DarthEbriate

I will say one thing about the NHL: they do keep us entertained and confused.

It is nice to know that CHLers are on the table again (yeah, Cozens), but of course just watch and we take Holtz/Raymond anyway.

Yes, but for 2+ years Risto hasn't equated a 2C on the trade market. I don't expect it to start now.

That's just it. The "season" or play-in wasn't done. They wanted to do a lottery because the NFL Draft was the only game in town and they needed a reminder to the US that hockey still exists. There's no reason that the lottery is today.

I stand by -- Kane is welcome to sign here as a "victory lap" for 2.5M/year after he's finished his current contract. That'd be nice. But no way we trade for him (and wisely, too, unless Chicago is taking Skinner and Okposo for him).

So can the new player get assigned #8, or would Rip give him #88? Edit: Wait! Did Rip survive the purge? (Seems like it'd be mentioned if he hadn't)

Surely not now that they've already set the top 8? That wouldn't make any sense.

Up above in this thread or another one, I think if we'd have fallen to 10, he might be our guy. At 8... gotta guess that we're looking at one of those other higher 'ranked' guys. Time will tell!

So... this time we're going to nail it!

They'd probably draft from the road teams in the play-in round. There's no way they let all these 7 teams move up a spot. I have spoken! says the Lottery Ball.

No players are going to tank when they could get a chance for the Cup. But --- some team has a 1 in 8 chance at Lafreniere and they could easily qualify if they run into a hot goalie or a weird bounce.

Detroit and Ottawa's fall does help us in our division a bit. Hopefully. Ott is still going to get two good players.

Not in the playoffs. The team has to lose the play-in round to get the 1st pick.

Haha! So... Lafreniere is going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin, right? It's obvious it has to happen.

Woof! Ott got 3 (SJ) and 5.

#8 for the millionth time!

I hope we win! So, in summation for consensus thus far --- If we get to the top 3, we get LaFreniere, Byfield, or Stutzle. If we stick at 7 or 8, we want Perfetti, Rossi, or Drysdale. And if we fall to 10, we take a flier on Jarvis (if available)?

It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. I used to be able to go down to the Key to watch women's roller derby league. I'm curious as to what we'll call it locally. Check out the taxation on trade routes at the CPA? Catch a game at the CliP? Salute your local team at the Pledge?

It's like the draft -- you want as many shots as possible. You just can't count on those shots to be half of your roster. It'd be awesome if it's Kahun. We already have him. But even he needs the stop gap 2C while he gets up to speed as an NHL center. And, if it allowed Skinner to go back to Eichel and net 30+ for a few consecutive seasons... And it would allow Cozens to finish up his rookie deal in protected 3C... This 2C role is so vitally important. Gosh, if only we had a... GAH! I need a drink to get over ROR.

No, it isn't. But it starts at the top and the owner giving them the book to be on the same page with --- and then stepping to the side and letting them do the rest of the writing. To the last question: I sure hope so. I hope that Adams and Krueger were hip-to-hip when Adams was on that extended trip/assessment and forming a HiveMind. Because if they weren't... then RaKru is the next out the door, and then the Pegulas are going to hire the coach, not Adams. And then Adam is going to be out, not the coach, and back and forth, und so weiter und so weiter. And... eventually, I'll slowly gain more and more interest in this new Seattle franchise that doesn't exist yet.

Yup. I'd hate to do to Cozens what we did to Mittelstadt. (And Grigorenko, Girgensons, and even Ennis to an extent), which is push a kid too fast to be that important. Even Kahun falls into this category. Kahun projected as a center, but got to be with Malkin, so... play the wing. But even he would likely need a season as a 3C in a protected O-zone capacity to groom for the 2C role. Now --- maybe Kahun is the guy. In which case, we need two bottom-six grinder style centers to kill penalties. Larsson becomes a critical re-sign. And maybe that moves Cozens to the wing to start his career. But we wouldn't know if Kahun can be the guy until 40-60 games into next season.

