PerreaultForever

Well, I'm not surprised. Say that off the top. The Cozens/Tage contracts made Mitts unsignable since he's outplayed them and thus likely wanted that kind of money and they weren't going to do it, period. I personally would have explored trading Thompson first, but one of the three was definitely out of the mix so Adams went with the unsigned guy and that's that. Now, Byram. He's a pretty good puck moving guy who plays under the shadow of Makar so MAYBE he hasn't been able to show his full potential. Having said that though, he'll be in the same spot with Dahlin here. The injury history is troubling and although 6'1" is adequate, he's only 190 lbs at age 22 and that imo is too light to be a solid D man. That's Cliffy's weight and Cliffy's short. imo you want your D 200 lbs. plus. This, imo, is not the player we need. Having said that, he's better than Jokiharju and he does upgrade our D so with little in the prospect D pool I can't fault this move entirely. It's a risk, but it does give us a better D than we had. What I really suspect however, is that this is just kicking the can down the road in terms of free agents. Byram will be an RFA after next season so (assuming he performs well) we will be in the exact same point again as it'll be Power, Dahlin and Byram and how much can top 3 D make just like Cozens, Thompson, Mitts and how much money do top 3 centers make. Strong possibility we will be deadline dealing Byram next year. So, 1) did KA have any choice? Probably not. One of the 3 had to go. 2) is our D better? Yes. Slightly. 3) is our team better? No. We now definitely need a 3C in free agency or by another trade. But at least he did something.

"legitimate chance" would seem to be a fairly openly defined term and it's sad if they had to do this. Open competition is one thing, no problem guaranteeing that, but it should always be best performer makes the cut.

Correct. The "plan" was clearly to give the net to Levi. They kept 3 because they were afraid if they waived UPL he would get taken (Tampa?) . It was a dumb plan, but I wonder if they guaranteed Levi's agent a so many games shot as a precondition to signing. If so, that makes him slightly less stupid, but also costs the team the season.

One of the most inconsistent players in the league, Caps are selling high. Smart move for them.

Well if they did fire Granato and hire Lindy the one sure thing would be the fans (us) would believe that next season is THE season and the nightmare might finally end. Whether or not he could get it done idk, but we'd definitely believe he could until proven otherwise. If they keep Granato and don't bring in any key free agents I think most of us will be in a here we go again and show me mode. So I guess what I'm saying is it would be a good marketing, PR move that would likely boost season ticket sales.

Yes, that's true, but he's VERY GOOD at punching guys. I am a firm believer that with all these kids we have (some of them smaller or lighter) we need a guy to protect them. If we had that, many of them would play bigger themselves and feel free to do their thing more. It would help with team building and development of a strong team culture. If we make the playoffs guy like that might not dress, and he wouldn't be needed all the time, but having him around would help the team a lot. I believe that strongly.

However Donnie is not fired, even though we have a worse record, because our bar for success is clearly much lower.

I don't see Lindy being hired in any senior capacity because he won't be a yes man for Pegula. He would stick to his guns and Terry don't like that. So unless Terry wants to go retire in Florida and leave it in someone else's hands, it'll never happen.

Bruins went back to playing Bruins hockey and frustrated the Leafs by shutting everything down and boxing everything out. This means Leafs will be itching to open it up next game and thus they are ripe for the Sabres to take them down again.

This is a deal Adams should have made imo https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/devils_add_size_defensive_depth_in_trade_with_avalanche/s1_17117_40045726

what? Girgs and Kyle? Two guys who have been losing for years? We need to add veterans from teams that have won, not keep these old dudes.

I want BOTH. The instigators AND the defenders. I would be happier if our "plan" was to be more like Florida with a balance of that sort of thing rather than Toronto or New Jersey who we seem to be emulating more.

Given his multi year contract extension I doubt he takes a job anywhere. More likely he kicks back on a beach for a couple years at least. If that doesn't infringe on the contract terms he'd be a good choice to coach the Worlds or Olympics or other stuff like that. As for a POHO or other senior level job, idk. Don't think he's had a whole lot of player personnel type experience but if he wanted to be a "senior advisor" in Buffalo I could see that and would welcome it.

