IKnowPhysics

Thank you all. <- For you.

Very nice. For those about to rock, I salute you:

They will screw us in the lottery. NHL Draft '15: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjdA6iO0nxI In other news: West Coast road trip is early this year. Now to decide: go to the Pond where tickets are cheaper or the end of the back to back at Staples that's easier to get to. Maybe both. Maybe.

I'm pro-tank. If I lived in Buffalo, I would own season tickets. I do not live in Buffalo; I do not own season tickets.

The first 30 seconds of the press conference.

Poile is open to moving the 11th pick for a top six forward. Stafford or Stewart and the 31st or 39th (and maybe swap 3rds?). I'm as tired of the trade Stafford talk as anyone, but he's reinvigorated his value somewhat with 21 points in his last 28 games, a 61 points pace on a terrible, terrible team.

Agreed. If I understand any of this and if those numbers mean anything, Draisaitl compares to Nail Yakupov and Sam Bennett compares to Steven Stamkos. Bennett and Reinhart are substantially close, with the difference presented hear because Reinhart did a little more of his scoring on special teams. Dal Colle looks like Nathan Horton with a hair more scoring on special teams. I don't know if there's a pro-CHL bias when selecting top picks, but the stats at the very top presented here fall in favor of the CHL- the only WHL'er in the top 11 is RNH. If there's a reason for this, it may speak in favor of selecting Bennett (CHL) over Reinhart (WHL).

Pretty good presser. Lots of affirmation there of things we already knew or suspected. If Ekblad doesn't go #1 and we don't trade down, we take him. We're taking the best player available. No issues with drafting a player and then trading him to better suit needs of team. No big drop off after Ekblad, Reinhart, and Bennett- Draisaitl is up there with them. Would have liked to have won the lottery to see what the trade offers would have been for Ekblad. Possibility he would've traded down from there, depending on offers. (side note: this is potentially relevant if Ekblad drops out of #1; we may entertain offers to trade down) Not worried about the floor, "it's easy to spend money." Concerns about the floor are a distraction. Other bits: Ted and GMTM still working out coaches. Kaleta entering final year of contract, will be at camp. Will be evaluated on the ice. No Spezza talks. Joe Sacco accepted reassignment to pro scout. Still enjoying GMTM's fresh, blunt matter-of-factness.

Transitional.

As the author of the other thread, I agree. In that one, I just wanted to know what people thought our team should do, not what everyone else's team is doing.

Puck Daddy on Garth Snow:

I'd be fine with putting him on the payroll for something. But I don't see him excelling in the hockey department.

I've written about this several times, but every time I read it, I still drool. A #2 overall, a ridonkulous #1 overall, and a #2 overall that'd probably be a #1 overall any other year. In consecutive years. Likely three of the four best prospects in these two years. All forwards. All wearing Blue and Gold.

Hahaha, agents gonna agent:

The maximum salary for an NLL player with the franchise tag is $34,000. If Pegula spent that amount every hour, eight hours a day, every day, until he lived to be 100 years old, he still wouldn't have spent all of his money. So maybe they had that conversation once. "Wait, you're telling me I just spent two and a half orders of magnitude more money on Ville Leino than on the one of the best lacrosse players and beloved Buffalo sports figures of all time? Never stop paying that guy. Then when he retires, pay him some more. Pay all of friends whatever too."

This was the reason behind my thinking, from his signing press conference: http://www.nhl.com/i...s.htm?id=568104 But you're right. Ennis got injured, opening up a vacancy on the wing on top line, and because he "exhibited puck prowess" but neither he or his line were able to put up points, he requested to go back to wing. http://twointhebox.c...tep-in-on-wing/ I read that and think he's saying "I want to try to get better by playing with better players," not "hahaha I fooled those ######, now I can go back to wing." But it's open to interpretation. Draw.

I could see that being a good fit for Scotty. Canucks' powerplay was 4th in the NHL in 2011-12, but dropped to 26th this past season. Arniel's a powerplay wizard. Should probably bring in some defensive coaching assistants and players to help him out though.

