PerreaultForever

Hope Tuch is truly ready. Looking forward to this .

Ya I don't get this one either. I've liked Hayden lately and thought his last game was his best as a Sabre. I saw some potential continuity in the lines and this blows all that up so idk if I agree with it. Skinner seems to be slowly sliding back out of favour.

Ya, I'm not saying goalie early. I'm saying every year (or most years at least) you draft a long shot goalie somewhere later because goalies are the biggest key to success and they develop late and in strange ways and you get those 7th round surprises (and if you have too many of them you can always flip one for a veteran right winger :)) Geekie. Ya, idk. I'm going to wait to see where we are drafting before narrowing in on the potential first rounder.

I don't think we need to worry about 1C any more than any other position. We need a defensive C to replace Eakin, but we likely find that in a veteran FA or trade, not really a top pick type guy you look for. Cozens, Mitts, Thompson, Krebs, that's 4 guys for 3 spots as is. If we draft 1 it's Wright, 2 it's Savoie, after that idk yet. Just go BPA, preferably add some size and grit, draft another goalie somewhere lower and carry on.

I'm confused by this. Can you explain what you mean?

Well he bled, but okay, I can agree on the draw. It definitely wasn't one sided. He stepped up, and that was good to see.

This is true. Cozens and Thompson both have to get a lot better at draws. (not that face offs matter of course :0)

Late here as I recorded this one, and it doesn't matter to me that we lost. Would have been nice to win of course but what really matters to me here is that once again we looked like a real hockey team. This may seem like a meaningless sentence, but it's not. We haven't resembled one in years. We actually pushed back and answered the bell. Amazing! Fitzgerald? Wow. Didn't see that coming. Guy is already better than Hagg and Butcher and deserves a longer look. Pity he couldn't win the game with a storybook Gordie Howe hat trick but heck of a debut. Sure he lost the fight, but he stepped up. WE PLAYED LIKE A TEAM. I am very surprised and very encouraged. Lots left to fix, but the lines look more balanced as a team and there's continuity, and players are developing and using their skills, so many positives. Hayden's best game as a Sabre, probably not noticed by many, but he was effective in his role. Dahlin showing confidence and seems calmer. Have to see if it holds up to the tight checking physical teams but still, big positives for the moment. Two things I hated in this game. The refs, who I think are Crosby fans, and listening to the Pittsburgh announcers rave about E-Rod. Dude has 10 goals wtf? I guess you can put anybody on Crosby's wing and they will have career years. (probably not Taylor Hall, but anybody else )

Leafs. Followed by Habs. Surprised there isn't more Hab hatred above. Guess the 70s are ancient history or before most people's time. Unlike a lot of people I also dislike teams with worshipped superstars. So Edmonton now. Just get tired of the McDavid this McDavid that and before that it was Crosby, any of the hero worship stuff. Prefer hard working teams with team first.

Subban should play tomorrow. UPL made some big saves but the goals he let in were not that great. Let's not elevate him to messiah status just yet and give the kid a rest to regroup and come back solid rather than burning him out.

Well that was a pretty darn good effort. We looked like a real hockey team. Quite a few players had good games, but it was pretty much a solid team effort. We do well in these skating/speed games.

Miller for sure. Somebody said a 2nd, that would be optimistic and just fine with me. MAYBE Eakin or Pysyk for whatever he can get. Can't imagine it'll be a huge return, but move them if you can. Hinostroza is a long shot, maybe for "future considerations" lol If he can move any of the other UFAs for anything, good job, well done. Doubt it'll happen. Doubt very much any of those vets or RFAs move. maybe Okposo will get a little interest, but probably only if we retain salary on the final year which I doubt we do. Bjork can go back to Iceland.

Watched the Ducks tonight. They are legitimately good. So contrast the rebuilds..................... They kept good goalies They kept some veteran leadership They kept hard core toughness during their rebuild and into now They drafted well. Let's hope we can at least match the 4th point, because we decided the other 3 were irrelevant.

It is, but that's the model they are going with here. I would be very surprised if they suddenly added veteran leadership to the mix. They've decided to go full on youth and wait until they get there. Like it or not.

We hope. Way too soon to tell.

Exactly. We need Power, Krebs, Quinn to all shine just to replace Risto, Eichel, Reinhart. Not suggesting these as equivalents, just that we removed the "talent" we had at a point when we were bad, so we need to replace that AND add more, much more.

I think the last sentence is likely true but I also think they still feel Dahlin will become Hedman (or thereabouts) and he might. I don't think so, but it's not impossible. With good coaching he could still be what we wanted when we drafted him.

Kevan Miller? Ya, if healthy he would have been good, but he retired due to injuries . Ohhhhh, you mean that guy on the Sabres.........................no tank you. Get him gone.

Big no. I think they really have their minds set on Dahlin-Jokiharju which I'm not crazy about but I think they like it. If so Power and ? Pysyk? idk. I personally don't see Bryson in the long term future but you never know. He has to get better, more consistent and stop turning the puck over in his own end. Definitely like to see a decent solid veteran in the mix so that it's not all rookies. Oh, and the RHD LHD has always been overemphasized imo. It's ideal, but it's not essential.

Good win. nice for a change. Dahlin showing off his offensive prowess. Very good game for Tage. Byson turns over the puck too much and Dahlin still chases too much in his own end, but with UPL providing good goaltending those things don't matter. I haven't seen Winnipeg play this year, but if that was their A game (which I suspect it wasn't) I'm not impressed and they won't go anywhere.

You're over valuing much of what we have. If we had this abundance of talent, we wouldn't be near the bottom of the league. The kids in Rochester MIGHT be, and then we might have it, but until they become good NHLers, this is a thin roster. There are some okay and so so players but it's far from a talented roster.

God I hope not. He's not worth that kind of money or term. He's a limited one dimensional player who can serve a role, but isn't all that important. I would hope KA has a good forward thinking plan that will prepare for needed cap space when/if all the Cozens, Powers etc start to want money. (and hopefully deserve money). Honestly I'd been fine with trading him, but if we kept him and he got overpaid in arbitration I'd be fine with letting him walk in a year too. Less desirable, but not earth shattering.

Bruins aren't as big and bad as they used to be, but still a lot bigger and badder than the Sabres. A lot of covid stuff popping up from Sportsnet today. Flames, Bruins, some postponements. This season is starting to look shakier.

I'm just not seeing an "issue" because there is tons of cap room and many of these guys are meh to nothing and I just don't care about them (like Bjork). So, I'm seeing a continuation from KA, VO (will be signed, he's RFA and isn't impressive enough to get any big offers or have big demands) - Thompson-Asplund is a line Skinner-Mitts-Tuch is a line Murray (will also be signed as he has no real resume yet) - Cozens- Okposo is a line 4th line of Girgs and whoever, hopefully some big tough checkers, penalty killers, something like that, not that important at this stage. Now IF Quinn, Peterka, Krebs are ready you bump out the underperforming crap to the pressbox or wherever. Who cares? It'll simply mean we are finally getting better. So Okposo can sit his last year or whoever. Asplund, Mitts, etc. will have to perform and fight to keep their jobs. This is good. Overdue. Just don't see it as a negative or an issue.

I guess I'm the only one around here who thinks Murray-Cozens-Okposo is our best line lately and I'd keep them together.