JoeSchmoe

I'm beginning to think you don't like Matt Irwin.

I said it before in another post about McDavid, but Crosby is probably even a better comparison. Guaranteed prime Crosby would skate double the miles in a game compared to what Eichel does. Also, the time spent skating at greater than 80% effort would be at LEAST 5:1, and that is likely an understatement. Unfortunately, Eichel does not seem to care. He doesn't even look all that excited when he scores.

Do you think Eichel even cares?!?!?! What the **** is he doing this year?!?!?!

I hope he gets a decent look. Some of our vets just aren't good enough to put us over the top. Mitts might not be good enough either, but at least there could be some upside.

I didn't get a chance to watch. How did Mittelstadt look? With consistent ice, does he have any potential as an upgrade over any of our mediocre journeymen vets with long histories of low production (i.e. Reider, Sheahan, Lazar)?

The problem is Jack Eichel. He floats all game long... like he's too cool to try. He sets the tone for the rest of the team. The sad part is, when he actually tries I have him as a top 5 maybe top 3 player in the league. I guarantee you that if you could track a player's mileage per game, McDavid would cover twice the ice as Eichel. Its so frustrating to watch.

They were like this before Krueger.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the culture on this team is that it's not cool to look like you're trying?

I don't understand the pessimism, especially on the bottom 6?!?!?! This is far and away the best 3rd and 4th lines we've had in a long time!!! How could you not be positive with Skinner, Cozens, and Eaken? They are so much better than the scrubs we've rolled out since the tank (and long before that). And what's with the ridiculous Larsson love? Him and Girgs were stalwarts on the league's worst PK. We are better there almost by default. As well, this is the deepest we've been with F's in the system for a long time (Ruots, Peterka, Mitts, Quinn, etc). All this is without mentioning we have 2 of the most dangerous top 2 lines in the league. When was the last time we could say that? On D, Dahlin is just coming into his prime and BOGO is finally gone. We are stronger there than last year. The only question mark is in G. Ullmark will hopefully show a marginal improvement. I'm not optimistic about Hutton... Eye surgery or not. The so-called top teams in the division all got worse, either by age, or by roster. I had this same optimism going into 2005, when the Sabres were unknowns, but I could see the roster was deep and skilled. People laughed at me, but I was right. Other than 2006, I haven't been this optimistic since. We are making the playoffs and are a top 10 team in the entire league. If goaltending gets improved- top 5.

Haha! My take is that people like hot pockets, but won't publically admit it (kind of like PHam 🙂 ).

Who remembers the helicopter he hired to watch the Jays? https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/evander-kane-toronto-blue-jays-game-helicopter-buffalo-sabres-kansas-city-royals-carlo-colaiacovo-jamie-mcginn/

I like Paul Hamilton too. I think in some circles it's just that the cool kids don't like him so everyone follows that lead.

NHL Live is $159 in Canada vs $99 in the US. Crazy.

People like to look at the World Juniors because of the giant spotlight, but it's such a small sample size. Look at what Cozens and Mitts did in their D+1 seasons. Mittelstadt had a very pedestrian 30pts in 34 games in the NCAA. The NHLe calculator I used translates this to 24pts in the NHL which is pretty much replacement level for a forward. Cozens dominated the WHL with 85 points in 51 games in his D+1 year. The NHLe shows this to be 41pts which is without question a contributing F. NHLe isn't perfect, but Mitts did not play well enough at Minnesota to justify moving on. The team was just gun shy leaving him simmer in the NCAA and risk losing as they did with Cal Petersen (and Jimmy Vesey).