PerreaultForever

It is a sad list in hindsight, but at the time, I do understand some of the logic. Rolston - kind of just there and available. It was a cheap and easy hire at a point where they were in transition. I doubt he was considered a long term solution. Nolan - an attempt to turn back the clock and bring back that lunch bucker work ethic idea. With a lack of talent on the roster I can see how this seemed like a good idea. It actually wasn't a bad idea imo but Murray turned him into a fall guy on a stripped roster that nobody could have succeeded with. He was used and abused by the organization. Bylsma - Well we all know who number one choice was and Murray was all in on that with a long term deal. When he played us to get a deal in Toronto Bylsma was plan B as he was available and had had success in Pittsburgh. I know it was a boring style, but it wasn't a terrible idea and Vegas and Dallas are both playing similar hockey to what Bylsma preached. We failed as a team, but I don't think he was a terrible coach. Housley - I totally get the logic. Successful assistant, alumni, preached the new era fast style driven by a mobile D. We see that all over the league. We had Dahlin coming in. Seemed like a sensible hire but maybe a bit of a gamble. Obviously he couldn't handle the head job but in the "we don't want an old dinosaur vs. new era thinking" philosophy I think it made sense. Kreuger - boggles the mind. I can only come up with one rationale. They were all in on Eichel and it was all about motivating Eichel to be like McDavid so a former coach with some sort of personal motivator resume seemed like a good idea at the time. he talked a good talk and fooled them in the hiring process. His hockey coaching was devoid of anything beyond a simplistic basic philosophy not that different from the old left wing lock which is archaic to say the least. Absolute garbage hire. Going to add, Granato - Long resume, but not at the NHL head coach level so in many ways not that different from Housley. He's another cheap hire and although he's a good teacher (and could be a solid assistant on any team or coach at college level) his head coaching ability is still a question mark. This team has not yet shown any ability to play a structured defensive game and until they do, they won't get far even if they have a lot of young talent. As an example I will briefly mention Montour. I've been watching him closely since one, I don't really care who wins, and two, I've been trying to figure out why he's so impactful there and was so bad here and I think I've figured it out. He was always a good skater and had an offensive upside, but here he was always running around and getting caught out of position. Reason was a lack of team support. When a rush failed or a check happened he was scrambling back to cover his spot. On Florida there's always a forward dropping into his spot and taking over his coverage. They recognize the rush and have adapted their game to his talents (and flaws). It's the system, not the player. Similar thing for Gudas. In Philly I remember him running around hitting people and also getting caught out of position. In Florida, again, someone drops into his spot. If we signed him, without a proper defensive systemin place, he's just going to look like Risto. Granato might still show us he has it all, but it is time for this team to learn defense to go with that dynamic scoring that we've already started to see. If not, he's going to be added to this list of failures.

Oh no, I get it. I totally get it. Remember I follow the Bruins as my B team and chat with some of them a little. I know full well how they talk about the Sabres. Benchmark team for failure for sure. However, I'd say we are such a huge failure we've kind of been dismissed as irrelevant. Leafs are still the most mocked team there too. It's a misery likes company thing and after your failure you just feel a little better when they continue to fail as well. I actually wonder why the Leafs aren't the MOST hated team by Sabres fans. I know there's playoff history with the Bruins and Canes and way back Montreal, but the Leafs proximity should make them the most hated by definition and thus the team to scorn and ridicule the most as well. But I think it's the Bruins still but I could be wrong. If we ever get really good again I'll know for sure.

lol, for a fan you really seem to hate them 🙂 I've been a fan for decades so the last decade has been frustrating and somewhat unbearable. I'd guess it's the same for you. What if you were young though and just started following them say 10 years ago or even less. Then they'd be an underdog. Or better yet, if you just started being a fan of hockey and chose the worst team cause there was only one way up, then they'd definitely be an uinderdog. Anyway, regardless of what happens in Buffalo, I still enjoy watching the Leafs suffer, and you should try it too. There is some satisfaction in it.

