PerreaultForever

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.

While I respect the detailed analysis, you are still saying that the goaltending sucked and most of the "core" players sucked. You have varying reasons to explain their sucking but it doesn't really change the fact they collectively sucked. I can accept these various reasons as valid, but I think every year you can come up with a list of reasons/excuses and certainly blaming injuries is the weakest as we are currently better as a team with 2 supposed key players out long term. Everybody has injuries. Vegas had more injuries than we do for example. However you want to boil it down I still say it's on Adams for not getting us a solid veteran goalie and on Granato for poor coaching and preparing this team for the grind in a way it needed to be prepared. lack of veteran leadership can be partially faulted for that as well, but that too is on management.

and the people get what they wanted. Damn that kid is big. https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n269116 Never understood allowing fights with visors but whatever.

Not really up on the whole Harry Potter thing so all I can offer as rebuttal is this:

That's fair as I didn't think they ran training camp well either. So if I have it correct you would say Granato is at fault for the season for running a poor training camp and not entering the season in a work hard make the playoffs mode where every game matters. Correct?

Personally I always felt UPL was more of a gamer than a look good in practice guy but he does seem to have found his zone. How long it lasts is anybody's guess.

As I watch Boston it's weird cause it's almost like they've swapped jerseys. 2023 Bruins were as solid as ever and Sabres sucked. 2024 Sabres are playing decent hockey and the Bruins are falling apart. At some point I did expect this, but not in a mid season. Okay but why did they suck so bad then? What's your explanation for this?

So where was this in November and December? If they'd played like this all year we'd be in the playoffs. As enjoyable as this game was, and it was, the frustration for me is how it's too late AGAIN. The only explanation I can come up with is KA botched goaltending. He put all his faith in an instant Levi and when the goaltending was sucking this team basically quit on the season. They felt there was no point as no matter how well they played they couldn't win without a goalie. It took a number of games to "believe" but now they feel they do have a goalie and so they are giving the effort again. That's all I can come up with, but whatever the reason, this is not the team we watched in late 2023. Pity it's too late.

I know what you mean. I thought he'd looked better in the 3C role as well. Not great, but better. Granato seems set on certain ideas and he's going to just stick with them. Performance does not seem to factor in.