French Collection

My Sabres bias has me placing them 1st but it is close with the Sens. Levi will be the deciding factor imho. Giroux turns 36 mid season, he is a key player that should start to decline. The Wings are definitely 3rd because of the reliance on FAs and how that will affect team building. They don’t have enough high end talent and many FAs are on the back half of their careers, paid for what they were, not for what they will be.

Guys his size need to bring something to the table, offense, Houdini like zone exits, passing etc.. He brings meh.

20 goals, 4 assists, -19 and wins 8% of his puck battles. Trade him when Quinn returns.

I think Ryan Johnson can be better than Bryson by mid season. Bryson may become a good AHL puck mover but Johnson’s bread and butter is a skating shut down game. I hope I am right with this prediction as I am done with Bryson. He would have to have a terrific bounce back camp and pre season to even warrant the #7 spot in my opinion.

Nothing to do with ticket sales and zip codes but an improving Sabres team sends those thousands home pi**ed off at their team and that they spent all that money to watch it.

The kid is good and will only improve at this stage of his development. The MVP at the World Championships will be a big confidence boost. Not a Cozens’ sized jump but improvement in all aspects of his game.

He was a whipping boy for a reason, he sucked. I use a blanket statement like that because I get upset thinking of al of his faults and errors. He should be in Rochester, I doubt any teams want to take on his salary. I would rather see Clague be ahead of him or Johnson/Novikov get a chance when they seem ready for a shot.

I have developed an allergy to bees/wasps/hornets later in life. I try to steer clear of them but they are present almost everywhere I go. I haven’t used my epipen and hope to never have to. It scared the heck out of me last year when one sting caused me to lose consciousness, after having been stung dozens of times over the course of my life.

James Patrick said it was 50/50 that Savoie would make the NHL this year. It has been said numerous times but he is a perfect example of a guy who would get more development from the AHL than having to go back to the WHL. If it wasn’t for Covid-19 he would have been eligible. I think he sticks after camp to get a few games in and spend some time around the team. How he performs in those games will determine if he is ready for more responsibility. Quinn, Krebs and Peterka watched a lot of games early last season and worked their way in to full time jobs. I think Savoie and Benson will be key players for Canada at the WJHC.

Levi should find some motivation from people doubting his potential. The Hockey News had a discussion yesterday about the next great goalie. The choices were Wallstedt, Wolf or Askarov.

Tuch’s all situations game will keep him near the top of RW players again this year. His combination of speed, size and increasing confidence will be hard for teams to stop. The only drop off I can see would be due to injury.

I’m concerned about his rebound control.

Thanks for the info. I am a tea drinker and never seemed able to get one at KBC. I was at the WJHC in Buffalo last time it was held there and I had to bring in a cup from Tim’s every time I wanted one.

Pretty good ranking. I liked the pick and can’t wait to see him develop. He was drafted 12th and yet is rated 6th out of all NHL prospects by EP Rinkside. Previous drafts included. ”no passing lane is too small” “endless motor” ”best defensive stick in his draft”

Matthews is in a different class but there are tons of long term deals that teams regret.

I haven’t been a fan of Kane coming to Buffalo. He is not what the team needs, PK, faceoffs, defensive play, grit etc… With Quinn’s injury I would consider him as a replacement but he is injured as well. A big fat no from me.

9 hour wait in Vancouver airport. Watching a bunch of Black Mirror episodes. Kind of a Twilight Zone vibe with some futuristic tech stuff.

I am in the Yukon until tomorrow. It was smoky from local fires until a week ago but the NWT fires haven’t blown smoke here.

I watched HNIC for the past 55 years. Don Cherry had some interesting takes over the years and he stood by his ideas forever. He got a lot of mileage from a journeyman playing career and a few good years coaching a good team. I liked quite a few of his shows but he started to wear me out in the second half of his TV career. I couldn’t stand it when he would show footage of himself predicting something years ago and then gloating about it coming true. He was knowledgeable and watched a ton of hockey but he also predicted hundreds maybe thousands of things over the years. Obviously some predictions would come true but I hated the fact he never admitted he was wrong hundreds of times. Overall, I liked most of his shows but I don’t miss him.

Sabres players have come and gone, RJ was there for it all.

Rest in Peace Rick. Thanks for the many memories.

Colorado, mountains and Stanley Cups. Nashville, music and a great fanbase. Tampa Bay, golf and Stanley Cups. Vancouver, mountains and Ocean. Edmonton, contrarian choice but it would be cool to play with McDavid and be a part of some milestone achievements

Toronto, can’t stand the fanbase. Arizona, sh**show. Florida, no real fans there. Tough choice because I would love to golf year round. New York, too big for this guy. Columbus, lack of success and haven’t heard many good things about the city.

It’s like hearing that Sam Reinhart is a third liner in Florida. He was third in TOI for forwards behind Barkov and Tkachuk. Sure he plays on the third line but he is on PP1 and plays PK as well.

Clifton played USNTDP and Dumba did not.