PerreaultForever

There are two things which make the number of prospects irrelevant though (unless they are used as trade capital). 1. The team can't/doesn't play team defense and thus doesn't win no matter who it is in the line up. Johnson pointed this out a few games into the season but it hasn't changed. 2. There are simply too many of the same guys and no good role players (maybe Greenway, but not really). We need DIFFERENT players coming up not more of the same.

Well that's it though right? No points for "trying" in the NHL. He didn't make the deal(s) so he failed. I see other things from other GMs that have succeeded so you measure it against the average maybe and if you're below that you should be fired as you have failed. I saw Casey DeSmith was playing goal for Vancouver the other night against Philly. Apparently he's been good there and Vancouver is good. Didn't Montreal get him basically free from Pittsburgh as a salary dump and then they flipped him to Vancouver? There's GMs doing their jobs. There are LOTS of examples of moves better than those made by KA.

Time for a new owner.

Stop dreaming. KA won't add anybody of note and won't make any blockbuster trade either. They might even be stupid enough to try to roll Kulich and Rosen as part of a 4th line.

Seattle wins 3-0 in the classic though. That was far more entertaining than watching the Sabres. Figures they'd drag Heart out as a musical act. The fish throwing at the beginning was kind of dumb though imo. It's an over used Seattle thing. Not as dumb as their gum wall, but still, over used. idk how they kept that ice going. It's warm out west here. Carbon footprint has to be pretty high on that I imagine. I find that kind of funny with how "green" conscious people are out west here and their Climate Pledge arena they normally play in. That's the world we live in though. Might as well just smile and laugh. Sober today. I still hate the f'n Sabres.

Not to pick on you personally but lots of people are always saying things like this but where's the evidence? Where's the evidence of all the failed attempts? We have nothing. There is no reason to give him the benefit of a doubt and assume he has done anything of the sort at all. Sure he might have made a few phone calls but for all we know every trade he's tried he sticks to ridiculous asks and other teams just laugh at him and say thanks but no thanks. I told you guys at the start of the year that Comrie would easily clear waivers. All these people saying "oh no he will be claimed" not a chance. These guys are all crap and nobody wants them, especially at the price of their contracts like Jost. Nobody wants a 2 million fringe player. Olofsson's garbage too. I remember people saying we should get a 2nd, even a first. Just ridiculous. If you can't make the starting line up for a garbage team like Buffalo, trust me, nobody wants you. The only guys who get picked up are role players like Ottawa snapped up McEwen (who scored against us even) but we don't have any of those so nothing to worry about. "bodies were needed" Yup. It is a graveyard after all. Buffalo, where careers go to die.

I f'n hate this hockey team. I really do. WTF is wrong with them? Every year, every time, the names change sometimes but it ends up the same. They came out to play hockey and the Sabres? idk, I guess they wanted to go for a figure skate. Bunch of soft pussies. This was Ottawa. Ottawa! They're not even any good. Their 4th line dominated us. Their 4th line!!!! WTF is wrong with this team. You know, tons of you won't like this, but for all his talent, sometimes Dahlin is a piece of sh&t defenseman. Fourth Ottawa goal he's standing in front of Levi, doing absolutely nothing but watching, doesn't take the man in front who has all day to make a textbook tip and all Dahlin is doing is watching and screening Levi. Then, and this is the part that really got to me. Then, after the goal is scored, HE shakes his head like it's someone else's fault or the universe conspired against him. No dude, you just didn't earn your pay cause you didn't do anything. Ya, I'm drinking tonight. Sue me. idc and I hate this team. Bunch of sh&t waiting for the next flush.

Czechia isn't very good, but Kulich is definitely their best player.

More likely Adams gets to spin this and say "see, these moves prove that the best way is to just draft our own players. If we bring players in they disappoint. Our plan is better." Seriously, wait for it.

That's part of why I have a bad feeling. This team has a tendency to relax after a win and think "oh, it's all good now" and they forget you need to work EVERY night and against EVERRY TEAM. Back to backs with travel are hard to begin with and Ottawa should be motivated. I imagine they see this as a must win themselves. IF we bring our good game this could be a really good hockey game. Playoff intensity. Should be. Not sure it will be.

Oh man, it would be grumpy but also probably a fun night along with the constant "remember when they used to.........." and all the things from way way back when the franchise was actually good and how much it contrasts with now. Makes me think of that shot of Perreault and Gare up in the stands a number of games back. They both looked a little grumpy themselves.

I have a bad feeling about this game but who knows, Ottawa has had quite a few bad games this year too.

Huge mistake. Saberspacers are the worst. Especially the old guys. I wouldn't trust any of them. Most of all the guys who talk about the French Connection. Steer clear of them.

No they don't. Several of them play for the Leafs.

Maybe if he becomes a heavy hitting pugilist he will find a role but as a power forward forget it. Way too slow.

