Curt

Yeah, the original one, that one. 😉

You mean real Thanksgiving?

That didn’t happen. Go double check that.

Knoblauch has been considered a good up and coming NHL HC candidate for a few years now. Championships in the WHL and OHL, NHL assistant coach, and AHL HC experience. A lot of experience for a guy who is only 45.

Why would you think that this is his doing?

Most sites default to the all situations data. I catch myself looking at the wrong stuff on occasion. Just something to look out for.

When you site possession stats like FF%, you really should use the 5-on-5 numbers as opposed to the all situations numbers that you sited. The inclusion of a bunch of PP time (or PK time in the case of different players) skews the numbers a lot. Kane’s possession numbers were still pretty good that season, around 50%, which was about 6% better than the team’s average.

Dude, it was the second game of a back to back, on the road. They call that a scheduled loss for a reason.

Well, Sabres wouldn’t have 8, they would have 6. I don’t think we need to exaggerate. If they are all worth (or more than worth) the money, then why not? You can afford what you can afford. If they are good contracts, then you can move them if/when you need to. You don’t need to preemptively jettison good players because maybe some day you will have cap trouble. I guess my real question is, what is core even? What is the definition of the core of a hockey team?

Yeah, maybe. But like I said, the reason that I didn’t go out of my way to bring it up is because my whole point was that it pull ups do not matter at all.

1) Why isn’t Mittelstadt part of the core? He could be. 2) There really is no such thing as a core. You keep the good players that you can. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions.

Honestly not understanding some of your points. You are now saying: We can afford more good players than the Leafs because our contract situations are better? Yeah, that was my whole point. The additional stuff you say about those additional good players in addition to the top 5, still ending up costing a lot of money…….yeah, good players are going to cost money, and all the cap space is going to get used up. That’s what happens. All the money gets spent. That’s what we want. You also keep saying this line about everyone being an optimistic and assuming that the team will be good. That means absolute nothing. It’s not an actionable sentiment. I want the Sabres to make good decisions that will give them the best chance of being good. If it doesn’t work out, then the cap hits don’t really matter much. I certainly don’t want them to not spend money because there is a possibility that they might not end up being good. Spend when it makes sense. The chips will fall where they will. I agree with you about making a couple trades to bring in help nowish/soon. I think they need to do something before next season. It was Tim Murray, and I actually think that because of the amount of talent that has developed on the NHL, most people are beyond that thinking of worrying about Tim Murraying it.

I do remember that story. I don’t remember it specifically being a partially dislocated shoulder though. I recall a story after the fact that the staff at Minnesota recognized a misalignment of some sort affecting his shoulder that they were able to correct, then he was able to do several pull-up immediately afterwards. To be honest, the story always reeked of damage control to me, but who knows. The real reason that I didn’t mention it though was because I don’t care at all whether a hockey player is good at pullups. It’s irrelevant.

Regarding pull ups specifically. I bet if Mitts had weighed 160 back then he would have been able to do more. I think he was like 190+ even at 17. He was always pretty thick in the lower half, which is exactly what you want for hockey. Pull up ability depends even more on your weight, especially lower body weight, than strength. In my early-mid 20’s I didn’t work out that much but I could still consistently do 15+ pullups. I used to 20+ at my peak. It wasn’t because I was exceptionally strong. I wasn’t. It was because I didn’t weigh anything. I was like 5’11” 155. I guarantee that 17 year old Casey who couldn’t do a pull up was way stronger than 22 year me who could do 20. Pull ups just aren’t very relevant to hockey.

I think about the cap as much as anyone, but you are honest way overstating this as an issue. Having their top 5 players locked up at around $40M for the next several years is a good cap position. It’s not an abnormally large amount. It’s difficult to find a good team this year that has their top 5 for less than 40 (there are a couple, but not many). A few years from now that $40M for a top 5 would actually be an asset, not a hindrance. It has been an issue for Toronto the past few years, but do you know what they have actually been paying their guys? Their top 5 has been making $48M for the past few years. Compare that to what the Sabres are looking at. ~$40M for the next several years as the cap rises sharply. The two situations really are not in the same ballpark. Before you continue to repeat this position over and over, please look closely at the cap #s of other team’s top 5. Go look at all the good teams. How many of them actually have their top 5 for less than $40M? How many of them project to maintain that for the next several years?

Personally, I say sign him. He doesn’t need to be an overpaid 3C. He (or Cozens) can play on the wing when it makes sense. It doesn’t destroy the salary structure if he signs a contract that matches Thompson and Cozens’.

I’m not sure why it would be any more likely the happen with Mitts than any other soon to be RFA. In fact the situations are pretty dissimilar and I think it’s pretty unlikely that holding out would ever make sense for Mittelstadt. If Mitts really just wanted to maximize his income, he would either sign a 2 year deal, or force arbitration and get himself to UFA. He isn’t going to go through all the circus of holding out when he has other options. Thats the main way the situation differs from the Nylander situation. Nylander was only 22-23 with 2.5 NHL seasons under his belt when he held out. He wasn’t arbitration eligible.

I saw that this was released and was intrigued. My kids aren’t quite old enough yet to get something like this, but I’d be interested in what anyone has to say about it.

Biro’s injury? Got to be either a case of broken heart or butt hurt.

It’s simultaneously “let’s trade for other team’s best players” season, and “we don’t have room for other team’s best players“ season. A rare time indeed.

Yeah, always liked him as a draft prospect. Glad that he looks to have recovered from a very scary Covid illness.

I like the idea of making a trade for a proven really good player, but he really does match the profile of a player type that the Sabres already have excess of. He is also on the books at a high number for 5 years after this season. So, while I like the general idea, I don’t think he is the right target for this team.

Because, they think it’s better for R Johnson to play games in Rochester until needed versus sitting on the bench in Buffalo? Just guessing.

Trump tapped into a certain type of charismatic populism that drew in people who were looking for something different, Vivek seems like he is trying to ride that same wave, but Trump has such a grip on his base that Vivek isn’t going to gain a foothold. At least not anytime soon.

Same