mjd1001

The reason I am excited about the Sabres is the prospect of Dahlin being a Norris candidate and Power being a possible top 10-15 D-man in the league, BOTH on this team. In the playoffs, it seems a dominant D-man who can control the game from the back end is even more important than having that in the regular season...and possibly as important as a superstar forward. The perception is the game gets 'tighter' in the playoffs, and keeping the puck out of your own zone is even more important. Having both Dahlin AND power as great D-man means you can basically have 1 of th 2 of them on the ice at all times in the playoffs playing that role (realistically 80+ percent of the time.) Want to win a cup? I don't want to give that up. I think this team with Tage and a still improving Dahlin, and any other asset you would have to give up to get McDavid....just might give you a better chance at a cup in the future than having McDavid but no Tage, Dahlin and others.

I agree with most of what you said. Which is why I said they 'could' win 'one'. There is always a chance they have (or find) a hot goalie at the right time, and their other main competitors fall behind, and they have injury luck while their main competitors have major injuries. Do I think that will happen this year? No, which is why I don't think they will win a cup this year...BUT this year and next year are their best shots.

Here is my opinion of the Leafs in short: They have a chance at ONE cup in the next couple of years, but they are unlikely to be a dominant, presidents trophy caliber team going forward year after year. Why? -Their 'core' (Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Tavares) has 3 of the 4 guys at the pefect age, their statistical peak, and Tavares isn't totally over the hill yet. They have 4 stars/superstars and most of them are at the top of your game. Anything can happen and that gives them a shot at going deep into the playoffs. -They aren't likely to be dominant for along time simply because they do not have anything close to a bargain that allows them to do other things. Other teams they have to compet with have the following: -Jack Hughes is on pace to contend for a future MVP and hes long term for $8m per year -Hintz put up almost 40 in the last couple years and he is long term at $8.4m long term. -Tage Thompson in Buf put up 40 last year and almost 50 this year (playing hurt toward the end of the season) at $7.1m -Robertson in Dallas has 87 goals in the last 2 years and is at $7.7 We don't even have to bring up that McKinnon and the Avs won a cup in large part of him being on one the biggest bargain contracts in the league. Or how productive Cozens is already and MAY be in the future at $7m per season. Tavares at $11m, Marner at 10.9m, Matthews at $11.6 now and soon to be 13+m? Nylander at 7m now and wants close to 10? Do they or will they even have ONE bargain of their starts like any of the ones listed above? The Leafs MAY get their cup in the next 2-3 years (this coming season I think is their best shot), but they are going to require some luck to do that.

I wouldn't really be interested in McDavid to the Sabres for what it would probably cost, or even 80% of what it would cost. Ultimately hockey for me is entertainment, not just the game itself but the building of the roster. I get much more enjoyment out of seeing a team draft and develop, or trade for young guys and develop them...than I do about the free agent signings or signing/trading for multi-year veterans.

McDavid will be turning 30 years old the first year of his next contract. Barring injury, he will still be great, but he not be the same player he is now. Statistically, forwards 'peak' point production occurs between the ages of 24-27. Gretzky in Los Angeles was still 'great' but certainly not the player he was in Edmonton...and he went to L.A. at 28 years of age. McDavid will be turning 30 if he signs with a new team. Great marketing appeal? Sure. Great player? Likely yes. But not any better likely than he is now and maybe 'slightly' less of a player than he is now.

When he was drafted I just assumed with a name like his he was Russian, but if I'm not mistaken, He was born in the USA, lived here until he was 4 or 5...then moved to Europe with his family, but was back in the USA by the time he was an early teenager. Many people think he is Russian because his father was Russian, has a Russian name, and did 'grow up' spending more of his youth in Europe than in the USA (some of it in Russia). He speaks Russian pretty well from what I understand also.

We saw it yesterday. I agree with your assessment, Big, loud summer movie, that describes it. Overall I thought it was very good to great. If I had 2 things I didn't like about it...it was some of the action scenes were a bit TOO long. Yes the car chase was unreal as well as many of the other action sequences, but if they would have shortened them 10% maybe better. Also, this is a personal thing, but the fact it was a 'part 1'. Yes, the movie had an 'end' to it and it was a 'complete movie', but to get the full story you know another part is coming. I left the theater feeling like I saw a complete movie, but yet somewhat 'unfullfilled'. Hard to explain. But overall, yes...if you want a great action movie that looks good on the screen and has a lot of fun stuff going on...this movie was great for that. For sure this is THE movie that is the best example in a while of one you want to see on the big screen with the big movie theater sound instead of waiting for it at home.

Maybe its different for the ultra-young guys, but it isn't automatic that everyone likes and wants to live in Florida or a hot climate. I moved to Florida in my 20's, spent a few years there (Lived in Daytona, spent a lot of time in Jacksonville for work), and after a couple of years I left to come back north. I could have kept my job there but the area/culture/weather just wasn't for me. Put 25 guys in a room and its not automatic that 20-25 of them would prefer Jacksonville (or any hot weather city) over Rochester (or any cold weather city).

