dudacek

If they miss the playoffs or even don't go on a run, it absolutely did not, at least not the way it was immediately intended. Jack was acquired to put a contender who had been to the final 3 of the prior 4 years over the top.

I think the key distinction here is "this is why Jack Eichel's career has been disappointing TO ME." 😄 I had expectations for what he would be or have accomplished by now that have not been met. They are generalities for the purpose of illustration, not a hard-and-fast checklist. And they are absolutely arbitrary. Of course there are reasons and extenuating circumstances. Choosing not to enumerate them all is not 'willfully skewing'. Are you disappointed in Jack Eichel's career to date? Has he met your expectations?

I'm not arguing against your point. He very much 'tracked' over the first half of his career. But after 8 years, I expected Jack Eichel to have a body of work that cemented him in the conversation of "top 10 players in the NHL". That hasn't happened. To be a Perreault or Lafontaine, he should have had that "peak year" as top 5 scorer by now. It hasn't happened. He should have had multiple top-20 finishes in scoring. That hasn't happened. Multiple 80-point seasons. That hasn't happened. Even if he had stayed on for a healthy 80 points this year, that would still be disappointing to me. With him in his prime years and scoring way up the way it is, he should be gunning for 100 right now. He climbed to the edge of the table of "best in the game" and instead of staying there for 8 or 9 of the next 10 years, he's fallen off it altogether. He's less than I thought he would be and think he should be, given his talent. And yes, he still has plenty of time to change the narrative.

Yeah, I'm not trying to bash Eichel or ignore the context, more taking a look at the big picture. I think it's safe to say we all thought he would be a perennial top-20 point-scorer, with multiple incursions into the top 5 like a Perreault or a Lafontaine. His career is half over and his year-by-year rankings are: 58, 53, 52, 23, 10, 287, 334, 103 So much unrealized promise.

It's actually the skill level of Tuch that has surprised me. I knew he was a missile through the neutral zone, but he is better at entries than I thought, and smart, looked-off passes in full flight like the one to Thompson last night are something that he can do at an elite level. I didn't know he could bait guys the way he does to make plays. But the one thing that has been a revelation is his "checking" – not defence, or physical punishment, but the actual act of taking a puck away from another player through a combination of speed, strength, hands and anticipation. I can't remember seeing a forward as talented in that area. Again, he baits guys.

I'm glad you did. The "bash Eichel to make us feel better" pile-on is something I've tried to avoid, but the idea that Tuch objectively might be a better player right now is interesting to me. it's not piling on Eichel to admit that he is 8 years into his career and for one reason or another has never fully realized what he could be save for that glorious 60-game run in 2019-20. To your question, Eichel has 34 points in 36 games, Tuch 54 in 48.

Better talent: Eichel Better player right now: I've seen Eichel hit higher highs, but I think Tuch is pretty clearly having a better season and consistency matters. Better asset: Tuch rather easily, considering Eichel's run of health issues and the intangibles of each, but most importantly Tuch's cap hit of less than half Eichel's Better player for the Buffalo Sabres organization? Tuch in a landslide Not posting this because of any ill will toward Eichel. I always expected to lose any Eichel trade. The gains would be fresh air and cap space, with the hope one of the 'futures' might surprise and make up for the talent gap. But Eichel continues to fall short of what he could be and Tuch has been an on-ice revelation.

Who do you think is the better player right now, Tuch or Eichel? The better asset moving forward?

Barring injury, it's almost given, I'd say. And he doesn't play the type of game that invites injury. Kid plays the game in a rocking chair at 20, and he'll be doing it at 40.

Not talking about he “lazily” part, but I have noticed his pressure allowing changes. Krebs and Skinner also seem out there late in shifts in a similar fashion. Don’t notice any one guy doing it more on the Cozens line.

But they are the youngest, highest-scoring team in the league. I think they need more experience and the reliability that come with it — especially if Girgs and Kyle aren't back

You know that when that when we finally actually blow one and that record becomes 21-1-4, we are going to hear a chorus of "i told you! You can't get away with that forever!"

The kids double, but the vets are contractually mandated by the CBA to get their own rooms if theywant. Not sure how many games or what age qualifies you for the perk.

I know there has been an actual shutout, but I'm not sure the team has offered their goalie a better opportunity for a shutout this season than last night. Backcheckers snuffed out any sniff of an odd-man rush before it became dangerous and I can only recall two blocks of sustained pressure in our zone the entire night. That Comrie allowed two goals in the second of them is a little troublesome, but we checked well overall, and the best defence really is having the puck all night. It might have been a 3-2 game but in terms of run-of-play that was as dominating a performance we've seen. We did what we wanted and they couldn't do a thing.

Lots of things to like about this game, but this should mean we are going to be relevant for a long, long time. I think we are watching the two best defencemen in franchise history, and they might be playing together for a decade.

Yeah, if you are talking the Cam Neely, Rick Tocchet, Mike Foligno role, no one does, really. Tom Wilson, is he good enough? I mean Matt Tkachuk barely qualifies, he doesn’t really fight and he’s almost more of superpest than a power forward anyway. Power forward today means to me a guy who can overpower you in the corners and driving to the net with his combination of strength and speed.

