DarthEbriate

Golofsson!

Could we run with Swedes as line 3 to start the season?

So.... Miller, not as accurate as an Imperial Stormtrooper, but more accurate than an Imperial Zhitnik?

Woot woot

I guess if he draws a penalty it's good. But I'm not sure he'd be classified as a fighter.

Re: my comment above and the Larry and Z converrsation. I think they're both on the opening night roster. I still like Larry a bunch. Z and me... we're more complicated. But, I want to see who can hack it with them, and who can be the callup if they get hurt (or traded to a contender at the deadline if someone loses their best 4th liner to injury). Is it still Okposo (who then gets PP time), or is it Lazar (who gets to PK), or is it Ruotsalainen or Smith, or even Cozens, etc.?

There's no time to take this faceoff as a committee. I am not a committee. If the lines are similar to the 2nd phase practice lines, and the 4th line is Smith-Lazar-R2... It should be good for some entertainment. Also a chance to evaluate who could kill penalties.

When did he get. ....? oh. Oh I see... The entirety of page 2 of this thread. That's what I get for skipping. Dishes is going to all be right, you'll see. He'll be quite all right.

gif... But, they have off-season chemistry! I still think we get to a 1-2 combo of: Skinner-Eichel-Olofsson; Johansson-Mittelstadt-Reinhart or Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart; Skinner-Mittelstadt-Johansson. Depending on how well Reino can manage a line. Then Vesey-Asplund-Rodrigues and Girgs-Larry-Okposo (so we have PKers) on the big roster.

Me too. I like Okposo. I get scared for him when he stands up for his teammates and gets clocked in the head. But darn if he isn't a passionate hockey player. Okposo had 14G last year, 7 PPG. One further year from his prime, but also one further year from his ICU medical scare. Maybe he's closer to 20 if he's not stapled to the 4th line with Girgs/Larry. Maybe a Smith/Mitts/Okposo protected-minutes 3rd line, plus 2nd PP unit gets Okposo back closer to 20? Like an 18-18-36 on the season? The major upgrades we need this year are for our middle six to each pick up 3-4 more goals on the season. In the case of Sobotka --> ???, it should be from 5G to 15G, which would be immensely important.

Cut it off, and install an android hand and let's go. And --- alright Jokiharju, Borgen --- let's see what you can do to start the season with the big squad.

First off, he needs to start going by James. This double names ending in y just isn't doing it for me. It's like calling James Cagney Jimmy Cagney. Or he's gotta go by "The Veese" if James isn't his real first name. Star? No. Another Sheary? No. But he has the potential to be a 2/3 winger for a few seasons in his prime where he's a 20-goal scorer with the bulk of his goals at even strength. We had that in Pominville but he couldn't keep it going for a full season any longer. But someone with Hecht or Stafford production (not necessarily Hecht's all around game) --- that's an improvement from what we've had recently. But before we worry, I'd like to see some combinations with Skinner-Eichel-RW in the preseason. Can Vesey or Olofsson make it work?

I don't think JBot would consider an elite 2C. It's too much investment from our draft capital. But... an up-and-comer who's blocked, or a guy who's just starting the downward slope and has been displaced by that up-and-comer. Those are likely to be offseason/draft day trades, because every GM goes full conservative "We're in it to win" in-season until the deadline when it'd be too late to make a difference if we're scuffling all season. The desperation is important. Winnipeg has been knocking on the door for years. Now, potentially no Byfuglien? But if I'm Winniipeg who am I willing to give up and keep my main guys for now and the future? Little?

At the time (early in the year), our goalies were doing well. Maybe unsustainable as well, but the wheels hadn't come off and the top line was still chugging along. I don't care for Duchene necessarily, but even early in the year Ottawa could've said "sure, we'll take a 1st and a couple prospects (Guhle?)" and we'd have had a legitimate center to play. It definitely would have given the team the confidence boost that this season we were invested. He still could've ended up a rental and we'd be right where we are now, minus Montour. But all the same, that's when it would have made sense initially. It certainly needed addressing in the offseason if Johansson isn't centering a line. (And I say all this with very high hopes for Mitts and Cozens.)

Great list @Randall Flagg. Thanks for doing the legwork for us slackers. This is it. If I'm a GM, who among those players am I willing to give up for Ristolainen that would be a legit 2C for the Sabres? Now -- JBot caused the 2C mess by trading ROR. And there was a supposed stopgap, but he retired. As soon as Berglund left, that's when we needed to make the move. We got to first place in the league (unsustainable), and even then we knew Mitts was not 2C level (yet) and we were solely a one-line team. It would have meant moving a first-round pick. But hey -- maybe that's when we trade to a team that got off to horrid start and had a rental 2C for the remainder of 2018-19 season. Regardless... for the short-term, we shall see. Long-term, I still like Mitts and Cozens. I need to see more from Mitts, but I'm OK with him being a 2C when he's 23-24 years old if he builds year after year with time and coaching. But that's.... never my mind on where I am. What am I doing? It's true. All of it. We don't have an NHL-caliber 2C on our roster for this season. That's on JBot.

Greetings, 'Spacers. So, no one is showing the spark of the Moulson in their play tonight?

If Tage can add 40lbs to get to Lemieux's size and learn to use his wingspan to protect ala those two or Jagr, then that'll be fantastic. Then he's a top 6 scoring winger and can ride shotgun to Eichel, Mitts, Reino, or Cozens for 10 years.

I too would love for Tage to be Maxim. Alas, Afinogenov was about 5'10 and could protect the puck. Tage is still very easily separated from the puck (not that he can't improve) but he'll never have the agility and short burst that Afinogenov had. Maxim looked like a baby-Bure out there at times.

He's trying to bulk up, and that's good. But it'll take time to fill out when he's 6'6, then there's the side of learning how to use that muscle effectively. He plays like a dangler, but with that much wingspan he won't be consistently effective. Tage needs to transfer to the AHL Academy this season, before the harvest, so he can hunker down and play balanced 5-on-5 minutes and pad his stats with the PP. I'm thinking 2nd line RW. Once he has a couple seasons of all-around game and is in the 6'6" 220# range, then we can talk. This could mean he's moved in a trade or lost in expansion, but everything I saw last season shows me he's not ready for the NHL except the velocity of his shot. (And Olofsson is going to destroy him in competition for a winger spot.)

For hockey and baseball: 12. But for docking bays: 94. 94.

Forward-only views on my fighters (like, I basically just yell "What!" all the time because I can't see anything... Lack of handrails... Insolent children...

It was the Draisaitl/McDavid show for sure... it just seems sad that they played "keep away from Kassian".

Crosby's for sure. And Kassian! I bit. I had to look up the Concept of K's stats from last season (just the totals, not just while skating on McDavid). 15-11-26 in 79 games, 14 min/game. And McDavid was running a 41-75-116 in 78 games. Something in the water does not compute.

I'm much less interested or worried about the forward combinations at this point. Vesey and Jack play together in the offseason, Sheary played with Eichel last season (and Crosby back when Sheary was good for that playoff run), sure... have 'em go a couple days at the beginning. See [edit: if] Skinner and Reinhart can drive their own lines. Forwards are of concern to me, Admiral. But this... this is interesting to me: Montour and Nelson, both RHD. Who's playing the left? Is Montour switching over to free up the logjam on the right? Dahlin and Bryson, both LHD. Who's playing the right side? Dahlin played on his off hand back in Sweden, and last year for us. Is he moving to the left? This is where the fun begins...

Wait, what? Yeah --- quite a while ago, I think.