PerreaultForever

How dare you drag out my old words to use them now 🙂 Ya, Bryson I liked for a little while but that faded away. Not sure he's much beyond a depth player tbh.

Say what you want about him but 11 points in 7 playoff games on a bum hip. Sabres need that sort of warrior. Having said that (sure to be scoffed at comment) Bruins falling fast, that's the playoff spot we can shoot for.

I personally think if they want to, they can upgrade basically any position (except maybe LHD) and make the team better now and thus better moving forward, and there's plenty of cap room to do it. Question is will they up the time line or will they just continue with the draft picks and internal build slow? I doubt we see any big names coming in. Having said that, myself, I'd seriously go after Andrew Copp, make a reasonable offer to Josh Manson, and add some depth/grit that's better than Hayden and the rest of the scrubs. DesLauriers maybe. We need a goalie, but none of the free agents excite me so not sure how that plays out.

Did everyone catch that interview though? Asked about his goal, he talked about the great pass from Barzal. Asked about his play in the tourney he gave all the credit to his line mates. Not a single word about himself. How it should be! We can dub him the anti-Eichel. or in the terminology of Shorsey, "what a beauty." I will say it again, slap a letter on that boy's jersey! Good game, refs sucked, goalie injury probably sunk them more though. Good effort though, good game, and Cozens! Hurts to lose I'm sure, but in time, silver medal ain't nothing and it's still a solid accomplishment they can be proud of.

I know and I agree. Goalie is so important and has been neglected here. Why I stick to my philosophy of drafting a goalie somewhere every year (or at least as often as possible). Can't have too many imo and every now and again a low pick will develop and surprise. Possibly Levi.

I think so too, but NY shows us once again how far a team can go if they have good goaltending. (Are ya listening KA?)

I remember reading that somewhere too about bringing back some of those "jags" but I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Likely just means he will consider the ones who he felt contributed (possibly in terms of work ethic and character and not necessarily on the ice) if they are cheap, available, and we need more depth. Since I'm watching Cozens looking very good at wing in the worlds maybe next year's lines look like: Skinner-Thompson-Tuch Asplund-Mittlestadt-Olofsson Peterka-Krebs-Cozens Girgensens-Okposo plus one more FA or re-sign. Grit and/or PK guy. (Quinn starts in Rochester)

Dubois has also been good but I'm going to assume with the smiley face you're not seriously suggesting Cozens rode the coattails of his center, because he definitely didn't. They played well together, as well as Batherson, and you can credit the coaching with assembling a line that complimented each other perfectly. But that's what I'm talking about (along with Doohickie's point above). Strength of his game is not open ice but on the wall, in the slot, front of the net, all the greasy areas where he will maneuvre in tight, unafraid, and even enjoying it. the top lines went head to head today for much of the game and although Krejci did get one goal, Pasternak looked totally frustrated. They basically shut them down and added scoring of their own. Perfect 2 way hockey.

@K-9 pretty much summed up my thoughts. Just add I thought Cozens really elevated his game as the tournament progressed and he brought his best for the biggest games. He played really well but looked kind of shocked that he was named one of the top 3. Speaks to a humbleness to go along with his work ethic. Is it his coming out party? Maybe, he's definitely close if not there already. I said this earlier in the year and I'm doubling down on it after watching him play wing in this tournament. really think we should consider him as a winger not a center. It suits his game and style and pairing him with a playmaking center (perhaps Krebs) might be the best move for us going forward. Not saying he can't succeed as a center, just think he might be a better winger. Future is bright regardless. and slap an 'A' on his jersey next year, it's time.

Okay I've gone over these lists and players as much as I'm likely to and my (realistic, as in not impossible) dream picks are as follows: 9. Cutter Gauthier 16. Rutger McGroarty 28. Maveric Lamoureaux If Gauthier goes super early, which I doubt, best left of my top 8 which is Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky, Jirichek, Nemec, Savoie, Kemell, Lekkerimaki in that order. If McGroarty is gone, Frank Nazar, Jimmy Snuggerud, Liam Ohgren, Connor Geekie in that order. I can't imagine all of them being gone. Some of those D men will be taken leaving the forward(s) for us at 16. Somebody might jump on Lamoureaux early due to his size (Toronto be my guess) and if he's gone I'm going to go off book a little and grab another RHD, as I mentioned him earlier, Noah Warren (and yes, I know it's early, but with multiple picks why not go for need with at least one of them to make sure you fill it) As a side note, if we took Lekkerimaki at 9 it might be interesting to consider Ohgren at 16 if he's available. Just a consideration/possibility. Later rounds idk, idc, maybe some size, maybe some grit, definitely a goalie project in a later round cause I always believe in that.

I enjoy LetterKenny for a variety of reasons but after 3 episodes Shorsey is kind of boring me. It's trying too hard and not that original and just not that funny. The hockey stuff in LetterKenny makes me laugh more.

