fiftyone

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Ennis and Hodgson are a combined 10-1 on draws so far. We're good.

I'm saying their reasoning for not signing him is because he isn't worth that much. You're saying (I think) that it's because they're not letting the player bully them into paying what he wants (if this isn't what you're saying then correct me). I think it's a hockey decision and nothing more, and I agree in the sense that I don't think he's worth 5 million dollars a year right now, if that is indeed what he's asking for.

Certainly not and I understand that. With that said, however, I still wouldn't make that deal. Just a difference of valuation.

I don't think I buy the "it's how they do things" argument at the expense of getting their hockey club better. Especially considering how much better they'd be considering how good O'Reilly supposedly is. It makes more sense that they just don't think he's worth as much as he is asking. For the record, I'd like to have O'Reilly on this team. I think he would be a good choice for a 2nd/3rd center and maybe let Foligno get out of a scoring line slot to the third line where he belongs. I'm just not willing to give up as much as others seem to be offering, especially the 5th-10th overall pick that I quoted the first time.

If Ryan O'Reilly was as valuable as you say he is, why won't Colorado just pay him?

Come on, don't restrain yourself, finish off your thought. Lindy Ruff is a terrible coach because his decisions today weren't in the best interest of Grig's parents.

Great to see that Crosby and Neal could do nothing but laugh at that save. I guess the game is fun after all.

Shhhhhhhhhh. We haven't figured how to blame the coaches with this in mind yet!

I see what you're saying, but I'm taking it the other way. I'm noticing that Ennis is still producing (albeit some on the power play) even though the guys he is playing with for the majority of the game are not. I really think the problem is that Foligno isn't a scoring line center, whether the fans want him to be or not. Can he be an integral part of the team? Sure. Will he be a fan favorite? Probably. But the Sabres have to give him that opportunity on the third line where he belongs, and that means either finding a top six winger (Armia?) or moving Ennis to wing and finding a center (Grigorenko?). Obviously neither of these are immediate solutions, but I believe that's where the problem lies.

I always have to remind myself that Ennis has 10 points in 14 games while playing with two wingers that might as well not be in the offensive zone with him most nights.

I have a feeling that if the Sabres got O'Reilly, be it through an offer sheet or a trade, he'd be an official SabreSpace whipping boy in no time. I don't think he'd live up to the seemingly lofty expectations of a lot of people. Everyone is saying we need grit and toughness, but O'Reilly isn't going to bring you that. I know hits are a rough statistic and don't tell the whole story, but just for reference, O'Reilly had fewer hits per game last season than both Sekera and Gerbe. He had slightly more than half the number of hits our current goldenboy Drew Stafford had. He had two tenths more hits per game last season than Tyler Ennis. On an unrelated note, I'm not willing to give up Armia at this time. I am real interested to see if he can become a scoring line winger, especially after hearing how well he played in the WJC.

I've liked Gerbe's game so far tonight. Good first few shifts.

Crosby. And the whole "Crosby is a pansy" idea was the cool thing to say when he first came into the league. Anyone still saying that now is just holding on to what they've heard other people say in the past. If you watch him play now you can see he's not the same player he was back then.

As big as Foligno is, he doesn't seem to win puck battles in the corner. Ennis seems to be able to go into the corner and come out with the puck more often than Marcus can.

I agree and that is kind of the point of my original post. I'm not sure how they're doing it.

I would say that the Sabres third line is a considerable upgrade to the devils third line (even moreso when Leino returns). Bernier was an AHL player for much of his time between leaving the Sabres and joining the devils, and he doesn't look anything like the guy that scored two goals in his first game here. For that matter, Stephen Gionta and Ryan Carter have also been AHL/4th line players for most of their careers. As for Deboer, he took the Panthers from 93 points to 73 points in his three seasons there with no playoff appearances before getting canned. Then he came to a team that has missed the playoffs only twice since 1990. I'm not sure that he's the common denominator.

Alright. So I live in Jersey and watch a lot of Devils games, as the majority of my hockey friends are devils fans. With that said: Can someone explain to me how the Devils are winning so many games? They lost their captain and (arguably) best all around player in free agency and really made no moves to replace him. The lineup on paper really is nothing that seems all that impressive, yet they just improved to 7-1-3 after knocking off the Pens. The lines look something roughly like this: Kovalchuk-Zajac-Zubrus (Butler) Elias-Henrique-Clarkson Bernier-Gionta-Carter Matteau-Josefson-Barch Salvador-Tallinder Greene-Fayne Volchenkov-Zidlicky Brodeur Hedberg Other than Kovalchuk, I don't think that's intimidating many teams but they are getting it done regardless. Thoughts?

They've sent two Bruins down the tunnel in the first six and a half minutes of the third. Didn't see that one coming.

I have Optimum-Cablevision service and had the canes feed on CI to start then game. Then about 5 minutes in it got choppy and now it's just a black screen :wallbash: . Center Ice really making a mess tonight I guess...

Anyone have a link to Hamilton's calls of the goals?

Gomez didn't steal anything. Those teams chose to sign him to that contract and pay him that much. If you are mad about how much money Gomez made, be mad at the guys who offered him the deal.

Leafs fire Brian Burke. Nonis named GM, per TSN

I think Foligno has a long way to go before earning a letter. He should be focused on coming out strong and earning a solid spot in the lineup before worrying about an A on his chest.