Drunkard

I think this is overblown. The average service member spent something like 16 months on deployment during WWII. That happens much more regularly for soldiers these days along with multiple deployments, extensions, and stop loss measures where soldiers get extended passed their scheduled EAS dates (especially during the height of the Iraq war in the early-mid 2000's). Of course the percentage of people who served was way higher in the old days so I'd venture it's true for the population at large, just not on an old soldier vs recent soldier basis.

What do you expect from a masshole? I hope this is spot on. Based on Pegula's Pittsburgh fetish it seems all too likely that Pegula wanted DB after we lost out on Babcock.

Except a better draft pick and (most importantly) increasing the chances that DB gets fired. You can't possibly believe that if we lost our last 12 games it wouldn't increase the chances of Pegula giving Murray the green light to fire DB. I'd call that a tremendous gain for the team long term. I understand not wanting the team to lose, but to say there's no upside to it is just wrong. Unless you prefer DB to remain coach and you really feel there's absolutely no difference long term between drafting 5th or 14th this June.

I'd rather see us lose out, fire the coach, and get a better draft pick. Time to dust off the tanks for another 12 games.

Yep, the injury excuse would be a lot more valid if we actually played better now that the roster is relatively healthy. Our record with and without Eichel is pretty similar though.

I hope not. We need to stock up on as many young, cheap dmen that we can, especially considering the big raises that are upcoming for Eichel and Reinhart, along with a possible extension for Kane. I'd love to see Rochester stocked up with steady dmen to the extend we can given contract limits. Then it should be that much easier to start moving out the guys who are overpaid for their contributions on the ice.

I hope so too, but we'll see. I just hope DB is fired immediately after the season and Eichel and Reinhart are both signed to 8 year deals that get announced on 7/1/17.

Yeah, I wouldn't have a clue where to set the odds on it, but to me it's potentially a bigger hurdle on how to keep the core together than worrying about Kane's next contract. Especially if DB is retained and Reinhart is set on playing center. Our season will end way before July 1st so if DB isn't fired before then I'd say he's likely to return for the start of next season. Centers have more value and tend to earn more money than wingers as well. Murray could see this and "over pay" for Reinhart based on his abilities and potential or he could slight Reinhart by paying him for what he currently is (2nd line right winger) or offer him something in between. Some team that sees Reinhart as a top line center may be willing to pay him more than TM thinks he's worth, just like we were willing to pay ROR more than Colorado thought he was worth.

Exactly. Thanks, NS.

I heard he's a soft Euro that doesn't know how to grind those down. DB does not approve. He'll be below Gorges on the depth chart (E5).

Who's punishing anyone? O'Reilly was smart to do what he did and he did way better for himself financially because of it. At the same time though if we lose Reinhart over it, I'm going to be pissed. MacKinnon got paid just like Eichel is going to. O'Reilly was the odd man out in Colorado because they had MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, and whomever. There's a chance Reinhart could be the odd man out here because he won't be appreciated/prioritized the way O'Reilly, Eichel, and Ristolainen are/will be. Maybe Reinhart will feel undervalued here the way O'Reilly felt undervalued in Colorado. Then he gets his agent to send out feelers and as Taro said it just takes one team to make the offer. It could easily happen even though I hope it doesn't.

Exactly. Ryan O'Reilly was able to leverage his RFA status to get a good raise and reach UFA status at a young age so he could get a great offer from us. He was even able to force his team to trade him so they didn't risk losing him for nothing. Good thing we have him here to mentor our young blue chippers.

He's not our #1 center because he's not our best overall center. He's faster and a better scorer than O'Reilly but his overall game is not as strong so DB is going to continue to let ROR do the heavy lifting. I absolutely hate DB but I don't blame him for that.

Seems awfully convoluted for a guy who isn't supposed to give a f***.

We actually got snow in my town (Jacksonville, NC) yesterday but the ground was too warm to allow it to stick. This has still been the warmest winter in recent memory though. We've maybe had a month's worth of cold days sprinkled in from November through yesterday.

