IKnowPhysics

Vanek and Pominville are the only two established top six players in our top six. Losing one of them without a suitable replacement would be a step backwards, espcially since we need more players that qualify in this regard.

Even with Byron in there, most felt we fleeced Calgary. He put up decent points in juniors and in the A, but hasn't gotten a good shot to stick with a big club yet. Calgary wants to make room, but it's possible someone claims him. Edit: And I haven't really looked the Regehr trade in a while... To Buffalo: Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik (bought out), 2nd round pick (Jake McCabe, captain at Wisconsin and Team USA in WJC) To Calgary: Chris Butler, Paul Byron (waived) Assuming Jake McCabe is as good or better than Butler, we bought Regehr for the price of buying out Kotalik and giving Calgary a player they would stick in the AHL. Jinkies.

I disagree with your interpretation of his performance last season. Did he produce fewer points last season than any season since his rookie season and put up his worst +/- since his sophomore season? Of course, but he wasn't playing big minutes on the offensive side of the puck (he only took 51 shots, 2 more than offensive powerhouse Mike Weber, who had played 25 fewer games). Instead, he played the hard defensive minutes, as indicated by the player usage charts (http://bit.ly/W2Okem), seeing the hardest quality of competition on the team by far and seeing the highest percentage of defensive zone starts on the team (behind only Kaleta and Ellis). He was brought in to be the veteran stay-at-home defenseman and compliment the younger offensive and two-way Dmen, and that's exactly how Ruff used him. He got the toughest assignments, and I think he played well in them. One of the analysts that worked on the usage charts puts it best: At the end of the day, he isn't unmovable, but with team full of young offensive defensemen and more coming the pipeline, I think a veteran stay-at-home presence could be critical. And now I realize that this post is 10 days old.

It'd be funny if the Islanders had some Nobel prize-winning analytics team working the waiver wire Moneyball style and built some crazy-good team of leftovers. But it's even funnier to remember that that's not true, waiver claims are the only way they can get players to play on their team, and they'll be pretty bad again this year. Makes me wonder if Columbus will "replace Nash" with waiver pickups.

Darcy, don't grab either of them. Good job. You did well.

I think we all think the bags was a nice idea. But, not pointing any fingers, they could of been done better. So how bout, no bags this time, but next time, we do the bags right, and then go full regalia.

"That team didn't have anybody good on it until they all did that thing that made me think they were good." Stellar.

Also, Puck Daddy notes that Columbus is setting up for an absolutely abyssmal season: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/blue-jackets-face-lowest-season-ticket-total-franchise-220345908--nhl.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Kopi and Doughty were on the list in 2011: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=49962

Arguments can be made that Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick have been really good for a while now. Don't feel bad- I was surprised how good they were when I watched them first hand for the first time. But that was 2010.

Let's pretend for a moment that Leino is right, Ennis continues to roll, and Hodgson performs as well as expected. We could be on the verge of the good ol' days of rolling three/four scoring lines. Game on, already.

Gomez Rule now in effect: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=413602 I assume this doesn't affect Leino, because if we're going to pay him this season anyways, he's going to get a roster spot; risk of injury be damned?

We don't need to derail the thread too much, but I think if you risk death to be on the team, you deserve serious consideration also. Toss on top of that the franchise record for goals in a season (standing as the 5th highest in the NHL). AMo's defection (a pretty good read, for those who haven't yet): http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/the-historic-defection.html

If we're shooting the ###### with trade ideas... To Detroit: Reggie Sekera (3 years left), Jordan Leopold (UFA) To Buffalo: Valteri Filppula (UFA), Drew Miller (UFA)

Encouraging. I'm getting amped about the season.

I, for one, am looking forward to watching a team that went 20-8-6 in their last 34 games and may have only gotten better and healthier in the offseason

I hate when GR has a point:

Well, Peters did spend an offseason taking boxing lessons, it's not unreasonable to think he'd have a few pointers. Wonder if watching Ray growing up was the reason he wore 32 throughout his career.

He's from St Catherines; I believe it.

I think it's premature, even for this board, to speculate on Hodgson's salary. We haven't seen him play with us much, his role hasn't been established, his productivity hasn't been established, he's been injured within the past few months (I doubt this is a big deal), the CBA is brand spanking new, and the cap figures are in flux. I couldn't even begin to construct a leg to stand on if I guessed at a salary.

I think we're mostly on the same page here. He works hard, he's a good PK guy. He's a veteran presence. Ruff mentioned he was in his best physical condition he's ever seen him last year (a testament to his work ethic). He's a puck possession guy. He's capable of 40 points. He's responsible with the puck. He plays well away from the puck. These are all qualities you look for in a third/fourth line guy, especially when the potential alternatives (see: Adam) haven't yet demonstrated many of these qualities. We'd all bitch if he were putting up 40 points as a top six guy and making $3.5M+ to do it, but it's looking like that won't be his role. At the end of this, my one hope is that he's able to skate off of the ice his last game.

Nailed it.

What that might look like, so we're on the same page:

From my point of view, the only REAL damage done as a result of the lockout is collateral- Joe bartender, Jane shop owner, and Bob stadium beer salesman who make extra bucks when the Sabres are playing. The rest of it, this idea of being cheated by not getting to watch a sport is imaginary to me. Maybe some folks feel disrespected or offended by it, by the crassness of it, disgusted from listening to millionaires argue billionaires. I don't; to me it's a labor issue. It's business. Unfortunately, it's part of the sports industry, at least until they sign a 100 year CBA, and I accept this. I'll remember all of the sniveling and money-grubbing, and that'll reflect on how I view the individuals involved, but that doesn't tarnish the sport to me. I still love hockey at its highest level. Will I boycott? Nope. Rebel? Nah. Instead, I'll keep in mind that Joe, Jane, and Bob only got paid for a 48 game season. Maybe I'll tip Joe a little more. Maybe I'll buy that extra Sabres hat from Jane. Maybe grab that extra tallboy of Blue from Bob. I think they'd need it more and appreciate it more than anyone would if I left an empty seat in FNC.

You know what it would do? It would make watching TSN on July 1st not un-######-bearable to watch like it has been the last 5+ years. Players might have their minds made up in time for the signing period, and hopefully the whole thing'd be over in about 4 hours. That's better TV than watching a small army of Canadian peckerheads staring at an unringing phone like it's got tits and speculating for 1056 straight hours.