erickompositör72

How do you advocate Housley and Botterill make this happen? Tell the players to lose? Find the worst line combinations possible?

Echoing some sentiments: Replacing Housley at this point would only make sense if the plan was ultimately to get lesser talent to perform over their heads (90s Nolan, for example). That doesn't seem to be JBott's plan. As people have pointed out, there is evidence that Housley's system could be dynamite if we aquire/develop the right players. Our GM may be placing his bet on Phil delivering after he gets all the pieces in place.

Didn't the COL GM botch the Duchene situation, as well? Perhaps not a good barometer... Here is what I heard from an insider about ROR: every front office knows that his off-the-ice life is a mess, but that when he's on the ice, he brings it. My conclusion from that: this may have been a JBott/Pegula joint decision about personnel character, etc. (and we know Terry is big on this). Especially considering the fact we have many young, impressionable players with very high expectations. It may have been a signal to the locker room about what they expect from leaders, beyond on-ice performance. Put ROR on a team with other veteran leader types in the locker room, it's not an issue anymore (as others have pointed out). The decision was made, and now our front office has to live with it. We'll probably never know if it was the right decision or not; it may be impossible to tell.

Could also give Rochester a competitive player and allow WowBott to call up some other Roch players to the big club for evaluation?

The remainder of this season may end up being like so many of our wins - dramatic and not for the faint of heart. At least that's the best we can probably hope for.

Neuvy was pulling a Hasek. How fitting, they are country-mates!

I really, really want to see Samson at center again. Not certain it will work, but we have not seen him at center since prior to his 2018 "breakthrough." He may have the ability to do a lot more than just be "Jack's winger." When Jack was out last year, he stepped up and was actually controlling the pace of play on many of his shifts. Didn't he start playing hockey relatively late? Who knows, maybe he's a late bloomer me too

Compare this to how JBott handled Moulson. He figured out a place where he had family and sent him there, probably after discussing. Berglund situation seems there was no discussion, no consideration of the human element. Yes, the agent would have the most blame in this scenario, but the STL GM then would have only considered getting his prize (ROR) rather than treating a player humanely. If his agent single-handedly dropped the ball, Berglund would have been helpless in this situation. Rather than the GM being humane ("hey, you really don't care about the nmc anymore?"), he just acted in an opportunistic manner -- nevermind the ramifications on an actual human being.

My read is that Berglund was screwed by his agent and the STL GM. He probably intended on staying in STL for the duration of his contract, planned life accordingly, and his agent dropped the ball on the deadline. Then, rather than being understanding, STL GM just took advantage. Big middle finger to Bergy. JBott probably not privy to any of this. If this is true, STL GM is a POS, IMO

Linus is not Lehner-bad at handling the puck, but not much better...

For the purpose of conversation, what should a player do in his situation, assuming usage is his issue? Obviously step 1 is to work your ass off every night to show everyone you're professional/a good teammate. Would step 2 be quietly letting management know you feel you might not fit into their plans and would prefer to be moved?

This isn't for me, this is for you. I'm just trying to help you through ? FWIW, I have a perhaps illogical love for NYC. I do appreciate what you contribute to this board, despite our differences on NYC (well, except your contributions re:Drury ? )

Except you still have proportionate representation

Well, representation is about population, not land mass.

It's not a political entity, it's the home of millions and millions of people who actually don't care much about politics. Sports is so low on the totem pole here. It's not like Buffalo, where the city's identity is linked to its sports teams. I guess what I'm saying is you don't have a very accurate impression of NYC.

Yeah, I think I mis-remembered Drury's lack of intention as Darcy's lack of intention. But I still don't think a player's desire to play in a certain location speaks to their leadership. Is Tavares not a good leader? I'd say his moving to TO has no bearing on that. There's plenty to hate about Buffalo. Or any city, for that matter. Do you hate it as a tourist, or have you actually lived there?

Darcy had no intention to re-sign Drury, yet some here blame Drury for leaving? And what's with the NYC hate? Your personal hang-ups weaken your hockey arguments.

Dlo

I was thinking of Mogilny, too... I don't think anyone will ever challenge his 76, but maybe Skinner can go for 2nd place? (currently Danny Gare, 56 in '79-'80)

Oh, I keep mints on me at all times. I think my breath would actually smell better if I smoked.

Resident coffee snob. Was gifted an espresso machine 6 years ago. Flipped it for better espresso machine. Using a commercial espresso grinder from craigslist. My morning coffee routine is espresso with steamed milk, either a cappuccino, cortado, or latte (referring merely to proportion of milk/espresso). Coffee is Toby's Estate "Bedford" blend (ethiopian, central american, maybe some brazil?), ideally brewed 5-15 days after roast date. But my last week was really busy, couldn't make it to whole foods for Toby's Estate, so it's been Dunkin Donuts whole been + Mr Coffee. Milk, no sugar.

I assure you I didn't miss any key feature. Don't try to tell me "this was all part of the plan." We should be thanking our lucky stars we were able to right the ship since the reign of JBotts

If the plan of the tank, the whole time, was to hire a completely incompetent GM, fire him, and then hire an extremely competent one, accidentally tank again, acquire Dahlin... then sure, the plan worked. The way I see it, we are extremely lucky to be where we are right now, and if you think this was "the plan all along," I think you're deluding yourself Another thought- if we had actually drafted McDavid, GMTM might still be here. How do you think we'd be doing, then? Edmonton?

Just drink plenty of water, don't want to completely dehydrate yourself!

He needs to stop trying to do too much with the puck, and just figure out how to get open and shoot. Oh, and hit the net, too. My clearest memories of him on the ice are missing the net on a one-timer and missing the net on his SO attempt. You can't be a sniper if you can't hit the net... although, I do have plenty of memories of Kotalik's shots going off the glass... Perhaps not all the decisions have been savant-level, but Pommer on line 1 was a stroke of genius. There may be something to this idea, even if they don't hit 100% of the time.