mcbainforprez

Increasing the size of nets by even one inch would throw of goalies angles dramatically and seems a little unfair to them. It might be needed (if you really want to increase scoring), but what I would like to see first is smaller changes. I would start by changing the structure of the posts. Leave them the same distance apart but taper them toward the net. This would increase the likelyhood of a shot that hits the post finding its way to the back of the net as opposed to bouncing wide. I do t know what the increase would actually be but let's say that 33 percent of shots that hit the post go in now, maybe this could be increased 85 percent and maybe lead to an extra goal a game?

Is it really that hard for a LW to learn how to play RW? Soley based upon NHL video games, this is a non-issue...

My interest in Lucic is dependant upon the draft lottery. If we end up with eichel, i'd rather pass and put two skilled players alongside of him. However if we end up with mcdavid, i would give serious consideration to playing deslauries with him and another skilled player. The reason being, mcdavid and kane could put up serious numbers regardless of the third talent on the line. I want someone to protect and know there role. Who better than lucic? If he can knock in 20-25 goals along with the protection aspect, i'd be willing to part with significant assets.

I think this is fair but I don't know if he will have a chance too. Because of the way buyouts are structured and his age, their is a fairly good chance TM will part ways with him this summer. He definitely has offensive talent but this year is a major red flag and IMO not worth the risk going forward.

I agree with your assessment of Marner LGR4GM. I would take him 3rd in a heartbeat and can't see him falling out of the top 5 picks. I would really like to see the sabres somehow make a push to move pack into the top of the draft. However, where does 18 and 25 take you? I've tried looking up draft charts and haven't found anything that looks credible. I know that if I owned the 5th pick, I am not moving it for 18 and 25 in this draft. Probably not even for 18,25,32. 18 and 25 for 10 seems more likely IMO. Does anyone have a better feel for draft pick values for the upcoming draft? What can the sabres do to get back into the top 5?

yes, while I would like to see another year to see if he can put it together, it makes sense to buy him out now. Since we would only have to pay 1/3 of his remaining salary as opposed to 2/3 of it once he turns 26 (buyouts can only happen in June so this season would be his last since he is 24 now with a Feb b-day), this summer TMGM will have a semi-difficult decision IMO.

Ha sorry I didn't mean across as attacking. I just am interested to see if someone can come up with something that makes me question my own line of thinking. In a lighter manner of speaking, what would it take for you to move grigs?

Let's say for a second that the call up is not related to injury and was due to a gm wanting to see him preform at the nhl level. Let's even say that another gm holds grigorenko in a much higher regard than his own team does (which tends not to happen too often with prospects). What exactly would his value be? What are you getting back that makes him expendable? I guess he could be part of a larger trade for hall, but I don't think that Edmonton would be interested. Although I envy their position in the league right now, they are under pressure to preform better now and this trade surely wouldn't help that. I look around the league and can't picture any scenario where we are selling top prospects and other teams are acquiring them. I guess you can never say never, but please explain one possible trade that could be plausible for both teams?

What is the point of trading him now? Who do you get in return? If I am GMTM, I am happy my team is playing well, but I am not deviating much from my original plan. You are still developing players for the future and seeing what you have in your system. At some point you can trade away prospects for veterans, but I am not sacraficing my potential future based upon a successful 13 game sample size. Unless it is a prospect for prospect trade (which is super unlikely since he is a C and these trades rarely happen) he is not going anywhere.

I am with you. I like Eichel better because of the intangibles he brings. I like that he runs right to the front of scrums instead of hanging back like McDavid. I think he might be a better leader and he is a much more likeable player, especially being a USA fan. There is no way to go wrong with him which is why finish last is so important. The only problem is McDavid's offensive talent is just ridiculously high end, and even if there was a problem with his defense (there isn't) or other parts of the game, its so good that you can't pass it up IMPO.

