nfreeman

I'd prefer Florida and Dallas to win, but I think it will be Carolina and Vegas baby Vegas.

IMHO during the latter years of the Eichel/Reino era there was enough talent in the key positions, other than goalie until Ullmark's last year here, for a good GM/coach combo to have put together a consistent lower-tier playoff team here. Eichel, Reino and Montour are all upper-echelon NHL players, and there are a number of other Sabres alumni who are still solid contributors, many on playoff teams (McCabe, Bogo, Colin Miller, Lazar, Scandella, Sheary, Rodrigues, Vesey) But TM, JB, Howie and especially Kruger were all bad-to-terrible at their jobs in multiple ways -- none was even average! -- and this created an insurmountable obstacle. Totally agree. VGK and the Kraken aren't better than the Sabres because they got some kind of boost from the expansion draft rules. They are better than the Sabres because the Sabres were a terribly run franchise for a decade. I agree with this. I think you generally take a rose-colored view of Jack's behavior and leadership while he was here, but there is no question IMHO that the franchise failed him, that a decently run franchise would've gotten much more out of Jack than the Sabres got and that Jack made the right decision in asking to be traded (and that KA made the right decision from the Sabres' perspective too).

What a play by Reino on that GWG. Lousy defense and goaltending by the Leafs on that play, but still a great play by Reinhart. Meanwhile, the Leafs are about to get bounced, and there is a very real possibility that they trade Mathews this summer, as he has 1 more year to UFA and it’s not clear whether he’s willing to sign an extension there.

This Fla-Toronto game is a classic, tight, hard-fought, no-penalties-called, tense playoff game.

Carolina is extremely well coached IMHO and executes a 200-foot game extremely well. A couple of summers ago I was hoping Carolina's owner would be too cheap to pay Brind'amour market rate and TP would swoop in with a huge offer. I'd probably pick Brind'amour as the best coach in the NHL. In any case, I think the most likely outcome in the EC is that Florida wins 1 of the next 2 at home and then finishes off the Leafs in game 5 or game 6, and Carolina beats Florida in the next round. FWIW, Carolina won 2 out of 3 vs Florida this year. On paper this is logical but every year, and especially this year, it becomes clear that there is an element of randomness in the NHL playoffs -- goaltending, injuries, puck luck, etc. -- that produces unexpected results. On the one hand it makes for excitement, but on the other hand it means the better team frequently loses.

Kinda interesting how Drury has conducted the Rangers in a “business as usual” way. I would’ve expected better. In any case, his head is probably next on the chopping block if they don’t have a better season next year.

So the EC Finals are looking like...Carolina vs Florida! And in the West...maybe Vegas vs Dallas? Garments will be rended and teeth gnashed in the GWN if that happens.

Reino has been very good in these playoffs. I thought he was pretty quiet last night, other than that very sweet assist, but still effective. He has his limitations but It seems like he never makes a flat-out bad play, he pretty consistently gets the puck to the right spot and he wins most of the contested pucks. I'll even say that his skating is improved as well. He's just a very good top-6 NHL forward.

This is maybe stating the obvious, but Tkachuk was the best player on the ice last night IMHO. Also, Bobrovsky has been up and down the past couple of seasons but is playing very well right now.

That would be a very interesting line, to be sure. I think the broader point though is that the Sabres look to be loaded with talented offensive forwards as early as next season, so it's likely that Greenway will find himself with 2 pretty talented linemates. It's also likely that he'll end up on the 3rd or 4th line in terms of quality of opposition. The net result of those 2 factors could be a spike in Greenway's offensive production.

BTW, the WR the Bills drafted looks reasonably fit: Holy mackerel.

I am rooting for Lindy and the Devils, but they have a real hill to climb. I thought Carolina was, after Boston, the best team I saw in the NHL this year.

There are about a million Canadian snowbirds and expats in Florida. I'd guess the arena will be over 50% Leafs fans.

A tall dwarf isn't tall.

I was thinking the same thing. He wasn't a great player for the Sabres but he got a bit better each year to the point where he was a good to very good player. He bailed on us but he didn't demand a trade and put the team in a bad spot and I can't blame him for wanting something else after all the losing and dysfunction he endured for 6 freaking years. Anyway, he was very effective in this series against a great team. Good for him. Yes, and Orlov and Bertuzzi are gone, as are the 1st-rounders the Bruins gave up for them. They aren't dead yet but there is a storm coming. I'll definitely be rooting for them vs the leafs.

Wow. BTW, Montour and Reinhart are both really good and important players for the Panthers. Pretty disappointing how little the Sabres got out of, and for, Montour.

I stand corrected on the penalties. That one was pretty questionable though.

Also, that was a really bad rebound that Bob kicked out to Pastrnak on his goal.

There aren't going to be any more penalties called in this game unless someone is gushing blood.

Sometimes you gotta send a message to the locker room and make an example of someone. It ain't always fair.

Because the peak Belichik/peak Brady teams were about 5x better than this Bills team, the Bills during that era weren't trying to be a good NFL team and the Jets and Dolphins were highly dysfunctional franchises?

I generally agree and am happy with McD, BB and the state of the franchise. I just think the Bills have some important holes that need to be fixed, there isn't much that separates the Bills from the Jets or Miami at this point, it's entirely possible that one or both of them passes the Bills this year (although I don't think this will happen) and sneering at them is ill-advised.

I agree with much of this, but not on WR. The Bills are dying for another major weapon at WR, IMHO. To beat KC or Cinci in the playoffs, the Bills need to be able to score at least 35 pts. They need another guy to throw to, in addition to Diggs, to do that. Davis isn't the guy. The Bills, who lost to the Jets last year, whose QB injured his throwing elbow and who haven't won a road playoff game under McD, aren't in a position to be laughing at the Jets, who have a better D than the Bills and just added an all-time great at the most important position.

...or maybe you shouldn't waste everyone's time with misleading thread titles.

Respectfully, I think the issue has been decided. Levi is starting next year. And I’ll be fairly surprised if UPL isn’t the #2.