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10 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

The Blues are rolling.

The talk of trouble following ROR was ... premature, I reckon.

Your take would also be a bit premature too, wouldn't it?  A portion of a season does not erase 8 years of history.  I don't know if it's just me, but this season has seemed to be one of the most erratic in memory across the entire NHL, surges and slumps everywhere.  We need to see how they finish and also how they move forward beyond this year.  I didn't pay much attention to all the stuff about him this offseason, but I had my doubts about him long before that.  It's not to say that he's the cause, but he has definitely been associated with a lot of underperforming team seasons for most of his career.  I hope he can kick that, but only time will tell.

And speaking of premature conclusions, there's definitely been a lot of that talk around both of our big offseason trades recently.  In both cases, you have obvious cases where one team in the deal was looking beyond this season for their main return, yet people want to judge them based on what is happening today.  Carolina, no matter how much all of us around here love and cherish that team, was not looking at 2018-2019 from what they got in that deal.  Hell, I'm not so sure Buffalo was either.  I think they bought low and hoped that they could sell the town/team to Skinner in hopes of re-signing and keeping him around for years to come.  And the O'Reilly deal, ignoring the unexpected speed bump, clearly didn't have 2018-2019 as its endgame.

It's all incredibly premature.  And this is where inkman chimes in with a well needed zinger.

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15 minutes ago, shrader said:

Your take would also be a bit premature too, wouldn't it? 

This is a good take. I don't disagree, entirely. And I certainly won't dismiss whatever it was that led a rational person, and experienced NHL FO person (JBOT), to trade away an on-ice performer like ROR.

Look at those numbers, though. He's having a really good year. And now the team around him is coming together, and they're are on a helluva run.

Occam's razor: The widely held theory that he wants nothing less than to be "the man" on a team is true. If he can slide into that role with Le Blues ... maybe it'll work?

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3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

This is a good take. I don't disagree, entirely. And I certainly won't dismiss whatever it was that led a rational person, and experienced NHL FO person (JBOT), to trade away an on-ice performer like ROR.

Look at those numbers, though. He's having a really good year. And now the team around him is coming together, and they're are on a helluva run.

Occam's razor: The widely held theory that he wants nothing less than to be "the man" on a team is true. If he can slide into that role with Le Blues ... maybe it'll work?

"The man" as in scoring leader or "the man" as in captain/leader?  The structure for the latter is already in place there, so it's a distraction I'd say he doesn't have to worry about right now, which really does free him up for the former.

That said, in the longterm, this really could be one of those deals that helps out both teams.  There can be more than one winner.

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2 minutes ago, shrader said:

"The man" as in scoring leader or "the man" as in captain/leader?  The structure for the latter is already in place there, so it's a distraction I'd say he doesn't have to worry about right now, which really does free him up for the former.

That said, in the longterm, this really could be one of those deals that helps out both teams.  There can be more than one winner.

I'm not sure what it would mean to him, to be the guy. I suspect that getting top-line minutes and being the team's leader (captain?) are all part of it. The Sabres were clearly gonna be Jack's team. Perhaps he just found that untenable, in terms of what his aspirations are.

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1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

I'm not sure what it would mean to him, to be the guy. I suspect that getting top-line minutes and being the team's leader (captain?) are all part of it. The Sabres were clearly gonna be Jack's team. Perhaps he just found that untenable, in terms of what his aspirations are.

I'm not so sure he'll ever find that, at least not with a contender.  He's probably an ideal #2.

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5 hours ago, TrueBlueGED said:

That's entirely my point. The problem was always the goaltending. 

I'll take additional commentary to the ROR thread.

The problem for St. Louis is the GT.  It doesn't mean ROR is not a problem, or won't become one.  

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6 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

I'm not sure what it would mean to him, to be the guy. I suspect that getting top-line minutes and being the team's leader (captain?) are all part of it. The Sabres were clearly gonna be Jack's team. Perhaps he just found that untenable, in terms of what his aspirations are.

