Thorny

And? I like how everyone suggests the concept of balanced lines in theory but the moment you create a lineup on the internet not slotted precisely by perceived rank it’s an issue Thanks for the input tho

I suppose the question is whether Benson and Johnson had actual viable competition to surpass. Olofsson was a reflection of inaction in replacing Quinn and how likely was Eric Johnson to provide a meaningful block? You don’t have to term it “blocking” but the spirit of the term is thst you keep the runway clear for internal improvement. That IS what the 2023 offseason was

People are too hung on line designations which are often arbitrary. The “3C” may get a ton of minutes if he’s on the pp or pk, or they are the matchups line, or an equal balance among the 3 or 4. $7.5 isn’t too much for a guy who slots into 3C on a lineup card on the internet if his ability is akin to having the value of $7.5 million Having 2nd liners on the 3rd line is sort of exactly what you are after we’ve just been divorced from the concept for so long. Of course everyone wants a BARGAIN but you only run into issues of your guys are overpaid relative to their value, not lineups slotting. They remain very tradeable assets if necessary. Part of what we said was the benefit to locking up Thompson and cozens to 7 mil deals is that we’d HAVE the cash to utilize elsewhere. That was also part of the point this isn’t an argument specifically for necas btw just the concept

Not at the expense of spiting your face this can be part of the logic that informs the move but it can’t just be addition by subtraction, as you’ve already pointed out I believe

He’s averaged over 60 points the last 2 seasons though combined. I bet you the average output for 11 overall is less. Never mind the massive premium there should be on the immediacy of the asset. Necas being good now is much more valuable than hypothetical equal production in 5 years - - - These moves will all work in combination with eachother, right? Who was that guy from Washington we were apparently targeting with ridiculous D heavy usage? Dowd? So they stick him on line 3 and run him heavy on D again allowing the 2nd line with Benson - Cozens - Necas to run wild on O. It brings me back to preferring a better 4C instead of Krebs so we can lean of line 4 in a defensive way too but I suppose many have confidence in his defensive abilities

I bet you he’d be the top 6 W add Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Benson - Cozens - Necas Greenway - X - Quinn X - Krebs - X Already thinking about flipping him lol. let’s make the playoffs

Sure. I’ll mail the pick to the airport myself

I mean it’s definitely running it back if we did nothing else of note. But we will - - - I see a lot of poo-pooing of Necas online but I like him I think. Those rumours to me are intriguing

The Don Cherry thing was your tip off

Adams fetish for Canadian players? The Sabres for a very long time were very American player heavy in and around the gaustad years finally the sabres smartened up and realized drafting more good Canadian boys was the secret to success

He hasn’t addressed any need to the extent losing Mittelstadt has so far added to another. I agree with you it’s not about which player ends up better, though. But it IS about whether or not our TEAM improves and I don’t think there’s much to demonstrate, yet, that we are improved by having Byram over Casey. Stats indicate we were worse off for it this most recent year. If Byram played exactly as he has so far in Buffalo going forward, it wouldn’t be enough. We are counting on some of the previous flashes dudacek pointed out materializing in a meaningful way again and also, as you pointed out, the corresponding C move from KA

Everyone except Maurice apparently lol

Players walking up the the plate aren’t big swell of emotion moments and you can barely hear it on tv Not comparable

Economic

No, not yet. Mittelstadt has been good for Colorado and Byram not so for buffalo. He still has to prove it. It’s not just automatically a good trade because the theory is sound Byram was *bad* last year. His metrics were the worst on the team and bad in Colorado. That’s not drowning in numbers in fact that suggestion is seriously laughable. You don’t just ignore the stats because you don’t like them and call people who put stock in them “drowning” the *idea* of the swap makes sense and there’s lots of runway for it to pan out: we will see this season. But we can’t call it a good trade yet if results are at all a consideration

Pretty sure he was a train wreck defensively all year to be fair. People keep touting the “Granato got his hands on him” thing but it’s erroneous: he was bad in Colorado this year

No, you can put conditions on the pick for scenarios like this “If team A wins its blank, if it’s team B, I pick so and so”

Tbh I’d also rather trade the pick than a prospect. I don’t really believe the “ahh well we have a surplus of sure thing 21 y/o players busting the door down, trade from there and draft for later.” Ehh. We probably need a pool of them to keep the odds reasonable they can fill out the team in the way we want. They won’t all hit. I think we need the strength of the group. I’d rather not count chickens I’d rather ensure the team is good sooner rather than later and worry about addressing the future with next years draft pick. itll be easier to address that if we sort out the now first

They’ll take Catton if he’s there

I like a team goal song tbh I agree with this. Adams chose him because he thinks he’ll work well with his vision, not to ask him advice on how to do his job It’s not about that, it’s that most of them sound like crap as a goal song goal songs are a particular thing and vibe. Dare I say they can unnerve an opponent. Thinking of the blackhawks theme in toews heyday

“Oppose the sport in general” lol what nonsense is this. Doesn’t even make sense I am simply saying I wished KO joy and happiness and love in life but that I had no particular leanings on whether he won a Stanley Cup. It’s not that hard

No, sports for me are about investing in the joy of my loved ones, in real life, who are rooting for the same team as me, arbitrarily. Making celebrities/athletes into symbols and infusing them with narratives admittedly isnt really my jam, but to each their own, in fairness. My interactions around here, even, are a lot more real than any of that storytelling. It’s not the story it’s sharing the experience with the person who tells it to you. You’ve changed my mind slightly, in this sense. YOU seem to achieve some level of happiness through KO’s victory and THAT makes me a bit happy, I can share in that a little, because I at least know you a little. And like you a little bit too.

How is it gross? Art/artist I have goodwill for all humans. I’m not prioritizing Kyle Okposo’s sports related happiness over others because I’m so biased I can’t separate from the fact that him playing on mY tEaM somehow makes him more deserving than others we aren’t special. He wasn’t more deserving cause he’s not evan Bouchard the word you are looking for isn’t “sad”. I honestly resent that. It was neither here nor there. The word you are actually looking for is “confused”. As you seem confused in terms of being able to understand the effect of personal bias

Meh. He makes a reasonable point. I don’t know why people are so often afraid of saying the truth out loud: there’s no way a cup like that is as sweet. - - - I don’t need to be happy for someone who quite literally has no idea, or care, who I am. And why should/would he? Would he be happy I won my league championship? Sports are already a one-sided relationship, but it’s a *product/consumer* relationship. They provide entertainment and I provide the coin. Extending that “relationship” in sharing in the personal joys of someone I’ve never met and don’t know who’s no longer related to my team in any way would be….weird, honestly It’s neutral. I’m not happy for him, im not angry at him. 20 humans lost and 20 won. Wouldn’t my happiness be a reflection of not having enough empathy for the losers, if we are doing sort of moral judgment virtual signalling circus? Should I be empathetic for all the losers and share in the joy of all the winners? It makes no sense they won. It was entertaining. They are paid a lot of money. Transaction complete. that’s it