Pimlach

E-Rod nice play.

Boston in trouble. Barkov is a stud.

Baseball is the only major sport in North America like you describe. They have two separate leagues and the AL and NL pennant winners get some regardless of the World Series outcome. In football losing the Super Bowl is very hard on the the losing team. The Bills 4 straight AFC Conference Championship were often overlooked and they were the butt of many jokes. It took about a decade or more for that to wear off. In the NHL no one remembers the Stanley Cup loser, or the Presidents Trophy winner for that matter.

Sounds like the coaches got schooled too. Maybe Matty Ellis will end up being the Matt Ellis of AHL coaches next?

And most of all, he has a real chance to hoist the Cup for the first time.

I must assume you are embellishing this. The Rochester club has some potential NHL talent in Levi, Novikov, R Johnson, Rosen, Kulich, Östlund, and Walhberg - and more are coming with Savoie. They didn't win in the playoffs, maybe because their opponent had more and better AHL lifers. I am ok with that. It is easier to fix that problem than it is to find that many good prospects - even if many are "the same" - we had to trade ROR (R Johnson), Eichel (Östlund), Reinhart (Levi and Kulich), and Risto (Rosen) to get these guys. Plus we lost Montour and Linus. Look at the caliber of players that left here. We need to hit on a few of these kids, and rushing them is not the best way.

This is spot on Dude. 1. First I have no problem with the players taking a vacation together. It is not a hockey issue IMO. Take one right after the season, get some mental and physical rest, and then they get back to training. 2. This team struggled to screen out noise, even their Captain and the Coach failed at that. Lets add in that the players also failed to be ready in key games, hence slow starts and no winning streaks past 3 games. These things talk to maturity and leadership, or a lack of it. 3. The regression in last years key players was predictable, but the level of regression was worse than expected. The inability of the coaching staff to motivate and prepare them was worse. Having a GM watch it and do nothing is the worst. 4. Assembling talent through the draft has been one of Adams few strengths. Assembling a team of NHL veterans to support them has been a major fail, a failure to the point that we question if Adams can even do it. The few players he brought in that added true value (Greenway and Clifton) both had a prior relationship with Granato. So it is critical that Adams work with Ruff to target the right players and let Ruff talk to them about coming here. Ruff has all the credibility. Watching the playoffs it easy to see they need a bunch of NHL players (a top 6 forward , bottom 6 forward(s), two way center(s), an able bodied RHD, another goalie maybe) and that bringing up more 20-22 years rookies is not going to make the needed impact.

Having fun should always have severe consequences.

While I agree that the Sabres gave up on lots and lots of good players. Look at the reason - Continuous incompetent hockey operations and coaching. It’s been constant change since Pegula took over. Nolan was doomed. Bylsma and Kruger were NHL flashes in the pan. Housley was an ex-Sabre wet-dream. All the GMs were first timers and they all eventually got rid of their predecessor’s players.

Reinhart gets the EN. Smart and skilled player. I wish he would have told Adams he would stay. Bennett pummeled Marchand. Another ex-Sabre scores. E-rod lol.

The Broons should have played Linus tonight. They might have turned it up more. My money is on the Panthers. Oh, the Beaners lit the lamp.

Montour scores.

Ekblad held him, and slid him into Bob. Boston getting screwed on this call.

We usually throw in a protected first rounder too.

Everyone is quick to hand the job to Levi. I’m not.

Nice. This is a nice surprise. Didn't know you liked football that much, and I was an avid Shout! reader in the early days.

They cannot afford to let another goalie get away.

Maybe. But that group, plus Bogo, was not good chemistry.

Utah Mormans? Utah Saints? Utah Later-day-saints? Utah LSD? Utah Salt Miners? ?

Nah. Montreal Expos never caught on.

How do they do they encourage that? It’s about the return for the leagues top goal scorer?

They won’t be young forever and they can and must add toughness. But yes, just making the playoffs isn’t going to get you a Cup. It gets you invited to another level.