 

Maybe he doesn't want to be the guy so much any more after how it went here.

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It's almost painful how bad the West is, in light of the Sabres battling for a playoff spot in the East.

Sabres, 10th in the East, have 63 points, which would be good for a tie for 6th in the West. 

All West teams, from the second WC position down, are sitting at a negative goal differential. The Blues, in 7th, are at +1. 

Winnipeg looks good in the central. The Sabres are only 8 points back of Nashville, with 3 games in hand. Dallas, 3rd in the central, is tied with Buffalo. 

San Jose looks good in the pacific. Calgary after them has lost 3 straight games. Vegas in 3-7 in their last 10. 

The Wild Card teams are bad. 

The Canucks are in 9th, and they are 6 points back of the Sabres, with 2 more games played. 

---

The West is really bad this year, Winnipeg and San Jose have to be licking their chops. 

 

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1 hour ago, Thorny said:

It's almost painful how bad the West is, in light of the Sabres battling for a playoff spot in the East.

Sabres, 10th in the East, have 63 points, which would be good for a tie for 6th in the West. 

All West teams, from the second WC position down, are sitting at a negative goal differential. The Blues, in 7th, are at +1. 

Winnipeg looks good in the central. The Sabres are only 8 points back of Nashville, with 3 games in hand. Dallas, 3rd in the central, is tied with Buffalo. 

San Jose looks good in the pacific. Calgary after them has lost 3 straight games. Vegas in 3-7 in their last 10. 

The Wild Card teams are bad. 

The Canucks are in 9th, and they are 6 points back of the Sabres, with 2 more games played. 

---

The West is really bad this year, Winnipeg and San Jose have to be licking their chops. 

 

To the bolded, And I'm sure they are.

But both clubs have their own warts as well. I do agree with you, the Eastern Conference has become a powerhouse. Nothing short of 2 to 4 stacked teams.

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17 hours ago, Thorny said:

It's almost painful how bad the West is, in light of the Sabres battling for a playoff spot in the East.

Sabres, 10th in the East, have 63 points, which would be good for a tie for 6th in the West. 

All West teams, from the second WC position down, are sitting at a negative goal differential. The Blues, in 7th, are at +1. 

Winnipeg looks good in the central. The Sabres are only 8 points back of Nashville, with 3 games in hand. Dallas, 3rd in the central, is tied with Buffalo. 

San Jose looks good in the pacific. Calgary after them has lost 3 straight games. Vegas in 3-7 in their last 10. 

The Wild Card teams are bad. 

The Canucks are in 9th, and they are 6 points back of the Sabres, with 2 more games played. 

---

The West is really bad this year, Winnipeg and San Jose have to be licking their chops. 

 

I still like Calgary a lot in the west and of course Nashville. After that, unless there is a darkhorse candidate I think it is slim pickins. 

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On 2/15/2019 at 9:04 AM, LGR4GM said:

I still like Calgary a lot in the west and of course Nashville. After that, unless there is a darkhorse candidate I think it is slim pickins. 

You definitely can't leave these two teams out when talking about the playoffs.

If St. Louis continues their play of late, they will be a contender as well. I think TB takes the cup this year. They beat the Jets or the Preds in 6.

Having said that, if a team gets a hot streak from a goalie (Price?), they could surprise.

 

edit ...  there are definitely flaws in how the playoffs work as well but I don't see any changes coming soon.

Edited by Ducky
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2 hours ago, Brawndo said:

With his win last night, Ryan Miller has moved into sole possession for the most wins by a US Born Goaltender 

This lead me down a little worm hole.  Not that I think he's a candidate, but I'm amazed that there's only one american goalies in the HoF, and it's someone that I'm sure most have never heard of.  I'm also surprised by how few americans have made it in at any position.  I realize they have a very small portion of full history of the game, but still, a bit surprised by the numbers.  It'll be interesting to see how much that might change over the next 20 years or so.  There's also going to be a big european invasion soon.

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