Porous Five Hole

I admit that I didn’t watch a ton of Kraken hockey, but his fancy stats look good and he brings a handedness & mean streak that we haven’t seen out of a top four D. It’s why I listed him in my top three. We need that guy to be money.

Saw an unremarkable article alluding to this and it got me thinking. Who is it for you and why? To me, Tage & Dahlin are not question marks. So I vote UPL, Kesselring, and Norris. While I don’t believe in UPL, he’s plan A in the crease in 2025-26. It is what it is. Kess is such an upgrade from Clifton/Muel/Henri. Aside from being better than those guys, his impact on Power’s game is being counted upon. No pressure, kid… To me, Norris was the better player in the Cozens trade. Dylan’s time was up here. But if he only plays 50 games, then the center spine is in big, big trouble. There are so many guys who could earn honorable mention that it’ll be interesting to hear your thoughts…

The important thing about understanding his value is equating intangibles against points. Benson is not afraid of contact and the front of the net. He’s a real 🍆 on the ice and is the definition of hard to play against despite being short. So what is the measuring stick for him? If it’s points, the soon to be 21 year old will underwhelm you next season. If it’s defensively elite and hard to play against, then he’s top six ALL DAY.

I am higher on Östlund than most of the fanbase, and to me it is no contest. You keep Helenius. Noah’s goal scoring ceiling is higher, but Konsta’s ceiling is higher for everything else. He was also a better player in the playoffs while being the youngest guy in the league. I like them both, but hold Helenius all day.

The Knighthawks will be staying in Rochester. Presser tomorrow. Sounds like the Seneca Nation will own the team.

UPL is not it. Levi still could be. GMKA made the wrong decision extending UPL. GMKA’s career depends on Levi making the jump in 26-27. As a Levi truther, I’m optimistic. He’s been elite in ROC. But that does not help us get into the playoffs in 25-26. Fire GMKA!

It isn’t your point, but a small slice of it, to say that if you replaced Kadri with Rossi —then I am all in. There will always be a long term outlook with the short term in mind. Kadri could hamstring us in the long term…Rossi given his age may not. Like it or not, the franchise decision making must be longer than next year’s roster. I want to make the playoffs in 2926, but that’s not the long term goal. The sabres are not winning the cup in 2026. You have to realize this.

LTS is right. I am coming from an armchair GM perspective. Would you give up assets to sign Kadri for 7MM to age 38 if given the chance? It’s a bad contract and I was just calling it that.

Backstory: It will be interesting to hear how this shakes out given the city of Buffalo *probably* doesn’t want to venture in the arena owning business.

Kadri had another great year, but 7MM annually until he is 38 in 2029 is too risky. As much as I want to do anything to break the drought next season, the cliff is coming on his effectiveness and it’s too short sighted to take on his contract given his age. Unless you can talk Calgary into 50% retained for the life of his deal (likely impossible).

Amerks add another defenseman to the fold, Aidan Fulp. 25 years old, RD, 6’ 3” and good speed. Unsure if it was injuries or ineffectiveness, but 84 GP combined the last two years for Bridgeport. Went directly from college to the AHL to start his career. https://www.amerks.com/news/detail/amerks-sign-fulp-to-one-year-ahl-contract An article from Isles training camp last September talking about his potential. https://nyihockeynow.com/islanders-rookie-camp-aidan-fulp/

Rousek went home when his NHL window closed. All good. He played hurt down the stretch and still performed in the playoffs. I don’t know if Jobst or Murray were playing hurt (neither missed any time down the stretch or in the playoffs), but they were both awful in the post season. Murray had eight games, zero points, and a minus six. Woof. Jobst had two points and was a minus four. No points in the Laval series. I think Jobst ran out of gas and while Murray had a good regular season, his playoff was absolutely unacceptable and as usual…allergic to contact. Time to go veteran hunting elsewhere.

How does Victor Oloffson sound? 😬 There’s not much available out there…

lol gotchu now. 🍻

lol I like Bo as a player, but who was signing him for $11M? Plus give up two firsts, a second, and a third? I know you’re not a GMKA guy, but I absolutely don’t buy into the offer sheet hype as the reason why the Sabres were not aggressive with their cap space.

Saved a bit more than a million bucks by moving Clifton out and inserting Timmons to the third pair. Kevyn always be saving.

Proud to share my home town with him. He was a very giving guy and loved ROC. In 2000, he raised over $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home at his 60th-birthday concert at the Eastman Theatre. He also graduated and taught at the Eastman School of Music. He was known to play local high school orchestras and bands for the fun of it. A tip of the brown felt hat to a legend.

I didn’t care about wrestling past age 12 so he wasn’t an important person to me. I will remember him more as a racist who made sex tapes with his radio DJ friend’s wife. 🤷‍♂️

LOL we are out here calling the Granato/Wilford youngest team in hockey a structured defense now? I’m trying to be funny here… UPL’s one “good” year was an average year for an NHL goaltender. 16th in save percentage and 16th in goals saved above average. He got hot enough to be NHL average for 50 games. Unfortunately, the only thing we have in the crease right now is hope.

🔥🔥🔥

The Bills have been teasing a new alternate helmet for this year. And I think this is a teaser. As a guy who was a kid in the 90’s, I will be PUMPED if they bring back the red helmet!

They’re pretty deep right now with RyJo, Rathbone, Komorov, Novikov, Metsa, and one of Bryson or Zac Jones being sent down. Laaouan got a two year AHL deal so that makes Tischke at least eighth on the depth chart. But injuries happen.

lol I struggled to write it because Leafs

Cancer sucks. Joshua lost quite a bit of speed following his return from testicular cancer surgery. Hopefully for him, he returns to form now that he will have sufficient time to recover and a proper offseason. But, if his performance last year is his new floor…then it is a very bad contract. The Canucks are trying to free up cap space to spend on the center spine. This was a logical contract to move for them.