PerreaultForever

Rangers seemed incredibly lucky to me but I guess their fans would say that makes them a team of destiny. In any event goaltending matters and I sure wish we had LaFreniere instead of Krebs (as LaFreniere was rumoured to be part of a potential Eichel deal that didn't happen and everyone was saying he's a bust).

Excellent draft picks too. Once Taro Tsujimoto finally gets his green card he can play 3C for us.

Imlach certainly knew how to evaluate talent though and he had a way of finding diamonds in the rough. I mean, the greatest trade in history maybe Robert for Shack.

Oilers really going to the paint and even crashing into Ottinger on numerous occasions. Refs seemed fine with it which was odd given some of the calls in the eastern games. I think we see in this year's playoffs that the good coaches have learned how to play D in this new NHL. I hope the Sabres are watching.

50/50. Kind of like on the Sabres. Looked good providing some offense, but also some mistakes in his own zone that cost them. I guess he comes out sort of even.

No, but it was disappointing since he was having a good tournament. Dahlin didn't look great against Chechia either.

Rumours out of Boston are that Necas for Ullmark was discussed prior to the deadline and is being discussed again. There may be other parts involved of course.

Which is why stats are always open to discussion and interpretation. Verhaeghe has been an underrated star for the Panthers and Draisaitl is a playoff beast but Marner? Marner is the disappointment guy almost all Leaf fans blame and want gone. So go figure.

Cozens with two huge chances to win and to tie but he comes up short.

Czechia roster got loaded up with the NHL playoff eliminations and the Swedes with their perennial pressure game fold.

This is what I'm saying. We have been playing a wide open, unstructured, move the puck quickly type of D for years now and it is madness imo. These type of players look worse in that type of non system system. Look at how clueless Clifton seemed first part of the year when he went from highly structured to our idea. Byram got here and it was all like wtf are we doing? It's a philosophy we have had here since Pegula got here. It's madness that I am hoping will end now with Ruff. These guys are the guys you need come playoff time and that's where they shine.

Oh definitely, and he had the Ottawa connection. Lehner was his guy but you'd have thought he'd have had better insight into his character. Guess he didn't care about that - or was just clueless.

Yup. I don't believe Byram is "bad" either, I just believe we already have that guy and we can't build a proper D with all the same guy. I agree that these guys can be hard to get, but I also think we as a franchise have undervalued them and our coaching and team systems have made many of them look bad and not fit in and then moved on. Watching that Toronto Boston series, McCabe was their best D man and is exactly what we lack but we didn't value him. Lybushkin was actually their second best D man and while he's far from perfect I still don't understand why we tossed him away for next to nothing. I know the analytics crowd have numbers on him, but he was a heck of a lot better than over the hill Johnson, he had snarl, and in the right system he's a better D man then he was for us. Boston picked up Andrew Peeke for a 3rd rounder and a failed NHLer/AHLer. Now Peeke is no Pesce, but he's solid and a heck of a good shot blocker. Perfect bottom end guy. Now I'm not saying these guys are better than Byram, they are far less skilled, but they are all guys who complement the type of D guys we have and they can be physical and they are defensive D men. This goes right back to McNabb. We simply do not value defensive D men. We only seem to want fast skating puck movers, and hence, our D is always in disarray and a work in progress rather than a solid set unit.

Good point. I'd say probably, but I'm really not sure how he fits in.

That was an entertaining game imo. Much more like the hockey was in the Boston Florida series. Physical and relentless. Could have gone either way.

If we had had McAvoy-Dahlin I don't think we would have drafted Power, we'd likely have taken Beniers, and there's your 2C (or even 1C in time). But alas, Murray made a number of mistakes. His worst imo was trading for Lehner (we could have drafted Boeser or Konecny with that pick, among others) while Markstrom and Talbot were both on the block at the time. Just dumb.

I agree with you that he's been after a top 4 D man for a while. I just don't think BB is the type of top 4 D man we needed to complete our top 4. Pesce would have been perfect.

Pegula puts a guy above Adams or between himself and Adams if you prefer to look at it that way, I just don't see it. That goes against everything we've seen so far and would signal a major shift in terms of Pegula's involvement. It's something most of us have advocated for for years but it doesn't fit with how Pegula does things. Unless that's changed.

I'm not saying he commands 8 million, I'm saying it might take 8 million to get him to consider coming to Buffalo. Clifton shouldn't be making anything over 2 and yet we pay him 3.3 I think it is. There's a premium you need to add to get most guys to come here. There may be exceptions, but I suspect most players would want a lot to consider us. In any event even at 6.5 it's too much money tied up in D for cap sustainability. Byram will be up for a raise as well remember.

The lack of high end talent (those contracts above 6 million) is why the Bruins have been good but never great over the last period of time. They've lacked goal scoring more often than not. They did fill out their line up this year with bargain contracts and did a good job with it. What they do with the money they have now will maybe determine their fate. Tampa, well a lot hinges on Stamkos.

This is great. Absolutely wonderful. Couldn't agree more except for one little thing. 7.5 million for your bottom pairing D? 31 million plus whatever you pay Pesce for your 6 D (it would take like 8 million to get him to come to Buffalo). It's not really sustainable.

Dallas looked a little flat compared to the previous series so they either wake up or their age is showing. It was a surprise to me.

That article is similar to the critiques I read about Boston, and yet somehow neither of those teams goes away.......................

Ya but it's balanced. Mikkola has been a beast in the playoffs. You need both types.

Or would she/her/him/them/their/them and which pronouns would you have to use. 🙂 Nothing ever HAD to be the case, but everything has been what it has been, and there's only one constant and that's Pegula so given he has a firm belief and philosophy in a way, it did have to be that way.