Jorcus

I see a lot of people putting Quinn on the left wing. He has enough trouble defending on his right to make me think that is not a good idea. My guess is that for now Zucker, Benson, Greenway, Krebs and Kulich are going to rotate up and down the left wing spots. The chances of the opening night line up lasting more than a few games with Ruff is pretty slim.

AFP analytics on cap wages had Timmins at 2x2.67M projected. Not sure why it was that much. Pretty far off of what he got.

He crossed my mind last night. Now that I think of it Madden would be another.

I am not a big fan of Sabbath or Metal but Paranoid is one of the catchiest songs ever written. I think you could also look at some early Sabbath and make a case for proto punk as well as Grunge with the detuned guitars. One thing about Ozzy is that he is one of the few human beings who I think has reached cartoon status. I don't mean this in a negative way. To reach human cartoon status you have to be instantly recognizable, be totally unique and be well liked in spite of any flaws they may have. Some people have actually been turned into cartoons like Mike Tyson. I think Mr T might have been a cartoon. Hulk Hogan was a manufactured character but he certainly sells it. Muhammed Ali could have been one. There are not many individual musicians you could point to and say they are cartoon status. Maybe Elton John because he is very famous and had the costumes. It's hard to put my finger on another one. Alice Cooper would be in the same mold as Ozzy just not sure if as many people would recognize him. Anyway Rock on Ozzy.

I wonder why the return is so little?

My assumption is that when the Skinner hit drops to 2.44 Million the following year the money would be used for a Tuch contract.

I like the signing. I like watching Byram play. I think he is going to improve going forward. One thing keeps crossing my mind. Now that Power has his RHD to play with what if he is the same guy as last year? I hope he is not but if we off loaded Byram and we are still disappointed with Powers play what would our next move be? With Byram we still have the option of trading Power if it came to that. At least we have another year or so to find out unless a great trade comes along.

I don't think Levi is eligible for an offer sheet. Some qualifier about number of NHL games played.

I don't think they want JBD now that they have Timmins. Someone has to go If Byram and Muel are staying.

This is the last year you can take advantage of that LTIR loophole I think.

So safe to assume we would have taken him at 7. No lottery regrets?

So your Trading Tuch, Thompson or Dahlin over Benson?

I think Dallas will want either Kulich or Benson in a trade package because they are cost controlled and can play a role now. The bigger issue is being able to sign Robertson. You can't give stuff away unless you are sure that you are getting some years out of him. If he is willing then I think it is a deal you have to make.

On the Byram points. The only argument against the metrics point I have is that it is a big challenge to play with Byrson and Clifton or even Power and help carry them. Maybe the metrics are right but there a lot of permutations that I question about using them to write a player off. In the D zone he is better at defending the rush, (makes good use of his speed to get back and drive attackers wide) than playing in a box and pushing out or blocking shots. A lot of times the results of defending around the net depend on the communication with the other players on the ice. The Sabres in general had a problem with this. It could be a Lindy thing but not knowing what the other player is going to do will have you make mistakes or make you cover for theirs. If nothing else Byram seems more than willing to work on his flaws and certainly has the skill set to improve. In the O zone I don't think he is a better pure shooter than Power or Dahlin but I might be the best passer on the team, especially on the breakouts. Playing next to Dahlin he was expected to be more stay at home guy which limits his chances to score. He did not rotate down behind the net very often. He also had limited power play time limiting his scoring. At 246 games he is right in the zone to take a big step forward. Where ever he ends up playing I am pretty confident he will be very good.

Utah was not the only game in town so the offer sheet method could have been countered by a trade to another team. It seemed like the Rangers may have been lining up an offer sheet but now they are SOL. You have to admire Peterka's agent. He sure worked the system.