DarthEbriate

SAMMMMMMSONNNNNN!

Phew (regarding the Crosby weapons malfunction)

1st period, Samuelsson with Risto. I wonder if we maintain the lead into the 3rd, whether Bryson rejoins Risto to hold the lead, as Risto will log a lot of minutes.

Not the first person to have that difficulty with Crosby. After the whistle, Dahlin and Rust share a little shove, and Thompson, the Tager, wanders over and escorts Rust away. Tage is our muscle? I'm liking Samuelsson thus far.

Mace Windu. Am I doing this right?

I hope Okposo fully heals and has no concussion aftereffects of the injury. GM'Ebriate has him on the roster next season. He can still play as evidenced by his rejuvenation with the rest of the roster since Granato took over. But I'm still buying him out after next season, when the cap hit on the buyout is worthwhile.

Taylor Hall leads the team in assists, 17 to Eichel's 16. But don't worry, Dahlin's got his targeting computer set on them.

Rolston had Miller and Enroth and a very veteran team. Looking back, they were also pretty healthy that season. Vanek and Pommers missed 10 games each. The real glue of the team missed most of the season, though. Leino! Granato had had 7 games of Ullmark, 8 of Tokarski, and 1 of Hutton and a pile of kids, and no Eichel. Since they've had the opportunity to practice they've been solid and ascending.

That's the real trick, isn't it? They don't simply fold for back-to-back goals or immediately give up a goal when the other team picks up the pace. Sure, Saturday there were a couple times in the first period they got hemmed in their zone and it was getting worrisome, but they battled through it and kept up the fight. A bounce off Toker's back, a ... well... a call on Bjork for high-sticking that the broadcast said was hooking that led to some Crosby passing perfection. Regarding Mitts: Your thoughts betray you, father. I feel the good in you: the conflict. Regarding RaKru: There is no conflict.

And Leino. And MoJo-re-centering after 5 seasons at wing. We're the best at it.

Sir, Canada is too far north, your media will freeze before you reach the first edition. Then I'll see you in (Christian) hell!

It took a couple weeks (and finally getting some practices in) for Granato to get the team going in its new direction. But I think when we got Hall and Staal added to Eichel, Cozens, Reino, Olofsson, and Skinner (as well as Dahlin, Joker, Montour) we would have all agreed if there was a team we looked like, it'd have been the free-skating up-and-down-the-ice Leafs of a couple seasons ago. Defense? Sure, if we can learn it on the fly, but let's run-and-gun for a couple seasons in the meantime. Now that we're doing it --- yes, the defense is worse --- but the offense is so much better 5 on 5 that ... well... if you need something to perk up your day, check out the April splits thus far for this team: https://www.espn.com/nhl/team/stats/_/name/buf/split/48 (edit: just imagine if our power play could also do anything at the moment.)

^ This is the counterargument for protecting Borgen. If the plan is to move Ristolainen at the 2022 trade deadline (if selling) or just let him walk after the 2022 season, then you can leave him and his $5M+ salary unprotected, betting on Seattle's analytics folks to steer clear. If they do take him though, you're left looking for a top 4 defenseman on the UFA market this July. (Because Jokiharju, Borgen, and Miller lack experience with taking all the high-pressure D zone, end-of-game situations that Risto's been doing for the last 5 years.)

I believe he's tooling with us, sir. Open fire! I am the button.

I'm with you, too. @dudacek's written out my list exactly. I'm guessing it requires that newly-acquired 3rd to get Seattle to bite on Miller. I still think they'll take Borgen over Miller + 3rd. The only alternatives I have are if we feel it necessary to flush the long-term losing away or if I believe the Reinhart or Ristolainen is only here for one more year regardless. In which case, I'm leaving Reinhart or Ristolainen exposed in exchange for a bunch of goodies. But that's got to be another thread.

But I'll say it in Star Wars dialogue: --- Yeah, that's what you said last year when JBotts Biggs and Tank RaKru left joined Buffalo.

The future is unknown, but I can easily see Boston (particularly the fans) liking Lazar a lot more than they like Hall, just as we have. Hall will have the assists on the PP, just like here where he got to play with Olofsson, Eichel, Dahlin, and Reinhart, but Lazar can become a mainstay on a Boston-style 4th line for several seasons.

