nfreeman

Merged! Regarding the bolded: I would do this in a heartbeat and would gladly include ERod, but I highly doubt Pittsburgh would accept that offer.

IMHO, Reino is flawed but still a good player. He's streaky (2 stretches this season of 1 goal in 11 games, which coincided with team losing streaks) and a lousy skater, and there's a fair amount of "empty calories" in his point totals, but he's still quite skilled, he can shoot it and pass it, and he plays a respectable 2-way game. If he's your 4th- or 5th-best forward, you've probably got a really good offense. If he's your 2nd- or 3rd- best forward, then you've probably got a crappy offense. I would only trade him as part of a package to bring in a no-BS star forward if and when one becomes available. The contract is the tricky part. He turns 25 at the beginning of next season. If the Sabres could sign Reino to $5.5MM x 6 years I would do it tomorrow. But I think the cost will be closer to $7MM x 8 years -- and giving him that contract means that the Sabres are married to Eichel, Skinner, Reino and Dahlin as their top 4 guys, with room for maybe one more big contract. Given how poorly this team has performed over the last few years, it's hard to be excited about locking in that group to the exclusion of other difference-makers. There is also a reasonable argument to be made that Olofsson, who is also an RFA after this season, is at least as valuable as Reino is -- and I have a hard time seeing them giving huge contracts to both Reino and VO. I expect JB to sign Reino to a fat extension this summer, but we'll see.

Not a bad idea in the abstract, and I would be in favor of a hockey czar, but it can't be another Penguins alumnus.

Well, the Sabres are disappointing, but the Red Wings are awful. Eeeeeeeessshhhh.

Pitt and Colorado about to start OT in a very good game so far.

Me too. Another little piece of childhood gone. Godspeed.

Yes, but again, you are avoiding the central question: we have no idea whether “up to the owner” means TP had to sign off on DR’s recommendation (which is the case for all owners with all major franchise moves) or TP decided on the course of action without a recommendation from DR (highly unlikely IMHO).

Well, if you assume that the only alternative to tanking would've been complete status quo -- i.e. zero good draft picks, trades, FA pickups or other moves -- plus bad drafting, you've assumed away the entire discussion. Here's something else that's getting old: people pretending that "the tank was a success because we have Eichel."

If you understand that having Jack isn't the same as having a good team, why did you say this?

Well, as has been discussed ad nauseum, there's a huge difference between "the owner ordered his GM to tank" and "the owner signed off on his GM's recommendation to tank." Darcy's quote does not indicate which way this decision was made. Yet another credibility-destroying wild overstatement. I think it's fair to hold TP accountable for hiring the wrong guys to run the team. I don't think this makes him a bad owner in the same category with guys like Dan Snyder or Haslam. He's trying to do the right thing -- it just hasn't worked out, and it takes a while make that determination with a GM. His ownership has worked out reasonably well with the Bills -- IMHO because he was fortunate enough to find the right guy in McD to run the franchise.

I still don't understand the "liar and douchebag" comment (not to mention the vitriol). What was he "lying" about? And did naming his dog after Crosby make him a douchebag? If so, why?

That would be an unusually skilled and versatile prospect!

What does this mean?

I would trade Bogo and Hutton for Crawford in a heartbeat.

After Black Sunday, they missed the playoffs twice and then made the playoffs twice (2010 and 2011), including a division-winning season. In 2011, they were beating Philly 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs, and were winning game 6, in Buffalo, in the 3rd period, before falling apart and losing that game and then game 7. They then missed the playoffs in 2012, and, when they had a poor start in the following season, panicked, fired Lindy (instead of Darcy, which would've been the correct move) and commenced the tank in early 2013. I believe that the right GM/coach combo would've chosen not to tank and would've delivered MUCH better results for the 7 seasons from 2013 to present than what we've actually had. Do you disagree?

Correct. Would you rather have Jack, or have a good team? For example: St. Louis doesn't have anyone as good as Eichel. They missed the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, but didn't tank. Since then, they've made the playoffs 7 out of the last 8 years (8 out of 9 if you assume they make it this year) AND won the cup last year. Would you rather have their team or the Sabres?

You do understand that having Jack is not the same as having a good team, right?

It was 3-1 after 2. The Sabres had 13 shots on goal at that point. The Sabres did not record a shot on goal in the 3rd period until more than 8 minutes had elapsed. My interpretation of Jack's expression and body language: "JFC I can't believe I'm stuck here with this group of effing losers." Last night was the kind of game that can send a mentally weak team that's been suffused in losing ever since the idiotic tank into a major tailspin. Let's see whether RK can muscle them out of it.

Bump! Kind of a sad complaint: my wife's favorite aunt, who is in her 80s, has had an awful couple of years: her husband died, she broke her hip and can't walk much anymore, she has dementia and is losing mental capacity (but not so much that she doesn't understand that she's losing it, which must be very hard to live with) -- and last night, her house was destroyed by fire, and during the fire, her home health aide suffered a heart attack and is in the ICU. She's a nice woman who, perhaps partially because she didn't have kids of her own, was very kind to my wife when my wife was younger -- took her on trips, helped pay for her college, etc. She doesn't deserve this.

Cozens?

The Sabres are 2-13 in their last 15 road games. That needs to flip ASAP if they are going to get back into playoff bubble status.

And Lazar, I believe.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that the Sabres’ draft picks over the past 8 years have been in higher slots than average due to their consistently low finishes in the standings — so their hit rate on draft packs should be higher than average too.

He’s not visible, but it’s just a plain “C.” Kinda boring for a wild an exciting board like this one.

Got any data to support this? @Weave beat me to it on Chicago and Pittsburgh.