Thorny

It’s such an easy “yes” it’s not even funny *the only reason you can get one of the best players in the world for the pittance that is a draft pick is *because* there’s no locked in extension.*

Honestly, I don’t see it as all that contentious of a process. More so a standard business procedure/disagreement. Par for the course in this league. I’m not sure it would be as big of an obstacle/fraught with as much ill will as people think. Admittedly, I don’t take KA’s “dying to be Sabres” comments as Bible-literal as some take them

Ullmark negotiated with the team for a long time before Boston ever entered the fray. I don’t really buy the idea he wasn’t, at any point, open to staying. As you mentioned, KA wasn’t willing to match Boston’s offer

Already there was talk of an 85% league or whatever

Vegas potential disadvantage mitigated. Florida potential disadvantage intensified. VERY interesting.

Could be. Or, whichever G turns back into a pumpkin at the wrong time. That could also do it

Golden Knights is golden. Should be a good final

You guys all hate Eichel way, way more than I like him lol

Don’t look out of gas to me...

How much of that is actually a hard line philosophy of KA’s and how much of that was a more general comment notably borne out of the time period where KA was going out of his way to detail the disconnect w/Jack Eichel? To me it was more of a stance against guys who absolutely had/have no interest in being here. Cutting yourself off from all but the absolutely thrilled would severely cut down the trade/draft/FA pool: id guess it’s a bit of a sliding scale. Greenway, for example, didn’t seem thrilled, but open to it. He did say he was excited for a change of scenery, in general. We want high character guys so anyone needs to have that mindset coming in, but personally I don’t think it’s strictly true when KA says things like “we only want guys who are *DYING* to be here.” you could absolutely be correct on Ullmark as there’s that baggage. Just speaking more generally

He was going to speak for himself I think until he remembered he hasn’t actually won a cup, me thinks I am the very model of the modern Major general “in a way...you are both winners. In a more accurate way, Barney is the winner.”

Go on..

Canada ftw

Ya. Florida to mean seems to be another team in a long line of Cinderella teams we so often see who’s runs stall out come the final. Suppose we’ll see but I’ll take the West winner

More games? If anything I thought it was headed the other way

Krebs and Peterka battling to see who doesn’t get moved in the Hellebuyck trade

Could be an issue for Bob’s rhythm. If he comes back down to earth, Florida is toast

He absolutely should have stopped the 3rd goal regardless, the flow of play was about even and the shots were close Eichel is their best player Like just for the record. He was in the regular season, and he’s the betting favourite on that team for the Conn Smythe right now you are definitely correct depth is everything. Anyone that has to be THE guy is set up to fail. No matter the team

I don’t really think the burden is on fans to detail examples when we don’t have the connections and resources the GM does. All a fan can do is judge their team relative to the work of other teams. Someone who knows *literally nothing* about GMing or hockey can still expect an average performance from their GM relative to other GMs. They are the professionals - it’s their job. Fans are the consumer and can expect better regardless of whether they themselves can detail solutions...direct the film...edit the special effects, etc etc They create the product. We determine if the product meets market standard

It’s a series.

Hintz is so good. Don’t watch a lot of him Hard work forecheck set-up from Eichel for first Vegas goal.

Swayman played in 37 games last year while Ullmark put up a vezina caliber season, Ullmark played in 49. Levi at any level has never played more that 37 in a season, so there will be a transition period to the NHL purely revolving around usage, regardless of skill level adjustments. We saw for example how much Comrie’s numbers suffered when trying to expand his sample size. How many games do you predict/think KA expects Levi to start, next season? What’s a reasonable expectation? Are you comfortable with a combination of UPL and Comrie starting, probably at the very least, 37 games? I think you are correct in your analysis that KA probably is. Would you yourself be comfortable with a usage breakdown that is going to lean heavily on at least 2 of those goalies?

Bichette having a fantastic year, though. Has *16 more* hits than anyone else in AL. Leads Jays in OPS, AVG (.335), Runs, RBI, HR, and Hits (76). A bright spot for sure so far. Gotta find a way to lock him up LT.

4-3