Hoss

There's a lot of speculation that Phil Kessel will be the one to go in Pittsburgh and that the team wants to get a defenseman this offseason. Any interest? He's 31 with three years left at $7M. Had 33 goals and 44 assists this season.

I get that, but I'm not sure exactly what tone it's going for. I am fluent in gif. His name is Tage. He was a bust before he sniffed a jock strap. But there's still a chance he changes his name and finds success.

I literally read that he was a forward but still made him a defenseman. Reading comprehension.

Looks like we can bank on a foreign dman joining us every offseason from now until the end of time. I’m fine with that.

You and Doohickie could use a lesson in nuance. Just because I don’t think the trade has failed already, just because I think it’s foolish to believe Tage is already a failure doesn’t mean I believe firmly in the opposite. I don’t. I think the trade will fail. I’m not confident in Tage. But neither are set in stone.

Lmao chill Or Montour turns into a star

Pretty pissed they broke the chain of home/away week one this season since I’ll be in town week one. Oh well. I’ll be at the Bills preseason game here in CLT.

Okay, I will keep believing that. I will indeed keep believe there’s a possibility the trade still works out, however unlikely it seems. We traded for a player who hadn’t made himself into a full-time NHL player yet and a pick. We’ll see what those guys turn into. I’m not even sure what you’re conveying here.

I think I was very wrong about the need to move O’Reilly. Luckily that doesn’t mean the trade won’t eventually work out.

Vegas assistant Ryan McGill intrigues me as far as the resume goes. He’s won at the OHL level and he’s been a part of building from scratch in Vegas. Has developed young players and veterans.

Every team in the league that had multiple picks early, in the middle and/or late got two or more potentially good players

My inclusion of Toronto is a projection, to be fair. Eliminate them and I’m thinking more along the lines of five years. Also, everything about Vegas so far has been a unique situation. And their spike in sales isn’t comparable to a franchise that’s been around for decades suddenly being good for two seasons. The newness of it all certainly appeals beyond that.

Nobody knows this yet. And won’t for probably at least 3/4 more years.

Colorado and Vegas can meet in round two. If that happens and STL is eliminated by the Jets we’re guaranteed to get the pick. Toronto finished ahead of STL so what they do has no impact.

It’s not even a fact in the NHL. Washington, Pittsburgh, Tampa, San Jose, Nashville, Boston, now Toronto, St. Louis. All perennial contenders for a prolonged period of time without having the rebuild. Just because you lose in the first round doesn’t mean you weren’t a contender. Just because you never win one doesn’t mean you weren’t a contender. Teams can still contend for extended periods of time. Even if Vegas never wins one they’re already close to proving it was worth it. And the unique circumstances there make this a strategy that might not be the best for other markets but is great there. The amount of merchandise they’ve spread across the city and country have made them a brand already. They’ve executed this perfectly.

No it won’t impact how this works. St. Louis would still move down (or up depending on how you look at it).

The only reason the Sabres prospect pool hasn’t been consistently elite is because their best young players have skipped the prospect level in their careers. Our pool has been highly regarded at various points over the last few years. I don’t recall recent champions having highly regarded pools at any point in recent years.

We need Columbus, Vegas, Dallas or Colorado to advance while St. Louis doesn’t. I didn’t think that was very likely but it’s looking like a decent shot now. Vegas could end up facing St. Louis in the next round which would put us in quite the rooting scenario.

They were down 5-0. I love listening to you whine about Vegas’ prospect pool. It legitimately does not matter if you’re consistently contending for cups. There’s no reason to think they can’t just keep going. The Sabres really have destroyed the way we all think about this game.

Insane stat: Martin Jones, the starting goaltender for the San Jose Sharks, has been in the ice for 11 goals against this series. Erik Karlsson has been on the ice for 13 goals against this series.

Just realized only 19 of the current 31 NHL teams have won a Stanley Cup. 6 of the 12 who have never won it are in the playoffs this year (Columbus, Winnipeg, Vegas, San Jose, St. Louis, Nashville). Burns and Karlsson have both been brutal this series

Dineen’s name has been floating in the Buffalo atmosphere way too long for me to want him. Hoppe did a good job selling Scott Gordon.

I think this should all be a good reminder for everyone that only one team can win every year. It’s so hard to win. In team sports it’s silly to drill a guy for not winning enough championships.

If you're wondering about the score, CBJ had three empty net goals.

The number of people burying Tampa reminds me of all the pictures of the Sabres at the top of the standings during the winning streak...