pi2000

Good point. Although Detroit making the playoffs every season means they're never picking near the top the draft, so it takes more time for their picks to develop. Now that Toronto will be picking near the top of the draft, I expect they won't have as many players baking for very long in the minors as they have in the past.

Haha, yeah, thankfully Tim Murray is quite the opposite of Rieger.... if he wants Stamkos (which I think he does) he'll do just about whatever it takes.

I don't know. They have a point tho, their farm club is much better than Buffalo's... wether or not that translate to success at the NHL level... only time will tell.

OK, agree to disagree. IMO, giving goalies more opportunity to start the play won't help alleviate the goal scoring problem, I think it just makes it worse by taking away opportunities created on the forecheck. With the 3-on-3 OT, it would create even more puck races, leading to scoring chances.

You can't win with a team of O'Reilly's. You need pure goal scorers mixed in with your O'Reilly's. They're both valuable in their own way, and if you're going to pay for a goal scorer, Stamkos is as good as it gets. Would you rather have 2 Matt Moulsons or 1 Steven Stamkos?

That was the old rule. The idea was that the trapezoid would limit where the goalies can play the puck and create more offensive opportunities for the attacking team. It worked (i think?). My idea just takes it to another level. Force the defensemen to skate more, tire them out, creating more offensive opportunities.

https://twitter.com/Hfasching22/following

The Stamkos/O'Reilly comparisons are way off the mark. They're two completely different players. O'Reilly is an all-around guy, Stamkos scores goals. You need both to be successful. To find a better comparision, who are the Sabres paying to fill the role of goal scorer? Moulson? Kane? Stamkos is on another level.

They can still do that but they'll have to tap it back there from in front of the line. There's just too many dump ins and puck races where the goalie plays as the 3rd defenseman stopping the puck behind the net. It would allow the forechecking team to retrieve many more pucks and reward the athletic goalies who can get to pucks before they cross the line.

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.