At the time of his injury, Lazar was tied for 3rd on the team in goals as well, he isn't solely a hitter and certainly not on this year's roster. Any good team has a blend and the best teams have grit on their top six. We have scorers/offensive-first and in some cases offensive-only players aplenty. That search for them is constantly ongoing. Of them, Skinner can be pesky, but certainly isn't intimidating to the opposition. Cozens and Asplund are dogged but not hitters. I could argue that we haven't built a team to be even remotely tough since GMTM and Byslma and that that team was our best team since we last made the playoffs and that roster was fresh out of a tank that stripped everything bare and was terribly flawed. Last year's roster had a Hart-candidate and still finished with a worse points percentage. Don't discredit checking/hitting effectively as a skill. It's hard to find players who hit hard, legally, and effectively game-in and game-out. You have to skate well enough to be in position, you have to throw enough hits that you affect players before you hit them because they know you're going to run them into the boards. You have to practice hitting and be used to it physically, and you need to stay healthy to make it a part of your game.

Crap. Dahlin will be playing awesome again, and Lazar is going to completely tag him in the corner (legally, totally following his M.O. that we appreciated him for, and maybe throwing a bit more into each hit tonight to try to impress his new teammates), isn't he? No one will rush to Dahlin's aid, he'll play the rest of the period and then get shut down for the season. It's a terrible premonition.

Then a Blidh or Kuhlman would've had to be included or moved by Boston. I don't like the Lazar for Bjork flip because we now have no grit at forward (granted, Lazar is temporarily out injured). But when Boston, Washington... and next year Tampa, start throwing hits and decide to play "intensely" and stir things up a bit, we don't have any player who will respond. Risto will play tough until the whistle, sure, but if a fracas breaks out, well --- we've seen him fight and it isn't pretty. This team is so soft, and got softer in the trade, and Boston will definitely attempt to make a point of that fact tonight. (Note: The final sentence is more GDT-thread themed.)

On a grander scheme (and my counting may be off here, I didn't rely on any calculator or tables, just plain-ol-Ebriate math). I didn't count SO goals for, so RaKru lost 2 and Granato lost 1 goal. Granato 37 goals in 13 games = 2.85 goals/game RaKru 58 goals in 28 games = 2.07 goals/game (despite a then top-5 PP by percentage thanks to us lighting up NJD on the PP early in the year)

As a team, no, 12% shooting percentage is not likely sustainable. However, six games is a very small sample size considering one of those games featured 5 goals on only 18 shots.

Certainly. I cap at 2nd, and just like Boston I'd have really pushed for just a 3rd. On the Sabres side --- instead of taking Bjork and giving away my only grit C in Lazar, really my only gritty forward, period... (Cozens isn't and shouldn't be as a rookie, Okposo could but can't respond to anything because he's a jostle away from concussion) --- if Boston needs to free up $800k, then we just say "give us an AHL JAG." The equivalent of JS Dea or CJ Smith. If Bjork is being replaced in the lineup, then Boston can always demote him. His 1.6M will clear waivers. He can take the place of the Dea/Smith equivalent for Providence.

True. But is he good at his job? Ullmark holds all the leverage. A backup goalie needs to be a 1B because Ullmark has missed time with non-collision knee injuries in back-to-back years. Dahlin is re-learning his game with Granato and increasing his value again. Ditto Jokiharju. Mitts is now a center again, and probably the 2C behind Eichel. Reinhart, a McCabe replacement... It'll be like this summer when half the roster was UFA. The money is going to disappear quicker than we expected. Especially since 4th liners like Eakins and Girgensons are making 2M+ each. And Skinner. Oh, Skinner.

Except his deal is for 2 more years beyond this one, at double Lazar's rate, in a flat cap. Most inconsequential of the deal, yes, but consequential for the future. You can take a flier on a high-end prospect like Thompson (similar contract/duration), but Bjork is a 5th round pick, JAG-talent. Maybe GM Sheevyn flips him for a pick today. Or maybe we can package a 6th-round pick to get Seattle to take him, but Seattle can find much nicer tidbits on our roster to take (cough, cough Borgen). Worst case: GM Sheevyn acquired Bjork and therefore believes in him and protects him -- leaving an Asplund unprotected.