I don't agree at all with the idea that making a Meier-type deal is outside Adams' style. IMO, one of the reasons he's been hoarding cap space and assets instead of spending them on the Ben Chairots and David Perrons of the world is to keep his powder dry for those times the Timo Meiers and Jakub Chychruns become available. He's not against acquiring good players, they just have to fit in with the rest of what he's building.

😂 Because... He fits and he fits even better if he's been added as an upgrade to Olofsson, rather than an addition to him. Some of us are going to have to move away from grasping the prospects too tightly. Olofsson, Mitts, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Rosen, Poltapov, Kisakov, Savoie, Östlund, Kulich and this year's 1st can't all be core forwards. On a team that already has Skinner, Thompson, Tuch and soon Cozens on term, not even all of Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Savoie, Östlund, Kulich can. Sacrificing the potential of one or two of them for more of a sure thing, it's going to become a necessity.

That’s certainly what I’d be trying for: effectively, it becomes futures not on the NHL team for upgrading Olofsson into Meier. And yes, I’d consider switching Peterka or Quinn into the package, but that would make the package a lot smaller.

To my way of thinking it's pretty similar to the Sabres/Avs ROR trade in 2016. Meier is a similar level player in a similar contract situation. Zadorov ---> mid-first pick living up to that ---> Östlund Grigorenko ---> mid-first pick looking less than that ---> Rosen Compher ---> recent high 2nd pick --> Poltapov 2nd ---> high 2nd ---> Philly's 2nd The Sabres also got Jamie McGinn, so factor that in as you will. If a Savoie or a Kulich is on the table, then one of the other parts probably gets dropped.

To be clear, a $10 million qualifying offer does not mean a $10 milion long-term contract. What that qualifying offer does is give Meier an extra hammer when it comes to negotiating his next contract, whether its with San Jose, or whatever team they grant a negotiating window to. Management has to add one year at $10 million into the calculation of whatever offer they think is fair. Brock Boeser was in a similar window last summer when he was an RFA one year away from UFA. He had a $7.5 qualifier but signed a 3-year $6.6 million deal. Tkachuk just got $9.5 and Rantanen $9.2 and they are at the top of the list of "power forward" type wingers. I'm thinking his contract with term probably starts with an $8.

For sure, but hype also plays a role. Not sure how he's perceived in Buffalo, but in Canada, or certainly Vancouver, Elias Pettersson is perceived as franchise centre and Nico Hischier is thought of as a good but disappointing draft pick. That's because of how excited Petersson got everyone with 66 points in 71 rookie games, then followed it up with a better points per game sophomore season, while Nico put up a more pedestrian 52 and 47. Canuck fans wouldn't trade Petterson for 2 Hischiers and would melt down if you suggested they are even close to the same tier. Yet EP has 277 career points, Hischier has 242. EP plays for one of the league's most dysfunctional teams while Hischier is the captain of this year's breakout franchise. To me, the biggest difference is that Petterson plays in one of the top 3 hockey-crazed markets in the league and Hischier plays for the what, the 9th most popular team metro New York?

I like Jost. I chuckle over how well-liked he seems to be compared to Mittelstadt. He's not better or more useful. He's just never disappointed you. *** Just one year ago in Colorado, Jost was Mittelstadt, with more games played and less production — a skill centre picked in the top 10 then rushed to the NHL where fans got tired of waiting for him. This is what the Colorado fan base was saying when he got traded a little under a year ago: I don't know ***** about Sturm, but Jost is gone!! That experiment was about 3 years too long. YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Save $1,250,000 add a big body and get rid of Jost for this year and next, wins all around We could get Sturm to work as a seat usher and I’d still be happy with the return. I wish Jost well but it was mostly a frustrating tenure with the Avalanche. I really thought he had put it all together last year playing with Donskoi and Nichushkin, but he regressed so hard this year that it became obvious last year was smoke and mirrors. Glad to see Jost gone, just wasn't working here, he is not a bottom 6er, PKer. I hope he can gain some traction for his career. But hopefully not too much, since f*** Minnesota. This is a strategic move for when the Avs play the Wild in round 2. They know exactly where to attack now Jost is good people person but bad hockey person. We’ve all been so excited about Jost leaving that I just now noticed that Sturm’s name isn’t even spelt right in the thread title :laugh: Looks like Sakic had enough of Tyson Jost's inability to bring anything to the table and decided to doff him off for a Nico Sturm who likely doesn't bring anything to the table we were never winning a cup with him playing any sort of significant role in the playoffs There's more...

Such a year-to-year thing, isn't it? And a lot of it is determined out of the hype centres that generate so much of the internet chatter. One of these guys is having easily his 2nd-best statistical season ever, the other easily his best: 47 25/28/53 +20 47 23/30/53 +13 The former will be in almost every conversation about top 5 players in the league. The latter probably won't be mentioned in many conversations about the top 50. They are tied for 20th in NHL scoring.

It's all just exercises in math that ultimately don't mean a thing (we still need to win, they need to lose). But when he says we need 41 points in our next 35 games for an even chance, that doesn't seem too daunting at all. We've played 2 points behind that pace over our past 35 and well above it for our past 25.