PerreaultForever

Exactly. Him and Ray sitting down and talking about their fight history for the celebration was a pretty normal conversation. Neither was ever the brightest light but they are functioning just fine like the rest of us. Andrew Peters is fine. John Scott is fine. Actually he's more than fine, he's pretty smart. Go further back if you want. Guys like Rick Dudley are still fully aware in their old age. Don Cherry had a lot of fights in his playing career and while you might have hated his views or thought he was a dinosaur he certainly wasn't a drooling vegetable was he. There is a really really long list of ex NHL tough guys and fighters who are doing very well. One must factor in these guys entire lives and lifestyles if you want an actual meaningful argument.

Well the results around Skinner's career say otherwise. Perhaps we'd surge to the top tier just like Carolina did.

Roger Neilson? I get your overall point though. I don't think he does know how to actually motivate them or lead them and with the absence of a solid veteran core, that's a real problem.

It's BS. You list off a small group of dumbasses and make a claim that it proves it for everyone. Why not make a list of all the fighters who are just fine and not worse than anyone else? The ones who are even NHL executives now. Smart guys. The lawyers. The players agents. On and on it's a much much much longer list. To the self righteous ones out there, just remember you can get CTE from falling off a bandwagon too. Be careful. Wear your helmet 24/7.

No, it absolutely does not mean that. It MIGHT mean that, but there is no necessary direct correlation. One example, Risto got lots of experience here and went from a young player to a veteran, but it was only when he got to Philly that he praised his coach and turned his game around. Just being in the league longer guarantees nothing. If we tread water long enough we simply get to the next round of people wanting out. Not saying that will happen, but the idea that it just takes more time is absurd.

Of course not, but then again, it doesn't take much to tip a scale one way or the other. The locker room argument is long and won't get us anywhere so no point to that (I'm sure we disagree) but you could simplify it by wondering how many points/games can any one player cost you and maybe that's enough.

Granato is well past the date for his expiry. No other team would have given his record a seal of approval. Adams has not been good, but for me he can redeem himself in the off season by firing Granato, hiring Brind'Amour (assuming Carolina doesn't), buying out Skinner, not bringing back Girgs, and trading a few prospects to fill our needs. Staying the course would just be more acceptance of failure. I do believe that we have enough pieces in place that all it would take is a good coach and smart GM.

"if" is an optimistic word but it's also an unlikely result. I've moved way past "if" and although it pains me to say it, on Skinner, Kreuger was right. and Skinner has never even been in the playoffs. Let's ask Brind'Amour.

I personally think he lacks a work ethic and it rubs off on the rest of the locker room. We need some hard "subtractions" like Philly did to start their rebuild. Skinner is simply too inconsistent and he plays like an individual. He is, as has been said in the past, uncoachable. He will quit on a play at any time, he will be out of position at any moment, and most of all he will giveaway the puck at the worst moments. I have said it before and I hold to it. We will not win until Skinner is gone.

Not exactly or that simple but sort of. We could have started the season much like they did. We'd have had to make the same sort of moves/additions they did. Get a Zadorov type. A Lindholm type. Make a few bold moves and a little roster rearrangement to suit the coach but overall I think we could definitely be in the hunt and maybe even ahead of the Leafs.

Veteran leadership and good goaltending, but the big thing is how they responded after the cancelled frill, the trip to the U2 show in Vegas. They were slumping and it was taken away, they responded. No country club without earning it. Similarly I read today in a Vancouver article how their locker room is now lightening up and having some fun. The words used were "we earned it". In other words they were not rewarded first as an incentive. The bar was raised and when it was met then and only then were they rewarded.

This is definitely possible but that's why I said 2 years not 1 (like Tochet has done). Skinner fits that bill no question. After him, I think the surrounding atmosphere may bring some of the others to where they need to be. It's optimistic, but I think many of them are young enough to be able to be turned around in the right climate. You look at the departures. Eichel, Reinhart, now Mitts. Their competitive edge is there in their new competitive environments. It may take less than you think here. I may be deluded, but I have to believe that.

imo if you took the players we have now (plus the prospects) and gave them a coach like Tochet or Tortorella in 2 years we would be a cup contender. We might have to add a few spare parts and maybe a tough guy, but the talent is more than enough. We are grossly underachieving.

I don't think they are better, just better coached.

Looking over that roster player for player I don't think so.

I found the Flyers response tonight and their excellent effort against the Leafs to be an interesting point of contrast. Torts causes a stir benching the captain and yet the team rises and plays better. Full accountability. Now would Granato have the balls to sit Skinner in the press box?

I was thinking a lot about Vancouver tonight. They are not more talented. Matter of fact they probably have less talent than we do. But up there they sit, and it's all on the coaching. They battle harder, they have stronger position play, they play better team D and most of all they battle really hard in front of the net. This all comes from the coaching and their team system. There is absolutely no reason we could not be just as good if we had a good coach. But we do not.

It's a hockey trade for sure. No question. Not sure BB filled a "need" for us though. We have two #1 picks on D and the need was more of complimentary pieces for them than another top pairing guy. I'm not saying he isn't a D upgrade, but now we have a big hole at center. How they fill that this off season is crucial. Trading Mitts away seems to go against the grow our own model they spout.

They filled a need they had so of course it clicks. They also don't miss BB because they got Walker and he is playing outstanding hockey this year. You can see how Philly misses him.

Does Vancouver care? idk. If they do, it'll be a hard game to win. They have a little trouble with shutdown hockey against them but we don't play like that. Curious to see if we go with Levi or not. As for the music side thread, music, like hockey, has changed. All those old guys listed like Dylan and Young and others wouldn't even get in the front door of the industry these days. They came out of a different era. They'd be back room songwriters today at best. My daughters like Swift. Just another pop star to me but then I heard those songwriter albums she released during the pandemic with the guy from the National arranging and producing and they are actually very good. idk if she actually writes all her own stuff but if she does, she is more talented than some of the older generations (like me) generally give her credit for. imo this is one of the best She said/He said songs ever written:

idk, it'll never happen but maybe I'd like to hear him say "we have a lot of really young guys on this team. We have to get them off their phones and into the weight room." 🙂

I can bet you Caps are looking at that thinking we got this.

Well I guess if you're the Sabres this is what you want but man that was a dead dog of a hockey game. I've seen quite a few Kraken games and that was the worst I've ever seen them play. No fight left in that dog. Playing out the string and the warm weather has them thinking summer vacation. Glad I didn't go to it. Sabres were adequate, but they really didn't have to be very much tonight. Vancouver should be tougher. I agree about Dunleavy. He's as flat as the Kraken played. Just dull.

You will hate this, but I have to go back to Boston again. The line there is always "we have to better" "we weren't good enough" "no excuses". imo Tuch is just towing the party line. Players on this team in general buy into the propaganda the team puts out and I think they forget the kind of competitiveness that some of them had before they go here.

imo this gets added to the improbability of Sabres making it pile. They had a drop with the Guentzel trade. I'd assume they felt the GM had given up on the season so they did to, but Crosby is a leader and he don't take that as acceptable so he's got them back on it and, although they are not that good, they have the kind of veterans who know how to win big games and so they might be dangerous down the stretch. That's one more team added to the mix imo so if Philly and Detroit both keep dropping the old guys in Pittsburgh and Washington as well can't be counted out.