PerreaultForever

In 2-3 years I suspect it'll flip. Tampa might stick around mid level but Boston Pittsburgh and Washington will all be on the out and our playoff opponents will be Ottawa, Detroit and eventually Montreal. islanders I think are already heading down fast. Leafs idk. See what happens with Matthews first.

There's no question they will have a big fall soon, but not yet, which is why I said ONE last kick at the can. Foligno is a non issue on the 4th line and might even get waived. If this all Czech line does it all season they will be formidable this year as Bergeron/Marchand won't have to provide all the offense. DeBrusk looks ready to have a big year as well, but that still needs to be proven. The McAvoy injury is an issue, but a lot of people are forgetting they now have Lindholm added to their D from a year ago. They have a good year left assuming Marchand and McAvoy (and to a lesser extent Hall and Gryzlyk) all come back in good shape and not too late. Their prospect cupboard however is probably one of the worst in the league due to bad drafting and trading away picks and prospects at the deadline for years. When Bergeron, Marchand and Krejci are done, they will fall and fall hard. Possibly right to the bottom.

Did you watch the game or just look at your stats reports? If you'd watched, you'd have seen that him and Kakko were the best Rangers on the ice that night. Wait and see.

The immediate demise of the Bruins may be somewhat exaggerated. I watched them play the Rangers tonight and their new all Czech line of Zacha Krejci and Pasternak was explosive and dominant. If that holds all year they are a deep team still and could go on one last cup run. maybe Talbot's injury in Ottawa slows them down though, that's possible. Rags look like they'll be better too. Their lottery wins look ready to break out.

He's still an RFA at the end of it in 2026 so they can shift some of Benn's money over to him at that point if he's earned a bigger payday at that point. Seems like a reasonable and fair plan.

No, Tage doesn't have to go the Chara route but he can be a guy nobody wants to mess with and he can jump in when needed. Because he's skilled you don't want to see him get hurt in a fight but you don't want to see him avoid one either. He just has to not get carried away with the excitement of the moment and remember how big he is to be effective. He can only lose by losing his footing. got to watch the clever smaller guys who will try to get in close and get him off balance. It's a skill like any other.

I love seeing a team mate come straight in to defend and Tage is big enough you don't need to worry about him fighting. This is good to see. If Tage has to be the guy doing this regularly he needs to work on his form and balance a little. Has the reach, needs to learn to be patient and not over extend. Just hold the guy off with one hand and then unleash that "shot" with the other. He will only lose fights if gravity knocks him off his skates.

Well as usual none of this was available to me so I have to just guess. I do like the Gordie Howe hat trick though. Been a long time since we saw that on the Sabres and it bodes well. Maybe the culture has shifted and this team will stick up for each other. Good to (not) see.

Defense should be better but the way Jokiharju has played so far I'm not sure. Goaltending is a big question but what concerns me most is center ice. Thompson converted is a solid 1C but after that we don't have a good center iceman on the team that truly measures up to what they will face. For this team to have any real success this year at least 2 of Cozens Mitts Krebs have to step up and seize the position. At this point I just don't know.

Oh sure, attack the post rather than Eichel. Way to keep in the spirit of things.

I think what @Doohickie said is right. Every team uses analytics to some degree now and there is a ton of information for everybody to wade through and each team decides which metrics or which aspects of certain things mean more or less to them and thus, as it was in the old days, there will be differing opinions of who is best.

I'm not saying I DON'T believe it, but I take it with a grain of salt until it's proven. We will know when we see their reactions and comments after losses or after a losing streak. It'll be obvious over time I think. Will there be excuses and "we gave a good effort" type talks or will it be "we have to be better" etc. We can probably revisit this mid season.

ikr? Weird. TSN's top 50 NHL players has Eichel way down at 35. That's pretty damn low for the glory boy once touted as "generational".

