French Collection

I imagine there were days Stevie Y wanted out. He stuck it out revamped his game and led them through some great years. I always liked him, glad he is back there. The Sabres might meet them in a few playoffs in the near future. I like our core and prospects way more but Stevie Y knows how to win, I give him a lot of the credit for building Tampa’s team.

I don’t mind that, requires less cutting. We have an acre to cut and besides, people can’t see the lawn from the road, heavily treed property.

This is what happens around trade deadline time. 12-18 teams think that the missing ingredient can be airlifted in and carry them to the Cup. Chemistry is often overlooked as well as the temporary relocation of players and families. I don’t think the Sabres will need to make a big splash when they are ready to contend. I prefer the Tampa moves like Goodrow and Coleman to add grit, 2way play, PK skill and faceoff ability to add depth. As you say, plug a hole or two.

Some shuffling in the Flyers front office by Briere and Jones. Mule’s dad is out of a job. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/philadelphia-flyers-promote-alyn-mccauley-to-assistant-gm-1.1968277

I think your assessment is accurate. Bedard is dazzling. Fantilli is a potential 1C. Michkov could be the best of them all. Carlsson and Smith could become top 6 NHLers. After these 5 there are no guys that jump off of the page. There are some that may end up as stars but that happens every year. There will be some diamonds in the rough and I hope the Sabres staff finds one maybe two. 13th should be in play. They can get a future NHLer, but it will be in Rosen, Östlund, Kulich level for forwards. As far as Dmen go, Simashev, Sandin-Pellikka, Reinbacher could all be available at 13. I see them as becoming 3-5 Dmen. I would gamble on Simashev because his rank has risen lately and his upside is Mule with better skating and offense.

The Quebec Remparts finished first in the round robin part of the Memorial Cup and have a bye into the final. Their opponent will be the winner of the Seattle Thunderbirds vs Peterborough Petes game.

If the acquired Dman is Graves this team would definitely make the playoffs and do some damage if they had a goalie heat up at the right time. I would guess you regained some draft pick(s) by dealing away VO. Rousek could be the 13th forward, giving KO breaks.

I could go for Saros as well. That extra year would cost something but it is 2 years and he is younger. His worst statically season was 2.70 GAA and .914 SV%. For Saros I would be willing to part with a better prospect than Kisakov. The Preds have picks #15, #46 and #47 in the first two rounds. Some creative swapping to let them move up could reduce the price and/or take the sting out of losing #13. Bonus points for KA if the deal included VO as a piece.

Florida Vegas

Sometimes there is more to be gained from scratch and sniff.

I hope those guys remain here for a bit. He’ll probably poach a few guys from the Leafs that Treliving doesn’t care about. These guys often have a posse that they move around with. Interesting that he gets a promotion after only 1 stint as a GM. It sounds like he didn’t like Shanahan meddling in his trades and such. I wonder how much real power the new GM will have. This always makes me wonder if the hockey Czar is really just a GM while the GM is really an assistant GM with a better title. Depends on the tandem I guess.

I think I would take the risk of #13, UPL and a mid level prospect for one year of Hellebuyck. As the year goes on KA can assess the impact of Helle, the fit with the team and how Helle feels going forward. One wild card here is how Levi develops with Helle as a mentor. I don’t expect him to get to Helle’s level by January but there should be some improvements in his game and how he handles the NHL. A few ifs I can live with here. If Helle is a good fit and wants to extend, KA can get this done. He has cap space and the luxury of a backup on an ELC to keep the goalie costs reasonable. The term may reflect Levi’s progress and his projected future. If Helle doesn’t want to extend KA can move him at the deadline and possibly recoup similar assets. Helle/Levi would probably have the team inside the playoff numbers so there would have to be a few things in place to keep them there. If Levi has shown to be not much of a step down from Helle and is ready to handle more, they stay in the playoff race. If Levi has progressed but needs a 1B then the trade can be structured to get a goalie back. Trade partner would upgrade with Helle and send a Cam Talbot level veteran back. This lowers the return of other assets but keeps the playoffs in view. As I said earlier,I would hate to see Hellebuyck go to New Jersey or Ottawa and be the guy that knocks the Sabres out of the playoffs for the next 5 years.

