pi2000

This thread is so far off-base. Pegula rescued both franchises, put a lot of money into them, look at Harbor Center, etc... did so much for the community, and people here lambaste him because the teams haven't won a Championship in the couple of years he's been owner. Gimme a break. It takes time, both franchises are moving in the right direction IMO, and they're still in Buffalo, you have nothing to complain about. Not even remotely true.

Could be, but I doubt it.... for a few reasons. 1) Much better goalies out there to choose from. Bishop, Bernier, Smith, Subban, Johnson, Darling, Varlamov, Howard, Reimer, Halak, Raanta, Mason, Fleury.... 2) Ullmark makes only $775k. Vegas needs to draft a minimum of $43.8mil worth of players in the expansion draft. That's an average of $1.5m per player. 3) They need to take a minimum of 3 goalies in the draft. I'll bet they take 3 exactly... 3 from the list I provided above. Ullmark is a B prospect, they won't be interested.

PG lost 4-2, Guhle's junior season is over in a first round upset. Too bad, woulda been a good experience for the kid.

What if the Bills had fired Levy after the bickering Bills debacle? You think Colorado regrets firing Quenneville? Seriously, less than two seasons removed from fielding the worst team in NHL history and it's the coaches fault they're not in the playoffs? Nothing's wrong, they are who we thought they were. A team with some young guns figuring out how to play consistent hockey, and some aging slow vets on the tail end of horrendous contracts who will be gone soon. This team isn't as far away as most think.

With 4 games left (TOR, MTL, @FLA, @TBL), I'm gonna say they collect 3 more points finishing with 79.... two less than last season. This puts them most likely in 25th place. If they go 0-4-0 they finish 26th. yay tank.

No. This is how hockey players clown around.

I mostly agree, but 50% is a bit aggressive. The bottom six are leftovers from the tank years and need to be expunged from the roster for this team to take the next step, but that won't happen in one offseason. I see maybe 3 new regulars in the bottom six including Fasching, Bailey, and Baptiste... maybe Smith, however, long term I don't see a future for him in the NHL. I believe Nylander starts the season in Rochester, and finds his way up at least a few times during the season. Rodriques belongs in Rochester. Larsson was acquired in the Pominville trade orchestrated by Darcy Reiger... that said I think Murray leaves him unprotected in the expansion draft, or tries to deal him, he's not a Murray type of player. 3 new d-men would be nice, but realisitcally 2 is most likely... Guhle, a UFA, and if Murray can somehow swing a deal for a top 4 guy, that would be a ideal, but I don't see it happening unless he's willing to part some of his prized prospects/picks. The challenge for Murray is how to shed the awful contracts of Moulson, Bogosian, and Ennis. I'm OK with Gorges as a 3rd pairing guy for another season.

Lalalalalala...

So if this team is playing well and in a playoff spot for the first half of the season we can put this thread to bed.

It will, it's part of the maturation process. Wasn't Bylsma's rule.

fixed :P

That would be fun. Currently, in the East, out of the 8 teams in playoff spots you would have the #2 and #3 teams by points (PIT/CBJ) playing eachother in the first round. That's idiotic. That means 1 of the top 4 teams in the entire NHL will be out in the first round. Just dumb.

So any time a player on this plays well and produces it's all because of his own doing, but when a player/line plays poorly it's the head coaches fault? That's a double standard. You have to give some credit for Eichel's success to Dan, in the same way you can't blame him entirely for lack of production from the 3rd/4th lines. My point is that he's coaching to the strength of the core, and forcing everyone to get onboard. Guys like Bailey, Carrier, Rodrigues, Fasching, all look very good in this system because they can get up and down the ice and have a nose for the puck and dirty areas. Guys like Girgensons, Larsson, Foligno, Gionta, Moulson, D-Lo, can't get up and down the ice fast enough, but instead of setting everybody back to accommodate them, he's stick with the long term plan. Bylsma is not the same coach he was in PIT. 3rd/4th line players are typically your best defensive forwards so they play the PK. In BUF you have top 6 guys like ROR and Kane on the PK (and now Eichel), that's obviously taken a toll on ROR, he leads the league in min/game because he's asked to do so much. If there were better defensive players in the bottom 6, ROR wouldn't be completely spent by game 60. Get 1 or 2 d-men, but more importantly IMO, fix the bottom six, get some guys who know how to defend and can skate and this will be a top team in the Conference... with Bylsma!

That's not going to happen because of the lesson learned from Samson's incident. That said, since you're talking hypotheticals... consider there are infinite parallel universes (there are) and in at least one of those universes Eichel shows up late for the morning stretch on game day before game 7 of the Cup Finals. 1) Yes, he should be benched. 2) Yes, well, in atleast one of those universes he's benched (and I'm not sure which of those universes you and I live in, so I can't say for sure)

Like Gio said, it's good for the team. It sets the bar and is a lesson for everyone. Sure maybe it was a harsh punishment for Samson and that sucks for him. But I guarantee you other players took notice and nobody will make that mistake again.... which is a good thing.

Yeah, he was such a good player the first two seasons registering a +12 and +18, and now he's a -23... that's a huge step back and likely related to the concussion issues. Hopefully he can stay healthy.

Being professional/punctual and winning hockey games are not mutually exclusive. That said, show me a successful hockey franchise that cuts players slack for showing up late to team events... you can't.

A system that maximizes the limited amount of talent on the roster to secure a playoff spot and get throttled in the first round? No thanks, been there, done that. A system that fits your core and that can be successful in the playoffs? Sign me up. And before everybody chimes in about Eichel/DB conflict, etc... just look at how production Eichel and Kane have been the past few months. That's not by accident. You want Dan to slow them down by teaching a more controlled, slow pace game?

yep, you're right. It's an interesting rule, because Gio can touch the puck well above his shoulders and score a goal, but if directs it to teammate above his shoulder, then the play is blown dead.

you forgot one... 8) we got Ekblad instead of Reinhart

The system is designed for fast large athletes. No. Show me a team other than BUF that has such a stark contrast in skills/abilities between their top and bottom lines. It's why they have the best PP in the league, and worst PK. Their 3rd and 4th lines are the most unproductive lines in the league, and they can't defend either. It's a joke.

If I'm a head coach and I'm hell bent on winning a Cup, I don't give out any hall passes, sorry charlie... this isn't grade school where kids are learning about responsibilities. This is the highest level of the profession. That being late one time, etc.. crap needs to get taught in juniors, minor league, etc.. if you're in the NHL I'm not giving you any slack.

from https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft: Teams must expose a minimum number of players that meet the exposure requirements: Forwards 2 under contract in 2017-18, AND played in 40 or more NHL games last season, OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the last two seasons Defense 1 under contract in 2017-18, AND played in 40 or more NHL games last season, OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the last two seasons Goalies 1 under contract in 2017-18, OR who’s contract is expiring & is an RFA in 2017-18 This does NOT mean that only players who meet the above requirements can be selected. It just means that each TEAM must expose a minimum number of players who meet those requirements. In BUF's case they have 11 forwards, 7 D, and 3 G that met the requirement. So they're all set... if they protect 7/3/1 that exposes 4/4/2 that met the requirement, but Vegas can pick anybody unprotected not just from that group.

What do you expect him to do, teach two systems? One for the fast offensively gifted young guns, and another for the slow aging vets? I like that the system is designed around what type of team they want to be, not just to accommodate their current roster.