Curt

(1) was just a general point. Every coach will say this, so Granato saying it doesn’t mean anything in particular. (2) I think a W can carry the puck up ice just as easily as a C. Also, Reinhart is no slower than many C’s.

Also could just be one guy who doesn’t like Jack. Maybe he heard a bad story about Jack when he was 16 and it stuck with him.

Their players play fast and hard. They just do so with the goal of destroying offense and joy. When a coach says they want to play fast, that doesn’t mean wide open offense.

Sure, if they can get it. I don’t see Hall being worth much more than a 1st, and I’d be surprised if Montour returns a 2nd, soooo.....

Did we need a whole thread to say that Ullmark is a lot better than Hutton/Johansson?

How is everyone feeling about the fact that Reinhart was able to go out and do a pretty good job at C with guys like Olofsson and Okposo against top competition? How does this impact the thoughts of those who feel he can’t “drive a line”?

(1) Every team wants to play faster, regardless of system or play style. No team wants to play slower. Whatever strategy a team wants to employ, they want the players to execute it fast, not slow. (2) How does Reinhart at W help the team play faster than Reinhart at C?

Yeah, exactly. It happened though.

1 more year, $5.8M So pretty much the same cost and term as Risto. Its irrelevant anyway, he has a MNTC and there is no way Buffalo isn’t on his do not trade list. You know that there is just no way this is even close, right?

I think there are more goalies that drop off precipitously than other positions, yes. Could you imagine a McDavid, Crosby, Eichel, Matthews, Tavares, Barkov, Bergeron, suddenly playing like a 40-50 point middle 6 C for a couple years without any real explanation and then playing like an elite C again after that? Goalies, even elite ones, do stuff like that. I agree that it’s probably still better than wandering the goalie purgatory, and the scenarios of mostly good years you laid out would be fine. I just want to express that the risk is greater for goalies. Voodoo.

Yeah, but that’s part of the point, they aren’t making $5M. They went from being ELITE to average (or below) pretty suddenly. Goalie performance is unreliable.

Yeah, it’s easy to say “keep all the good players, duh”, but when actually making these decisions it’s important to consider contract status. What if the team is going to blow itself up instead? There may not be a choice. Yes, of course keep: Sam, oh unless he is walking away as a UFA in 14 months, Jack, except if he is about to demand a trade, and tell you which team it’s going to be to. Linus, unless he is leaving in a couple months. Jeff, who are we kidding, he isn’t going anywhere. Risto, also can walk away in 14 months. I’m not saying that this means all these guys must be traded, but it’s certainly an important element of the discussion when thinking about this stuff.

And he has 2-3-5 in his past 5 games.

Ryan Miller was very consistent for a goalie. I think you are pretty lenient in what you would be comfortable with as anchor in goal. Anderson? Murray? Even Markstrom, Gibson, Price, and Bobrovsky are performing below expectations. But anyway, I’m not against signing Ullmark, even for ~$5M. I do recognize the stability that he can bring and the value of that. I just would like to keep the term down.

Yeah, I got in before your edit. Just go look at the goalies signed to larger contracts and how many of them are performing at an above average level. (Maybe you have, I’m just saying). It’s pretty startling. It’s basically 50/50 whether the guy is even producing an above average sv%.

Yeah, the age doesn’t matter. Instead of worrying about drop off due to age, you get to worry about a drop off for no obvious reason at all. It’s not better.

This does not matter. We aren’t talking about hockey players, we’re talking about goalies. Good goalies regularly go to hell for years at a time then miraculously get good again, or don’t, regardless of age. They are voodoo. Now, a 5 year contract would not be the end of the world, but it’s not the normal kind of risk you would usually associate with signing a 27 year old to a 5 year contract. The fact that Ullmark gets hurt and misses time on a fairly regular basis does not help.

This is an acceptable solution. I say pay him, but try to limit term. Goalie contracts longer that 3 years scare the bejebus out of me.

Brett Murray should get an NHL look at some point. Maybe next year though. He is a big boy and seems to showing consistent improvement.

extremely rude

Can anyone give an explanation for the bolded? Assuming this is true, why would they fire people who will need to be paid anyway if the object of the firings was to cut expenses? Also, it should come as no surprise that a guy who was the public face of a mass firing did not gain any popularity from the exercise.

The answer to your difficult to understand question is definitely yes. Are you seriously wondering who the Sabres are better off having involved in hockey decisions, Terry Pegula or Jim Rutherford? I get people questioning a few of Rutherford’s moves, but this is getting silly.

I think it’s very clear, although the judgment itself will be subjective. Any player who... (1) blatantly dives (2) embellishes a fall or a reaction (3) or who feigns an injury ....shall be penalized with a minor penalty under this rule. Just use the commas. They will show you the way.

*As @LGR4GM said, you should change the thread title to something more descriptive. -Montour needs to be traded at the deadline. -I highly doubt that Carolina would want Risto, but he should be traded this offseason. -I also support trading Olofsson, but I’m not so keen on acquiring Johnny Hockey. -I feel a little split on the Quinn-Garland trade. Would love to acquire Garland though. How about a Olofsson-Garland trade instead? -I like the draft picks a lot. Overall, it’s not bad. A good conversation piece.

He produced last season on the smaller ice. Also, interesting note. Going forward, the KHL is going to be using the smaller NA ice dimensions.