PerreaultForever

Oh come on, you don't actually believe that for/from thing do you? That's just spin. Good to see the team was all over that quickly, that's a good sign, but it was a gaff and it shouldn't have been said. Damage, if there was any, seems to be repaired so no big deal, but the spin is kind of silly imo. Better would be to make sure his opening comment after the Detroit game was to lead with Ullmark played great tonight and I was happy we scored enough to win, or something like that. Did he do that?

Doesn't matter if he meant that, or this is just the reworking mea culpa management told him to get ahead of, the point is what he did was flat out wrong. regardless of the truth in sports or what you personally believe is the truth, you never throw others under the bus publicly. All media answers have to be "we" or "I" have to do better etc. This comment was a mistake. Whether it will be forgotten or damage team chemistry, who knows? Probably much ado about nothing.

When he dressed for that one game I thought they might be showcasing him. I suspect they would willingly move him, probably just for a draft pick, but I am not sure anyone will want to offer anything worth bothering with. Still , extra D men are often sought after for teams expecting a long run so you never know. More likely JBot gets offers on McCabe or Scandella for that but the price may be low and not worth it for the optics.

Ya, i guess that you nailed it, cause I did. and he won more cups.

He's fast, and fast fits the system. Finally figuring out how to score and his effort is top notch every night. Definitely a guy you want to keep around, even if on a good team he drops down to the 4th line, he'd still be valuable.

Ya, apparently there's goaltending too :)

If he actually said this and I was JBot I'd move him to the top of my must be traded away list. Reminds me of when Jim Kelly turned on his O line way back when. You simply do not put the blame on others publicly (even if it's true). That's not leadership. That is not what leaders do.

optimistic

I have a feeling this game will define this season. As in, much better than last year, faster than last year, fun to watch, don't quit when down, you can feel it is oh so close, but it isn't quite there yet. Still, such a vast change from last year I am optimistic for the future.

Skinner's one on one goal against carolina is a perfect illustration of my point. Reinhart can tap them in when they get to the front of the net and his shot from outside is okay but I have NEVER seen him fight through a guy one on one from outside the slot and out maneuver a guy and simply drive past a defender like that. Skinner is by far a much better player and much much much more valuable to this, or any team.

Myself, I just want to see him use his 4th gear more often. To me, he's always had the hockey smarts and he knows what to do, but sometimes he doesn't give it. He will get in front of the net but other times he will throw a puck away to avoid pending contact. He lets Eichel do the heavy lifting too often and just waits. if he showed more desire and drove through players more often like Skinner tries to do we wouldn't have conversations about him, he'd be genuine elite.

So, stop no look passing then? :) This is as close to a playoff game as we've gotten in years so we have to play playoff hockey. Let's see if they can.

The games I've seen him play he is calm and focused, quiet and serious. Playing really well. Trots is defense and rebound control focused so that helps him, but it's mostly Lehner just playing well. Faced the music, sobered up, woke up, whatever, we were not the only team to think he was trouble to be avoided. Islanders rolled the dice and won. Lucky, but maybe they deserved that after Tavares screwed them.

Exactly. 18 & 24. You can't (or at least shouldn't) measure them the same. Cut the kid some slack and be awed by his brilliance, that's all I'm asking for.

obviously, but you have to evaluate each administration seperately. we are in year 2. A lot of things came together for that bunch at the same time. They have been futile for a really long time. I think Murray's era here does rival the Ballard era there in terms of worst ever and if JBot fails maybe you can compare the Pegula era to the Ballard, but not yet. Bills are irrelevant to this.

and Pilut chased a guy up the boards leaving the front of the net wide open so what? @18, Dahlin showed signs of absolute brilliance tonight and anyone who doesn't recognize that simply doesn't understand hockey and is just a critic rather than a fan. In his third season he will be an allstar and in his fourth he will be best D man in the league, mark my words.

yes we do, but if you get great goaltending, you forgive them.

Reinhart's best game of the season (so far). I thought the best combo of the night was when he was with Casey. So maybe we have the starting point for 2 top lines that are both 2/3 there. Add a couple wingers in some way and we have a pretty good team all of a sudden. Where are the Dahlin critics tonight I wonder? :)

I personally don't want to hear about the leafs. Still hate them and always will. Not the Sabres fault Tavares didn't have Sabres bed sheets Not the Sabres fault they won the lottery with their first (and thus only) intentional tank. Can only hope the big contracts (matthews today) will sink them and hope Tampa takes them out this year and then the Muzzin deal will be an asset loss. Still think their GM looks like Rachel Maddow.

That's true. I was hoping for that. I know I didn't watch them. My hope is that its over now.

Don't like the proposed line combinations myself. Being a one line team clearly a problem but Phil seems set on his idea of rolling all 4 lines all the time and things are spread out too much here to the point I can see none of the lines working. Myself, I would never break up Skinner/Eichel. I'd be trying to build them into a dynamic duo.

Same as any sport, somebody has to be elevated to the mountain as the best ever and they want to make sure that's a face they are happy with. If Brady isn't the anti Kapernick I don't know who is. They had to re-legitimize them so the cheating argument would go away. If the league actually hated them why didn't they strip the title from the filming/signal stealing era? All the cheating and rule bending and what did they get, a fine and a 4 game suspension, big deal. But people remember and now the argument gets muddier and buried. 100th year of the league thing, why not solidify them as the greatest ever, case closed. Conspiratorial? Hell ya, but go over the long list of cheating and find me just one other team in ANy sport with a list of questionable issues like they have. Just one. You won't find it. and besides, always good for a league in this day and age to encourage hate watching. You did right?

Cause he was better than another guy we had at the time. Good guy to mentor kids in Rochester. Utility player. No big deal. He's a 4th liner at best on a good team. Lots of playoff teams call guys up. Showcasing them for potential trades or looking for chemistry. It's normal behavior.

I don't buy that narrative. I think they actually love it. It's not exactly fixed, but it is slanted in their favor. I'd go so far as to say they preferred LA over New Orleans cause they thought that was better for the Patsies chances. The phantom roughing Brady calls, the constant pushing off their receivers get away with all the time, and all the holding their O line gets to do all the time, it all killed football for me over the years and that doesn't include the blatant list of cheats and really bad calls they benefited from over the years. They have had some good teams, but they were made into a dynasty by the league.

I think he needs to shift things around more during the game(s) and stop this set 4 line rotation thing he is set on. I want to see Pommers back on the line with Skinner and Eichel at times. Not cause he is better than Reinhart, but they had chemistry earlier and I want to see if Reinhart can click with Casey. Somebody on that 2nd unit needs to go to the net. We need a little mix and match and double shifting of our best. Right now we are a predictable one line team and easy to check.