We were there a few weeks ago...never took the whale watching tour however....did you go out of Hyannis or P-town?

I don't know is this is a complaint so much as well, something just really bizarre... I just walked into the room where my wife is working. On here computer she was listening in to a call that was some kind of conference call or seminar or something required for her job that she listen to/ take part it. Anyway, the woman talking/leading it was talking about being professional in a business environment...yet she was talking so loud and fast that it was almost like she was yelling, and in the minute or two I was in there I heard her say things like "I hate it when people do this" and "there is absolutely no way I put up with that and I don't take someone seriously when they do that" or "if you are going to do that I'm just going to move onto the next person". So, she is giving a class/call/seminar of some kind on being professional in the business environment, and she is doing so by being one of the most un-professional people I have listed to on a call (I asked my wife if she was doing that to make a point and my wife said no...she just told me the woman was 'eccentric' in her words) 2nd complaint...and not to wade into the gender wars or start one here..but...why is it in the past 10 years whenever I personally had a conference call with a supervisor that was a male, the call lasted about 10 minutes...and when I have a supervisor who is a female the same material in a call takes up 45 mintues of everyone's time? My current supervisor...10 minutes of material takes 60 minutes with talk about her health, her weekend, her vacation, etc.

As far as movies go, we have been to the theater 3 times in the past 3 months and there are 2 or 3 other movies we are likely to see in the next month or so. Probably the most we have gone to the theater in years in such a short time. I had a discussion with my cousin on this one....Mission impossible vs Bond? Personally, I liked the Bond movies as a kid growing up, and the Mission impossible movies didn't come out until I was well into my adult years. Also, the first Mission Impossible movie was 'meh' to me and the 2nd one not much better. BUT, since the 3rd one, I think they are among the best action/spy movies made. So, nostalgia aside (and the need to say "of course Bond" because it is the thing to do) I'd have to side with the Mission Impossible movies as being my favorites. My cousin didn't agree. In our discussion I asked him why and the best answers he had were "I don't like Tom Cruise" and "its just Bond so it's better".

Andreychuk 100%. I remember a lot of fans hated him because he was 'slow' and didn't skate well, didn't have a great shot or scored any 'pretty' goals. But he did score. He was one of the best, if not THE best in the league at turning rebounds or loose pucks in front of the net into goals. Without him, all those 'pretty' plays other players on the team made ended up with a loose puck in front of the net being cleared out of the zone instead of turning into a goal. He was a player disliked by many because his style of play 'didn't look good' and thats too bad. I'll also add Marcus Foligno. He wasn't going to turn the franchise around by staying here, but he was likeable to most fans.

Yep, just tried again with the cable TV credentials (restarted computer, cleared browser cache, entereted everything all over) and still getting an error message. Maybe don't send out the welcome email for your product until you make sure its working correctly that moment?

Just got my welcome email for MSG plus.... When you get it, it gives you the page telling you how much it costs to watch Sabres games this year without a cable package. When I tried to 'connect for free with your provider', I entered the required credentials for Spectrum and it gave me an error message. Day one of them advertising this on July 12th not going so well so far...

I think if Bedard doesn't turn out to be better than Eichel it will be a disappointment. Eichel won a cup on a team that was always a step or two away from it without him. He is a guy that for the most part ranks 15th-25th in the league in scoring. I would think if Bedard doesn't win a cup or drastically rank higher in scoring than Eichel it will be a very big disappointment. Bedard is thought by many to be the best prospect since McDavid. The Fan 590 out of Toronto this morning was discussing him as being a top 5 player in the league by his 3rd year AND whether he gets to 100 points THIS YEAR (I don't think he will but one of the guys on the show did).

So let's just ignore that for most of the year, they had one of the best power plays in the league. They've turned into one of the top scoring teams in a league. They have several players that have developed really well, much better than they have under previous coaching staffs. Improvement has been seen all over the roster and all over the scoring sheet and even standings. Since this management team and coaching staff took over, i'm not expecting them to flick a switch and turn into a stanley cup contender overnight. What a good coaching staff does is continues development of players, and they show overall improvement. That's exactly what this staff has done. I don't see how one can knitpick on one aspect of a possible coaching staff 'failure' and derive a whole narrative from it.

Thumbs up simply because you listed Pettersson so high. Many (not everyone but many) people on this board forget about the guy, when I watch him play on that Vancouver team I think him and Jack Hughes look like they will be in the MVP discussion for most of the next 5-8 years. On this topic overall....Tage is probably a top 10 center. He isn't top 5. But him and about 10 other guys are pretty much interchangeable for th 5-15 slot.