We live on a country road, we were one of the only homes to be built between the 90’s and 2015. In the last 8 years dozens of homes have been built as more people want to have acreage, woods or live by the river. Our area is commutable to Sudbury and North Bay. I walk my dog on the road in the summer as the bugs are too bad on our trails through the property. The speed limit is 35 MPH and there is just a tiny shoulder. All of this new traffic seems to leave at the last possible second and be in a rush to get to work. Some barely move over and zoom by at 50+ MPH. The later morning vehicles are retirees like myself, heading to the golf course, coffee shops etc. They slow down and pull over. Had to get that off of my chest this morning.

The added benefit is keeping him away from NJD.

Yes, many European stars take the time off like the North Americans. A lot of fringe NHLers and veteran club players make up the Euro teams. Rantanen played for Finland but no one else of that caliber joined him.

Kulich with the goal, Cecconi with the assist. I don’t get the feed but I am watching the scoreboard every few minutes.

Moscow Mule (Novikov) Traktor (Komarov) and Simashev could add up to some Russian horsepower.

Panthers for sure, they took down the Leafs, Bruins and Canes, 3 of my most hated teams.

There should be more action at the draft, all the GMs will be together. It would be nice if Winnipeg took him as part of a package for Hellebuyck.

FYI folks, I sent a message a few days ago to @Sabres Fan in NShoping all was OK. No answer yet. They have some massive wildfires raging around Halifax. Thousands have been evacuated and a few dozen homes lost.

My views of Barlow are limited but I wasn’t really impressed. His scoring is due to his shot and nose for the net. Morin and Dragicevic are high risk Dmen, all offense. Bonk is more well rounded. KA & DG are building a speedy team so iffy skaters like Perreault and Dragicevic may struggle at the next level.

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2023-nhl-draft-rankings-top-100

1st, UPL and Komarov sounds reasonable. I would entertain Quinn for Hellebuyck straight up if he extended. I love Quinn though so it would hurt. I wonder if Savoie’s name has been thrown around since he plays in Winnipeg.

I’m not done but after compiling the rankings of 16 mock drafts from good sources(still waiting for Bob McKenzie’s 17-32, FC to update and a few others) I have a pretty good feel for the first round. I will probably use around 20 different lists. Most lists are 32 players, a few are 64 or 100. 19 players are on all 16 lists. Here are the rankings, the number is the average ranking of that player. 1 Connor Bedard 1 2 Adam Fantilli 2 3 Leo Carlsson 3.4 4 Matvei Michkov 4.5 5 Will Smith 4.8 6 Zach Benson 7.1 7 Ryan Leonard 8 8 Dalibor Dvorsky 9.6 9 Adam Sandin-Pellikka 11.3 10 Oliver Moore 11.8 11 David Reinbacher 12.1 12 Colby Barlow 13.3 13 Matthew Wood 13.3 14 Nate Danielson 13.9 15 Eduard Sale 15.6 16 Gabriel Perreault 16.3 17 Brayden Yager 17.8 18 Andrew Cristall 19 19 Samuel Honzek 19.5 20 Dimitri Simashev 21.3 21 Calum Ritchie 22.1 22 Otto Stenberg 22.2 23 Thomas Willander 22.3 24 Quentin Musty 22.9 25 Mikhail Gulyalev 23.9 26 Lukas Dragicevic 24.5 27 Gavin Brindley 25.7 28 Daniel But 26.3 29 Riley Heidt 26.5 30 Bradly Nadeau 30.2 31 Ethan Gauthier 31.1 32 Gracyn Sawchyn & Jayden Perron 33.7

He can score 60 in the regular season but until he plays the same way in the playoffs he remains behind others on my list of top players. I value a guy like Brayden Point higher than Matthews because he plays even better in the playoffs. Matthews 1.13 ppg in the regular season, .88 ppg in the playoffs. Point .93 ppg in the regular season, 1 ppg in the playoffs. 2 Cups MacKinnon 1.07 ppg in the regular season, 1.3 ppg in the playoffs. 1 Cup Makar 1.03 ppg in the regular season, 1.07 ppg in the playoffs. 1 Cup