Curt

I don’t know about that. I think he was about as sheltered as was possible. He was the 9th forward by avg ES TOI and he led the team in OZ start % at over 70%! I suppose he could have gotten 9 mins per night on the 4th line with a couple plugs, but I don’t think that would have been any better for him. I think he is the type of guy who needs to play on an offensively focused line with decent line mates, and if he isn’t ready to produce in that role then he shouldn’t be in the NHL yet.

If you are implying that Mitts got heavy mins in the first half of 2018-19, that’s not really true. Just 13:13 before the all star break compared to 13:50 after.

Concussion? He was upended and came down on his arm awkwardly. I thought he hurt his shoulder. I don’t think he hit his head at all.

While it’s true there is no formal affiliation between CHL and NHL clubs, NHL teams do exert influence on CHL teams regarding how their prospects are handled. Sometimes, a lot of influence.

The answer is.....maybe, lol. It’s not a silly question though. NHL do have some pull regarding if, when, and where their CHL prospects change teams. They could have requested it to give him a chance to play on a better team and make a playoff run. Botterill may also like the coaches in Sudbury. But CHL teams not in contention regularly trade their “veteran” players for “youth” in an attempt to build a team for future years, so it could just be something that happened.

Does this mean that Pekar is a locker room cancer????????????????

Here are my (uneducated) favorite prospects for Buffalo. Listed (not necessarily in order) under the range I would draft them in. 1-5 Alexis Lafreniere Quinton Byfield Marco Rossi 5-10 Lucas Raymond Tim Stutzle Alexander Holtz Anton Lundell 10-20 Connor Zary Jan Mysak Dawson Mercer Mavrik Bourque Dylan Holloway

Not just because he said this about Cozens, but I’ve always thought that Ferraro was one of the relatively few talking heads who isn’t a dummy. He speaks openly and honestly, and makes sense when he talks.

I really don’t think that Dylan Holloway is that big time goal scorer that you are looking for. I think he is a strong, good skating, 2-way winger with a high probability to be an NHL player, but with a relatively low probability of being a standout offensive producer. Low risk-low reward kind of guy.

Really? I don’t recall that. ?

You are basically saying that you don’t care whether your conclusion (that Buffalo drafted poorly since 2012) is correct, because the team is bad. I would actually argue that they have done a decent job of finding NHL players. What I think they have done an absolute ***** job of is finding high end talents without drafting them #1 or #2 overall. Middle-Late 1st, 2nd, 3rd round hasn’t really been productive for Buffalo. We are seeing this year what hitting on one of these unexpectedly very good players (Olofsson) can bring to a team. Buffalo should have had a few more of those over the past 15 years, but they haven’t.

I’m not sure what people think of him, but PK Subban is not a big physical defenseman. He is kinda thick but he is short and doesn’t play a very physical game.

Yay! Let’s see how he looks. I hope he can stick.

Two things: - Have to compare it to the rest of the league to see it it was actually good or not, as others have said. -The players drafted, who were then traded but are now successful NHL players can not be excluded from the final analysis. Just because a player was traded does not mean that they were a poor draft pick or poorly developed.

Watched him closely but didn’t see the back of his sweater, did you? I kid, I kid.

Please list them. It will make for interesting discussion if nothing else.

He is a really good coach. Krueger has been fine, but I’d rather have Laviolette. Moot point though since Krueger isn’t getting let go right now and I doubt Laviolette has interest in Buffalo anyway.

I see it very similar to the way you do. The issues started from the top. Pegula put too many of the wrong people in place. I tend to place a lot of blame at Murray's feet. I don’t really think he traded too many assets, at least not to the extent that some say. He also made a lot of draft picks and a team can only sign so many players. However, his drafting was no better than mediocre. His communication, teambuilding, and organization building flat out stunk. His team imploded. ZFG was kinda fun but he just wasn’t a team guy who was going to bring everyone together into something that worked. I like Botterill’s ideaology a lot move, and I just hope that Pegula stays out of things as much as possible.

I think it’s a little unfair to say he wasn’t very good at Minn. He did lead the team in points per game. That being said, yes, he did not quite excel like would be expected from a future NHL star.

Sure. Just trying to clear things up before others get confused.

Casey didn’t jump straight to the NHL from high school or immediately after the draft. You guys are making it sound as if he did. He played an entire season at the University of Minnesota after his draft year.

With all his pads on!

No. ELC’s are 2-way deals. 70k in AHL. 925k in NHL.

People tend to conflate her title of President of Pegula Sports Entertainment with what someone holding the title President of Hockey Operations would do. It’s not the same job folks. She just does business and marketing stuff.

I think they were talking about his AHL salary. 70k