French Collection

I think playoff success, especially Cup(s) is highly valued by the HOF committee. International success adds to a resume. Individual awards catch their attention too. Tkachuk’s deepest run was winning two rounds. 89 playoff games in 20 years. His kids are keeping his name in the news so he may make it. Roenick’s big mouth is probably holding him back. He never won anything but played 150+ playoff games. Turgeon’s playoff experience is pretty weak, just over 100 games in 20 years. Verbeek did win a Cup but he wasn’t a big part of it. His playoff stats are meh. Skinner is not a HOFer. The only way to get considered would be for him to keep his current level of play going for 5 more years, win a Cup or two and collect a Conn Smythe in one of them. If he is a good playoff player when he finally gets there we won’t care if he makes the HOF or not.

Easier to fire the coach, always is. Injuries hurt them a lot but he is questioning the heart of his best players. Good for Bowness, he’s been around 40+ years, he isn’t scared to speak up now that the season is over. He might want to retire anyway. He took the C from long time captain Wheeler to shake up the old core. Scheifele has often disappeared. Dubois doesn’t want to extend. The only guy that seemed to give it all was Lowry. Hellebuyck may want out.

Is this because of contract buyouts?

Florida lives to fight another day. If nothing else it wears Boston down a little bit more.

This is the only list that Bryson is #1 on. Turnovers, no offense, can’t win a battle, pushover and a few other faults. He was given many chances to become a mainstay as a homegrown guy but he has not worked out and in my opinion should not even be #8D. VO is next on my list. 28 goals is good but he is no longer good enough to be a top 9 player. He doesn’t do any other tasks well. Even on the PP I find him lacking any creativity, he stands and waits for Dahlin/Power to tee it up for him. He doesn’t move it around or look for lanes. I much prefer Quinn, who will only get better. People say you can’t replace 28 goals but I think you do it by committee. Quinn/Peterka/Krebs improvement alone could do it but Greenway/Rousek and another UFA should put that number of goals in the rear view mirror. The Sabres don’t need to make a big splash on a UFA forward, just a steady 2-way grinder who can chip a few in and a C that can win draws as a bonus. I suggested Jonathan Toews as a 4C 13F option. I understand the love for KO, the leadership he brings and the bond he has formed with the young guys and the staff. I hope he realizes that he no longer helps much on the ice and that it is time to retire. If he really wants his 1000 games I can see a path for that, I just don’t want him being a regular for 82 games. He doesn’t bring enough on the ice and he will be that much older/slower in October. His leadership has helped changed the culture of the team for the better but I want the next captain to be ultra competitive to the point where participation medals are melted down and shot into space to replace the asteroids that fall onto earth. This is another reason I would like to have Toews brought in to mentor the leaders (Dahlin, Tuch, Cozens) on what it takes to get to the next level. I don’t care about Girgs one way or the other. One year deal max.

The reverse Lehner.

We were spoiled with having great play by play people in the past. This is recent but Jim Hughson was one of my favourite PxP guys. He made the HNIC broadcast sound like a national broadcast instead of a Leaf blowing convention. I think the broadcasters are trying to appeal to a younger audience by trying visual stimulation like name tags, puck tracks (I like it for golf), stats and more stats. It’s like I said about arenas, I am there to watch hockey, not sit in the bar or taking selfies and whatnot. Some of the young people I know don’t want to watch a 2-3 hour game, they just want the highlights. Maybe they are not die hard fans that want to absorb every moment, or their time is better spent on other things. I know DD is not the best but he growing on me and I am welcoming him into my Sabres fandom rather than turning the sound off. My 2 cents.

There was no way McDavid was not motivated to score as many goals as possible by Matthews winning the Hart last year. The Toronto media pushed hard because he was the top goal scorer and because of how much of a pedestal 60 goal scorers sit on.

Josh Bloom is no longer a Sabres prospect but because he plays near me I have watched most of his playoff games. He is on a good team but is now basically a third liner. He has 7 points in 12 games, about half of his regular season pace. He plays on both special teams but is not a real important piece. He might develop into an NHL player but I think the Sabres will get more out of Stillman than they would have with Bloom.