Well, even if he can't play it's good experience for him to see the facilities, get to know the other prospects who might be Sabres team mates later. Just adjust and get used to things. Let the coaches evaluate him up close and give him a list of things to work on in the off season. It's just good.

I do see your point, I guess I just view it a little differently. I see it akin to those classic and maybe cliche stories with the rich kid spoiled varsity guy and the poor downtrodden underdog and you want to see that spoiled brat fail and the underdog rise. So even when the underdog hasn't risen there is some satisfaction in seeing the rich kid not do much better. Sort of like that.

Ya, Nashville's an interesting one to watch. Trotz coming in, one would assume he will want to rebuild in that hard nosed work ethic mold he's always coached with but whether or not they are building or still tearing down is hard to say. They weren't that far off even with the tearing down so they might see themselves as just a few players away. idk. Will be interesting to see what they do.

I'm sure Chicago's tear down is over. They got what they wanted. Now we see how fast they try to rise. I suspect they will be busy in free agency unless they trade for somebody to offer cap relief to some team. It's easy to get to the cap floor. Lots of teams want to dump salaries. They could (for example) get Hayes from Philly for cheap and to have a veteran center as Bedard adjusts, grows, and gets ready to take over. Lots of other options.

Veleno's play was brutal. He needs to be suspended and kicked from the tournament. Almost as brutal was Quinn's defensive effort on the Hischer goal. That was some Jack Eichel style work in his own end. Canada's roster is horrible. Lucic looks absolutely pathetic. I think I can skate faster, and I'm over 60. idk why they bother if this is the best they can throw together.

Florida definitely seems like the team of destiny this year. Everything going their way.

Depends how you measure it. If you want to measure it by a rinky dink badly run organization that makes poor decisions and can't even spell the name of alumni, then we are it. If you want to measure it by a team that has a huge fanbase, massive merch sales, full houses, money all over and makes moves to the max and STILL fails, then it's them.

No, we do, and it's for one simple reason. No team in any sport gets as much favorable media coverage and "this is the year" talk as Toronto does. When you think you're that special and you do no better than those little incompetent teams (that would be us and Vancouver among others) you earn extra ridicule.

This would not surprise me at all. Even after all the massive Toronto media discussions it's still muddy on if he was fired or quit but it seems he was offered a contract extension, then he talked publicly about the I'm not sure I have to sit down with my family thing and with that lack of gung ho commitment they decided not to offer the extension after all, so in a sense he got himself fired. They were all in this year and other than finding a goalie through some miracle they've kind of run out of variations around the big 4. They had the added D and the checkers and the shutdown guy and despite all the adds just one round win . Dubas knows it's over, and there's nothing they can do but tear it down (or at least part of it) and do it differently and that likely means 2 steps back before any steps forward. So he preferred the exit so that something like Ottawa might still be in his future as he won't be there for the downfall.

Orlov seemed to fit in quickly in Boston and looked like a popular guy. I'd guess he has a good personality and might be a decent leader or mentor for this. It's going to take a lot however to get him to not go back to Washington. I'd make a big early offer to Orlov but pivot quickly to plan B as I think it's a longshot at best. With all the Russians coming, it might be the end of Girgs. You know how those Latvians feel about Russians 🙂

Ya, but it is. Just so happens that both teams play a similar shutdown style. I predicted this to be a boring series and so far it is as expected. Thank the coaches. It's not exciting hockey, but it can be winning hockey.

Good. We need all the D men in the system we can get.

hey, they still have until July 1 regardless. Send him "home". True. Ekblad missed one game against the Bruins and that was talked about by Bruins fans as the "Bruins best game of the series" and not one of them has thought it might have been partly because Ekblad didn't play in it. They lose ANY of their top 4 and they are in trouble.