All part of Tank MkII. He may or may not go back to sucking, but it won't matter. Either he disappears like a fart in the wind when we let his contract expire or we trade his suddenly performing ass for some picks at the deadline. Seeing as how he probably won't contribute to many wins, I'd rather have the return. Or ###### it, maybe we sell him high now and collect picks/pieces for this year.

I don't know if it was malice. I think we watched him play center in SM-liiga, and he was the best forward available that UFA season behind Brad Richards that anyone thought could even sniff the center position. They tried to get him to switch to center, but it didn't seem to work. I think if he had the ability to play center, the coaches would have kept him there, but they got frustrated and put him back on wing. He gave it a shot, sucked dick, was put on the wing, proceeded to suck dick and get injured, then suck even more dick later. His suckitude would give rise to Ennis playing center, the eventual the magic keystone for the impressive FES line at the end of that season, cementing Lenio's place on the wing. To call the guy a liar because he somehow convinced the Sabres he was a top-six centerman during the UFA period is filling in a lot of details may not be accurate. Underperforming? Obviously, hell yes. Mis-estimated by Sabres scouts/GM? Well, yeah. A liar? I don't see it. I think even if a player or player agent does blow smoke up a GM's ass about a player's abilities, it's the GM's (and their pro scouting department's) responsibility to find their way through all of that. And even if they do, they still might not be able to predict the epic, flaming, meteoric, shitshow trainwreck of a downfall that Ville Leino's career endured. At the time, Ville Leino was an alright gamble on paper, and it turned out to be one that we lost historically huge on. Nobody thought he'd be that bad. Not even him.

Is there a quote or source or something on this that I missed?

Excuse, me. Chz?

I vote that VIlle Leino replace Tim Connolly as the new default avatar. In the words of Louis C.K., they would be a "NON-CONTRIBUTING ZERO."

I'm probably qualified to do that insights and analytics job, but it's business forecasting/revenue growth modeling, not player analytics. Less sciencey, more businessy. It'd be the tits to work for the Sabres, but I'll leave this one to the more capable and subject-interested. Plus, I'd rather not come up with some forecasting model that convinces the Sabres to jack up ticket prices for anyone. Interesting posting though.

Now, I'm no Kings fan, but this headline/article is a great example of how LA hockey gets muted in national coverage. "Kings center Kopitar proves to be elite player" http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=722739&cmpid=nhl-fb Just now? Now he proves himself to be an elite player? After winning two cups? That's what it takes to be recognized by the league beat writers? He was taken 11th overall. He put up 60 points his rookie year, back in 2006-2007. His sophomore year he netted 32 goals and 77 points. He just finished up his eighth season, over which his career regular season average is 74 points. He doesn't fail to bring it in the playoffs either. 60 points in 70 playoff games, going a full point per game pace in the Kings' Cup years. When I caught my first Kings game in 2010, I was like "who the ###### is this guy and why have I never heard his name before??" Four years later, and eight years into his career, I guess the NHL staff writers finally decided to let the cat out of the bag. Next up on NHL.com: Lou Lamoriello establishes himself in the NHL, Hawks Coach Quenneville seen as 'pretty good'

Sprained wrist from a slash. Sprained shoulder (like bruising and inflammation all the way around; had to sling it for three days, thought it was separated), possible concussion from a high-speed tripping turned awkward impact into the boards. About a dozen full-blown puck bruises to legs (those ###### that grow to like 6" circles and turn black for a couple weeks). Probably a few bone chips on the ankle from pucks, complete with permanent discoloration. Cracked a rib or two in hockey. Forgot how. Hurt to laugh/cough for a few weeks. Minor break or chip in my left pinky that kept getting broken/irritated every few months for about four years. Probably from hockey. Jammed a finger in basketball some time in HS. Two lacerations on my left index finger from different knifey cutty times. Nerves feel weird over there. There's probably a few more I'm forgetting. The worst short-term was the shoulder; that was probably the strongest impact I've ever taken. The worst long term, likely because it won't heal properly, is the ankle. Still have all of my teeth. I'm doin' fine. I've heard/seen a lot worse in guys older and younger than me, including my one-legged hockey player friend. His story inspires me to not bitch about injuries and get back on the ice no matter what.