I disagree with the assessment that Hanifin is elite. While I think he is a great prospect and will be a top 5 pick, there are still a handful of people I would rather draft over him. His hands in tight are phenomenal and has great speed for his size, but i don't think he has the vision necessary to be an elite defender. Maybe he will develop this and I see sights talking about how good his vision is, I just don't see it myself. I think he will be good, just not elite. This season is McEichel or bust for me. I like Zacha and a few others a lot but I haven't seen players jump off the tape like these two do since MacKinnon and even that might not even be fair to them. They are can't miss and it would be shame to miss out on one of them.

I would say he is a longshot for the nhl. Good size and a defensive defensemen mostly. IMO he doesn't have the natural foot speed to play with the speed of players in the nhl. Vision and passing are certainly not above average, if he can find a way it would be as a 6/7 defenseman. As a comparison I would say Pardy is his ceiling.

Barring serious injury Baptiste will be this team within the next 3 years

Is it too early to start the Kane 2023 discussion?

I am really hoping the sabres move on from mcbain. As bad as I want the Sabres to be next season, I don't think I have ever seen someone with as poor a first step as he has. He looks clumsy and uncoordinated. Okay in the offensive zone and great if you want to see a whole bunch of goalie prospects.

I've wondered about trading out of #2 too. My question is though, how far would you be willing to drop to pick up an additional 2015 first round pick?

I think that this is probably right. And is there much you can really say to limit a player like Crosby? You can't just simply say, "keep him to the outside." Things like that are much easier said than done. However, if anyone could find a flaw in his game it would probably be his coach who see's him practice every day and regardless is scared as hell to coach against him. However, coach's get payed big bucks too for noticing things about opponents and developing a strategy to exploit/limit them. All I am saying is that as coach of USA, Bylsma had to at least try to figure how to stop his star player and shared that with his team. Maybe he could explain the likelihood of offensive moves or it could be he notices something as small as he becomes slightly off balance as he goes from forehand to backhand. Whatever strategy he came up with and whether or not it had any impact is debatable but if I were Pittsburg management I would not be happy my coach was at the Olympics.

Thank you. I like your point about how young he was in the draft class too. Not made for this thread but another reason I like Bennett. However, I do have another question about an intriguing sabres prospect/player. Can Deslauriers be anything more than a 3rd/4th liner? To be honest I never knew anything about him until the Sabres drafted him. I have never seen him play before the NHL. The only thing I know about him are his stat's and since he is a converted defensemen it is really tough to gauge. In the NHL he played a really simple but effective game and it was nice to see. For anyone who has seen more of him is there more offensive creativity to his game or is last year what we should expect?

Since I have not heard this mentioned anywhere (forgive me if it is already in this thread), I thought I would bring this up here. Could the Olympics have cost Pittsburg a chance at the Stanley Cup? The difference between winning and losing the series vs the Rangers was one goal in game 7. Granted Lundqvist played out of his mind and I don't know if anything would have made a difference regardless. However, since Bylsma coached USA during the Olympics and one of his players was McDonagh, I am guessing Bylsma gave his defense every scouting report/possible weakness he could think of to disrupt his superstars(ie: Crosby). I know that Crosby still played well and led the NHL in Corsi but he didn't score like he was supposed too. Crosby could have been banged up or just unlucky but is there a possibility that whatever McDonagh learned/passed on to his teamates, could have helped frustrate him? I am not saying that whatever Bylsma said limited Crosby's production by 5 goals even, I am just asking could it have led to just one or two more goals and the difference in the series giving Pittsburg the edge?

Besides the obvious improvement in point totals, Nick Baptiste took a giant stride forward this year and I believe will end up being one of the top 20 players to come out of a deep draft class. I don't want to get too carried away, but IMPO he will make a solid second line player (~20-25 goals). I went back and watched some of his games and he has a tremendous first step coupled with above average net presence. His hands are solid and I don't think he will shy away from the physicality of the much bigger NHL. I was wondering what others thoughts are on him especially focusing on his limitations or possible negative attributes?