IKnowPhysics

The Sabres just had a cap hit of $75M to finish fifth last. $5M ain't ***** compared to that, compared to the big dollar operations costs of large market corporate front offices, or when considering there's no salary cap for non-players. We're lucky enough to have deep pocket owners, and they would be wise to leverage that to meet the organization's goals. Besides, if we start winning consistently, the owners will make that money back in franchise value and then some.

Excuse me what the *****. After hiring a coach, this is currently the team's biggest item on the to-do list, and probably has been since October. Not signing Skinner is a massive blow to our playoff chances in the next three years.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mayorNHL/status/1115997559099494401 The Mayor John Hoven @mayorNHL UPDATE: Did some further digging this morning (after some coffee, of course)... From what we've gathered, nothing has changed on the LA Kings coaching front, contrary to other reports. Yes, they continue to talk with McLellan. No new news though.

Damn right we will. Bernstein is a freelance Kings homer and has been pushing for McLellan for a while. Wait for the Kings or Sabres to announce or wait for Bob McKenzie. The content of that breaking tweet is effectively similar to previous released facts.

I just wanted either McDavid or Eichel. And then I just wanted Dahlin. The Buffalo Sabres will be fine. Eventually.

Byram and Harley are lefties. Trade down and take Soderstrom? #AllTheSwedes #NotBerglundTho

Yes, please. Especially some sort of Provorov with a right shot.

Lol wut Fleecing Eugene Melnyk for a 1st rounder that unintentionally ends up being 4th overall, then gets deferred by Ottawa, then still unintentionally ends up being 4th overall? I'll take that hose any day. Also not mad about LA not winning. LA won two Cups since 2011. CHI won three Cups since 2010.

Keep: LW Skinner, C Eichel, LW Rodrigues, D Dahlin, RW Reinhart, RW Pominville, C Larsson, D Pilut, D McCabe, RW Okposo (for now; overpaid), D Bogosian, D Montour (GAR sample is too small) Use in easier situations (ie, their EV_GAR sucked): C Mittelstadt, D Ristolainen, D Nelson, LW Sheary, C Girgensons Send down: RW Thompson, D Borgen Wait and see (too few games): LW Olofsson, RW Nylander, LW Smith Shitcan: C Sobotka, D Scandella, D Hunwick, LW Wilson, maybe Okposo based on $ Result: Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart ____?___-___?___-Pominville Rodrigues-Mittelstadt-Okposo Sheary-Larsson-Girgensons? (Olofsson/Smith)-(____?____)-(Nylander/Thompson) ____?____-____?____ Dahlin-Ristolainen McCabe-Montour (Pilut)-(Bogosian) (note: I'm not shitting on Bogosian here, but we need a successful #1RD, we know Risto did't do it, I'm not sure Montour can do it, and that logjams Bogo) What we're missing: LW2, C2, C5, LD1, RD1. You already know what we're missing. Top defensive talent while Dahlin develops and secondary scoring. LW2: We need secondary scoring. Erod played well in bottom six, keep him there. Sheary was too inconsistent, give him a better chance to find success in the bottom six. Girgensons struggled even in a bottom six role, but his OZstart% was crazy; a different coach will ease up on that. We'll need to acquire a scoring LW. If Skinner leaves, wit only exacerbates the problem. C2: Same story here. Need secondary scoring. MIttelstadt developed, but couldn't provide enough offense to improve the team. This is a hole left by ROR taht still needs to be filled, and if playoffs next year are the goal, we'll need to acquire a scoring C. LD1: Dahlin will develop and be amazing. But this season he successfully contributed at the LD2 position against not-top-tier opponents, according to the usage charts. It would be very optimistic to expect Dahlin to shut down top lines well enough and consistently to make playoffs. McCabe ended up against tough competition late in the season, and struggled, but is usually solid against weaker opponents- if he were pushed to LD3, he would undoubtedly perform. RD1: Risto has been bearing a huge workload as far as quality of competition and, by many metrics, has been struggling with it. He needs to see a mixture of easier opponents to be successful. Meanwhile, Montour played with success at the RD2 position but may not be able to carry a team into the playoffs on the top pair. This logjams Bogosian into the 7th defenseman.

This is a very nuanced opinion. Sobotka is no longer a threat to our sanity, as no matter who gets hired to coach, they won't use Sobotka like Housley did. Don't use him to leverage anything other than cap space, unless someone's stupid enough to want him.

Oh Christ, that would be unbearable on a lot of levels.

I think the timeline breaks down like this (times EST, rounded to nearest half hour)): November 4 2018: Kings fire Stevens, name Desjardin as interim. November 20 2018: Oilers fire McLellan, name Hitchcock as replacement. Sunday April 7 1pm: Sabres twtter announces firing Housley. 2pm: Kings twitter announces Desjardin will not return. 4:30pm: LeBrun reports Kings asked permission from Oilers to talk to McLellan. Monday April 8 11am: Bernstein reports Kings offer of long term contract to McLellan; updates at 12pm to be a five year contract. 1:30pm: Duhatschek reports "McLellan closing in on an agreement" with Sabres. 2pm: Pagnotta reports that Kings got permission from Oilers to speak McLellan much eariler; presented five year contract a while ago. Kings plan to speak with McLellan again as early as Monday afternoon. McKenzie believes that no contract exists yet between McLellan and Buffalo and that LA/BUF are both in the mix; confirms that McLellan was going to Buffalo anyways to watch his son play in the Frozen Four and will meet with "Buffalo hierarchy" on this trip. By this point, several pundits believe McLellan is the #1 choice for both Kings and Sabres. 7pm: McLellan spotted by @MaloneTML waiting for a flight from VAN to TOR; McLellan was thought to be at his summer home in Penticton (close-ish to VAN; no direct flights from Kelowna to TOR or VAN to BUF). Tuesday April 9 2:30pm Todd's son Tyson McLellan takes the ice in DU's first practice; practices are open to the public. DU plays Mass at 8:30 on Thursday.

Let me just go ahead and... That's better.

Also, we should win the lottery, then trade down for like three 1sts in the 4-8 range.

Happy Eugene Melnyk Assassination Day! To be celebrated next year as the 1st Annual Ottawa Senators Fanbase Mass Suicide Memorial Day.

Brett Burns won the Norris in 2016-17; Todd McLellan coached him in 2014-15. McLellan was fired by San Jose after the season in which he coached the guy who was 2 years from being the best defenseman in the world. ?

I'm sorry, did you forget?

This is an excellent example of the profanity filter not doing dick, btw. nbd.

Jason Nighingale is probably shitting his pants right now.

Yep, which is probably why firing Housley was defensible and firing McLellan was useless. EDM had identical standings-points per game this season before and after McLellan's firing.

I mean, outside the tank, I think we've had rosters that were more defensible on paper than EDM. But yeah, we're not anywhere yet, obviously.

I don't have strong opinions about McLellan yet, but here's a non-scientific concurrence: Oilers management is and has been terrible. Their rosters have been bonkers in different ways for more than a decade.

Also, Russo writes a compelling argument that Boudreau shouldn't be fired from the Wild: https://theathletic.com/909726/2019/04/07/russo-bruce-boudreau-should-not-pay-the-price-for-wilds-disappointing-season/?redirected=1 We may not want to hold our breath for him.