Nothing groundbreaking. But the GM and coach have different end goals (longer-term vs. immediate season), so they're best when one hires/finds the other. When they're both reporting independently to the owner, or the owner is flipping one or the other every couple years... it's maddening for us. This is speculation: but it makes perfect sense given the Pegula Way: It's like Rolston. Good coach for kids. He sold the Pegulas on Sabres University. But would GMTM have hired Rolston? Not a chance. This is why they're so "communication" driven, but they're the ones faulting up the communication with their structure and capriciousness.

In my experience there's no such thing as luck. ? Quote aside, because I don't want to turn the thread aside from its intent, I'll sum up. His durability and gamesmanship and story (car crash, removed intestine, recovery, rehab, recovery) and just plain enjoyment/"love" of the game are legendary. He himself was a total project. And Wolf knew that. Wolf traded a 1st round pick for a 2nd round QB who had thrown 4 passes in the NFL. 2 INTs (how Favrian!) and one of those a pick-six. But Wolf knew Favre was a player because he'd been scouting and in personnel for 30 years. He had done a two-year stint with the Jets and Favre would've been their pick if Atlanta hadn't taken him. And even more to the point --- Wolf's first coach was Holmgren. Holmgren who'd been Montana and Young's QB coach and then OC. Who'd taken Young from "running for your life" to Young the accurate passer who still could kill you with his legs. And (personal opinion) Favre is nothing without Holmgren's coaching in those first few years. That plus Mariucci and Andy Reid. (Jon Gruden talks a bunch like he was, but he never was Favre's QB coach, just a tape-crunching Quality Control and I think Wide Receivers for a year.) End Favre chat.

The article does not. It's more about how the Pegulas are comfortable with a coach being real and unassuming during the interview process, not flashy/polished. From the article, they liked how McDermott had a notebook instead of a slick PowerPoint. And I can see why they'd like GMTM's brash/directness in the same light. Those feel real to them. The article pointedly notes that they avoid the Xs and Os aspects because they don't know them and those should be a given with a coach. Of course, a (my) counterargument would be --- the GM and coach need to be in agreement on the Xs and Os to an extent as well. They need to trust that they're getting the right players and styles. A good coach can mold players, but a poor fit of player can undo a good coach as well. Having a third party in charge of those decisions negates that GM/coach partnership. Like Leino being signed as a center. Or forcing Ehrhoff to be a #1 D-man. As to Skinner on the second line: Line combinations are a mystery as great as the Moulson/Ehrhoff. It's a lot of simple tricks and nonsense. But when you find it, you go with it (GLO). No OT is a little less worrying because it's rarer and they more-or-less double shift Eichel and Skinner may be able to skate beautifully but might not be so good in space defensively. What's more alarming is the unwillingness to adapt when Skinner wasn't performing. Especially when Olofsson got hurt. We all figured Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart would join forces when Olofsson went down and it never happened. By the time Olofsson (and Ullmark) got back, it was over. In short, RaKru's combinations don't bother me -- he and his coaches attend practices and see what works/what doesn't. But there needs to be the willingness to adapt. Ruff would constantly change his combinations (to our chagrin and concern), and in-game his (and his fellow coaches') adjustments won us a lot of games.

The Packers were being run as a business, by committee, and hiring legacy players as coaches (some inexperienced: Starr) and some experienced (Gregg), and devolved into a laughingstock along the way despite some really talented players. This lasted 20 years, so we're only halfway there. Finally, a new President rose up and said enough (Bob Harlan). He'd been there all along (like GM Kheevyn) and got his chance and broke the system. No more committee and beloved coach/GM. Instead, football was run by a long-term "football" guy. And Harlan/committee focused on stadium renovations and keeping the franchise viable within the league. The GM (Ron Wolf) went from respected football guy with the Raiders to a HOF-level GM. I don't understand the owner hiring the coach and hiring the GM separately. It's a partnership, not a pairing. One has to find the other. (Note: The Coach can get hired first as well, like here in Seattle with Carroll, then he picked a GM in Schneider; or in Buffalo with McDemott working with Beane for years beforehand, but the owner running those two positions independently doesn't make sense.) In modern sports, there's only one guy who is coach/GM and does it well, and it's at least in part because he has no soul and cuts ties with players a year early rather than too late, no matter what they've done for him.