I read a comment on a Seattle Kraken board in response to the generally negative comments about their new troll mascot, somebody wrote "at least it's not Jack Eichel" which made my day 🙂

Yes, YES, 100 percent yes. This is exactly what I mean.

It's not that. Anderson will get the first game as a sign of respect for the veteran (assuming he's 100% at the time) no more no less. Comrie will get the next game and then it'll shake out with hot hand, health and whatever Granato thinks is best at the time.

I would think that likely. The old veteran gets the first night and it's his job to lose. The depth chart to start the year will be Anderson, Comrie, UPL, Subban in that order and how the season plays out from there will be determined by how they play and of course injuries should they happen.

I'm not saying he's awful, just that he's not impressing me. After all the AHL hype and all the talk of we have Quinn and Peterka coming this year that'll change things, I just wanted and expected more. Right now they both look 2-3 years away from being big impact players (if they ever are). I want to start winning NOW.

That's okay. At one point I was the only one saying Eichel was a crap captain and then I was one of the first, if not the first, to say our only hope forward was to trade Eichel. Among other things. I see what I see and I know what I know. I'm quite fine with people disagreeing with me. So far (stress that, it's early) in this camp I saw really good things from Savoie and he looks like we got a steal in that draft. His earlier 4th place ranking might prove to be the accurate one. UPL has looked surprisingly good. I think he just might be a gamer that rises to the challenge and more ready than we thought. (maybe, and this is a maybe, he gets a little bored in the AHL and loses his focus, much like they were saying about Shane Wright being bored in junior if you remember that). Power has the poise and smarts of an older more developed player so I don't think we will regret that pick. Those are the most promising things. On the negative side I want more from Quinn. I don't think he's ready and won't really impact. I expected Cozens to be better. Still time, but it's not looking as definite as it did. Krebs isn't impressing me at all. The vets I've seen look about the same. Jokiharju might be worse. At this point I see very little that makes me think we will be any better than last year (maybe UPL since goaltending matters a lot). You know what I want is someone new lighting it up and getting me excited, even if I know it's just preseason and the guy probably won't do it all year. I want something like the Seattle fans have with Beniers. Maybe next year, with Savoie, but doesn't look like I will get it this year. It's definitely not Quinn or Peterka.

Why do you say that? I'm not miserable at all. My question to you would be after the last decade how can you willingly drink the kool-aid so quickly ? I have stated repeatedly for over a year now that I'm in the show me and prove it stage. Blind fandom for this stupid franchise is expired. UPL was impressive. Krebs and Quinn were not. That's just facts.

Yes, obviously it's the preseason. I'm not going anoint UPL the starting goalie after that one game either, but he was good. I'm looking for flashes of brilliance and moments that impress me. If Quinn lasered a shot like Tage did for example. I expect mistakes and off moments but want to see little things or moments that show more promise too. imo they aren't showing enough.

I finally got to watch a preseason game. Well almost all of it. First period feed was messed up but I saw the 2nd and 3rd. I thought UPL was outstanding. maybe the goaltending issue will be solved internally after all. Maybe. The team played okay but not great imo. I'm really not impressed by Krebs and I don't think Quinn or Peterka are ready. Flashes, but not great. Cozens seemed the same as last year which was also a little disappointing. He has to move forward sooner than later. Power will be just fine. Drake freakin' Caggiula almost steals the game. That would have been weird irony.

Exactly. Which is why it should be based on the player's personality and not his skill set. BUT the thing is you also want continuity if you are trying to build a culture. I just don't think Kyle is part of that plan so a temporary (as in a year or two) captain is a bad idea imo. It's time to hand that role to a guy who you believe is part of this now and will still be going forward.

I think maybe, but it's still a maybe. To this point Cozens still hasn't proven himself. yet.

or Dahlin. You can't rule anybody out really (maybe Bjork) but I'm not a big fan of naming top scorers as captains unless they really really really stand out like a Crosby, but they have to have leader personalities to go with it. idk what Thompson brings in that way, but I want him to score and focus on that.