French Collection

Folks, first off I love this draft pick and he seems like a keeper. I think he can be special. But... Cody Hodgson led the 2009 WJHC tournament in scoring with 16 points in 6 games.

McJesus walks on water. Auston Moses has parted it and is leading Leaf nation to the promised land. Leafs dominate our national media. Thank goodness for the internet so I can follow my team.

I hope we make a pitch to him. He'll go where he thinks he can crack the line-up.

We could have three winners under contract: Jack Eicheil Kevin Porter Casey Mittelstadt

Keep in mind that Bobby Orr was never captain. Gordie Howe was captain for only 5 of his 25 years with the Red Wings. Guy Lafleur was never a captain. I'm not opposed to Jack as captain, I just don't see it as automatically earned and whether he has the "soft skills". I hope if Jack is named captain that he gets solid assistants. Gretzky was captain of the Oilers even though Messier has a leadership award named in his honour.

I lean towards ROR because I'm not sure if Jack is ready. Does he have the ability to deal with the media? Is his work ethic off the charts? Does he take youngsters under his wing? Is he the right go between between players and staff? Maybe Jack checks all of the boxes and is good to go. If a vote goes to someone else, I would hope he doesn't pout.

I liked how Phil's eyes lit up when asked about Scandella.

My hunger for Sabres hockey compelled me to watch the 3 on 3. I thought Asplund was the best player. Good passes, a couple of goals (1 shootout). A few good steals and his defensive awareness was nice to observe. I see some Zetterberg in him. Fasching was our best of the AHL wingers. Protected the puck well and created some offense. Playing with Asplund helped too. Guhle was well suited for this format, a true rover. He made a good back check on a Bailey break. Mittlestadt looked good, stick handling and skating are solid. Ukka-Pekka Luukonen looks like a good goaltending prospect. Didn't lead his team to success but he made some nice saves. Arturi Laaksonen showed some nice mobility and wasn't as scrawny as I thought. Erik Autio was on a good team but had some highlights. Good invite and someone to watch at Penn State. I expected more from Bailey, Baptiste and Nylander, but realize this is a short, summer development camp 3 on 3 tourney.

Good background on this guy. He's seen all of Canada's top talent over the last 4 years as well as other country's top guys at the tournaments.

Sam's skill set will work well finding Wowie's D joining the rush. He needs to be handling the puck more than he does with Jack to do this.

Samson is my favourite Sabres player and I hope he gets to play centre. He may match up well with Kane because Sam doesn't seem to be the puck carrier but gets into the right spots and dishes to the open man. I think the majority of his points would come from being on the #1 PP unit. 23+44=67 pts.

Some trailers can be a burden to tow around. I wish someone would take him.

His father coached in the OHL and the QMJHL. Coached Nathan one year of junior. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=38101

There needs to be a willingness from his side to remain in Buffalo. I was in the trade him camp but now would explore keeping him at market value. Hopefully he fits into this dressing room and in Howie's plans. The loss of Foligno heightens the need for his "nuclear option".

Chiarelli-lottery luck + inheritance of lottery luck Boudreau-has not won in the playoffs with great teams Ovechkin-failure in NHL playoffs, Olympics, World Cups.... Alzner-will be like Gorges in 2-3 years Bishop-hasn't kept his #1 status on any teams

I agree with most of you that this will help a lot. Top 4 D for Marcus is basically what happened. I don't think Ennis will be his former self, wish him well. Fighting is slowly fading away but Marcus was capable and willing. Pominville is the oldest in this deal but he's more versatile than Ennis and better than Gionta. What's next JBot? Good so far.

I know we need D depth and hope they found a couple. The large number of C depth does not bother me. Not all of them can play C at the NHL level so some will move to the wing, be traded for other assets or fill a need in Rochester. Centre is the position many high end skaters play. If you draft BPA, there are more of them than other forward positions. Look at Team Canada's roster at the recent World Cup, they only had 2 natural wingers on the 4 lines, Marchand and Perry. They had centres Crosby, Toews, Tavares, Bergeron, Thornton, O'Reilly, Stamkos, Giroux, Couture, Getzlaf and Duchene mixed up on the 4 lines. Granted this was a short tournament playing for your country, but parking the egos and accepting a role is a big part of a winning team.

I think he's a keeper. We'll see him compete for a job in 2 years. Our top six in 2020 will rival anyone's. Let's develop him properly.

I like him and think it will be a good hire. Let's see what he assembles for a staff.

Virtanen brings some physicality, Tippett does not.

He's got Tippett at 23, lowest I've seen. From watching him play, I am not convinced he is top 10, like many lists have him. I've seen him score but his overall game is, meh.

If you guys are talking National teams etc... my choice was Team Canada '87. Heart of those great Oiler teams plus Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Dale Hawerchuk and more. Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line was amazing.

Oliver Kylington from the 2015 draft was highly touted (top 10) if I recall. He ended up going 60th.

Everyone realizes it's a business, but it seems any sense of loyalty has gone out the window.

Thoughts on the 2008 combine. Bogosian blew away Erik Karlsson. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/bogosian-vs-karlsson-cant-overvalue-nhl-combine/