posting Canadian fans were pretty pathetic. I couldn't believe the vitriol directed at Comtois. They are just kids trying their best for their country.

Correct, we have “centers”, just none that fulfill the #2 right now.

Yep....folks got way too ahead of themselves during the streak as their play just wasn’t that great. It was good to enjoy of course, but to compare the team to 05-06, was bound to yield disappointment.

Nope, I remember that. But give the guy some credit here...he played a decent game overall. He’s been one of our better penalty killers all year too. There were a boatload of players I would criticize more than sobotka. Outside of bogosian, our defense was a total mess. Risto seemed like he just woke up from a nap, and dahlin was a spectator all night. Very concerned about mittelstadt and dahlin lately. Both slumping big time.

Because he was probably one of the few guys skating tonight.

Risto wasn’t good, but dahlin was deplorable

It appears from early reading on the 2020 draft, having multiple picks in that draft may be more desirable than this year. Elite top end picks, with depth.

Yeah, but Kane is from buffalo (eyeroll)

Concur. As an aside..... One thing they should consider to enhance atmosphere is to vertically stack the seats ala the Aud. It appears architects who design the new buildings like pushing things back. This probably results in better sight lines, but you are further away from the action. It has been often repeated that the old buildings are missed so much because the fans were right on top of everything. It would make sense to make this a priority, along with attempting to amplify the noise in some way via the design.

I concur. If Leaf fans could just tone down their abrasiveness a tad in a visiting building, it would be a much more enjoyable for everyone. Cheer for your team, but don't be a super jerk to everyone in the building. I found going to a game in Toronto is fairly laid back because Leaf fans don't feel the need to be total douches all the time, and you can have a fairly good natured, educated conversation with them. Ditto Montreal.

I was at the same game, but the ratio, if I recall correctly, was heavily in favor of Buffalo (the Leaf fans were more subdued that game too because most Sabre fans were frothing at the mouth from Stanley Cup fever....they didn't dare be their obnoxious selves). Not even close to a regular season invasion at least. I think that offers an important roadmap if we ever see the Leafs in the playoffs going forward in that it won't be 50/50, but more 75/25.

NBA is a bunch of pop culture schlock. I’m not saying you are wrong, but anytime things get over marketed to the masses, the product turns into a shiny turd in my humble opinion.

If you do the calculation in Canadian dollars

If we have truly “changed” as a team, there is some yelling in that locker room. Marner starts spinning in our zone next period, he better get hammered.

Concur. He's having a whale of a season.

I had Bandits season tickets in '96. Those games were a blast!

Ahhh...music to my ears. "Buffalo penalty to number 29 Jeff Parker and Quebec Penalty to number 23 Paul Gillis, EACH Five minutes for fighting...the time 15:29"

One of the best regular season games I ever saw in the Aud was in '87 against the Oilers on MLK Jr. day. Scotty Arniel won it in OT. I was beside myself with joy. Not only for the rare win that year (especially against the Oilers), but so I could redeem my ticket stub for a free whopper! I also have very fond memories of wandering the halls during the Sabre carnivals. Oh what a joy that was! As others have said above, I still can remember the smell of the place, the weird ramps, the bats that were in the trees outside the building, and staircases that you had to repel down to get to your seats in the oranges. I miss the sounds of whistling instead of booing (why don't we do that anymore?) and Milt Ellis's voice booming across the Aud announcing the winning Perry's Ice Cream thing from the program.

I think they gave us like a 10% chance of winning 1 game on the recent road trip.