Randall Flagg

Today's definitely a "learning experience" for Tremaine

Why would you challenge who recovers it?

I think the groudn caused that

Edmunds is not immune to struggles this week. Everyone else is trash today. Vikings and Packers up next ? I think our d-line is as bad as our o-line and weapons. If they want to stay at 1 and take Bosa, I won't be mad at all, considering there are supposed to be lots of OL later on. I guess I just think they were a 6-10 win team, like many others, and for once out of 20 years, they finally got the standings luck that every other team in that group received 4 different times during that stretch. No more, no less than that. THIS team, however...this reminds me of that 2011 or 2010 season, whatever it was, that took 8 weeks for the first win

Is this a bad time to point out that I think McDermott is the one of the most safe coaches in the NFL right now?

Coach has money on the first TD of the season being a Peterman strike, we won't be seeing them go for TDs until Allen gets hurt next quarter Well it wouldn't surprise me if the offense was only 22nd, it wasn't good. I'd be curious about the defense's points per game being skewed by that three week stretch (that hurt them accordingly, all losses, it's not as if they undeservedly had those games credit towards the playoffs) where they allowed like 150 points.

During that stretch? I doubt it. Who's the one not understanding? I'm not calling the Bills a good team, I'm pointing out that a particular narrative doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

The rest of the season in which they clinched a playoff spot with 3 wins in 4 December games, yah. There's a "-est team in NFL history" for five hundred different stats through two months any given season. And again, There were literally 5 interceptions in garbage time that puffed that up, and had no impact on winning or losing. When you remove those, they were literally a regular old football team winning games in regular ways.

That was a tacky call, that penalty shouldn't be a 10 yard one. Allen has been bad. Glad they got it back with the flag though.

I'd also actually specify that we were 11th in takeaways, and that number drops quite a bit if you get rid of the meaningless ones in games we lost by a lot or when we were up by 2 scores or more. Sometimes, you win games against the Falcons because your defense makes big plays, and that can be said for every NFL team in history

Dat zone defense with no pass rush

Ah yes, our historically great 9th place finish in turnover differential or whatever it was

Juan Castillo is probably my new least favorite member of the organization

It's so dumb that we're forced into starting the kid we wanted to sit all year by quarter number 5.

I guess Colton Schmidt was tailgating at the Ralph today haha.

Yes, that particular paragraph was posted after somebody saying that Pominville wasn't an issue because of his 30something points. I was an exasperated person for reasons that didn't have all that much to do with the Sabres at the time. I'm going to be going a lot easier on players this year than I have been in the past, being grounded a bit by things like the Lehner situation. While still firmly insisting that Pominville truly earns a spot if he wants one. Despite the lip service, last season, some spots were given and not earned. Do you know if the Bogosian and Sheary things are a "no reason for you to play in this" or do they already have sore spots/minor injuries? Also, holy crap Dahlin

Yep, it's certainly not a static thing. For example, you could even argue right now our top six is better than the END of last year, given Casey's probable progression and the absence of Kane, whereas taking a step back and including Kane and not knowing about Casey makes last year's look better overall. There's a real chance that by the END of this season we have better everything.

FWIW I think our top six is actually a tiny bit worse this year. But it wasn't for nothing as our depth,D, and G were all worse last year than our top six and all were addressed heavily at the slight expense of the top six, which is quite logical as a whole

So this is approaching the exact territory I posted about roughly 500 times this year because of how it happened last offseason. We talk about a winning culture and internal competition. But we shot ourselves in the foot with that regard last year, when, despite fans being completely done with Matt Moulson, and knowing that for a full calendar year before October 2017 he was not an NHL-caliber player, he got a spot on the team. Phil and co. literally said they didn't watch tape of the season before and were giving everyone a fresh slate, and Moulson made the team with the typical vet/locker room leader type talk. There was an element of "the guy has 14 goals and 30+ points in limited minutes last year, of course he's making the team!" from both the team and some fans. But most fans knew that Moulson was shot and we were not icing our best roster with him on it. It took 14 games of zero points and abominable play before he was vanquished from the roster. Right from the get-go we sabotaged ourselves on the ice and the element of honest competition. Moulson had the points, but anyone who watched us regularly in 16-17 saw that the degradation of his hands and his feet left him behind the play in every zone, incapable of either getting himself or the puck to key spots on the ice or even other teammates. The best play was usually a toss up dump around the boards, and anything else resulted in a straight turnover. It was impossible to play cohesive team hockey on the ice, and the dragging-anchor description was perfect for him for a full season, but our staff never watched that and let it hurt them for almost a quarter of the season. Our own zone was a disaster with him out there because he could not effectively get to his man in time, giving the other team all kinds of seams and space. It is literally the exact same thing w.r.t. Pominville, with the caveat that he was always smarter on the ice than Matt, and the level of play isn't quite as bad. But he is not one of the 14 best forwards in this organization, and I would argue this more passionately than I would any other topic about this team one could come up with. For all the same reasons as Moulson. it's too late for me to properly phrase things, so here are quotes I made right after the season that sum up my reasoning (and Kyle gets shredded too, but just pretend I'm only talking about Pominville): I think ultimately my disconnect with a lot of people stems from my problems with this team since we finished the tank. The results show that Pominville, Moulson last year, Kyle, these guys produced. In the end, production is all that really matters. Goals win games, right? I spent all game trashing Kyle against Ottawa and he pulls off an astounding single-handed effort and rips one top corner. But I still didn't feel dumb or any different. This team has been built, and its line-matching strategies have attempted to optimize, this type of production. It's why Jason gets put out with Jack half the season. It's why Moulson played in the top 6 for 1.5 seasons too long, and then still got power play time. In the end, Kyle is scoring, Jason is scoring, Matt is scoring, so the problem lies elsewhere, they say. But there's absolutely nothing sustainable about the play Kyle made. There's nothing sustainable about relying on armpit squeakers and Matty Mo somehow getting open in front of the net. You can't base your hockey team on this. You can't, in a larger sense, expect a 25% power play and pin your hopes of winning on playing low-event until your power play gets a chance. Both coaches have done this and both coaches have built lines on this expectation that the points are going to come and that's what matters. But that drives ME nuts, because again, every 3 games Jason or Kyle gets a goal (not really, it's more like 3 in 4 and then you go 16 without, but I digress) and the rest of the time we watch these two fumble away any attempt at maintaining offensive control in a league where the lack of an ability to do so has you getting clowned by teams that have mastered this and geared every facet of their organization, from drafting to minors to line combinations to line usage, towards making it happen. Mike Babcock's sole goal is to funnel the slot with as many pucks as possible, and go out of his way to acquire/teach guys to not only handle pucks there but to score from there. We've been perfectly fine as an organization with assuming Jack's good for a dazzling rush per game, and ROR can shrug off Doughty to walk in front and roof a backhand every game, both facing the brunt of opposing competition, and then paying little mind to the guys behind them and how they play, assuming they'll be able to produce against what's left, and not making any changes when they can't, riding out the season with Griffiths and Moulsons and Pominvilles and Larssons back there. This is so backwards from every team that sees success in today's NHL. And the reason I don't mind Wilson as much, even though in a top six role he has less production than Pominville, is because he actively contributes to sustainable hockey for our highest-chemistry duo. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eichel, Reinhart, ROR, Kane, Okposo, Rodrigues, Girgensons, Baptiste, Mittelstadt, Nylander, Wilson were all clearly better at the ins and outs of hockey, the stuff that happens between goals, the stuff that makes up 95% of the game, than Jason. If any one of these guys got Jason's time with Jack they'd produce too, and more importantly, they'd make a more cohesive unit with Jack and do a far, far better job of maximizing Jack's talent and limiting how much his line gets hindered. Kane is gone, but Pominville isonly getting older, and it should be EASY to make sure he isn't in the 12 man lineup. It needs to happen. It's only been 16 hours since the season ended, we cannot already be slipping into "well, it's okay to have Pominville in a prominent role, I mean he had 34 points". The season is too soon. He's useless, and giving meaningful ice time to players who are useless despite Jack's abilities is WHY we're here where we are right now. It's the kind of thing we need to break the cycle on this offseason, and not perpetuate. We did the same thing with Moulson last year, who had 34 points and was a zombie the entire year, and he gave us 0 points in 14 games, helping us to one of the worst starts in franchise history. Break the cycle Botterill. We are not tanking. replacement level players with NHL floors are not hard to come by. It is not acceptable to start this season with a healthy roster containing Pominville anywhere. ----------------------------------------------------- Wilson vs. Pominville as depth You need to watch Pominville try to play hockey with Jack, and then watch how good ROR-Reinhart-Wilson is. Wilson is a legitimate cog with hockey smarts and skating to set up plays, open space, and most importantly, effectively cycle the puck to ROR and Reinhart and let them do their thing. Pominville spends his time being unable to catch up to pucks that Jack puts into open areas, and desperately trying to get back into the play after yet another offensive failure. Find examples of each of the two on the wing in their own zone, the team ready to transition out. Wilson gets the puck to the support. Pominville loses it to the other team, every, single, time. I'm just going to stop talking now because I feel like I just finished watching a different season from everyone This sounds needlessly harsh, but it was written with the hockey fresh in my mind, one day after the last game of the year. Of being able to see firsthand why our team was a bad hockey team. That Pommers was in a spot that was helping his stats but light-years from maximizing Jack, the team's record, or the team's passing structure, not only doesn't mean that he's fine there and a good hockey player, but is actually a major reason why we were such a bad team. Pominville could come into camp reinvigorated and rightfully earn a spot on the team, but to be genuine it would be a role player on a depth line sheltered with kids, and until we see that happen he's not a top 12 forward in the org. We're losing 47+ games again if he's used even remotely similar to how he was last year. I'm fine with him as a 13/14th forward but we shouldn't let waivers being scary stop us from icing Tage and Rasmus and Alex if they are the best hockey players for those spots, like we did last season keeping Griffiths and Moulson over Baptiste and stuff like that, only now we have enough bodies that those decisions will be even more ridiculous.

Update: Coyotes to name OEL their captain.

There's such a peculiar thing about summer. Even though I actively keep tabs on it, I, like John, tend to lock Pominville in. The only thing that keeps that from being permanent is that I trust my takes from when the hockey was fresh that this is unacceptable - not unacceptable for him to have a chance to win a role, just unacceptable for it to be locked in given his performance last year. It's amazing how time removes the worst memories. I don't even mind Beaulieu with Bogo, until I trust my past self and realize that if we really want to play cohesive NHL hockey, these guys cannot have more than depth/injury roles.

This has become one of the most routine things for RFAs that there is, it seems. I'm not going to worry unless I'm watching a Sam-less Sabres take on Boston October 4th. Then I'll be pretty pissed.

Update: Carolina has named Justin Williams their captain.

Florida Panthers Record last season: 44-30-8, 96 points, 4th in the Atlantic Playoffs: None Coach: Bob Boughner GM: Dale Tallon Captain: Derek MacKenzie (what) GF: 245 (14th) GA: 243 (18th) PP: 18.9% (21st) PK: 80.2% (16th) Top 5G: 1.) Vincent Trocheck (31) 2.) Evgeni Dadonov (28) 3.) Aleksander Barkov (27) 4.) Jonathan Huberdeau (27) 5.) Nick Bjugstad (19) Top 5A: 1.) Aleksander Barkov (51) 2.) Keith Yandle (48) 3.) Vincent Trocheck (44) 4.) Jonathan Huberdeau (42) 5.) Evgeni Dadonov (37) Top 5 PTS: 1.) Aleksander Barkov (78) 2.) Vincent Trocheck (75) 3.) Jonathan Huberdeau (69) 4.) Evgeni Dadonov (65) 5.) Keith Yandle (56) Key Additions: Mike Hoffman (LW), Michael Hutchinson (G) Key Losses: Radim Vrbata (RW), Connor Brickley (C) Projected Lineup: Huberdeau - Barkov - Dadonov Hoffman - Trocheck - Bjugstad McGinn - Borgstrom - Sceviour Vatrano - McCann - Malgin Matheson - Ekblad Yandle - Pysyk Kiselvich - Petrovic Luongo Reimer Top Prospects we might/might not see 1.) Henrik Borgstrom, C, 1st round 2016 2.) Owen Tippett, RW, 1st round 2017 3.) Grigori Denisenko, LW, 1st round 2018 (Grigorenko's second attempt to enter the NHL thru the draft above age 18) 4.) Aleksi Heponiemi, C, 2nd round 2017 5.) Serron Noel, RW, 2nd round 2018 My thoughts This is honestly a good team. Last season they tied for, I believe, the most points ever without making the playoffs. Two 75-80 point centers, both of whom excel defensively, is a great start. Huberdeau and Dadonov are very good top six wingers, and their one clear player exchange (losing Vrbata, adding Hoffman) is a very clear upgrade. Hoffman can skate and he can wire the puck. Borgstrom is an exciting prospect and should be good in a depth role. Malgin and McCann are, I'm almost positive, very good depth players. The forward group is in the bottom of the top 10 in the league for me. The defense has holes but won't be a huuuuge issue IMO. They'd really like one more top 4 guy as would most teams. If Luongo is healthy that is their weak link. If Luongo is battling age and injuries, then their weak link shifts to goaltending. If this is the case, they will likely miss the playoffs, though not by more than 10 points. If Luongo continues to be good they will grab a wild card spot and be a stronger-than-average team for the division leader to face compared to most years.

I don't mind starting Okie there, but if things ain't working (and I could see either wing being non-ideal for Jack) I just hope we remember the whole Casey-Kyle thing that was going on those last six games