Thorny

It’s gonna be tough. The more teams in the fold, the more unlikely it becomes that there aren’t statistical outliers on either end - we don’t have breathing room, so in that scenario, “there’s nothing for it” if we aren’t one of those statistical outliers, and the one on the most positive end. So we don’t need to just improve to a playoff pace when we have a sample size of 52 games now saying we are definitely, statistically, NOT quite a playoff team (and believe it or not, that’s actually the EASY part), we likely have to outperform someone outplaying that already improved pace down the stretch. This is why it’s just so hard to make up ground. If we get in, we shall deserve it

Wouldn’t call Detroit “trash” personally as we are sitting at an identical 56 points though 52 games

Re: playoff case Pens are pulling away, so the Caps going 4-6 in their last 10 has carried a fair bit of water in keeping us within striking distance even with our recent 4 game down-turn. As mentioned above this game may present somewhat of the first true “must win” of the season - we are 6 points back of the Caps for 8th - with 4 games in hand - but they are only useful if you win them. Being 6 points back, with 3 games in hand, isn’t a very great equation. Winning today goes a long way towards keeping the math more in our favour

Wait, you didn’t get a letter in the mail from KA? Honestly I thought we all did. Awkward! - - - I don’t really care what happens w/Comrie, particularly, failing a scenario where we are told, because it didn’t happen this year, we need to use next year to “evaluate” Comrie

Crosby top 10 in league scoring at 35. He’s somehow underrated. I’d really like to see Tage hold on to a top 10 spot as well. Will be tight

Win or ot loss today prevents us from falling below Deluca .500. Not every deluca team makes it, but teams below that line never do - - - currently pacing for 88 points - a non-negligible, 6-win improvement over last season the 12 point improvement would be the most between 82 game seasons since between 17-18 and 18-19, when Bottterill’s Sabres improved by 14 points year over year

More less his Podcast

Anderson barely plays and the other two goalies have a *sub .900* sv%. Scoring is up, but it’s not the 80s. Our goaltending has been Balls, presumably by choice given Adams’ aptitude in other areas. No goalie has stepped up no reason we shouldn’t ask for and expect substantial improvement on that front next year. We’ve accomplished nearly nothing at the position in years, and the potential mineable value there is extreme given its deficit relative to other positions. I get we are on the Levi timeline and all the eggs are there but we certainly need a plan B if he doesn’t work out (so I hope there’s a contingency) and realistically we need someone for next season, too, if he’s not ready to be a 45 game starter year 1. we’re whistling dixie through a battlefield if we enter into a season next year, where the EXPECTATION is playoffs, with our current goalie configuration. Don’t think playoffs could be reasonably predicted in that scenario. We don’t have a goalie currently who can carry the mail

Equipment is definitely a relevant factor. But we’d have to time travel baby Gretzky forward and have him be born today, and grow up with the health, training and regimen techniques for him to still be the very best. I don’t think just suiting 80s Wayne up in today’s equipment does it. He could still hang that way, I’d guess, to your point, but McDavid still skates circles around 80s Wayne with ease. watch this finals game in 1980. Pretty fun and pretty slow And by pretty slow I mean..glacial. And the puck skills...simply worlds apart

Never always linear but anyways never linear amirite

Ya. Like I said, potential improvement for NEXT season will come in large part due to advancements players like Quinn make, but the performance of our rookie forwards this year has done nothing to suggest Savoie for example would represent improvement, NEXT year The goal is playoffs next year, right? Merely shuffling in rooks won’t do the trick

Can’t beat the ducks can’t beat a college team But if we lose by 6 or less we’d throttle the 40s all stars

This is going to be a tough one for the board to get on board with, it wouldn’t seem to be a very intuitive thought. I agree with you though. Even just the physicality, I think they could run them into the ground if they play a high contact game. and I don’t think the 80s players are going to find themselves elusive to contact, atall. its such a wild scenario though it’s tough to predict what would happen, to a certainty, obviously. Maybe the best college team doesn’t get it done. The worst NHL team today would absolutely destroy the all stars from the 80s, at least we know that

It’s a heck of a lot closer than you think. training and physical advancements have been vast since the 80s. It’s not “twenty years ago” anymore, it’s gonna be damn near 50 years soon. the game bears little resemblance to the 90s nm the 80s. Would probably be a close game but I’d be tempted to take the college kids. It’s impossible to say though.

Heights of the top 10 goalies by sv% this season: 6’5 6’2 6’5 6’4 6’3 6’2 6’4 5’11 6’1 6’3 ...for an average of 6’3. The goalies having the most success in the game as it stands on this particular day still trend larger, but as pointed out above over time it’s becoming less uncommon for the smaller ones to break through - it still helps but the game itself doesn’t prioritize it as much, you just need that ultra talent. Luckily for us our prospect seems to have those traits - he’ll have a good shot at being another Saros (represented in bold, 5’11), and it’s not like 6’1 Georgiev represents a huge difference.

Considering the type of character players Adams from all accounts (and existing data) appears to be after, I mean I don’t want to paint w/ a broad brush but in the scenario a coveted prospect doesn’t, in the end, develop in the way we were hoping/expecting I’d much sooner think it due to something physical than mental kinda the inverse of the “take away the run game and make a QB beat us with his arm and let it ride based on that” thing I think Adams dials in on character and mindset to a certainty first and if we are picking from players that can’t all be perfectly well rounded (damn, right?) he sooner thinks through strong development they can make up the ground in other areas if they are perhaps lacking

Capitals are terrible - - - Jets are over-achieving

Then crown their ass

Doesn’t matter how good any prospect is, at any position, it’s never a guarantee until you see it consistently at the nhl level. That’s just on principle. Levi is a great prospect - if he totally flopped out he wouldn’t be the greatest prospect to ever miss. Never mind the idea of a prospect even partially falling short of expectations. Not losing anything by failing to proclaim someone a star before they’ve actually shown it at the level in question. When the time comes it’ll be as apparent to me as anyone else. It’s not really about “making it” or “not”, with the top prospects, either: it’s about the vast amount of potential landing space - not to mention the murky timeline of when to even expect success. I suppose that’s why “floor” and “nhl readiness” are talked about amongst prospects as much as other factors. People like to do the “but I was told Steph Curry couldn’t shoot?!” thing, the truth is, no one here is underselling Levi

Dahlin to the left, interesting I think I actually prefer the balance of these lines particularly at F

Yes, I’ve mentioned a few times that when I use the broad, “accumulation of talent” it’s inclusive of internal improvement: ...I think much of the improvement comes from within but there will be areas Adams needs to supplement at every position to help out. He can glean that from this here evaluation year

Ju Ju posted it 😂

One of us one of us

I think it’s still about accumulation/depth of talent.

Old Yeller wasn’t sent to the farm cause he was old. He had rabies