They definitely do, although Hyman didn't get Edmonton much further (and neither did Evander Kane). Kadri getting suspended was probably the main reason Leafs lost to the Bruins that year. They win that series the whole history might have been different. Colorado missed Kadri this year too. Turned them into a one line team.

and so they went out and did something about it. Will we? and Bennett. and Gudas earlier. There's an old line. I forget who said it. Might have been Tortorella, maybe Trotz, maybe Scotty Bowman said it first but it goes along the lines of "there are players who get you into the playoffs and then there are players who get you through the playoffs, if you have guys who do both you have a shot at winning the cup" and that would be Tkachuk. To me Florida is winning for several reasons, 1. Great goaltending - Bobrovski has re-emerged for whatever reason. 2. Excellent coaching. Game plans have been adjusted to the competitions strengths and weaknesses. 3. Tenacious forechecking and hard work from the forwards. Simple hockey, go to the net. 4. and maybe most important the rather thin D has stepped up and managed to play outstanding hockey. Montour playing at an allstar level. Gudas playing the best hockey of his career. Ekblad is incredibly underrated. The top 4 have managed to turn a perceived weakness into a strength. I keep thinking they will run out of gas but so far no. Kind of amazing. Put all that together and you've got a solid cup run. At this moment, we do not have one. We have some guys who might step up in the playoffs, but not like that.

Maybe they trade Matthews to Arizona 🙂

This is why I've been saying for years the proper way to build is from the back out. You create a work hard culture where everyone contributes (or sits), you get solid goaltending, build up a solid D, and then add the scoring stars. Following the Toronto (or Edmonton) model is a bad idea. You spend far too much money on your superstars and then you don't have enough left for a solid roster, and if your goaltending isn't exceptional you will be sunk in the playoffs. My biggest beef with the Sabres has been based on not properly addressing goaltending first. Maybe now it will be okay if Levi is the real deal, but if he has an up and down development path to still work through, playoffs might still be several years away. Power helps, Levi helps, but it's not enough yet.

I suppose that's possible, but 28 to 29 is pretty late for a development curve. Maybe he just thrives in the sunshine.

The only thing that might make an all star game in any sport interesting to me would be if they had them play a different sport. The Hockey all star game could be a basketball game. The basketball all star game could be hockey. Baseball players could play football and vice versa. Mix and match. Now that might be fun. Otherwise, I skip the whole thing every year and wish it didn't exist.

Well that was a marathon. That game was sweet justice for us west coasters who have to put up with those 4 pm starts all year. A fine evening's entertainment. Huge win for Florida. Will be interesting to see if either team can play decently next game. Hate to say it, but Montour has incredible stamina and/or skating ability. Massive minutes. JBot was right in his evaluation I guess, but I also guess he only plays when he wants to as he sucked in Buffalo and Anaheim wasn't thrilled with him either.

Exactly, so there is a "certain level of performance", but the gap between top countries and bottom is pretty wide. There are improving countries though. The Swiss and Germans keep getting better and will soon have legitimate competitive teams, especially with the way few top Canadian and American players go over. I wouldn't want to have to watch the games in the relegated group (or whatever they call it) though. Maybe get Ted Lasso to coach them and make a TV show, otherwise it must be pretty bad hockey.

If Carolina had Svechnikov they'd be a clear favourite at this point imo but even without him I'd still say they are the likely cup winner. Florida Carolina will be crazy exciting as BOTH teams press and forecheck like crazy so ultimately it comes down to turnovers and mistakes. The goaltending could flip it in Florida's favour, but I suspect their D will fold at this point under the forecheck. A taste of their own medicine if you will. They've gone heavily with 4 and after 2 rounds it'll be hard to keep it going. Burns is also looking like a genius pick up by Carolina. Dallas and Vegas could be the most boring and low scoring event in NHL history if both are playing shutdown at the same time as they have at various points this playoffs. Pretty even series imo. I'd hope Dallas wins (even if I think it'll be Vegas) cause after all these years maybe Pavelski is a nice feel good story if he can finally get a cup, and of course, **** Eichel. If there is a model for building you want to copy here, it is of course Carolina. Like it or not.