PerreaultForever

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.

No argument there. Just saying he was supposed to be adequate while Mittlestadt developed.

That was a terrible excuse for a hockey game. Notice how empty that rink was though? I've seen Florida have small crowds before but that looked completely cavernous. I know we're not a big draw, but I have to wonder how they stay afloat with crowds like that. Nothing to comment really. It was all the same.

You're living in the past. Nobody does that any more. Usual thing in this league is if there is a bad hit there is a response and somebody goes after the hitter. Going after the fighter who did that later never happens. The fight for the hit is accepted as "that's hockey" and the teams move on. That's just the way it is now. Fighting is way down though. You don't have to fight like you did in the old days. hockeyfights.com have to rely on old vintage fights and stuff from other leagues to keep fresh. I wish him all the best, but Kyle should retire.

I'm going to watch this and I hope it's entertaining but I think it'll be a familiar narrative. We will come out fast, get lots of shots, not score (enough) and fail to capitalize on the PP. They will slowly grind away at us, play tougher, we'll have a breakdown in our own end or let a soft shot in and fall behind. We'll keep going and generate chances, but ultimately fail to score.

That's what Bylsma did. The philosophy now (right or wrong) is clearly the opposite. Put a system and style in place and draft and bring in players that'll fit that system. It takes time for that complete sort of change over though and we as fans have a different more urgent time line than they do.

Yes, he was bleeding too. I figured maybe a broken jaw, but I guess with his history best to be careful.

If you're not willing to give up draft picks (which he isn't so far) I'm not sure what you think we'd have to offer? The prices at that time of the year are indeed high and not many teams are looking to make moves.

Well the simple answer is a lack of talent. A lack of goal scorers. Here's what I think contributes to it though. I think we'd all agree this team plays much faster this year than we thought they could. A big knock on us before was we were a slow team in a league trending towards speed. Housley has the tempo going. Hence the zone time , possession, shots. But I think a lot of these guys struggle to play at that pace and they have no time to think and just fire it in the general direction. So really, most of them are simply not good enough to play this style effectively. Meanwhile on the PP they slow it right down to their comfort level to make the perfect play and thus are easy to defend at that slower tempo.

When he got him I'm sure JBot thought he had his second line guy until Mittlestadt was ready but it is what it is. The concept made sense. Split ROR's massive ice time between two guys, one for the offensive side, the other for face-offs and defensive work. Both players fresher and able to keep the pace Housley wants in rolling lines. On paper it was a good plan. On paper.

Might have a little something to do with Philly finally getting a goalie phenom. Don't see that savior waiting in our wings. Philly has a much better shot at making it than we do at this point.

You're right, he's not McDavid, he's not Crosby, he's definitely not Gretzky or Lemieux. heck he's not even Lindros (before the concussions). He's not "generational." But he is good. I thought last year he might develop into a Getzlaf but he doesn't seem to want to beef up his physicality and he does not seem to have a competitive mean streak so now I'm hoping he becomes Giroux. I see some similarities there and as I said before, Giroux took a lot of these same criticisms when he was first made captain.

Bieulieu is finally moved?

I would not disagree with that. We are also not tough enough in front of the net. Reinhart gets in there but really good power plays force the box in tighter with net presence allowing the guys on the outside more freedom of movement and time. Most everything we do PP and even full strength comes from outside or from a distance and the goalies can easily see the shots and make the saves. I mean a guy like Tage is a big guy with a long reach and yet most all he does is snap a long wrist shot from outside or the top of the circle. A guy with that frame needs to be right in front causing havoc Dave Andreychuk style.

I know. That's my point. It's a thing Buffalo fans grumble about but always accept. You never see a "soft" team in Boston. Fans won't accept that. It won't change here either. Pitt was soft too. They won some cups despite that (with a good power play) but the years they got beat out it was to tougher teams (Giroux slaughtering Crosby the one year, Boston shutting them down totally another as two examples). We're building a soft team but it's a softer league so it MIGHT work this time, but not unless we develop a killer power play.

If Skinner wants to play for a contender (no move clause) I'd move him and then try to sign him in the off season if he's interested. No idea what he wants but JBot and he should sit down face to face. Otherwise I would not trade Dahlin. I would trade anyone, even jack, if the offer was good enough (that would have to be huge obviously) but in all likelihood I would also not trade Risto, Eichel, Bogo, Mittlestadt, Pilut, Ullmark. Bogo because of his leadership and toughness, and the last 3 because they may still have upside. Anyone else can go for the right deal and some of them just take them, please, anyone, just get some of them gone.

Is it really Housley's fault that these guys do not have the talent to put the puck in the net? Not sure how the coach can do that. With this system they move the puck up the ice well, they attack, they outshoot most teams most nights, they have possession and zone time, they simply do not finish the play. Outside of the top 5 players on this team (Eichel, Skinner, Dahlin, Risto, Reinhart - in that order) the rest are ALL useless. (maybe add Bogo for 6, but that's really it. Mittlestadt is not ready, Pilut may never be).the rest are rubbish, including the goalies.

Switch answer to a firm no.

Meh. It's over.

You know, they said this about Perreault. They said this about Turgeon. They said this about Mogilny. It's a Buffalo thing.

What was it they said? new Jersey had given up 17 goals in the last three games I think - and we managed 1. kind of sums up the season. Been our problem from day 1 and the team has not improved from day 1 this year. We have improved zone time and possession this year. We are faster this year. We get lots of shots, but we have absolutely no finish (outside of Skinner) and simply cannot score goals. That and an abysmal powerplay all year means it's over. Mathematically alive, but it's time for JBot to sell sell sell (if anybody wants any of it). It's been a more entertaining year than last year, but it's over.

That's because bottom 6 guys are easier to get. Kind of hard to just get a top 6 guy without selling off your future, and we simply are not close enough to sell off the future. What do you want, to trade the next 3 years away for one series where we lose to Tampa? If we end up with too many bottom six guys maybe we can package a bunch of them off to some team looking to rebuild or unload a high paid guy but that won't work for rentals. Just about everybody unloading FA's wants draft picks and prospects because they are building for the future, and it also muddies the trade so it's harder to evaluate and doesn't look to their fanbase like you just gave the guy away. That's a GM survival rule these days.

You know I looked up the dates and I had totally forgotten Danny Gare was captain for a while. Schoeny I remembered, but forgot the C was with Gare for a while. That's a funny thing though, and it tells you a little on how much things have changed over the years. Can you imagine the scandal of a player like Gare today? I mean the guy had a van parked at the Aud he called the "shaggin' wagon" for him and his post game puck bunnies and in those days it was just the way it was. Captain material :) Schoney was a good captain, and maybe one day it'll be Dahlin, but for now it's Jack. making me think about old time hockey now. Time for youtube. This never gets tiring even after all these years:

lol - this is a damn fine idea. I dunno, maybe they can throw in a Tim Horton's franchise to seal the deal or something. I mean ROR isn't around to drive into it so it might work. I just hope he wants to be here and signs. If he doesn't, I have no idea what will happen to us, but it probably won't be good.

true but Windsor's a s***hole and it's a tougher drive to T-dot in the winter. If he signs in Buffalo my guess is he buys a big house in St. Catherines (if he wants the family to be over the border)