Ottawa will be tougher. I really liked the way Cozens went to the net front in this game but if he does that against Ottawa I suspect he will get smacked. Hopefully the team will rally and support if that happens. That might mark a small shift in the right direction.

I understand your sentiment, and to some extent I feel the same way about athletes. Their personal lives are none of my business be they good or bad, BUT, at the same time, is there any real point in you telling people that you don't care about Tage's baby? I mean if you don't, that's fine, so why say anything at all in the thread? Do you really want us to care that you don't care?

Mystery solved. Glad he missed that game for a positive reason and not a bad one. As for lack of sleep, he got the cash, unlike us plebs he can get the nanny and the au pair and the personal assistant and whoever else he needs to get him and his wife through the baby jail years.

Well Appert didn't do anything to deviate from the Granato plan. Basically rolled the same lines. I suppose you could say he favoured the Cozens line over the Thompson line but otherwise everything was pretty much by the book so I wouldn't read anything into this at all. The "stress" comment made me chuckle though. Thought of Tony Soprano having a panic attack.

Small and slight. That was the knock and why he dropped. He plays very fast as his strength, but that also leaves him vulnerable. He has to get stronger AND learn when to turn it up full and when to keep his head up.

Well they played good enough to win but I think it's fair to say Columbus was gassed in the third and just hanging on with the back to back. The Cozens line came out with the energy you want from the outset. If all the lines played like that every night we'd have a much better record than we do. On the negative side Dahlin was garbage today. Seemed like his head was somewhere else but he made a lot of errors and some of them cost. He has to be better than that (and usually is). Too many bad passes and turnovers for the team as a whole. Fortunately Columbus didn't make them pay most of the time. Win's a win. On to the next. Hopefully they can keep up the energy level on their back to back.

imo this game might tell you everything you need to know about this team and it's character or lack of same. They got totally embarrassed by them last time so they SHOULD come at them with the best game we've seen all year. They SHOULD be mad and want to exact revenge in any and all ways possible. We SHOULD see them at their best. So if they come out flat or drop a turd effort then you will know for sure that the whole thing is broken - again. For sure. You look at Boston. We beat them, so next time they came in and schooled us with their near perfect defensive shut down game, which is who they are. So we have to do that with Columbus, with what we are. So what are we? idk. I guess we find out.

This is it. I've actually watched quite a few Philly games this year and they basically simplified his game and taught him to play more disciplined. I really think the critique that he was "dumb" was kind of true and he just gets confused and makes poor choices when you ask too much from him. He's a big dumb viking horse and when you get him playing a simple game he's a decent player. A good one even. I hate to say it, but playing the way he is right now, he's exactly what we could use. In our system/lack of system though, I'd also be sure his game would fall apart again if he was here. Torts is really good at figuring out what guys do well and placing them in roles (big or small) that maximize what they do well. If players buy in to that and accept their assigned roles it works.

I would guess Arizona is on all 206 of those lists. Probably at the top. I think Canadian teams, especially the cold ones like Winnipeg are on a lot of them as well. Some players probably don't want to be in Quebec for the French language issues. Some players might not want to go west if they don't like the long travel schedules. After that the smaller markets and perennial losers and that's where Buffalo falls in. I have no doubt Buffalo is on quite a few of those lists but it's still only a small percentage of the league. Another thing to consider is most of the guys with NTC contracts are the star forwards and bigger names and that's not what we really need. We might have trouble getting that top 4 D man but the character veterans we could also use should be easy to find. You also have to consider what @Brawndo said above. They have cap space and assets. They should be able to make a deal work that some teams won't be able to. For example, say a top contender needs a top 6 winger bad. Or a 2C like say Lindholm in Calgary. But they don't have the cap space to make that happen but they have several good D men with salary. There's your 3 way combo right there. We can also add an expiring contract along with a guy we want to make a deal happen. There are literally hundreds of possible ways you could make deals like that work, and sure, some of them might not be possible because of NTC aspects but KA can do better than just Robinson and/or Greenway. That's why he gets the big bucks and it's time he earned them.

You trade the guys who you, as an organization, don't think are developing the character/drive/work ethic you want and also the guys who are similar to guys you already have that you are happy with. I kind of get the feeling they drafted a lot of the same type of guy because they figured they'd only land a few of the ones they drafted at any position but felt it guaranteed they'd get enough. If you end up with too many left or right wingers for example, then you have one or two to move for a D man or a veteran. It's not that complicated to create a balanced prospect pool and you simply trade extra assets for deficiencies on your roster. When you draft you have to look at BAP first, and if a guy like Benson falls you look hard at it, but you also have to lean in the direction of need as well at this point and if a type you need is a few spots lower maybe you bump him up your list a little. Why we didn't draft Warren when we had the chance for example boggles my mind. 6'6" 220 pound D man. Nope, definitely don't need that. imo Granato would be a great coach for Rochester, but not in Buffalo.