PerreaultForever

I like your optimism but I think we do very little in the end. Maybe we move Pomminstein to someone as a depth forward and retain part of his contract and maybe JBot boots Beaulieu for bitching about playing time earlier but otherwise I think we will be quiet.

Unless Smith is going back down I think this means they are close to moving some bodies out at the deadline. Doesn't mean it'll happen, but it means they are close to a possible trade or two.

You make reasonable points, but when you say "noone expects perfect" you clearly are not reading all the comments of criticism he's gotten in multiple threads.

Rochester?

Well it depends on what you mean by physical. The original point was an argument related to goons and expansion bringing more low skilled players into the league. There are almost no fights in the playoffs any more. Physicality like we saw last night in our game against Tampa, but very little or no fights and no place at all for goons.

I really think we have to hold JBot accountable for only scoring 3 goals in his 36 games as a Sabre. If he'd done better we might have had a better 2002 or 2003 season.

Easy answer. $$$ Each round of playoff tickets adds millions of dollars of revenue in tickets and merchandise and sometimes future season ticket sales.

I don't think there's any ebb and flow at all. It's a steady progression towards a faster and less physical game.

Expecting an 18 year old D man to have a perfect defensive game is ridiculous so you should marvel at the offensive skill and be patient, the rest will come. realistic expectations. sooooooo funny.

Tampa goal change your mind?

Anyone who watched the Tampa game still want to trade him? Not me. We could use a clone.

Look, I know we lost in a shootout, but that was the best team in hockey right now and we played a pretty good game against them. penalty kill against the #1 power play was outstanding. If we had a PP we'd win that game and there'd be no shoot out to decide it. That was a solid entertaining effort and, for all the haters out there, I think it should be noted that that effort came right after JBot's words saying he wouldn't fire the coach and he liked the progress and direction. So what you take from that is that this team has a better attitude and locker room than last year, they are more unified, and they like Housley. In this day and age that's essential. Hutton played like the Hutton of the win streak. If he'd played like this all year we'd be in the playoffs right now, and heck if he plays like that for the rest of the year we might still miraculously make it.Even if we don't, it's clear the future is much brighter.

From what they said there are 4 or 5 teams interested and all of them want to make sure they can sign him and not just trade for a rental. Ottawa wants a lot though so I doubt we are actually seriously in this. If we are I suspect it would mean a huge overhaul and we'd be trading away something bigger like Reinhart or even Mittlestadt and more.

I don't know enough about hockey in the early years to say, but it seems to me the Gordie Howe hat trick was a big thing in the 60's before expansion so I think it's BS. And didn't Terrible Ted Green get whacked over the head in the 60s too? It's true a lot of less skilled tough guys had AHL rather than NHL careers in those years (like Don Cherry) but the hockey didn't really change until the Europeans started coming over.

According to what the TSN Insiders just said on the tv we may or may not be involved in Duchene talks so make of that what you will. Probably nothing.

I think he views it differently than the fan base because for him the view starts when he got here. That's years zero for him. He starts at the bottom with a broken farm system, an empty prospect cupboard, a slow dysfunctional team on the ice led by players with off ice and character issues. A total freakin' mess. So from his perspective, he now has a small prospect pool, a solid farm team, a style of hockey more suited to the new nhl, a cleaned out locker room that has, at least on the surface, a better team attitude and unity. Plus he has the future best defenseman in the nhl on his roster at the age of 18. If I was in his shoes I'd be feeling pretty good about the progress too. As a fan though, of course I want it all to happen faster. The Skinner comment causes me a little concern though. Not sure we'd have any success attracting FA's if we can't sign him first.Could all fall backwards there.

and that's what makes teams great. finding gold in 2nd and 3rd rounds, even later. When you do that, well, you play for the cup. But that also means you DO NOT trade away your draft picks, you get as many of them as you can for your players and prospects who you don't think will get better.

Um ya, they are in playoff form right now. We are gonna get smoked.

Risto irritates the hell out of opponents. An antagonizer is exactly what you want. They take the retaliation penalty and we score on the PP (if we had one).If by "fully engage" you mean drop the gloves, come back from 1979.

I thought hey, he's must be sarcastic, but then again around here people aren't just leaping off the bandwagon they want to time travel and undo old trades and fire everybody and I dunno, probably build a wall. It's kind of crazy how fast the "culture" of the board changed back. Hope that's not the case with the locker room. :)

and you'll get it. At age 18 he's played full time minutes and is second in rookie scoring on an offensively challenged hockey team. what more did you want???? In his rookie season Erik Karlsson had 26 pts. Dahlin already has 32. Give the kid a break and let him become the best player on our team, which he will be in 2-3 years and that is a very reasonable timeline for a defenseman.

It is funny to me that the ROR and Kane deals are now being brought up as examples of toughness or character we are missing. Umm, short memories guys, we were not tough with them and we definitely lacked character.So go figure.

so in other words you want to tank again? twice was enough thank you.

I'm sorry but this (somewhat recurrent) idea is just plain dumb. There are only half a dozen or so decent hockey players on this team and he is one of them. You don't want to ditch those pieces unless you're talking about an actual hockey deal that favors us. This D was the worst in the league last year and is only now taking shape as the beginnings, just the beginnings, of a half decent one. Risto is the D man every other team hates to play against the most on our team and that tells you something right there. When Dahlin develops into our #1 Risto will fall back to where he has always belonged. Asking him to do all they ask him to do is simply too much.Too often Risto has to chase guys cause his partner is out to lunch. Yes, he likes to wander, so pair him with a better stay at home guy and it's all fine. We don't have that pairing yet. Here's the main thing though that Risto haters always forget. Housley's system promotes a charging D that inevitably (assuming they do not score) gets caught out of position. Better teams that also rely on their D in the attack have better rotation and the forwards know their defensive assignments. Ours don't. You watch Boston for example and while Krug or somebody might get caught up by the net you'll see Marchand or Bergeron slide back to the point and either keep possession or at worst slow down the breakout so he can get back. It's a team system and right now we are asking an average at best D to do everything. Our forwards suck.

I saw a bit of Kane against Boston the other night and he hasn't changed a bit, he's just on a better team, but he's still the one trick selfish pony he has always been. Skinner is a far better player for us on Jack's wing. Could we use a Ferland type on the other side? Absolutely.