Curt

Because the “useless” forward might be better than the “useless” forwards already on the team, thus improving the team. Should Buffalo not attempt to add anyone unless that player is a 30 goal scorer or an all star or something? I don’t know if his skills are in decline due to age, but Frolik has a long history of being able to produce 15ish goals and 40-45 points with good shot share numbers when given given middle 6 mins. Also, he has scored 3 games in a row. He isn’t that useless and actually neither is Scandella right now.

Which one? They are both very mediocre.

Could you be more specific? How will scouts/players benefit? Will they make more money? Will their lives be better? NCAA and CHL would benefit. I think you are right. They would have more star players in their leagues and probably make more money for it. However, I’m much less concerned about which companies are making the money than I am about the lives of the people involved. More accurate player evaluation does not actually benefit anyone, in the big picture. It will help/hurt certain teams every year, but not always the same ones.

I just don’t see the benefit. Who does it help?

That only helps the GM’s by making their job easier while preventing the players who are good enough at 18-19-20 from earning a wage. No thank you.

My personal opinion on this is that, yes, Eichel will not continue to shoot at 19%. However, he has always had the shot talent to be a well above average shooter, despite the fact that he historically has not had a high shooting %. I think it’s possible that a small tweak could have lead to a big improvement on that front. It happens. Just look at McKinnon (whose career arch Jack has followed pretty closely) as an example.

That’s true, but Eichel and O’Reilly have always insisted that they are friends.

He decided against playing in the CHL in favor of going the NCAA route and some old hockey men didn’t like that? Could be one reason.

2 reasons. GLO flows off the tongue better than LOG, and second, G-L-O has the initials in the correct positions that they play, G-L-O. LW-C-RW.

Well, maybe that’s a concern. Jack is at 21:39 per game. He has exceeded 24 mins 5 times in 33 games. It’s not the highest TOI in the league for a forward, but it’s kind of close. However....... 1) He has never looked better 2) He has always been know for his phenomenal physical condition 3) He is playing over 4 mins per game on the PP, which are relatively easy mins. 4) He has never looked better So from my point of view, if it becomes a problem, I would expect Krueger to adjust. It’s not a problem right now though.

I think 1-2 yrs and $0.5-1M less for both. PS: GLO > LOG

I don’t know. Why is it impractical to play 3 lines, then mix in a couple other forwards situationally? Why can’t you play 7 D? It’s unorthodox, but I don’t see why it can’t work. Ralph is trying to maximize his team’s talent. Much better than doing the same thing over and over while the team struggles, which a lot of coaches would absolutely do.

Miller wasn’t a FA. Vancouver traded a 1st round pick + for him.

Yeah, I hear that. I don’t think he had much value to start with. And we don’t know who leaked the info, though it was likely Bogo’s agent.

Trade or not, the bolded won’t change.

Am I the only one not upset about this and thinking it doesn’t reflect poorly on Bogo? He probably just wants to go somewhere he will get to play every game so he can prove he is healthy and deserves another NHL contract. Find him a place to do that. I don’t think he had much trade value to start with.

Eichel has done it on occasion, and the coaching staff should have him do it more, I think.

He already did that last year! ?

Regarding the bolded......I’m kind of the opposite. On the PP players often don’t expend too much energy compared to a standard shift. I’m in favor of often leaving the best guys out there for a full 2mins, or at least close to it.

Granato basically just joined the team. I wonder if he can help out the special teams.

RNH has said glowing things about Krueger, so maybe there is something there, and I think he would be a nice fit. Unfortunately, he isn’t actually a UFA until after the 2020-21 season.

It obviously means something. It just doesn’t mean everything.

I didn’t say Holtby was old. I only said he hasn’t been particularly good in years . He hasn’t put together a notable season since 2016-17. He has been very average/meh since then. What was I off about? I didn’t say that Buffalo should not inquire about Lehner. I only said that I doubt very much he would want to come back. I feel like you are kind of putting words in my mouth here.

Yeah, Holtby was good in the 2017-18 playoffs, but that doesn’t mean much for 2020 and beyond. I could find a 25 game stretch where Hutton, just for example, was great too. I think Lehner wouldn’t be a bad signing, in a vacuum. I just really doubt he would be interested, in reality.

I don’t think I’d like to give Holtby even that much. He is in the midst of his 3rd consecutive very meh/average/mediocre season. I’m pretty confident that Washington is just going to let him walk before giving him something close to what you propose. For Lehner, why go back to the city where you have so many awful memories? Where you hit rock bottom and felt the worst you ever did in your life. If I was him, I would want to move forward with life, without those memories around every corner.