You know, "I would like to be part of the Buffalo Sabres" can be interpreted as I don't want to be part of the Rochester Americans. If that's his mindset, it wouldn't be the first time a European player wanted NHL or I'm going back to Europe. idk though, I'd be fine with him around, won't lose sleep over him not being here (or Rochester).

In most cases I think they are rushed, not thought about or sometimes a little lazy. In this case he wasn't pressured and had time he could have and should have taken. But we can agree to disagree. Not worth arguing about.

True. had a golden opportunity to win it before the OT and just shot it into the goalie. Makes me think (optimistically) of Tage a year ago. Just a confidence level. Afraid to miss the net so he shoots towards the middle too much rather than sniping for the corners. He is playing well though on the top line so I think it will come. Thought Asplund was very good. Ullmark being Ullmark. Brilliant in the second period, just meh in the third. Loss not his fault, but he didn't win it for them either. Dumb lazy or sloppy penalties by Dahlin and Nylander at the end sealed their fate. They were both good for Sweden as a whole, but not when it really counted.

If that was a South American soccer game refs would have been lynched. but whatever. I thought Calgary would be better than they were. Don't see Oilers getting past Colorado (or even St. Louis if a miracle happens). My guess is it's looking like a Tampa Colorado final, which at the beginning of the year I think was the favoured bet.

The only way you get one of them is if you swap #9 plus ? for one of those top 4 picks. NJ is apparently entertaining offers for the #2 pick. I don't think I'd make that deal, but I'd give them a phone call before they pick to see.

idk if the money automatically makes him "core". Isn't the general GM etiquette he was his guy he's not my guy? They will keep him, they have to, and they'll never say he's not a key player. They will use him if they can, as Granato did, but I don't think he's part of the core Adams sees moving forward. Now more importantly to the bold, why? Which players are you bumping back below him? I see him going around #8 - #12 ish. I like my top 8 so if he's gone ahead of any of them then the guy left is my pick at 9.

Ya, unless we'd have drafted Synyshyn, DeBrusk and Zboril. That draft is definitely the thorn in the side of all Bruins fans. The big if only draft. Don't think they were realistically hoping for Eichel though. They had cap problems after the cup win and had to trade people like Lucic away to sort the mess Chiarelli left behind. That really was one heck of a draft though. Multiple first rounders rather than one super tank pick would probably have worked out better, that's for sure.

Well in the case of the Sabres Skinner is core then by that definition. Is he? I don't think so. He's kind of we're stuck with him and we hope he has a decent season or two until we can buy him out. Or is he core? I think that's too many. Dahlin can be placed there and Power should end up there but can any rookie really be core before proving themselves (even if you assume they will)? Tage has 1 good season does that make him core? Can you just name your top scoring line as core? The rest, no, they're not. To me the core has to be players you consider indispensable and they define the identity of your team. As I'm not sure what our identity is (yet) I'm not sure we even have a core (yet). I'm not doubting that some of those players like Cozens or Krebs might become core players but not yet. I would not be unhappy with this pick at all.

Interesting thought for anyone to consider. What exactly is the "core"? It's one of the buzz words used these days but how many players get to be designated as "core"? Starting 6? 11? More? Less? I mean if you have an all star, he's in your core. But where does the line get drawn and the other side of the line is players who are just players and can be traded, replaced, etc. and just for the record and the above conversations EVERY team wants a "young Tuch type player". Always.

That number 9 pick is a little troubling to me though. I've started trying to compile a list and I'm really happy with the first 8: Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky, Jirichek, Nemec, Savoie, Kemell, Lekkerimaki and then I start to run into question marks. Yurov, with the whole Russian thing, Lambert who just screams Nylander V2 to me (ours not Toronto's), Geekie can't skate. They are all maybes in and around 9 but I don't really like any of them so going to give it more thought and maybe go off book.

Not naive, but optimistic. I share that optimism, but a lot of things still have to go right. there are still some big holes and question marks and it won't take much for a bunch of things to go wrong at once and then all the usual crap will fall back in and it could topple like a house of cards. I do NOT think that will happen this time, but right now I wouldn't bet heavily on next year being the year either. It's a maybe.

Oh no I got that right away. Cute, but kind of not worth commenting on either.

idk, I'm not convinced teams were taking us seriously at the end. We were the trap game for many teams and the good teams still schooled us. Lots of back up goalies, loose wide open play. If we start next year winning we might get looked at differently, then we will really know for sure.

I agree with this. The thing about Kadri is he isn't just dirty, he tries to injure. I personally think he's worse than Marchand. Marchand will give you a cheap slash or trip, yaps his mouth off, but most of his stuff (most) is pretty harmless in terms of injury. Don't buy that argument for a second. He took advantage of the situation and lunged forward. Very Gary Dornhoeffer. Deliberate intent to injure and he got what he wanted. Toronto got rid of him because he became a liability. He got suspended both years against Boston. Played a big role in their losing because of that. He got away with it this time, but he's still the same guy and I find the praise he got post game for playing well after his social media death threats was the height of hypocrisy. Evander Kane and Nazim Kadri as the heroes of playoffs 2022 is simply disgusting.