PerreaultForever

If he has a good playoff run I'm sure Vancouver will make him a solid offer but I suspect he still goes to free agency regardless. Bruins, among others, will likely be interested in free agency. He will drop down the line up as he ages but he is versatile and a 2 way player so I think he will still be in demand.

Nothing personal, but this is loser logic. You've been in a Sabres bubble too long. I'll contrast what you are saying with how Bruins fans talk about deadline deals. The argument you make would be they've lost a lot of deadline deals. They have a weak prospect pool. GM must be an idiot right? But there they sit year after year in first place. Even though they went out in the first round last year nobody talks about how they shouldn't have gone all in with Bertuzzi and Orlov. Sometimes the deals fail. Sometimes they succeed like when they got so much out of Johanson they made it to the final and that run convinced our GM that Johanson was worth signing the next year. But it's all in and it's playoffs every year and the fans love it and the culture thrives and people want to be there and Sabres fans just hate the Bruins year after year and watch from the outside as they "win trades". Did we "win" the Vegas trade? Did we? Bet there's no Vegas fan that thinks that or cares about any of those picks/prospects they gave up. Vancouver is showing they care. They want to win. It matters. Nobody in Vancouver thinks the owner sucks.

So what? So what if Kuzmenko scores 50 goals next year? Nobody in Vancouver cares. This is an example of how fast a rebuild can work if you hire a good coach and a competent GM. Kuzmenko was a poor fit to Tochet's hard work system and thus he was expendable and they are all in on winning and winning now. The fans are excited, the team is a contender and the Canucks are thriving again. So yay for Calgary they won the trade, and they can enjoy watching the Canucks in the post season. Sabres win trades too. Yay?

That sounds like the storyline for an episode of Friday Night Lights but it's a perfect example of what does happen for sure. As I've mentioned here before there's a hockey academy associated with the high school here and when my daughter was there Dylan Cozens was in it. Members of that academy literally ruled the school. They could do anything and were somewhat worshipped. Now some of them kept their profile low and worked on hockey and more hockey and Dylan was apparently one of those, but others not so much. Jake Virtanen was also a graduate of that program and he apparently was a total a-hole and when he walked down the hall with his pals he expected the seas to part for him. I also know there was a math teacher there that would "negotiate" final grades and would push up failing grades with points for how you dressed and other bs. It's definitely a deep cultural problem. My own experiences were in a different age but when I played hockey in high school I know I got away with a lot and in my final year when I was also on the football team my social status went right to the top. Heck, the principal of our high school was an ex CFL football star so to say the team had special status in that school was an understatement to say the least. That was a long time ago though.

Oh in Canada hockey is definitely number one for sure, but it's the same sports culture issues in different sports in other countries so I'd still say it's sports in general. Soccer players are worshipped in Europe and Latin America. I'm not sure which sport is the biggest in the U.S. Football certainly has the big moment and tv event thing down but maybe basketball has the most hero worship. Baseball players have had the same sort of issues has hockey players. It's all the same. It was dismissed as "boys will be boys" for years, but as I said, maybe times are finally changing.

Sports culture, not hockey culture, but times are changing. Tons of it has gone on, no doubt. Maybe it's being stopped now though.

Definitely disgusting. Without question. Definitely despicable. I don't know if "prey upon" is the right word though. This isn't the same as a stalker or pulling someone off the street, that's predatory. You could make the argument that taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable position/situation is predatory, but I think if a lawyer went that route they'd probably weaken their case and lose.

Oh I know. Expansion is all about lining the pockets of owners no question so they probably will. I'm just saying I wouldn't want it. Product is diluted enough as it is.

imo league shouldn't go over 32 teams. Move some clunkers rather than add if you want but 32 is more than enough.

Could be, but they were holding out for a high price. It could also explain NJ's poor start. A little locker room distraction so to speak. I don't think there's any question these guys took part in a disgusting event. Likely criminal but definitely classless and morally wrong. It'll all come down to "consent" arguments though and high paid lawyers ripping this poor girl apart. Maybe times have changed, but historically these things don't go well for the victims unfortunately. Look at Ben Roethlisberger for example.

Pegula will sell the team.

I thought there were 7 or 8 people involved though? So does that mean some non hockey players as well or people around but not engaged in the activity? idk, but the details are still vague obviously. Talk that this might not go to trial until 2026. These guys could be "on indefinite leave" for a while or forever.

A lot obviously depends on the GM too. Long running veteran GMs likely don't feel as fragile as some of the younger shorter term ones. Look at the Islanders for example. It always comes down to is it the players or is it the coach though and it's always easier to blame/change the coach. GMs on the other hand get 3, 4 maybe 5 years before they get turfed (usually).

So a new VO. (just poking fun, I agree there is always potential at that age)

Well yes, that's what I mean by "winning puck battles". They have to finish their checks though. They don't have to pound people around but at times you do have to make contact. If you don't, the opposition knows it and plays accordingly.

I think this is Pegula. The coaches in question all come cheap and are not powerful or steadfast in their own right. They will say yes to him. Guys like Torts or Trotts will do things their way or not at all. Good teams go back and forth? I don't think so. Not back and forth often. Bad teams sure. Part of the problem.

Long standing Pegula problem for sure and yet their rhetoric was something about how they got bad advice from hockey people if I remember correctly. Initially, remember they were going big time for Babcock. That was a hockey guy (pre his issues that came to light) and they got stung by him using us as leverage. So they went for another presumably qualified guy in Bylsma. Now I don't actually think he was a "fraud". Coachella's in first place in the Pacific AHL. Bylsma had little skill on the roster so he tried to follow a shut down model. imo he's still the best of a sorry lot in the Pegula era, even if his hockey was dull to watch. The logic of Housley was based on "it's a new NHL, new game, we need new young minds not dinosaurs". So in essence it was a flip from the previous failure but it was a dumb idea. Kreuger was mind boggling. All I can think of in terms of the logic is they felt they had the talent, but what Jack and others really needed was a personal motivator which is what he was supposed to be. Clearly he was more of a fake hype man and clearly had no clue. Maybe the dumbest coaching hire ever. Now Granato was a cheap easy hire. maybe they quietly tried for others who said no, we don't know that and likely never will, but the new logic was young team we need a teacher to talk softly and teach nicely. Massage those fragile young egos into success. I can see the logic in each hire, but what it lacks is consistency and a clear vision. We keep changing the approach and it shows the man at the top has no idea but won't turn it over to a hockey guy to hire experienced hockey guys. Granato imo would make a fine assistant. A good cop to soothe the fragile youngsters but the head coach has to be able to play bad cop and whip them into shape. We need a guy with authority, even if it's partly through fear.

Maybe. Keep in mind I'm not questioning his skill. Just how that will translate to the NHL with his size.

Well it's kind of true for all hockey teams but what I think is really missing from this team is a constant aggressive forecheck. It's pretty clear that we have no plans to play shut down hockey and tight defense. Our defense is based on the idea of getting it out of our end quickly and then possessing the puck down the ice. Best defense is a good offense kind of simplification That's clear, and it's also clear that what it leads to is possession around the wall with low danger scoring chances and when we don't have the puck in our own end we often crumble and look disorganized. We flounder. We don't box out well and net front kills us. With the style they want to develop the missing ingredient is the heavy forecheck. That includes finishing checks, hitting their D, puck battles, tenacity. Knocking them off the puck. Hurrying them. Creating that same sort of mess and confusion in their end. Florida style. If we added this to the current system we might be on to something. At the very least it would be far more exciting and fun to watch but I think with the skill players we have they could cash in heavily on that chaos, much like Reinhart is in Florida. We really have to decide and go with it. Either tighten up and back check. 1-2-2 or 1-3-1 OR turn that around and go all out 2-1-2 or 2-2-1. With the speed and size we have I really think the latter could work, but it would take an added element of physicality that we don't have at this point or at least don't use.

Whichever guy we trade away.

Well, no doubt the fanbase is broken, hardly surprising right? But to the point, I disagree. You simply do NOT have to "win the trade" , you just have to get the thing you need/want that makes your roster better. Fills a hole. We can afford to trade a more talented (for lack of a better word) player(s) to get the player(s) with the right skill sets we need. It's the whole roster that matters, not what any one individual player brings. It's how the roles on that roster are filled and that might take "losing" a few trades to get what we need. I think this is why VO never got moved and now his value has dropped. KA wanted to "win the trade" and that just wasn't going to happen for a one dimensional player like VO.

Then this would be for Pegula

Ya, it's all negotiated and mandated and that is the way it is. The time for running them through it and setting the (higher) level of expectation was training camp. Granato instead, coddled them, told them all how great they were, and just got through it as if it didn't matter. They were just one point out. No need to change anything right?

I know you are being sarcastic/snipey but I simply see more potential in Kulich than I do in the other 3 mentioned. That's all. They could ALL bust and they could surprise but that's my current assessment.