Taro T

Still believe Murray's failing was more due to his being unable to see the human component to his players. He seems to have completely discounted personality & chemistry in favor of pure physical assets. He got the "talent" part right but completely failed at "chemistry." Maybe that falls under your 2nd option, but would split hairs & say they are distinct.

Tokarski? 😉

Anybody know how close UPL is to returning? Also, curious if people think that would land Tokarski on the taxi squad or back in Ra-cha-cha (presuming Anderson is still healthy & effective when UPL is finally back)? For Houser's sake, hoping it would be taxi squad for the Toker.

Adams doesn't wear the 1st 9 years of playoff misses & the 10th was following a direction he doesn't seem to have wanted to go but followed anyway, so he seems to have garnered a mulligan from ownership for that. This should be year 2 of his rebuild, but expect he's sold it as year 1. He's not getting punted for missing the dance in year 2 of his preferred rebuild plan regardless how much we might believe that is too much rope for anyone to get. And they aren't dumping any of the "talented kids" for anything much short of McDavid. Would be absolutely shocked to see Dahlin, Power, Krebs, Mittelstadt, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, or any of the 3 prospect goalies in a trade.

Like Darth said. Absolutely.

Battling through career threatening injury can definitely affect one's outlook & work ethic. Lemieux became a man possessed after the back issues & Hodgkins. Good thing for Gretzky he didn't have that same drive when he was younger because at minimum he'd have company in the 200 point club & he'd very likely have a few fewer records. Similar thing happened to Barasso after his daughter got leukemia. Had she stayed a happy, healthy kid the Pens might not have won their 1st 2 Stanley Cups. Don't know that it'll give Eichel a new focus, but it could. And that said, don't believe he didn't want to win or didn't care. He definitely was the reason for many of their few W's. Do believe he was not a good choice as captain.

The guy that was the OC of the best college offense this kid's ever seen who's also now been an NFL OC is an absolute no brainer as the QB coach. He also conveniently gives them another in house candidate to replace Dorsey when his Josh painted resume gets him a promotion elsewhere in the league. What's not to love?

Dumbest. Trade. Ever.

Pretty sure this is spot on. The interesting thing is, they'll have to spend some money on somebody, unless cap hits they bring on this trade deadline have a year to go on their deals, to get to the floor. Keep hoping it's going to be spent on a goalie, but could very well see them planning on going w/ UPL & Levi if he continues to look good down the stretch. Want that money on a goalie because this team should be entertaining next year if they can actually trust the goaltending. And if 2 of the 3 kids move past that guy, trade him at some point for something else they need. At least for the 1st time in seemingly forever, it doesn't look like rejoining relevancy will be moving farther away again this off-season. (The COVID off-season not withstanding which teased us w/ the possibility of relevance) Just, w/out a goalie, it won't be getting appreciably closer either. REALLY want them to be relevant THIS coming year, even though they'll likely miss the dance again.

It won't secure his spot in the NHL. That'll be highly influenced in how he plays in the NHL if he gets a shot there this spring. But it could influence them to put him in Ra-cha-cha after signing rather than the NHL. This kid's expectation is Levi performs well in this tournament.

Figured he was based out of CO. It seems, going back at least to the early '90's, that the bulk of the sports medicine surgeons set up shop out there. So, that where he's based or is it elsewhere?

Would put money down the cause for him appearing human traces back to 1 of those 2 reasons.

Don't know why, but that word "speak" just sort of seems like an understatement there.

What Josh wants, Josh gets, Josh help us all. 😉

How much is it worth to you for him to do so?

GMs matter. So does having a historical precedent matter. The GMs saw Vegas fleece several GMs that overthought the process that 1st go around. When it was Seattle's turn, GMs actually realized that they would lose a middle 6 F, a 4/5 D-man, or an NHL backup goalie and that while it stung, it wouldn't really damage their own team in the grand scheme. Had Seattle gotten 1st crack, it very well could've been Francis reaping the rewards of other GMs fear of losing that one guy they really didn't want to lose (for no apparently logical reason) making their brains go to mush and McPhee thinking about what might have been.

Great. The board hasn't lost enough good posters over the last lost decade, maybe we can run a few more off for year's old hyperbolic takes in the heat of the moment. 😒

LT it very likely is fixed. Next season is the huge Question Mark. And IF Levi doesn't need a year in Ra-cha-cha - then awesome. But until he proves to be a Carey Price-like unicorn (& even he spent a significant portion of what would be Levi's next year in the A), he's not one. Not expecting Portillo to be a unicorn. Have said on multiple occasions, believe Levi will be the real deal. But even with that, until he's ready, he's just potential. Here's to hoping he's ready.

They'd probably be dumb enough to believe it, but the NFL chooses which team (or teams in rare instances) to have the player enter the hall as a member of. Considering the Bucs won the SB last year, could see the league letting them claim him as well.

Why would he mention the Cheats when announcing his retirement FROM THE BUCS? Let Cheats Nation go back to its original natural state of existence that it was in prior to January 2002: worrying about whether the new GM & HC will get their beloved Jints back to relevance.

Price played in the AHL for the final 2 RS games & then the playoffs and took it by storm at the end of his 2nd post draft year. Was at that RS Finale vs the Amerks & he was READY. He still spent substantial time in Hamilton that next year but got into 40+ games for the Habs as well. Would give Levi some time this year in Buffalo provided they can get him into enough Amerks games to see if he can do for the Amerks what Price did for the Bulldogs. IF they truly have lightning in a bottle (& they might) then sure, plan to have Levi in Buffalo next year. But still want a better plan than just "hope" heading into October.

Really hope that Anderson isn't in next year's plans unless it has a significant degree of expectations that he could very likely spend time in Ra-cha-cha (if he stays healthy but his plays slips in any appreciable manner, & possibly even if it doesn't) & that is because he is viewed as 1 part of the proverbial "3 headed monster" of NHL caliber goaltending. Speaking of unicorns, maybe Levi is the 3rd head of that monster, but the more likely path is that a different NHLer is that 3rd guy. (UNLESS the plan is to still have a legit hat in the ring for next year's lottery, in which case that 3 headed monster could very well be a 4 headed one w/ Anderson & UPL up on day 1 & when 1 breaks a not quite ready for primetime Levi or Portillo get a shot. Worst case scenario for those of us watching. Then if Levi or Portillo surprise, Adams wins, and if neither does, Adams still wins but we lose.)

A 10 PM game that is only available in the US via streaming (ESPN+ (&/or Hulu - don't have Hulu, so don't really pay attention to whether this one's available through that service too or not)). So, no MSG+ Pregame nor Post-game shows either.

IF he shows well after NorthEastern's season is done, maybe. It would be the absolute best case scenario which is why there's a real chance that is way too optimistic. Regardless of who is in Buffalo next year, want Adams to find someone that puts UPL in the backup role heading into camp. Scary part of having Levi as that guy is there's a real possibility that UPL would back into the starting role in that circumstance. Not opposed to having UPL be the #1, but need to have him earn that & not simply have it handed to him.

And Thomas kept Sanders on the bench.