Taro T

It was Botterill who recommended him to Krueger's staff. He was an assistant coach both years under Ralph.

Clifford got 5 & a game for boarding Colton totally from behind the play. Hope he enjoyed his 6 minutes of playoff hockey because by the time he's eligible again, his Loafs might very well be on the links.

Don't recall that. He did actually interview a bunch, but only recall him offering the job to Granato.

Why does the Jimmy Buffett song "Fins" seem appropriate for this?

Interesting. Apologies for getting people's hopes up.

Looks like everything except the TNT games are also on ESPN+.

Hellebucyk would fit perfectly w/ what they need & w/ what Adams is trying to do. But really doubt Adams would pull off something that big for the ST gain w/out it also being there LT. Maybe that's the trade @Weave kinda saw in his vision of doing something that hurts more than we'd like to see.

That '05-'06 team also jettisoned Satan prior to the season. (They lost others they wanted to keep like Zhitnik, but the players had identified "the" problem and asked management to excise it. Management obliged. Timing's off, but another similarity from that era.)

Channeling your inner Bill the Cat. Awesome!

For some, yes, and for others, not so much. They've populated the front office & broadcasting wings w/ alumni quite often through the years. But they've also famously alientated alums such as all 3 members of the French Connection. They've repaired a lot of those frayed ties. Agreed that the Pegulas have tried to keep alumni in the fold & can do so moving forward. And the key to that, IMHO, is keeping someone that cares about the little things in charge. Adams sweats the details & things seem to be improving on that front. Should he fail at his main task, the next leader might not be so receptive. Though the success the Bills & Bandits have had would suggest the person in charge of the team will be expected to care about sweating the little things.

Really wouldn't be surprised if the 2RD is brought in via trade. Expect the G to come via FA. Him & a bunch of tweeners adding depth & helping Ra-cha-cha. The 4C, if one is obtained, could come via trade but more likely FA.

That would be great. But TV "play-by-play" has evolved so significantly in the States (and not in a good way) in the last 10-20 years that it isn't likely one would get a fair shake at it if the TV & radio roles aren't separated.

And it'll be interesting to see how effective adding that "character" component to the selection process will turn out to be. The Sabres w/ their full analytics department & nearly complete scouting & development departments should be able to identify guys that meet their criteria. 3 years from now, we'll get an idea of whether it worked or not. And "character" was put in quotes because it was used to cover a bunch of other traits besides just what is traditionally thought of as character.

They should. But, it isn't our money getting spent on that radio-only guy. For that reason, doubt they do go back to separate broadcasts. But, we can hope, right?

Well, considering my notes of what he actually said weren't in front of me, figured the correct way to state it was simply that he's said he's interested in him. He was more effusive, but didn't want to exaggerate it. Didn't watch much of Minnesota's games this year, but in the few that were watched, he seemed like legit/good 2nd pairing could be the ceiling for him. Which places his ceiling above Bryson's which seems to be injury fill-in 2nd pairing.

The other likely difference is that while Nolan was purely a motivator, Granato will turn out to have a better grasp on the X's & O's.

Except Adams has said they are still interested in him. They just aren't dead set that he absolutely must be in Ra-cha-cha next year & they've acknowledged that it's his decision as to where he plays next year. Considering Johnson still hasn't officially said where he'll be next year, expect there's a lot more interest in being in this organization than people fear he has.

And all this is why there's hope that Adams will actually fix the netminding. If next season doesn't top Murray's best year (a low bar, but one that's been unsurmountable for 6 year) a lot of that good will and positive vibes get tested severely. This team did what it needed to do as a 1st step towards winning - they became a TEAM. But now they have to move up. Without goaltending, getting to 90 will be a very tough slog & even an NHL 0.500 isn't a given w/out GTing if guys we expect to take another step don't or injuries wrack the team again. But w/ GTing, NHL 0.500 is a given; 90 points is not a stretch goal; and the playoffs are a realistic stretch goal. Heck, 100 points & being ahead of the 2nd WC becomes the stretch goal. PLEASE let Adams find a way to fix the GTing. They don't get Berard. They get something better, a team that not only believes in itself, but that others have to account for, & they might even get some REAL playoff experience. All far more valuable at this stage. MHO, YMMV.

They've been different.

The double hip surgery was preventative, but yeah, since coming back he does seem a bit injury prone. IF it's just trying too hard to cover for a bad D, maybe it won't be a chronic issue. And, yeah, definitely concerning at this point.

They have a lot of picks, & they have more prospects than they have room for. If they take on a ST salary dump to go along w/ it, they should be able to find a guy that's better than Pysyk to fit into the top 6. Can probably even get a guy better than Jokiharju that way. Then the top 4 are set & Jokiharju plays w/ Bryson for a year or 2 until Johnson (hopefully he signs) is ready to pair w/ Joker. The spares ST are Fitzgerald & Pysyk. Longer term they become Bryson & probably somebody not in the org at present or maybe Laaksonen. (Hopefully not Laaksonen, just not sold on him as an NHLer.) And if they luck out & land Jiricek, then when that 2RD is ready to move on, Jiricek slides into that spot & they're set until they have to try to pay everybody full rate deals. At which point, guys go out via trade and younger, cheaper replacements fill those bottom minutes.

Welcome back!

Moe-ray-all's odds of staying in the 1st spot are actually about 25% because if any of the teams from Columbus through Vegas win the lottery, they can't move all the way to 1.

Very interesting post. One other selling point they might be able to use is to bring up his own past history. HE agreed to waive his NMC to be exposed to the expansion draft. HE was the MVP for a team of players whose former teams didn't see valuable enough to protect, heck, some were moved to protect OTHER guys, & ABSOLUTELY NOBODY expected them to do anything but be bottom feeders; but rather than feed at the bottom they made the SCF. He's been willing to take a chance on being part of something special that very few others saw as being special. Maybe he'd be willing to do so once again. The possibility of mentoring the guy that might defy long odds to be the next great French Canadian goalie couldn't hurt any either. Before reading your post, would've said there was a 0% chance of it happening. But, thinking about it a bit more, maybe it's 10-20%? Still long odds, but not impossible.

Full schedule is out for the Belleville- Amerks series. Amerks host game 1 w/ Belleville getting game 2 & if necessary, game 3. Game 1 will be Wednesday at 7:05PM In Ra-cha-cha. Game 2 will be Friday at 7:00PM in Belleville. Game 3, if played, will be Sunday at 3:00PM in Belleville. So, game 1 will be, as Billy Fuscillo would say, Huuuuuuuugggggge.