PerreaultForever

We probably wouldn't have signed Lybushkin. I know the left side right side and all that but from the two Kraken games I saw he'd be more valuable than Bryson.

The Mitts thing is interesting. I'm not going to add anything here but I am sure we will be talking about this again after other game(s). TT looking lousy after the contract would be a nightmare, as would a Skinner regression. Hopefully just a one game thing.

Slightly annoying............Will Borgen playing very well for Seattle. It's ancient history, but I still wish they'd have exposed Bjork in that draft. Seattle had a bunch of D men available at the time so they might have taken him instead. Oh well.

I have this feeling there's going to be disagreements on Mitts all season. Some people saw him as good while I (and some others) saw him as skating fast (when he wasn't tripping on his own skates) but missing opportunities and passes. Some sort of whirling dervish but ultimately ineffective and often out of position. IDK, give it more time and see how it unfolds. His line starts scoring some goals and I might be convinced to change my mind. At the moment however, I think the Thompson line isn't as good without Tuch and Tuch with Mitts don't have the chemistry yet. maybe they will develop it, but at the moment it doesn't work imo.

Analytics can deceive. Agree on the D pairing. I suspect that is why they extended him now. They see this combination long term. I've been arguing for years that Dahlin needs a rock beside him and a set pairing. I think we finally have it. Power however, might need a better partner.

Well that was pretty enjoyable. I don't think we really outplayed them and all those break aways will kill us against a team with better talent but there were a lot of things to like in this game. I did not think Anderson was going to steal games for us this year, which he did, so I guess the question is how many games does he have in him? I thought the Cozens line was the best. Peterka looked very different from what I saw in preseason. He showed me a little of that snarl I'd heard about and played very well. The team as a whole showed more team toughness and that's going to be important. Dahlin looks like he's ready to be dominant and Power looked fine. In fact, I'm more worried about Jokiharyu than him after this one. He's still running around and chasing pucks too much. Power was the more positional sound player of the two. I did however think Mitts looked awful. At this moment, he is the weak link. Nice to start a season with a win.

Because a critical fanbase for a team that has had a decade of futility is to be expected. Don't worry, we will all be applauding the Eichel trade if all the parts add up and if Levi is great for us one day we will applaud the Reinhart trade and so on and so on but if the team has no goaltending worth talking about we also have to discuss that failure. You simply don't win in this league without good goaltending and ours is suspect at best.

I'm not really on Ullmark, but I am going to stay on Adam's failure to address the goalie situation (unless Comrie and Anderson shock me) as I think it's the crucial point in what I suspect will be a bad season in the end. Every goalie that we had a shot at might come up at some point. Ullmark is just one of them.

I agree with you, and I don't think he really will have any huge issues. If the team loses again however that might change. I just really wish we had a good goalie. When a young D man makes an error he needs that last line of defense to bail him out and if the errors are costing goals and thus losses he might start to second guess himself and take that backwards step.

To the first sentence, I definitely agree. The ups and downs are inevitable and to some extent necessary. To the second, it's not about "avoiding" them but about how you deal with them when it happens. The words "appropriate amounts" is the key. The risk imo is too many mistakes leading to too many losses and that idea of the team winning gets lost. Also they can lose confidence or blame team mates or develop bad habits. All depends on their individual personalities and the team culture. I guess my worry, if it's not obvious yet, is breaking the fragile culture that they are trying to build and creating another round of losing acceptability. I disagree with the speed of this build.

I don't think it's as much about "relying" on them as having veterans with them to help guide them and cover up for their mistakes. It's all about line chemistry. I'm skeptical of bumping Tuch down but I suppose they want to give Mitts every chance to succeed.

I'm not upset Ullmark left either. Players rave about the culture in Boston and everybody seems to love playing there so when they made him a big offer of course he took it. If I'm "upset" (and I'm not really, I'm actually kind of cold and numb to all things Sabre) it's over not finding a solid replacement. There were options at the time, decent options, and most came with low price tags.

To clarify, I'm not worried about Power cracking long term. In time he will be a very good D man, the question is only what happens short term if he hits a bump or struggles. Dahlin had his ups and downs as you know, and many people questioned his true value as a #1 overall. imo we did not develop him well and threw too much at him too quickly. He might have it sorted now, but I think it stunted his development a little and he still has some bad habits that I hope he's going to have gotten over this year. The question is who do we go to if Power hits a rough patch.

Well you can say that, but I'd disagree. Quinn still has to prove his value. Beniers had 19:55 in ice time a goal and an assist. The new wingers also both scored. Their problem was in net. McTavish also with 2 points last night. There will be some stiff Calder competition for Power (or Quinn).

They are pretty slick. If and when that day comes they will pivot to "that's how you do it, build with the draft." Adams and Granato will be given huge kudos and I would suspect they will dump on Eichel a little and talk about how he wasn't McDavid. For the time being however they are, as always, Leaf centered and if they keep losing games like they did against Montreal the panic will set in quickly.

TSN guys were going to town mocking this deal playing the "I've never heard of this guy" card a lot telling you they really have stopped paying attention to Buffalo at all.

Grubauer was dreadful. Gibson on the other hand was really good and (you won't want to hear this but) Ullmark was really good too.

I watched a lot of Bruins games that year and he was benched. There was talk of sending him down to Providence but they decided he would learn more from Chara. He was taken off the PK as well. Looking at this 7 year extension for Samuelsson it will be interesting to see how many minutes that pair gets and who will be the PK pairing. Will that be Dahlin as well? I'm not sure how this plays out or how much they will throw at Power. We shall see.

I'm fairly indifferent to this one. What it says to me is this is a long term slow build plan as I suspected and there is absolutely zero pressure on him to start winning this season. The emphasis for this year (and maybe next too) will still be on teaching the kids and changing the culture. Building on the change. Eventually this should pay off, but it will try the patience of the fanbase. Or at least impatient people like me who don't want to keep waiting for NEXT year.

That's quite a commitment to a guy who hasn't really proven himself yet BUT if he is as good as we hope that number will look incredibly good in the latter half of that deal.

I think you are forgetting they added Berekovsky and Bjorkstrand. LWCRW Jaden SchwartzMatty BeniersJordan Eberle Oliver BjorkstrandShane WrightAndré Burakovsky Jared McCann Yanni GourdeBrandon Tanev Ryan DonatoAlexander WennbergMorgan Geekie Joonas Donskoi How is that thinner than the Sabres?

I didn't say he was "eased in" I said he got benched and sat in the stands for a bit. Mostly he was paired with Chara who mentored him every shift and covered up for many of his rookie mistakes. Power doesn't have that sort of veteran partner to settle him down or keep him from cracking under pressure. He will have to carry a heavier load. Hopefully the coaching staff will be right there for him when needed.

In contrast, Seattle has Beniers on their PP. We will see which plan works better I guess.

I'd say he failed the organization. But he's of no concern to me any more. I'd rather he didn't win the Conn Smyth and the cup like ROR but otherwise he's just another player on a team I couldn't care less for and laugh at when they wear the stupid golden helmets. (and I see LA wore stupid silver ones tonight so serves them right to blow the game)