DarthEbriate

Yup. Hall can get us a fellow UFA winger (the guy he replaces in the other team's lineup, but a downgrade) as semi salary-balancing, and then probably a conditional 1st (1st if he re-signs, 2nd if he doesn't). Then... maybe... you can work in a mid-tier/high-potential but injured prospect. It could be a great trade, with luck, but it won't be a haul.

I don't want to risk the team responding well for 2 games against the dreaded Islanders, then somehow having TPeg, KPeg, and GM Sheevyn recoil on getting a new coach or saying "awww... nah, we don't need your new coach services, because clearly the team now is playing Chancellor RaKru's system as intended. Look at his motivation skillz!" I want him gone. Let Smith coach for a few games and then he's gone, too. Or Adams coaches Lamoriello style, and then back up to the box. Clean the deck entirely.

If this is true, then axe him now so he's not a lame duck. There's no sense seeing if the team responds to him this weekend if the replacement is already in place.

All valid questions. The goaltending one is the biggest that the GM must answer. It sank the team last year after a hot start, and it's sinking the team again this year. Ullmark is decent, but he had to steal a game against the Devils. That's it. Now he's hurt and the coach hasn't adapted the approach to try to outscore the opposition, knowing that his backup is a sub .900% goalie three years running (oh, .908 his first year in Buffalo, but only .901 after the ASG so even then he was trending worse), and the other guy should be in the AHL gaining confidence and playing time, not rotting on the taxi squad and outmatched here in the NHL. The RK question... since the hot start in 2019, what did someone say: 9 regulation wins in the 50 games since? Sure, it's bad optics to fire a guy when he has COVID, but he wasn't getting the job done last year either.

Yes, but typically they were building up to it. JBot was Assistant GM for Pitt for awhile, building up that pipeline that clicked effortlessly with the Pittsburgh core when they came up. GM Sheevyn never ran Rochester.

So, no vote of confidence (and by extension a Vote of No Confidence) in Chancellor RaKru. So he's gone, too late, but he's soon gone. Because if he's such a motivator, why don't any of these highly-conditioned, athletes who've been hyper-competitive all their lives to get where they are want to backcheck hard? Or crash the net to where the goals are scored? That's what I've got to take out of this if I'm looking for a shred of hope. His x and o subordinates are out-x'ed, and his in-game adjustments don't happen, and his lines often don't make sense, and he's not motivating the team. So... what good is he doing?

Past tense. 5 on 5. They got Staal to aid in a second line and pull the burden off Jack. They got Hall, which theoretically moves Skinner/Hall to top 6 and Olofsson to bottom 6 where he can... focus on Special Teams. Plus Eakin and Rieder for the PK. Character: Staal? Rieder and Cozens try hard. Is Irwin character? But.... obviously not goaltending. I guess Ullmark's injury wasn't a concern last year because we were already crushed by our backup goalie's eye injury. Not toughness or difficult to play against. Huh.

Mascot trade? Or Sabretooth and Gritty need to make a mascot lovechild?

And if you do tank, you absolutely must get a bunch of one-year contracts and then get rid of everyone when it's time to "try" again. Girgs, Risto, McCabe --- they've gotta be in Rochester the entire time. And they only come up once Eichel is picked. Which means you might have to trade them for other assets because they're angry because there's no way you can keep them down when you're playing Meszaros instead of them.

We've got 26 games in hand. We got 'em right where we want 'em.

GM Sheevyn kicks up the presser with the announcement that RaKru has a vote of no confidence. Then, he begins maniacally screaming, "Unnnnlimited Powwwwwerrrrr!"

The concept of PoHO is good. I still think PLF had way too many red flags (if I recall the story correctly, the single dinner "great idea" became the hire + the whole he ditched the Islanders after just a few months as well in a previous position). It didn't have enough due diligence and PLF didn't have the track record. But... an experience PoHO that allows the Pegulas to just donate money and let the machine run is a good idea. That person could also be the GM if the GM is good/experienced enough. What that person should not be is the coach who should be solely focused on the team and winning of games today and tomorrow and the next day. A GM needs the 3- and 5-year plans, and the PoHO needs the franchise-M.O., the 10-year and community-building (and stadium-building) vision and act as the owner liaison.

