DHawerchuk10

I'm not sure what he sees in Kane. I see a younger Chris Stewart quite frankly.

Perhaps he was a victim of his own early success. I would certainly agree with that, however, the majority of folks only raved about him because of what they thought he could progress into...he has instead, regressed. I disagree with everything else you said though. "GMs and analysts don't agree with you". Says who? The rumor mill? I am not sure this matters anyway. GMs and analysts miss all the time. They tend to do what everybody else does and fall in love with size. Myers is like that bad boy in high school that every girl thinks she can change. I guess my opinion doesn't matter a whoot either, outside of complaining making me feel better.

When hype doesn't match performance the result is a very polarizing player. As I have said before, if Myers was 6'1, I highly doubt even the true believers would be singing about "his potential" so much. And therein lies the frustration, in that he doesn't play like a 6'8 defenseman, yet people use this as an argument "Alamo" when all other excuses fail (i.e. "can't teach size", "6'8 guys don't grow on trees"). He's not an imposing force whatsoever, and in fact, he's almost the complete opposite, and gets easily taken off the puck. If he can't impose his will on other players (and there are NO indications he ever will), size is meaningless. When you take size out of the equation, what do you have left with Myers? In my mind, a pretty mediocre NHL defenseman.

Nope, give me Fowler and I will walk away a happy man. I'm not sure what upsets me more about Myers, his average/below average play spotted by excellence, or the legions of apologists who refuse to see that their is nothing more you are ever going to get out of him.

Tell your buddy Zadorov doesn't wear #57. The numbers can be confusing from a distance.

If that were true, even remotely, Buffalo would not be as historically bad as they are right now. By what measure, observational or statistical, makes you think that? I'm not seeing much....he's not falling down all the time, but he's still getting outmuscled by the likes of Deharnais. For his size, that is just flat out inexcusable.

I wouldn't do the trade solely because I think Ennis is a better player.

Yeah, I'm somewhat puzzled why folks think so highly of this guy. Granted, I've only really seen him against the Sabres, but the current write-ups and his stats don't really scream "Go get this guy". I'm with wookie on this one. If I was Murray, I'm not giving up much IF I decide to take a risk on Kane. And that is a big IF based on his immaturity issues.

I wonder who would be coming back the other way?

The comparison is more from the viewpoint that his potential has blinded people of his real production, which is average at best. They are also power forwards who are good in spurts and can play physical, but leave you thirsting for more both from a physical perspective and production. Maybe I'd trade Hodgson for him...but that is pretty much it. Attitude issues are a major red flag, and this team needs none of that going forward, especially with all the other young talent we are about to cultivate.

Evander Kane isn't that appealing either. He scored 30 goals once....big whoop. He's the same player as Chris Stewart with more tread on his tires. Not worth the hoopla he is getting.

What makes that '92-'93 team even stranger was that their supporting cast was pretty darn solid. A young Audette, young May, Presley, Hannan, Wood, Bodger, Carney, