mjd1001

Agree on the first part. +/- though? By itself it may be useless to many, but in context with other stats or simply observations It has some value.

I agree it is really slow. We just got back from Boston. Not exactly a city known for getting things done quickly..but the Seaport District...Its basically a brand new small city that has been build in the past 10-or-so years. All glass office towers, luxury apartments. Probably 15-20 (at least) 20+ floor buildings. Luxury apartments. Artwork and fountains along the street. Movie theaters, all kinds of restaurants, rooftop bars, brand new hotels, even some brand new subway stations (although its more of an underground electric bus). Yeah, I know Boston is bigger, but again, its not a city people are rushing to move to. And they took basically a bunch of abandoned warehouses and parking lots and turned it into a shiny new city about the same time, or less, than Canalside has been developed.

So, I haven't looked into the numbers that much, and maybe someone brought this up...but the Rangers were supposedly interested in Peterka, right? Is trading Kreider the start of moves to fee up money to put a decent sized/bigger offer sheet for Peterka?

Emotional drivers. We were coming back home from Boston last week and at one point on the Thruway there was a line of vehicles in the right lane going really slow (maybe 10mph under the speed limit, it was led by a slow truck). It took me a while to change lanes to the passing lane, because a lot of people behind me got over there before I could. So I'm patient, wait for an opening, and then when no one is left behind me, I move to the right lane. There was a woman in a small SUV that was WAY behind us, but she had to be going 80-85+ mph. She came up behind me. Now, I'm back up to speed, passing the slow left lane vehicles at a pretty good rate, but this woman starts tailgating us as I'm certainly not going 85, waiving her hands, and eventually she got to the flashing the headlights. I'm not holding up the right lane, I did not come close to cutting her off. I'm passing pretty quickly the 5 or 6 cars and trucks going under the speed limit in the right lane. I just don't want to drive well over 80mph like her, so how does that cause her to act like she does? On a side note, the Mohawk valley visitors center....NY state get your stuff together. The new WNY visitors center on Grand Island has people working there selling food and drinks, a mini-market area called 'taste ny' filled with NY state food and products, a large area to sit in, and clean bathrooms. The Mohawk valley one? Its not that much older, its tiny, it has 3 ev chargers all out of order, bathrooms that haven't been cleaned in a while (when we got there), and their 'taste NY' area is a few vending machines.

I guess you take what you can get... But a late first is pretty bad. Look through the history of late first round picks, very few of them actually amount to much in the league. You'd be trading him for the proverbial lottery pick, but one without a high expected payout. And even if you win, you're not going to get that payout for years.

I hate to be the guy who says this but... It depends both on the return... And what you would have to pay him to keep him here. That's really the cop-out answer, but it's true for me.

I like listening to him, but it seems like his 'sources' get things right 10 or so times a year, but he puts out hundreds of 'possibilities'. What he says is entertaining and occasionally correct, but you could make a lot of money betting against him all the time (maybe more so than other sources out there).

Just glad he's not here anymore.

Its not about just Peterka...its about Peterka IF they also get Marner.

On one hand, this guy is almost a 30 goal scorer already, a couple years in a row. On the other hand, if there is significant interest, trade him and work a deal, or wait, for equal value back. I personally thought (and mentioned on here several times over the season) that his overall game slipped. He was apparent as one of the guys who was a liability in the back to zones (next to Quinn and Cozens, I thought the worst offender of this.) Is a bad 2-way player, or was his head and heart not into it? Not sure. But, if you get offered a great deal, take it. If he is given an offer sheet, take the compensation (if its a high offer sheet) or match it and then trade him for the best offer. Either way, the team has options here. I get the feeling Peterka wants to be a in big city/big market (just a feeling). I could imagine quite the buzz in Chicago if they offer sheet or trade for Peterka AND sign Marner.

Can't disagree more. Why would buffalo have golf cart parking? That is part of the issue, it really can't. Its not the fault of the area but its something that guys like..park their car outside, have golf cars to take around an entire complex. If you don't see that its not an issue that Buffalo can't have it...but that others DO have features like that and players WANT that, then I can't help you. And yes, more players would come here if the team was winning, but its more than a distraction. For you to say its only a distraction is wishful thinking. If Buffalo was 'winning' and a team like Florida is 'winning' at the same level year after year....and a bunch of player were considering where to sign....when its a close decision, the ammenities that other places have that Buffalo does not can sway that decision. He was ahead of his time, sure, but the necessary follow-through was not there. If he did what he did, and the team was a consistent winner for the next 5-10 years, the momentum would have continued. The fact that they squandered the next 10+ years after allowed other teams to catch-up (and pass) what he did in short order.

Watch the video, read the article. How 'nice' the practice facilities are, how much room, how many things (lounges, golf cart parking etc) are not NEEDED for a good hockey team, but it certainly can be something a 20-something year old millionaire might prefer when making a decision where to sign.

Maybe this was discussed already, the video is a year old, but I just saw it and found it interesting. Make the jokes about Palm trees, but when you consider Buffalo is Buffalo, the Sabres need to do BETTER than other teams to get players to want to come here/stay here. After watching this video...how much more do the Sabres have to pay someone vs a team like Florida (or the other teams that are doing stuff like this) just to be on even gound?

I don't think there's much of a chance of Shanahan wanting to come here, or the Sabres wanting him. But it would be interesting. I don't think he'd be the type of guy to come in and just keep things the same...there WOULD be changes. And as for his shortcomings or 'failings' in Toronto...sometimes when a guy is 'good' but not 'great' in their first chance in a role...they learn from that and get better the 2nd time around.

Agreed.... Its not about getting a better player than Marner. 1) is what you can get with that cap space better than Marner in the playoffs (Marner has been good in the playoffs, but not $10m+ good, let alone $13m good). 2) Its also how are you improving yourself and to what degree. Suppose the player who takes Marner's minutes gives you 30% less production....but the 2nd player you get by splitting his cap hit among 2 players is 50% better than the bottom 6 guy or the 3rd pair D-man? You aren't getting the 'better player', but you are getting a better fit for your team. Now...Marner has been really productive in the regular season so you may have a net drop off in the regular season...but it isn't inconceivable that you can get a better fit in the playoffs with 2 less paid guys fitting in with the team well than you can with a "single" Marner that has not performed well recently in the post season. For example...suppose instead of paying Marner $13m per year, they can get Sam Bennett for $9m. Is Bennett as good as Marner overall? No, but in the playoffs he has peformed and played a lot better. That alone may or may not be an improvement. But what do you do with those extra $4m you are saving? Its not just signing a $4m player. It can be more than that. Lets say right now Toronto plans on paying a 2nd pair D-man $3 per year if they keep Marner. Now, you can take that $3m and ADD to $4m to it and have up to $7 free to trade or sign someone. In this theoretical example, come playoff time Toronto may be a LOT better with Bennett and a $7m D-man than they would be in the playoffs with Marner and a $3m D-man. However they do it, they have more options without Marner than they would with him and tying up all that cap space.