Listening to 32 thoughts today they said an interesting thing about this. Verbeek is very reluctant to trade him, and the price is high, because he knows they need solid veterans, "pros", to play with all their youngsters. It's part of their "plan". Same goes for Gudas who teams have asked about. Contrast that idea with Adams is why I mention it.

Definitely a game they can catch the Leafs napping as they play Boston on either side of it.

Rinse and repeat. Everything about this year feels exactly the same as last year.

It was DeBrusk. I don't think we will do anything this deadline but what we should be looking at is eating a contract or taking a mid level signed veteran off a team's hands if they are up against the cap and want to make a big move but have no room to do it (and nobody to hide on LTIR).

Funny to read the Dahlin critiques. I'm accused of being the negative one around here but these critiques are way off the mark imo. I was actually thinking during this game that Dahlin, who I have criticized in the past, has really worked on his strength and finally come into his own as a solid NHL defenseman. As to this whole "supposed to be elite" issue, it's not Dahlin imo, it's the team defensive system as a whole. The players on this team still do not cover for each other properly and as such, the last line of defense often looks like it's at fault. Third period imo UPL looked burnt out and I think we are clearly over using him. No way should we have had to go back to back with him over this weekend. Very few teams and goalie situations would have even tried that. As a result third period we were behind it. I was entertained though. It is an improvement, we just aren't at their level.

Totally agree. Too many teams ahead of us to even consider playoffs as a possibility. Philly could still fall but Islanders are surging. Too many loser points in our way.

Jets coming off a big win we might be able to lull them to sleep. Myself I have no hope for playoffs (I think that's just not possible at this stage even with a high win percentage for the rest of the season) so I'm hoping Winnipeg brings their heavy physical game (which they can do) because I want to see if this team can handle it. We won't get a playoff test so for me, it's important to know if this area really needs an off season upgrade (which I think it does) or if these guys are growing into their bodies and gaining some stones themselves. Entertain me, that's all I ask. Give me hope for next year.

I agree fully. I think the bar for success was set too low. Didn't want to push/rush fragile egos or pampered people to make sure they "want to be here". Basically coddled in one way or another rather than setting a standard of excellence and expectation. I do have one thought (purely speculative) that might forgive them a little - a little. What if that story about Levi's agent demanding no other goalie be brought in are true? What if nobody, and I mean nobody wants to come here in free agency and yes, all those NMC players have Buffalo at the top? And what if you add in some of these players suggesting maybe they aren't sure about being here and so Adams and to some extent Granato really do have tied hands and thus basically no power to do much at all? It's possible that NO ONE could do the job any better and all they can do is hope things change via the draft and in time, the anywhere but Buffalo thing will change. I'd prefer if it was just Adams (and Granato) incompetence, but this scenario is a possibility as well.

What's on Granato is not having a well oiled machine ready to go coming out of camp. Being too soft and letting them "grow as a group" wasted a lot of time and a lot of games. Torts had Philly ready to go game 1. Now we have to see if this current thing we are watching will last or not.

idk, it's obviously what he's there for and he does see it as his ticket in, but he is taking shots as well as delivering them so it can't last I imagine. Don't know if he's John Scott or actually has enough raw skill to carve out a long term 4th line role. Only time will tell.

Well, Yzerman made the moves, got the veterans, and he's in the playoff hunt. Just by way of contrast. We were basically at the same point last year. idk if your thing about the agent is true, but if so, that's no way to run a franchise, letting agents tell you what moves you can or can't make. I mean sure, maybe if it's Conor McDavid's agent you have to listen a little but not for some kid out of college. As to what Adams tried, I have no idea. I wasn't in the room. I can only judge him on what he did or didn't do.

Any player logging this many minutes in the regular season is not an accomplishment. It is an indictment of how thin the roster is.