In the NFL it's easy. Replace whoever it was with Josh Allen. Fixed. Replace Jameis Winston with Tom Brady. Fixed. The best back-to-back-to-back example: Peyton Manning 10-6, Curtis Painter 2-14, Andrew Luck 11-5. Maybe Hasek could get this team more wins, but he would need them to be able to create a rush/counter goal and they seriously look like they don't practice that. Edit: Of course, given the schedule -- they aren't practicing. But you'd think they'd at least try running a bunch of rushes during their morning skate on game day, just for giggles.

Also, this is a beautiful, terrible article.

Rieder has played his role and is a solid pickup. I still like Staal for MoJo simply so Cozens can play with a center and not a left-wing at center; by April I expect to see Cozens taking faceoffs as it's obvious that Staal retires after this season. Thompson's contract should have instantly protected him from waivers and he should be in ROC. Girgs is overpaid but incomplete. Sheahen has been pleasantly surprising as I expected him to be a taxi squad guy all season so either Thompson or Mitts could be ROC. It's Hall that I don't understand now that I've seen him in RaKru's alleged system. You want an offense-first puck carrier to play with Eichel, except that's Eichel. Now he's on the second line with a slow-footed center, and NOW with Okposo too, rather than Cozens... So he's not being re-signed. Why would he sign here? Which means he's got to get moved. We're paying the price for our lack of vision.

We're also seeing it with the NFL Texans where a motivational sub-coach guy has the owners ear and has destroyed an up-and-coming franchise with a stud young quarterback and now all the best players want out.

If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.

Absolutely. Cozens was recently coached by Team Canada's staff... all those lessons will fade. Bryson still looks good, presumably a lot from Chris Taylor... but that won't hold forever. We'll have to horribly overpay (Skinner style) to keep Hall, or Ullmark. Or McCabe once he's healthy. And GM Sheevyn can't do anything because the coach doesn't report to him. That was his failure in his coup... he didn't get power over his fellow Sith Lord RaKru. Which is the Master and which is the Apprentice? Trick question! We put them both on Council, but did not give them the rank of Master!

Alright -- I may have disappeared for dinner for 15 minutes, but now it's time to disappear from indifference to the team. Y'all hang in there and keep your heads up. 'Night 'Spacers!

I guess we could offer Eichel for the Isles entire 4th line. I think they'd refuse the trade.

Do you think either could get the standard veteran playoff rental trade value of a 2nd? Three 2nds would be nice whenever this next draft occurs to get free of Montour and Miller, and see what Borgen and Bryson can do.

Remember his rookie year, where Dahlin would attempt some silly pass nonsense that isn't going to work on smaller ice against NHL-caliber players and it'd turn into an opposition chance... Except... Dahlin would fly back and break it up out of desperate grit and determination? That Dahlin is gone. He's a step slow and pinched on that goal rather than going after the true threat: Beauvillier.

Meanwhile... Eichel, Hall and Reino on ice. We get the opportunity for a break... Eichel can't find the puck. Then he stops moving forward in order to make the pass, by which time all NYI defenders are rushing back. We get nothing. Then a 3 on 2 possible, and our shot ends up at low percentage and caught in the glove outside the net, not even on goal.

Wow. That was pretty. Risto got pinned at the blue line, and while the Sabres were twiddling their thumbs, 3 Islanders attacked. Such beautiful transition. All too easy. And here I was about to say... just one random carom and we would be tied... and how ridiculous would that be?

If we trade Hall at the deadline... can we still get his #1 overall draft lottery luck? https://www.nhl.com/news/hall-tabs-himself-lottery-ball-specialist-after-devils-win-top-pick/c-289179752