French Collection

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/

Link to the NHL combine, defenseman discussion. https://www.nhl.com/news/heiskanen-makar-rising-defensemen-at-nhl-scouting-combine/c-289677218?tid=289593026

Skating is the #1 requirement in my opinion. An intangible I like to call "fire in the belly" leads to never quitting, practicing hard, constantly improving and battling for every inch of ice. Luck does play a part in health and getting noticed. Connections help as well, we see many second generation players making it.

I'm a Jack Nicklaus fan so it looks less likely every year that Tiger will break his Majors record.

I'm pulling for the Preds too. Pens have their Cups.

He put up better numbers in junior than Eric Cornel.

I don't miss Vanek face.

I concur that he would be a tremendous player in the playoffs. Keep in mind that he needs to convey whether he likes it here or prefers UFA. This should be where JBot starts the discussion.

Good comparable, we could use a Keith but Woolley will help. He may also help on the PP. I watched him play a bit in the IIHF WHC and he wasn't a standout but he can skate and helped the Russians move he puck. He seemed comfortable on their PP.

Correct. First they need to determine if he wants to stay. Then they can start to work on the money issue, cap hit, value and term.