Tage may have been immature and overconfident as a teenager but he is a model NHLer now. By all accounts he works extremely hard, is a husband who supported his wife through some major challenges and is now a father. He has overcome a lot of doubts to get where he is so he needed a lot of confidence in his abilities to get to his present level. Buffalo fans may be tainted by our views of Berglund but I just see him as a quitter.

You’re right in the sense that none of these guys have hit their ceilings. They were projected to be good power forwards. Wood is not tough like Kassian or Nick Ritchie. Ritchie has tools, he’s just been labeled lazy. He seems overweight to me. He’s still been able to get into almost 500 games. Kassian has carved out a decent career after all, even flanking McJesus for a while. 661 games played. Crouse is interesting, he’s finally developed into a 20 goal man and has improved his totals year over year except for 20/21. He’s what we hope to see from Greenway. Wood has a hat trick now, he was a point per game player in the NCAA as a 17 year old. That’s pretty impressive, better than doing it vs other 17-19 year olds.

Matthew Wood is having a good game for Canada vs Czechia. 2 goals in the first 30 minutes.. Ryan Leonard had 3G 2A for USA vs Switzerland earlier.

I get a different vibe from the Leafs this year. With that being said, never count out the Bolts, they have playoff experience.

Those are all guys I like as well. ASP may end up as the best Dman in that group but stylistically I prefer Reinbacher and Simashev. They are more Mule like and seem like a better fit for today even though they may not be ready for 2-3 years. I won’t be upset with ASP, he may be the guy that makes Joki expendable. I haven’t watched Leonard play but he sounds like a guy the Sabres need. Gritty power forward who goes to the dirty areas. I have watched Wood play in a few U18 tournaments and I like him a lot. It’s hard to know how he will develop, he could be Alex Tuch or Justin Bailey. I’m leaning more Tuch. Musty is a good dark horse pick because his body of work was spotty before the New Year (mono I think) and he was really good in 2023. I have watched him play a few times and he doesn’t look dominant yet but he seems ready to take that next step. Sudbury is not a very good team so they get beat down quite a bit. Same team as Quinton Byfield who is another big forward developing slowly. I mentioned earlier that Buffalo could drop back a few picks to get Simashev,Musty or Wood and gain an asset. I suggest Chicago who pick 20th and have 4 second round picks. 13 for 20 & 44?

It’s tough taking the high road sometimes. Forget it, Leafs fans don’t change their minds, they die on that hill every year. At this point in my life I don’t need a job so that would mean raising a ruckus in the workplace with that guy.

A good coach knows how to flatten out those highs and lows to keep his team focused on the big picture.

Yes, Kamloops is in the Memorial Cup regardless of how they perform. They are the host so that guarantees a spot. Saint John Seadogs won the Cup last year even though they were eliminated in the first round in the Q playoffs. If Gatineau makes it that would be 2 years in a row for Nadeau, he was with Shawinigan last year. A strange occurrence for Saint John was the firing of their coach after the first round loss. The team hired a new coach and had a month of practices before the Memorial Cup.

I don’t remember Taylor Hall having a huge game vs Edmonton, Arizona or New Jersey or Eric Staal spanking Minnesota, New York or Carolina.

Winnipeg with a push here to try and tie the game. 5 minutes left.

Pietrangelo is not much of a ball player.

8-2 final, Savoie also was +3. The Ice are 1 win away from the eastern final.

Jets falling apart. They are in tough now without Ehlers, Morrissey and Scheifele.

Good to hear, they seem to have enough high skill forwards, it’s nice to mix it up with a different skill set. By the time he may come over he could be 6’ 200lbs, which would help him play that style.

He’ll get a hat trick in a 6-3 loss. It seems like a bunch of his goals were empty netters or meaningless

Savoie with 2A after two periods. Winnipeg taking it to Moose Jaw 8-1.