The cap disappears once the playoffs start, correct? Is there any way we can we put Gorges on waivers near the very end of the season and some team would pick him up for insurance purposes for the playoffs? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part because of his NTC or because teams wouldn't pick him up due to his contract having an additional year. I'd prefer to ditch the dead weight as much as possible. I'd like to get rid of Gorges and Franson and replace them with cheap replacements if true upgrades aren't available. I think Kulikov's injury is still nagging him and he was a solid player in Florida who should be able to regain that form. I'd take him back at a discount on a 1 or 2 year prove it type deal. We're stuck with Bogosian unless we leave him exposed and Vegas likes him more than Ennis or Girgensons or whomever we expose. McCabe and Ristolainen should be core pieces going forward. Kulikov could round out the top 4 with Bogosian if he heals and rebounds or we could split our best defenders and pair Kulikov with Ristolainen and put McCabe with Bogosian. The third pair could be had for cheap. Focus on giving younger guys a chance to develop with sheltered minutes or veterans with speed and passing even if they are prone to mistakes or have other holes in their game (no offense, weak positioning, bad stick work, etc.). Candidates include Guhle (hopefully he's ready), Falk, Fedun, Nelson, whomever else I'm forgetting and the bargain bin scrap him across the league.

$1 million for each shootout save.

I think that's the crux of the matter. I'd bet my bottom dollar that DB was a Pegula hire, not a Murray one and that Murray doesn't have the authority to fire him.

I liked the Yankees because of Mattingly and after the way they forced him to retire for Tito Martinez I said the Yankees and began rooting for the Mets. They proceeded to win about a dozen world series titles after that but I still don't like them whatsoever. The only time I root for them to win is when they play the Red Sox because Boston. I'd root for ISIS over Boston. I'd root for the devil himself over Boston. As George Carlin so eloquently put it, 'em in the ass with a big rubber dick.

Lucky kid. Over my life I've rooted for the Yankees (Mattingly era when they sucked), Mets (once Mattingly retired), Knicks, Sabres, and Bills. Why I bother to devote a single minute to this ongoing futility is a mystery to me.

He's good for throwing niceties out the door and announcing draft picks quickly. Other than that he's guided the tank and successfully gotten us from complete bottom feeders to almost playoff bubble status. Unfortunately the steps he's completed are much easier than the steps he's expected to complete (playoff team, perennial contender, multiple cusps, and hopefully at least one Cup). As a disclaimer I generally like TM and despise DB. I would like TM to send DB packing but I'm convinced that DB's hire was actually Pegula's call and he doesn't have the authority to can him. I'd love to see Mr. ZFG live up to his moniker and just fire DB without care for the repercussions but I don't expect that to happen. Instead I think DB stays until we come out the gate stinking up the joint next season and Pegula finally feels enough pressure to cave and fire Mr. Grind them down from Pittsburgh. I have no proof of any of this but it makes as much sense as anything else based on everything we know.

Seems like that would point to the coach being a big part of the problem as well.

Our Achilles heel is DB.

I'm not sure. If I had to speculate I don't think Murray did that song and dance because Lafontaine hired him before leaving but I could be completely wrong about that and PLF could have done his own version of stacking the deck the way Russ Brandon did with Rex Ryan (here's your red wine for Terry, flowers for Kim, and I've written these 3 Bible quotes down on index cards for you to casually bring up during the interview). We don't really know for sure though because all we have to go on are press conferences with 3rd rate journalists that don't even ask pertinent questions half the time and radio interviews that lob softball after softball and rehearsed answers.

We should have gone way over on money in order to reduce term. Instead of Moulson getting $25 million over 5 years we could have paid him $24 million over 4 years or something like $20 million over 3 years. We were closer to the floor than the cap and we should've paid the premium early in exchange for the added flexibility later on. Hindsight is 20/20 but that's what many of us were clamoring for even back then. Plus it would have been funny to see us get over the cap floor by paying a guy like John Scott $5 million to beat up Shawn Thornton.