As of now, I think Toronto is just as good as they were last year. Differnet players in the middle of the lineup, but I don't see them as noticably better or noticably worse. With that said, They had 111 points last year I expect that to come down SLIGHTLY. Why? Montreal will be a bit better. Detroit about the same or better. Ottawa and Buffalo should be better. Florida should be better in the regular season. Only Boston and Tampa will be worse. There aren't enough games and points against those 2 teams Toronto can gain compared to points they can/might lose vs the rest of the improving division.

I must have missed the Zadina news. I guess my point Still is i'm not a fan of the way detroit is handling the rebuild.

The biggest thing/quickest way I see Power can improve is actually his confidence against the better teams the Sabres play against. It was noticable to me that when the Sabres played some of the top teams in the league, he was more likely to pass the puck away a bit too quick on the zone exit when he still had a step or two more to take. Or when he chased the puck into the corner agains the better teams he wasn't pressured all the time yet would be quick to just flip the puck up the boards to the blue-line without always looking for a better play. He didn't do that as much against some of the 'lesser' teams. If Power comes into this year with just a bit more confidence that he can play well against the top competition, that will be a major step forward for him.

Ottawa I think is the challenge here. Detroit I am not worried about long term. I just don't seem them developing their top young talent as good as Ottawa, Buffalo, and other teams. I think people are saying Detroit is a team 'on the rise' because they have a handful of top 10 picks in the last few years. However, they aren't really doing all that great compared to other top 10 picks. Seider on D looks good, but not dominant good. Larkin is at his ceiling. A good ceiling as a guy expect to get 25-32 goals per year, but again, very good, not elite. Lucas Raymond is their other 'star in waiting' but he took a bit step back in year 2. Not only were his stats down, but a few articles out of detroit I read said his overall game hadn't progressed either. Rasmussen is another of their elite prospects, a former top 10 pick..but he's already 24, going into his 5th year in the league and has less production than Mitts. People are high on Zadina, another former 6th overall pick, but he was drafted all the way back in 2018, and he's shown nothing to make you think he is more than a 10 goal per year guy. Edvinson was another top 10 pick on D for them, but since his draft he has moved up through the system but not yet excelling at any one level. A lot of the good play Detroit got this year was from 35 year old David Perron, 30 year old Andrew Copps, 32 year old Ben Chiarot and 27 year old Kubalik. The young guys need to step up a lot to have Detroit take that next step, and I just see Buffalo and Ottawa having the 'young guys' developed more than those on Detroit. With me saying that, now watch Detroit come out and finish 10 points ahead of Buffalo and Ottawa this year.

I think a healthy Dahlin getting the puck up the ice out of the D-zone and setting up the forwards helps ALL the forwards keep production up. Should I say a healthy and fairly well rested Dahlin. I know he is going to get a lot of ice time, but can we find a way to knock it down from almost 26 minutes per game he last last year to something like 23 minutes per game?

Tampa and the Islanders, as you said, are probably the safest bets. Boston you can't rule out a major drop. Bergeron, Krecji, Bertuzzi, Hall, Orlov and Clifton are all possibly gone, and they played a major role on this team at some point. Marchand will be turning 36 later in season and he did have a slip in offensive production last year. We are all tired of predicting the Bruins taking a step back, but it is a possibility. Toronto is a great regular season team, but they are so top-heavy that all the need is a season ending injury to one of their top 4 and a half step back in goaltending and that would cause them to take a major step back. Not that you can rely on it happening, but their season can change the most with injuries to their top 4.

The islanders are not hopeless but they have a few issues: -There is virtually no help in the system. They have a few young players Isle fans can convince themselves MIGHT be good NHL'ers, but they have to try hard to do that. There really isn't anyone in the orgainzation that can be any kid of difference maker at any level. -With no help coming in from the system, how about anyone on the main roster still young and getting better? Not really. Forwards 'usually' hit their statistical peak about age 25-26, and by the age of 28 they tend to start the slide down in production. Barzal is 26 already, but he might be a bit of an overpay at 9.1m per year. Horvatt is 28. Anders Lee is 33. Brock Nelson will be 32 when the season starts. Lee, Nelson, and Horvatt are going to be the only guys on that roster next year that scored over 20 goals this past season, with no help really coming...most other guys you are lucky if they hit the high teens. Sure, they play a good Defensive game, but when it comes to outgunning any other teams, they don't have much of chance. They play a great defensive game and have great goaltending. That will keep them competitive. But the problem is there is really no reason to think they will be any better next year than they were this year, and a few reasons (slight regression due to some aging) to think they might be slightly worse. Basically, the past 2 seasons (84 and 93 points) are probably their ceiling, with little going to to push them over that ceiling.

I agree if you are talking about this heat/weather. Personally, I'd rather take a walk outside with temps in the 30's with a jacket on, the 40's, 50s, and low 60's with a light jacket on, or the upper 60's or low 70s with a t-shirt...rather than deal with ANY of this 85 and over stuff with humidity. And even the sun. Give me a mostly-to-partly cloudy day over the sun beating down on my skin heating it up even more for most of these days.