nfreeman

Chara and Hossa were FAs. And plenty of major stars have forced trades.

Boom! I have to believe playing in a great city, for a great coach and as part of a loaded team on the rise will be pretty appealing to JT. I'm also quite sure that plenty of other teams will figure out ways to make him huge offers.

I was thinking (and about to post) the same thing!

Why do you think this? I think he’s about 70% likely to leave.

Animal House was a classic.

Hay-yell yes!

Irony.

There’s a sale at Penney’s!

This is good news, but I think it prudent to temper expectations here. The SHL is generally regarded as a step below the KHL, and we saw Antipin -- a KHL all-star IIRC -- look fairly well out of his depth last year. Pilut will almost certainly start the season in Rochester, and may or may not have the goods to make the leap to the NHL.

No one is taking Moulson!!

Gretzky was better than Foppa, and Mario probably was too, but after those 2 it's either Foppa or Messier IMHO.

Dude.

My double negative wasn't not clumsy. (heh.) You answered my question, although I'll admit to some skepticism notwithstanding my lack of knowledge on the issue. Perhaps I'll do a bit more research when I have time. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this question: if, say, Taylor Swift held a press conference at which she accused Bobby Hull of being a Nazi sympathizer, wouldn't every newspaper in the world report her accusations? i.e. they would report not that Hull was a Nazi, but that Tay-Tay was accusing him thereof? And would those newspapers not be shielded from libel/slander/defamation claims?

Well, I don’t know much about libel/slander/defamation, but is it not the case that none of those claims is made out by a newspaper reporting that “the Moscow Times has reported XYZ?”

Graham also implied that there was more going on than just an affair — ie harassment as well.

I was about to post something scathing about GA’s stance on not trading Dahlin for McD. Then I read MODO’s post. GA is still out to lunch on this, but thank you MODO.

Welcome niku. From my amateur perspective, the Sabres’ D system looked like it had potential last year in terms of moving the puck up ice while retaining possession, but too often fell short due to lack of passing ability, lack of overall team intensity and lack of confidence (primarily although not entirely due to lousy goaltending). I want to see the system with Dahlin, another good defenseman, a good goalie backing them up, and some leadership and professionalism from guys like Eichel, Reino and ROR.

Yes, but truth is a defense. "The Moscow Times reported that Hull said XYZ" -- which is what the Tribune reported -- is a true statement. It's far from certain that there was video evidence. It was never made public -- and if there had been a video showing Kane hitting a woman, it would've come out. As for whether the reports about Kane were rumors -- there is zero evidence that there was anything other than false accusations. Kane might've been a dirtbag, or he might not. But there is no more to establish that he was guilty in those incidents than there was to establish that Hull said those things to the Moscow Times.

But didn’t they just quote the Russian paper?

Vanek's Olympic team coach threw him -- by far his best player -- completely and publicly under the bus for poor attitude and work ethic! I'd rather have Moulson back. (OK not really but still.)

Or Nylander.

He played a long time ago. I doubt he's wealthy. Moreover, there is probably no way, regardless of how much cash one is prepared to spend, to force a Russian newspaper to issue a retraction. Great post and good to see ya, Neo! Of course, the wife-beating allegations -- which seem much more credible (although I haven't researched those either) -- certainly support the "despicable" verdict. Well, the Canadian media (and Canada generally for that matter) is pretty PC. I don't see them covering up this kind of thing for the benefit of a white athlete.

Serious question, and one posed without the benefit of doing any research on the facts: if the only time he ever allegedly said these things was in Russia, to a Russian publication, and he immediately denied it -- is it fair to give him the benefit of the doubt as opposed to the publication?

Boom! Also worth noting in this regard: Sabres STs cost quite a bit more than Bills STs.

FWIW, Graham stated pretty directly (although without providing any details) that in addition to the sexual misconduct occurrences, there were financial improprieties as well.