PerreaultForever

Well that was fun. late season fun game, has meaning, what more can you want? Rangers kind of only showed up for one period but that doesn't really matter, a win's a win. Great to finally see Greenway do something positive. Maybe there's still hope for him after all. Cozen's line was our best aside from what happened in the OT. Thoughts on Levi: He's very quick, agile, positions himself well, and seems focused in. Lacks good rebound control as most young goalies do. No surprise there. He has real potential, but (and it's a big but) he really does look small in there for current NHL standards and when he goes down and spreads those pads, he covers a lot of the lower net, but there is an absolute ton of high open net. Once teams get the book on him I see them shooting high and that could end up being a serious weakness. idk if he will be able to cover/adapt to that or not. Time will tell. If he had UPL's size, with his quickness, he'd be absolutely perfect. Keep winning and playoffs aren't impossible.

Well this is the night Sabrespace goes crazy and predicts huge things for next year, Stanley Cups and division winning playoff games or all hope for the future gets burst like a chinese weather balloon. Ya, just another game.

idk I watched that game and it was crazy. The arena was nuts over Ryan Reynolds being there (and maybe buying the team). Guys were being physically destroyed all over and fights galore. It was almost like 1970s hockey. DesLauriers has 2 fights with 2 different guys on the same sequence. Just nuts but also kind of fun to watch. Ottawa was playing hard. Philly just does that to people lately. Torts and Briere up in the press box pointing at people and (presumably) discussing who to "subtract".

Ya, pretty much supports the eye test. Offensive much better, defense the same or worse. Just out of curiosity, are the teams with the best D stats also the ones at or near the top of the standings?

So is there a timeline where we still have Ralph Krueger as coach????? Wow, the expectation bar is set high here. Going to make Friday's game interesting to say the least. I believe in Levi. I was one of the first to say so when we traded for him. I'm not sure I believe in instant Levi though. 3-5 year Levi absolutely.

Reinhart and Montour doing their best to keep the Sabres out of the playoffs...........again.

Yes, and the experience for the kids will be priceless. Not to mention the positive vibe that will follow this team into the off season and into next year.

Offer sheet Swayman. That'd be interesting. So according to him Greenway is here for physicality. Okay, I will believe it when I see it. Team's identity is forming. Okay, so what is it? Did he say? At least playoffs is a goal but with that little side note of not mortgaging the future so again, we shall see how committed to playoffs next year they really are.

If the Russians are eventually NHL players that will be huge as landing later round picks is one of the ways teams become contenders, if not dominant franchises. Have to wait see if it's hype or reality. The looking 3 to 5 years down the road bothers me though. While all GMs do have to have long term plans and look down the road, they also have to try to win now. Any time this is discussed here people always jump to "mortgage the future" and it's an extremist and polarizing argument as a result. There is a middle ground where you make SOME moves and keep SOME future and thus start to win now AND still build for the future. Once you are a real playoff team and you have a prospect pool you don't need to keep adding to it. You do have the draft capital to make moves and you don't have to win every trade, you just have to make your team better. It's time. Get these kids a winning tradition, not an it'll be better next year one.

Depends which team he's traded to.

Clifton isn't big, but he's tough. Surprising to many here I imagine he leads the Bruins in hits. Was watching the Bruins Preds game tonight. If people here had seen Clifton absolutely wipe out Jankowski on his breakaway attempt they'd be sold on the idea. My biggest reason for pushing Clifton though is he's grossly underpaid and with the Bruins D depth and their salary cap squeeze I can't see them being able to bump his pay up where it belongs. Likely Zboril's their #6 next year instead purely for economic reasons.

I still say they need 2, but 1 definitely. If you don't want to spend the coin on Orlov (or he doesn't want to come here) my choice is still Conor Clifton.

No, I don't think they are either, but somehow they haven't been as bad as people thought they'd be (a tank team) and they do have some character guys and decent younger players. Their rebuild strategy is different than ours. idk how fast it'll come together there. We will have a more talented team and hopefully a more winning team too but those two things don't always go together.

I know. Just looking for positive shreds wherever I can find them.

I don't like either but I think the golden ones are the worst. They both reflect light in a weird way and look like something out of a video game.

Pretty even game between pretty even teams. Their rebuild strategy is different and so is their team make up, but overall pretty even. It will be really annoying if they make the playoffs before we do as their rebuild hasn't been for as long. Rousek didn't look out of place. Quinn's getting stronger on the wall, more like Cozens. This bodes well for next year. idk, it looked like Montreal wasn't really interested in winning the shoot out sending out D men and such but whatever, shoot outs are stupid. Neither team will make the playoffs. Comrie better than UPL.

I don't care who plays, I just hate Montreal (almost as much as I hate the leafs) so just beat them. Hopefully badly.

and on the other hand Ovechkin (and some of the others I'm sure) are Putin supporters and Putin's been named a war criminal, there's that whole little thing in the Ukraine and we sanction Russia and they can't go to the Olympics as Russia and all that other stuff but despite what Hasek wanted, nobody kicked any Russians out of the league did they. Putin going to take his heroes and lock them up when they go home cause they put on a pride jersey for 5 minutes over here? I think not. and the Staal's aren't Russian, they're just homophobes.

Absolutely. If one person's belief is equality and inclusion and the other person's belief is discrimination and exclusion, they are most definitely NOT equal. The notion that there are two equally valid sides to every issue in our modern age is a falsity magnified by the internet. Religious people should simply put aside their prejudices and think a little harder about what Christ would do. Inviting everybody in was kind of his thing.

If Ovechkin wanted to leave the league over that issue well good riddance and he can go ask his buddy Putin to pay him his salary. You're right about the CBA though. Nothing will ever change unless it hurts the bottom line financially. Lastly, any "religion" that discriminates against any group is a bad religion. Don't judge lest ye be judged and all that.

The ethical statement becomes a political statement when it's public. If you're a celebrity/athlete/etc. what you do publicly gets noticed, and as such is a political statement. My own view is that the league should have it in the CBA that players must participate in team events such as pride nights and if they don't, fine, but no game cheque for that night. It's not asking that much really and fits in with code of conduct issues. I know some people will disagree with that, but it's hardly an issue of freedom or any sort of "I want to live in a country where they are free to follow their beliefs" type thing. There are lots of jobs - most jobs, for most people - where you have a dress code or at least have to dress a certain way or not wear certain other things and you get no choice in the matter or you get sent home without pay or fired. It's still a free country all the same. These people are privileged individuals who get a lot more freedom than the average person does and I have zero problem with their organization telling them to wear a jersey for the team's image and marketing on any given occasion. They'll still be free. That's not going away over this and you know it.

Well that would be a Colin Kapernick type situation wouldn't it?

I think they are tired too. Veteran team, not the fastest even when rested, they are wearing down in this playoff push. Young legs on the Sabres had the edge.

Ya, EXCEPT, the political statement is actually the guy who refuses to wear it. I mean think about it. It's putting on a colourful jersey for a few minutes. It's not that big of a deal. Doesn't say anything really about you and your religion or beliefs or even your prejudices. It's just wearing a jersey in a warm up. When you refuse to wear it you know you are drawing attention to it and then and only then you are making the intentional political statement, and you're right, that has no place in sports.

Nobody plays more boring hockey than the Islanders. Some sort of poetic justice maybe for Kyle to score the late winner. Good for him. So this was good. They usually struggle against this sort of hockey but they found a way to plod their way through it. That's what it takes to win in this league. You don't get to play the way you prefer every night and you have to adapt to what you face. Some definite positives here.