thewookie1

Someone on the NHL reddit worked out that potentially the cause for lower top point getters in the league is not due to a lack of scoring but the slowly leveling of TOI between all 4 lines.Think about it, Lines 3 sometimes and 4 were at one time almost completely grinders, All the scoring was top heavy, now rather than a few guys carrying the whole team the whole team chips in.

How does one get on the Season ticket waiting list?

Girgs is still too injured I'd assume to play right?

He thought he could get more elsewhere. He may have also wanted to decrease the chances of him signing there.

I don't want any changes, period! June hockey isn't great but its playoff hockey so they cancel out at very least. I love 82 games + the 4 best of 7 game series The less time without NHL hockey to pay attention to, the better. Pre-Memorial Day means waiting 3.5 months for another game and that's just too long. That being said, I wouldn't mind them shifting the 82 game schedule to start Sept 23rd, end March 29 Then playoffs start April 1 it would shift the season about 2 weeks earlier. Thus ending the season near the last week of May/first week of June at the latest.

Olympics aside, I like the thought that with Eichel we might be able to brand ourselves as the home of USA Hockey within the next decade. Seeing as Patrick Kane is from Buffalo and Eichel would be in Buffalo, in theory they'd be the top 2 US players.

That's disapointing

This comes from my thread on the HF boards and was based on some offers people mentioned, just with a Wookiee touch The trades are NYI 1st which should land around 18 to 22 (a 2nd too if its 22nd) to LAK for Richards(30to50%Retention), 13th overall, and a 4th rounder LAK 1st for Andy MacDonald(30to50%Retention) and the 7th Overall Andy MacDonald is 27 and could technically work as a 5-7 D man. Richards can sit in the AHL and help/protect youngsters. We also however get the likes of a Provorov or Meier(looks like a Murray type players who's also a RW)

I hate Bylsma, he doesn't strike me as all that good of a coach, just lucky to have great players. For instance the Olympics effort in the final game was embarrassing. As for Babcock I still think he could come here potentially, but my hope has diminished.

Is this good? 13th overall and a 4th plus Richards (1.5M retained) for the islanders pick

Why are PGA golfers smart? They have a lot of Masters.

West: Chicago: "Why worry about your shoulder, you have a Kane" Nashville: "Our goalie is not a type of noodle!" St.Louis: "Will sing blues if we lose/The boys are Backes" Minnesota: "Live up to the name of being Wild" Anaheim: "Hope to not quack under pressure" Winnipeg: "Ba ba ba Byfuglien and the Jets" Canucks: "Miller and the Twins" Calgary: "They play like they're on fire" East: NYR: "We like players with other city names." (Nashville, St. Louis, Pittsburgh: "Crosby, Malkin, and other people" Montreal: "What will the Price of victory be?" Ottawa: "A Stone's play away from the lottery" Detroit: "With their age, do they still have the wheels to fly?" Tampa Bay: "Leave you Thunderstruck" NYI: "For Nassau Coliseum!" Washington: "They'll win it all Ovintually, right?"

Graduating in 2 weeks with a BS in Information Systems of Business, nit exactly sure what I want to do.... Video games and/or Hockey (sports in general) are ideal. Any ideas? I came in 3rd place last year to get a PR internship with the Sabres... they hired 2.

So a more overall skilled Mike Weber with even more heart somehow. That was awesome, I remember seeing that before because my NaNa and PaPa were at the game. They were my great-grandparents tickets and they literally sat next to the tunnel. Occasionally they 'd inadvertently stall the Sabres coming on to the ice because the only way to their seats was across the team's path.

May I ask why he's like Schoney, I'm too young to actually know anything more than that he's good

Hockey isn't as physical as it used to be either, the NFL was actually behind in terms of protecting their players from dangerous hits. However, linemen still block, people still tackle, hits are still made. Hockey sorta requires what it has presently in able to working anyway similar to how its played now. Take out fighting with a rule, you'll get more slashing and hacking; let it phase out and you can allow brawls and such when things are egregious thus allowing the emotion out without the potential of even dirtier retaliatory tactics. Call the penalties on the books except that stupid jersey one, and purposeful hits to the head with both a suspension and a heavy fine which is then put into the retired player health fund. I want physical hockey, European hockey and Olympic hockey while fast is less fun to watch since it starts falling into the NBA trap where defense is practically non-existant because they can't touch anyone.

