IKnowPhysics

I've come to the same conclusion. Also more Sabres turnovers.

, the Yotes are definitely the worse team tonight. The kids are playing relatively well, or at least the poor play of the Yotes are making them look alright.

(T-21st of 39) Skaters with equal or fewer assists for the Sabres that year: Ellis, Ristolainen, Sulzer, Omark, Grigorenko, Varone, Ruhwedel, Konopka, Porter, McCabe, Tropp, Scott, Deslaurier, Adam, Mitchell, Zadorov, McNabb, Stewart, Kaleta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5VhHTzJatw

A little pregame entertainment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnUoUKEIGoo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4nlcmmt8X0 Not happy endings, but few tank rampages are.

Warning: Sacrilege

I'm leaning towards neither, but I think it's more likely that we fire Nolan to pursue another coach (Babcock?) than it is that Hodgson is traded or bought out.

Been rocking a Bauer 5100 for years, thought it was safer when I bought it, glad it showed up with two stars here. The impression that I got when I bought six-ish years ago was that some helmets were designed to diminish one or two beastly impacts and then be tossed away (almost like a bike helmet that cracks up and is then thrown away) and some newer technology helmets were designed to do a better job at repeatedly diminishing more frequent, less severe impacts. But the trouble is that the most important aspect of a helmet is fit, and the different manufacturers of helmets fit drastically different, so it makes it tough to seek out specific safety technologies. It's always worth nothing that expensive helmets don't necessarily protect better (or even fit better), but they sometimes break in easier, are slightly more comfortable, and are sometimes more easily adjusted.

Tankity tankity tankity tankity.

You complete me.

Troof. Since 2005, the only players to be drafted top-five and make the jump directly from NCAA to a 30+ game NHL season are Jack and Erik Johnson, Toews, Kessel, and JVR, and they were all drafted 2005-2007. That's too few to compare as a stand-alone group, which, even if you could do that, it wouldn't mean much anyways, because Eichel is on an extreme end of that data.

I'm gonna self-reference some NHLe work I did a little while ago here. I projected that McDavid is capable of up to 70-95 points in his first (82 game) NHL season. Eichel looks to be capable of up to 63-73 points. Based on this seasons's stats, this is where those point totals lie: McDavid: somewhere between Logan Couture/Joe Thornton and Sidney Crosby/John Tavares. Eichel: somewhere between Filip Forsberg/Jason Spezza and Ryan Johansen/Joe Pavelski. Note that these are point totals that they could achieve in their rookie years, ie Eichel could be a Spezza/Pavelski-like point producer next year. This says nothing of possible improvement in future years. Also note that Crosby and Tavares are leading the NHL in points this year. It's theoretically possible that McDavid approaches the top of the league in his rookie year, like Crosby did (6th overall in points his rookie year). Also note that Crosby did this without a super amount of help (he finished with 45 more points than the next PIT forward). There's some presumption on these calculated point totals, ie they play to their potential that their junior/NCAA career has indicated, they excel above the "average" NHL equivalency standards similar to other high draft picks, they receive usage and opportunities in their junior years like their high draft pick peers, they have at least some supporting talent around them, etc.

Also, we can't see that in the US. So here's a live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKWR7WfsJo

Nah, I'll just bold what I want to bold then. I don't know any better.

Holy contradictory nonsense. You're holding on too tight. You've lost the edge. Turn in your wings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar7RSPnM9hE

The highest horse creates the tallest piles of horseshit.

Craig MacTavish is a little bonkers, but he's not Garth Snow delusional or Jay Feaster stupid. He might be willing to wear his testicles on his sleeve on draft day, but the deals would have to make sense, at least on paper. I get the impression he's trying to appear smart to his owners so he doesn't get fired. I don't get the impression that Don Maloney is crazy, though. I don't think he can be and still be successful, with the franchise on the ropes and operating on a shoestring budget. He has to walk a conservative line. (which, btw is probably why Darcy's a good fit there)

That's a lot of cheese. I'd think I'd do it. That's moving a #1 for a #2 and four other first rounders- effectively what could be an entire line of quality players that includes a generational talent. I don't think the gap between McDavid and Eichel is that big, making it good value. I'm not sure Arizona can -or would want to- afford that price though.

I think they've got a lot more top-end assets, and those assets are more fluid. Guys like Hall, Eberle, Yakupov, etc are all interesting. Plus Edmonton sucks, so their future picks are worthy of consideration. But Edmonton's issues aren't with their forwards- it's with their D and goaltending. If there was a Connor McDavid of defense up for grabs, Edmonton would go all in, sending Eichel, plus any single other asset and that 2016 1st. They've got a decent forward game going right now, and they may just want to draft their way out of it. Which means that if Edmonton is at #2, I could see them trading DOWN for a king's ransom (read: pick, roster dmen, and a goalie) and taking Hanifin. In fact, that's a hell of a scenario: if it's Edmonton #2, Arizona #3, I could see Zona trading OEL up to Edmonton and taking Jack Eichel, while Edmonton acquires OEL and drafts Hanifin. That fixes a lot of problems for Edmonton and gives Arizona that generational forward if they covet it.

3putt and I were chatting about this the other day. As a Sabres fan representing Arizona's interests, I'd offer myself OEL. 3putt might offer considerably more. If I'm actually Arizona, I don't want to move OEL pretty much ever. Which means you can have just about anything and everything else.

True, but included in the offer already is another generational player. I'm not convinced the difference between Eichel and McDavid is as wide as a #8 overall Dman, a #14 overall center, a #16-25 overall pick, and a highly touted prospect. One or maybe two of those things. If you take Eichel out of that equation, and want to trade all of that for non-Eichelness for McDavid, we might be talking, and probably are underpaying.

I agree with this. But for fun, let's re-frame the question (again). Assume the lottery winner is amenable to trading McDavid for Jack Eichel at a reasonable price. What do you offer them? What are you willing to pay to upgrade from Eichel to McDavid. What, in Sabre players or assets, is the difference between Eichel and McDavid in your mind? This seems like a gross overpayment, IMO.

Always relevant: