dudacek

Could someone actually be below Ristolainen?

Oh god…

That’s a helluva chintzy call given the way this game has been officiated.

The Sabres defence as a whole is defending very well today. Need some offence.

Mule has a ways to go, but he can execute simple stick and body defensive plays better than any young defencemen we’ve seen here in a long time.

Damn, Drew Doughty looks like he’s still got it tonight.

Asplund and VO tend to play too much For Your Eyes Only.

This is already the best broadcast of the year.

Brent Peterson killed a lot of penalties but didn’t score many goals. Grier?

Has Power’s play slipped at all, or just his production? One would hope that the disappointment of the Olympics and the WJCs might fuel the desire for a great Frozen 4 run, but the investigation into Michigan has to put some oil in those waters.

Jesus man… Words fail. Feeling for you both.

Expectations are a funny thing. His play this winter has changed things, but lack of hype over Power last summer and fall seemed unprecedented for a 1st overall pick. I think it can be explained by a fan base tired of being falsely told some kid was going to save them. I wonder if the same thing is a factor with Ryan Johnson and Isak Rosen. I can’t recall a pair of 1st rounders being less talked up. Compare them to a young Mark Pysyk or Drew Stafford, who were very similar-level prospects.

Would you take a 1st for him, max retention? Nick Foligno got a 1st and a 4th last year with 7 goals at the trade deadline. His cap hit was $5.5, he was 33 and he hadn’t topped 35 points the 3 previous years. I don’t think there’s any argument this year’s Okposo is a better player than last year’s Foligno.

Umm... @spndnchz@nfreemanwhy are so many topics now locked all of a sudden?

Yes. And the process starts at the trade deadline. We want to believe.

Please tell us Eakin is now a Leaf or a Bruin.

Sure, but you can offer him a lesser figure in exchange for term and he should take it. Hes not getting $7.5 million with term from anyone as a 25-goal 50-point winger. It would be a 1-year thing. It’s not the qualifying offer so much for Vancouver as it is committing to him as a core player with their cap situation as Rutherford tries to get better and faster.

Got a chuckle at Paul Hamilton this week. He was talking about how Jack and Sam will be treated when they return to Buffalo this month. Paul says Jack might get booed, but Sabres fans love Sam. If anyone says anything bad about Sam, Sabres fans jump all over them. I wonder who was saying something bad about Sam 😄

And it’s not just the IQ - he can’t pass and he doesn’t shoot.

Girgensons is big, fast, versatile, defensively strong, and never stops hustling.He’s not good offensively, but he can contribute at an acceptable bottom 6 level. He”s a useful player even on a Stanley Cup contender and is in the starting lineup of any team in the league. He deserves some success and I never understood how a “blue collar Buffalo underdog” who gets hockey could possibly dislike him.

He was out last night. The forward lineup was ridiculously top heavy: Murray, R2, Peterka, Quinn,Weissbach and 7 guys who would be in the ECHL if we were close to healthy.

it’s all about contracts and opportunity cost. I think Boeser at 6/6 at 25 would be better than Victor Olofsson at 5/5 at 26. I also think Olofsson at 4/4 is better than Boeser at 7/7. The best target on the Canucks might actually be Garland. He’s got an Alex Tuch deal and he’s the same age. And he’s fast. I’m sure you’ve noticed how speed looks like it could be a defining characteristic of the team Adams is building.

I don’t think he’s “good” and we need to upgrade him, but I like John Hayden. I like his hustle, his diligence, how hard he is on pucks, and how he always has the backs of his teammates. Too bad his offensive abilities are below NHL level.

The most exciting thing about this was the “hockey trade” part. First indication we’ve really seen from Adams that he wants to get better through the acquisition of real players, as opposed to draft-and-develop. Coupled with the cap space, it doesn’t just mean taking on cap dumps from contenders, it also means targetting hockey teams hitting the reset button. Teams like Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg and Philadelphia who are hard against cap and need to sell talent to buy cap space. For example, the Canucks will likely be selling Brock Boeser. Or the Habs might want to part ways with Joel Edmundson or David Savard. Real NHL hockey players that our cap space could allow us to buy without sacrificing much talent.

That was a taste of what could have been this year. By that, I mean that was the first time all season we had Tuch playing along with what appeared to be the pre-injury-level versions of Olofsson and Mittelstadt. It sure made a difference in the forward line rotation, and Donnie’s long-preached ability to be able to outscore our mistakes. More please.