pi2000

all time Doug Gilmour

I live in Orange County and the consensus among my sources (i have some friends who work for the Ducks) is that Vatanen is the odd man out. IMO he's not worth 6mx6, but he would be an upgrade. Personally I'd prefer Fowler, but they have no intention of moving him.

...and a $5mil/yr version of Matt Moulson, and a healthy Lehner.

smaller goalie equipment rinks 5ft wider (200x90, not 200x100 Olympic) penalties called liked in 05-06 no trapezoid (goalie can't play the puck anywhere behind the goal line) serve full 2-minutes 2-on-2 OT after 5min of 3-on-3 no shootouts 3 points for regulation win, 2 for OT win, 1 for OT loss or tie

Realistically, which games do you expect them to win down the stretch? @CAR WPG @DET* @PIT* TOR @NYR* @NJD CBJ @NYI* ...only 3 home games remaining. * - playoff team I see maybe 8 more points at most. Giving them 76 on the season. With 76 points they have a 59% chance of finishing in the bottom 5. As they get closer to the finish line I'm hoping for more losses.

Top 9th youngest player all-time to reach 300 NHL goals. He's a shoe-in hall-of-famer.

The is wrong with Lehnerd? Did he suffer a mild stroke in his stare-down with Scrivens?

You need to stop with this nonsense or he's not gonna want to come here :) Yeah I get it. Eichel will prolly score 30 next year, but who else on this roster will even get close to that? Kane maybe? Ennis if he's back to his old self? This team still sorely lacks scoring, 4th worst in goals scored this year. Their goals against is right in the middle of the league and with a young defense and injured goalie. Their goals against will improve next year without adding any big $$$ UFA's on the back-end. I'd look at a Stamkos signing similar to the Pat LaFontaine deal in the early 90's. It's not just the goals he scores, but the intagibles, the leadership, etc... that make everybody around him better. I'd rather have guys like Eichel and Reinhart follow in the footsteps of Stamkos than a Matt Moulson, BRian Gionta or Evander Kane. O'Reilly is great too, but he's young as well.

this Just think if Buffalo won the home game vs ARI late in the season (the game ARI won in OT and everybody cheered), Eichel would be out in the desert. Then we'd be talking about how we missed out on both ALL SEASON LONG as we finish in 30th a 3rd consecutive season.

How much would you offer Stamkos? I'd offer him max deal. There's only 1 better goal scorer in the league.

Stamkos is a hockey god. Give him how ever much he wants to play a position of his choosing with whoever he wants and whatever letter he wants on his jersey he can have. For those comparing him to O'Reilly... that's terrible. Stamkos is a pure goal scorer, I'd put him second in the league only to Ovi. Buffalo has no pure goal scorer on their roster. Buffalo's problem is goal scoring, Stamkos addition would be monumental and immediately put Buffalo in the mix for the playoffs next year. You don't pass up opportunities to get players like him, only happens once every decade or so. O'Reilly is an all around guy who plays all ends of the rink and can score some. He's valuable. Stamkos is just as valuable for the amount of pucks he can put in the net. He's not gonna play the same role as O'Reilly so I'd say a better comparison on the Sabres roster would be Matt Moulson. End of discussion.

huh? he racked up almost 600 minutes in penalties over 88 games in juniors.... moderate? that's over 6min/gm. 446 pims in 74 games his first year in the pro's.

this. I don't see GMTM giving Ullmark a shot at the #1 spot next season and he needs to play. I could see him possibly get moved as part of a larger deal over the summer, or spend all next season in Roch unless there are injuries.

Moulson score yet?

This is a carrion league trap game for the Canadiens.

Agree. The Sabres contract with MSG is up after this season. Will be interesting to see where they go from here. A new RSN? Their own network, eg Empire? Decisions will need to be made, but yes their broadcasts need a major overhaul.

Olympic is too big at 200x100, that hurts offense.... even hybrid (200x92-95) is too big IMO, but adding an extra 5ft to make it 200x90 would help zone entries and power plays. Give faster guys a little more room to skate around the defensemen, without creating too much open space for defensemen to clear the puck out of the zone. Players are few inches bigger, so make the rinks just a few feet wider, not 10-15 ft.

I went with O'Reilly, he'll be fresh and was producing at a decent clip earlier in the season.

is the game in Anaheim by any chance?

Eichel sits one point behind O'Reilly who is due back from injury this week.

Sure the goalies are taller, but smaller gear means there will be more net to shoot at than there is currently. If that gets us to more 6-7 goal games than 3-4 goal games, it's a success. However, my primary concern is that changing goalie equipment size won't change how the game is played. Sure there will be more goals per game, but does that mean the game gets more exciting to watch? You're still going to have the same "get the puck back to the point, shoot it through a crowd and hope it finds the net" type of strategy. To open up the flow of the game we need 90ft wide rinks (5ft wider), and maybe enforce illegal defenses (like basketball).

...and he's ours because we lost to ARI in OT last season.

Smaller pads are coming, the league has prototypes ready (chest protector, pants) and are looking to test it out during the World Cup of Hockey in September, quite possibly enforcing it as early as next season. Equipment has grown larger, chest protector and pants are ridiculous these days. Streamlined gear will open up more holes.

It was a great day for Buffalo sports, no doubt about it! Hopefully a sign of things to come.

They could do all sorts of stuff to massage the odds. Maybe if you win the 1st overall pick, the next year your odds drop by 50% of whatever your odds would've been. It's not rocket science. Or you just let the Oilers keep winning and rename them the Edmonton Oners