Bogosian to me was an ingenious pick up as a replacement for Myers since he fits better with the team in the long run. Even if he never puts up the points Myers does, he'll be a rock on defense for years to come and during the playoffs you can never have too many rocks who can still move. Risto and Zadorov are better off with Bogosian here than they were with Myers since Bogosian can take on harder defensive challenges, like Crosby, so the young guns don't have to be baptized in fire. Though I think the thing I like the most about him is that he has no less heart than Myers but adds grit. Myers' grit was rare and typically required someone pissing him off. And most of his grit was questionable due to his inexperience with play a more physical style. Bogo obviously knows how to be physical. Hockey IQ wise, I think Bogo has a slight advantage. Myers probably has a bit more offensively savvy but he seems to make at least a couple screw-ups a game in terms of getting burned due to his offensive mindset. Bogo while not quite as offensive zone gifted, seems to understand the whole rink rather than 1 zone. As in Bogosian can make more educated guesses in terms of when to step up and when not to than Myers. Bogo gets out of position due to hits occasionally, but that typically means he out of position briefly and still has a man, not giving up on-man rushes quite as often either. If I had to rate them Myers IQ- Offense 7, Defense 5, Neutral Zone 6, the Full rink 4 Bogo IQ - Offense 6, Defense 6.5, Neutral Zone, 6, the Full rink 6 Offensively Myers is more talented, and further along but Bogosian seems to only need more work and experience to create an offensive game of his own. Bogo reminds me a bit of Brett Seabrook of Chicago, plays a heavy 2-way game, knows how to get shots onto the net or to a place good for a tip.

Figuring out what to do after I finish college presently which is in a month.

You seem to see it as nothing but good changes, taking physicality out of hockey or football for that matter would be like taking the ball out of baseball. Making more effective helmets is the first thing they need to work on, we don't need full face masks or no helmet, no play rules but better made helmets would be an effective start. Harsher suspensions on purposeful head shots would at very least lessen the amount of players willing to do something like that, one would think. The combination of skill, speed, and physicality is what makes NHL hockey, NHL hockey. Fighting will slowly ease it way out of the game, but banning it will only create a larger problem elsewhere. Who wants more of the Phil Kessel lumberjack and less of Drew Stafford protecting his teammate? Additionally however the NHL and NFL need to really step up their game in post-career assistance to these players. For starters they need retirement assistance, rather it be some sort of player pool or the like, they certainly need physical assistance after they retire. More teams need to embrace their alumni, be proactive in helping them once they retire. I for one love seeing Sabres and Bills retirees still involved in the area, and I wish you saw even more. Teams themselves shouldn't need to further monetarily support players but they certainly seem to need the support from camaraderie they get from being around fellow players.

Edm is a classic example of what not to do, they've drafted the exact same player type almost exclusively in forwards in recent history. Hall & Nugent-Hopkins are both high skill forwards with varied 2 way play. Yakopov & Eberle are offensively great, defensively lacking All four have about as much grit combined as Girgensons does in any given game. McDavid is going to be Hall on steroids but still little grit Drasital is the alone in that he has physicality to his game and can play offense (in theory) Then they essentially signed grinders with a varied amount of skill to fill the Bottom 6. Defensively they lack any hopeful #1 D man Goalies seem to go there to die. Let's say McDavid boosts their goal output enough that they make it to the playoffs, they'd be physically manhandled by 85% of Western Conference teams. The only legitimate ?? would be Chicago but they have other ways to outplay you and their experience alone would likely rule the day.

Injury maybe? Seems odd to say the least.

I'd probably say their insane, to put that much worth in a single prospect is a risk so great that its in-perceivable. Edm would get one hell of a haul for him. Coyotes 2015: 2 1sts 2 2nds 2 3rds 1 5th 1 7th Coyotes 2016: 2 1sts (1 can become a 2017 1st) 1 2nd 1 3rd 1 5th 1 6th 1 7th

I think Eichel had at least some reason behind the signing, apology probably not, sole reason no, but it had to count for something. Maybe a tiebreaker of sorts For O'Connor I read that well after I posted.

If Chad Johnson wasn't under contract I'd be tempted to throw him a bone as a back up, but unless we trade Johnson, I see no reason to have 2 career back ups alternating when Niemi is out there.

Wise move I have to say, TM signs him to a 2 year deal that will likely entail mostly AHL time in order to see if he was made by Eichel or if he's good in his own right. If he can put up numbers in the AHL without Eichel, he's a great addition seeing as he'd already have chemistry with Eichel. If not, he could be a good AHL player whom can help younger players in the future due to his intelligence. This may also in a small way being GMTM apologizing to Eichel for the post-draft interview. Eichel's a team player, so Buffalo signing one of his undrafted teammates seems to point to we'll take care of a few of his friends in need. I guess this theory is more confirmed if we sign O'Connor in July after he has trouble getting a team to sign him.