Taro T

21-10 at the 1/2. Clemson will get the ball 1st in the 3rd.

Who didn't?

And they did. But Clemson is driving (again).

He's 23. That's still a few years from when D peak. He's also improved quite a bit from just 2 years ago. Pinching below the goal line on the 4v4 for the 1st goal against not withstanding, He's gotten MUCH better at not leaving his partner on an island vs 2 on 1's & even 3 on 1's. He also is actually a good PKer now. He doesn't need "massive" improvement to go from a 5 to a 4.

Pretty sure 'Cuse had it 1st.

They DO need another top 4 defender TODAY. But as early as next year, Jokiharju MIGHT be that guy. (Expect there's a better chance of it being Lyubushkin if they don't go outside, but Henri could continue his development & surprise.) And, as stated, would prefer it NOT be Jokiharju. Would rather he anchor the 3rd pairing. And, as the kids start to get paid (say 3 years out), having a TRUE 3/4 as the 4 might be a luxury they can't afford.

And Cuse just held them on downs. 2nd 1/2 'll likely be a ####show, but at least for now it's fun.

He's not. But, he could become one. And playing w/ one of the other 3 once they aren't kids themselves, he SHOULD be good enough to be effective on the 2nd pairing. (Kind of like how Dahlin let's Samuelsson effectively be a 2 though he's actually a 3/4.l Still would prefer he end up anchoring the 3rd pairing, but in a couple of years, his being joined to Power at the hip won't be affecting Owen's performance should that seem to be the best deployment of the top 6.

Mods: If a 22 CFB thread already exists, please merge this. Still nearly 40 minutes to go, but 'Cuse just returned a fumble 90 yards to go up 14-7 on Clemson in the 2nd. Clemson has moved the ball at will, but 2 turnovers cost them points & the most recent one gave the Orange 7. Syracuse got inside the 40 on the 1st drive, but turned it over on downs. Syracuse's 3rd drive was the only one of 6 drives total for the 2 teams that didn't get into opponent's territory.

The Don Lever guy's avatar is catching. So, checked out a few of his posts. Funny guy w/ his "Bad Miller" Godzilla parody.

They effectively announced it yesterday when they put Pilut on the plane & didn't say anybody else was flying the other way. ;)

Well, at your age, can you blame them for thinking that? ;)

Could be. But, should the F's all be healthy when that point is reached, expect there is a better chance Sheahan is the player they risk sending down or they go off the board and send 1 of the 3 kids down. There are logistical reasons for why most teams carry 8 D-men rather than 7 in most situations. And agree w/ @Thorny that Granato and Adams likely see what we see, that Pilut is better than the official 6 & 7; but that he didn't outplay them convincingly enough to keep from being sent down when keeping him up could've meant they headed out west w/ only 12 healthy F's or would've meant a real possibility of losing their 8th best D-man to waivers when the top 8 are all head & shoulders better than #9. Believe they don't want to give Fitzgerald away for free and expect waiving him would make that the very likely result. With Bryson's contract being slightly expensive for a 6 and him being on a 1 way deal would not be shocked to see him to get waived before Fitzgerald; though really don't see either getting waived should they find themselves at 24 healthy players as both have a real risk of getting claimed.

Ahh, just think what might have been had TM grabbed Draisaitl and Marner or Barzal with the 2nd overall draft picks. ;) At the time Comrie was put on waivers and reclaimed by the Jets who actually knew who he was having been in their system 2 previous times, the Sabres had both Ullmark (who was clearly claiming the starting role) and Hutton (who was good 50% of the time and dog meat the other 50%) healthy. Were you really going to waive Hutton to the taxi squad to activate the Devils 4th goalie? The Jets left him on the taxi squad for most of the rest of that season & only a handful of games for the Moose. Comrie had not been good at the NHL level to that point, a single game giving up 3 goals to a (mildly at the time, soon to be majorly) dysfunctional Sabres team not withstanding. There were other goalies that had been on waivers that appeared better on paper that they'd also passed on; at least 1 of which (the guy Carolina grabbed) that would've been clearly better than Hutton. But Comrie wasn't a given then and the Jets were going to grab him as soon as the Sabres would've tried to put him on the taxi squad or in Ra-cha-cha. Yeah, in hindsight would've been cool to grab him. But, in that extremely dysfunctional season, passing on him wouldn't even make the top 10 list of things they should've done differently.

And not just by Savoie still being available at 8. And not just because the Loafs seem to have foolishly believed Murray could be a savior. Really, the only way it MIGHT not be is if the Sabres were planning on going after Comrie even w/ landing Murray and were pencilling in Murray as the 3/4 as it's possible he's better than Subban. Having to go to their fallback plan, IF in fact Comrie was the fallback plan, just makes Murray's hubris a huge homerun for Adams. (Even should Comrie falter back onto Hutton's track, the rest still makes it a solo dinger.)

Wow, all sorts of ghosts resurfacing. Welcome back, gents. :beer:

What pro hockey team that doesn't sell out every/ nearly every game plays the starter on the road and his backup at home on b-t-b nights?

When's the last time it was THAT good? Most all of the past decade those 3 are in the lineup when all are healthy rather than on the outside looking in. Baby steps.

Have you started wearing a chicken head for a hat?

Yes, Granato stated publicly that he believes Fitzgerald is a glorified AHLer who will never outright win a competition to be top 6 on a quality NHL team. <_< How would you ever get a guy like Adams or Granato who isn't going to throw anybody that wants to be here under the bus to confirm that the players he kept up might not have outplayed somebody that was sent down? A good leader will never publicly admit something like that. You aren't even going to get a horse's arse like Tortorella to publicly admit that.

Of THAT there is no doubt.

Fitzgerald suited up because there was no room to pull up Pilut without waiving someone and didn't get sent down because he (& Bryson too) needed to clear waivers to be sent down but Pilut doesn't this year. Haven't heard Jokiharju is on IR, but expect he is & he's out until the Chicago game. (Has to be on IR 7 days from the date of the injury.) Either that, or Quinn or Sheahan is on a plane back east right now. We will not see eye to eye on the handedness discussion. IF Lyubushkin can go tomorrow, we'll get a glimpse at Granato's thoughts on it. If not, let the discussion rage on.

It was. But really believe it was a product of the timing of when the deal needed to get worked out & the uncertainty of the world's (& more specifically the Pegulas' & NHL's) finances. Adams seems astute on enough other items to believe events were as much a consideration in that negotiation as Dahlin's hockey acumen was.

He might not. But he's better IMHO than Fitzgerald & Power, Bryson, or Larry could slide to the right side.

This. ^