PerreaultForever

So this is what you wrote. So I think that was actually pretty good for context after all.

Tricky game. Sabres have more talent and should win if they skate, but Arizona is playing better than expected and has won some games against decent teams. They can be physical, which might be a test for the Sabres, and they play hard around the net. Keller and Crouse are both very dangerous players imo. If/when O'Brien runs over somebody it will be interesting to me to see what, if anything, happens. Regardless of what happens, I guess we get a good look at Chychrun.

As long as we also dump on him for the things he didn't do or mistakes he has made as well eg. goaltending. I'm not convinced yet he's actually done anything that any other GM wouldn't have done just as well if not better. It was clear that the old core had to go. Reinhart wasn't going to stay, Eichel wanted out, house was cleaned I suspect at the Pegula's request but most definitely with their blessing. JBot had a mandate to use that core and enhance it. His enhancements are now our core. Adams gets to add assets for that core as any GM would have with the same mandate. So Risto trade great, Reinhart deal remains to be seen (depends on Levi) and Eichel deal depends on what Krebs and the other picks turn into. Goaltending has been absolutely botched. Hall deal was terrible. Free agents and waiver moves haven't really amounted to much. IF Adams numerous picks pan out (or at least several of them) then yes, he's a better GM, but it remains to be seen.

lol, maybe I should be, but back in context what I was saying was IF we were playing against each other on the ice and you took your stick to one of my guy's heads I would face plant you into the boards hard thereafter. I'd drop them with you in that instance but guys who are afraid to drop their lumber rarely have the courage to fight. Point being again, your defense of using a stick to a guy's head is simply wrong. Just wrong. Lastly Reaves is scary to some, that's what makes him useful. We have no one who makes anyone scared of us in any way.

plastic coat (or a composite) that sounds right.

To clarify, I'm not a huge fan of his, but much like Bill Guerin, I do think he would have brought us a thing we lack and would have increased our playoff chances, even if he didn't even dress for every game. We need a somebody like him (ideally younger and more skilled, but similar) Still wood in the rink I play pick up in occasionally. Guess it's old.

Yes Maroon is better but Reaves was available. That's all. It's simply the same idea. A hole that has been there for years and is still there. Everywhere now? I don't think that's true, but maybe for NHL arenas it is now. Amusing tidbit. Borgen and Beniers apparently reside together. https://www.nhl.com/news/matty-beniers-will-borgen-go-christmas-tree-hunting-for-their-home/c-338867588?tid=281396148

That's exactly what people here said to me after St. Louis won the cup and Maroon was a free agent and I said the Sabres should sign him. I was a dinosaur, he was a bad hockey player, he was washed up, he was useless, he went on to win 2 more Stanley Cups and is still a valuable role player. But whatever.

Wood was in reference to the boards. It is what they are made out of and if I slammed you into them you'd know how that felt. IT hurts more than you think. Where is the evidence of this close knit team all jumping in and doing anything????? It's a fantasy you have and I wish it was true but to this point in time it's not. Skinner cheap shotting Guentzel (the goon?) is hardly evidence of team toughness. All I said about Reaves was it was a simple cheap stop gap measure that imo would make this team better, so that next time maybe Maroon doesn't run our goalie. Maybe. Idk about you, but I'm still waiting for somebody on this team to hit Kucherov. Just once. When they do that. When somebody does that. Maybe then I will believe you about these fearless kids and their team spirit. Until then, they're still the softer than butter Sabres they've been for years.

Nowhere did I say Reaves was a great solution and nowhere did I advocate some sort of return to the past. I said repeatedly I'd rather have a Foligno type BUT Reaves was available so I'd see him as temporarily filling a hole in a role that would help until a better player came along. Tough guys are not really a total thing of the past either. Many teams have them and use them and they serve a role to keep other teams more honest, to open up ice for team mates and perhaps most importantly to allow younger and smaller players to play with more confidence and worrying less about being hit. We simply lack anybody to answer the bell if it sounds.

lol, really? We're dissecting things to that degree now? Okay, for that 1 game they were impressive. If they can beat Vegas it might end up being fully completely.

He very well might be, but to be fair, at the moment, the best players on the roster currently driving this team (Tage, Dahlin, Cozens, Samuelsson) are all JBot's.

Okay let me try this a different way. Clearly you don't follow. The composition of the bottom six on this roster is weak and highly flawed. It's a mish mash of has been veterans, cast offs, and not there yets or wannabes. It simply doesn't measure up against better teams and it lacks role and identity. To put this in it's simplest terms, if you have your two top lines set, the team needs a checking line and an energy line. Lines that play solid D and keep the score even (at least). Shut down players preferred and 2 way toughness like Marcus Foligno as mentioned earlier. Since you don't have that guy ready and he may not be in Rochester, you are best off to fill those holes with the best player available now. Zemgus, occasionally hits people, and he can play harder, so he'd be fine to lead a good 4th line with two tougher and more physical players than we currently have. Ideally you'd like Czikas-Clutterbuck-Martin or Foligno-Nosek-Greer etc. (insert other examples if you wish) but what we have lacks that identity. Kyle, imo, is washed up and done and that's what I expected and why I didn't like naming him captain. He isn't the future. For the time being however, I'd have him on the 3rd line. He's 2 way responsible and could lead that unit until he can be upgraded. I wanted Copp for that line before, now I'd target Compher. Assuming he might "want be here" blah blah blah..... "learn to defend themselves" okay fine, so you want Quinn, Peterka, Cozens to have to drop them now then right? You want Quinn to take on a guy like Reaves rather than having a guy like Reaves to answer for a cheap shot on Quinn? Good strategy. Quinn will feel safer when he returns to action with the full face shield for his broken face. Lastly, you're in favour of players taking their sticks to opponents heads. If that isn't videogame logic idk what is. Dude, if you were on the opposing team in my day and you took your stick to one of my guy's head you'd better pray they removed you from the game and suspended you. Otherwise we'd have broken every bone in your body when we rammed you repeatedly into the boards. I don't think you've ever played hockey, so let me tell you, solid wood coming into contact with flesh and bone really really hurts. Sticks to the head is indefensible.

Not really. You clog the middle like Pittsburgh did and pick him up at center. Your forecheckers deal with him in his own end. But we don't do that.

Two people play the same position so for you that makes them the same. Okay I see. Very astute hockey knowledge there. and there we go again with the "1990s called" BS again as if hockey is a knitting circle now. Just checked Hockey Fights, 3 scraps tonight. Some major hits. Guess I accidentally got in my DeLorean and time travelled. Fusion power and all that.

As do I, but you take what you can get when you can get it. Team needs toughness. It'll show before this season is out I can almost guarantee it.

Well that was fairly impressive. Probably the first time this year I've seen good team defense. Seen the offense many times but this was a 2 way game and a complete win. Krebs might be coming along after all. I guess it's safe to say KA got the contract extensions right. Tage and Mule are both dominant players in their own way. No complaints.

Is that addressed to me or to Bill Guerin because my post, if you noticed, was based on his words as GM of the Wild. So I guess in your opinion he's an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing. I kind of expected you'd jump in on this as it's your usual mantra but you're dead wrong on this point as usual. You can't seem to grasp that players like Dahlin would get a lot more time and space to do their thing and would be hassled a lot less with a few guys like Reaves on our roster. Would I rather have Marcus Foligno? Sure. But Reaves was available. Foligno is not. The comparison to Kyle is ridiculous. What is Kyle going to do if someone hassles Dahlin? Give the guy stern talking to? Come on man, wake up.

I just wish we had someone to shadow Makar but we don't. I suspect they will try to jam the front of our net so we shall see how we defend that. It's often a key weakness.

I wish.

I wouldn't gamble on Demko. He was stinking the joint out prior to his injury and doesn't have a long enough track record to give you confidence he'd bounce back in new geography. Chychrun I'd be tempted, but the price is too high. The Lindholm trade is certainly working out for Boston, and the idea of Dahlin Samuelsson Power Chychrun gets me pretty excited. Heck, typing out those 4 as a top 4 kind of makes me want to do it.

Avs have a number of injuries. This might actually be a time when they are beatable.

See, now there's a little thing Adams could have done. Fifth round pick in 2025, so like basically nothing. Before the pacifists chime in on this Guerin sounds like my kind of GM. Here's what he said about the trade: "(New York general manager) Chris Drury and I talked for a couple of weeks about it," Minnesota GM Bill Guerin said. "Obviously, he was a popular player there. He did a lot of good things for that team but, you know, hadn't been playing on a regular basis of late. But for us, I just feel that what Ryan brings as a player, the way he plays his role is elite. And, more importantly than that, or just as importantly as that, he brings a lot of energy. He's just always full of energy. "He's a big personality. I think right now, that's something our team really needs. I mean, we've always had good guys, good teammates, and things like that. I just feel like we could use you know, a little shot of that, and I think he definitely supplies it."

It's funny, but you have Buffalo fans who hate the Bruins (and their fans). With a passion even. Meanwhile to Bruins fans, as a whole, the Sabres are irrelevant and generate absolute no emotional reaction at all. Funny that.

I think maybe the title of this thread causes a lot of disagreement. The word "anything" and it's implication that he has done "nothing" are obviously too absolute and extreme and thus easily argued against. Yes, picking up Jost is "something" and signing Anderson is also "something" but the real point of contention is whether or not he is doing enough or if he is missing opportunities because really picking up Jost off waivers is a pretty low bar for accomplishments. The real title I think should be: Is Kevyn Adams doing enough?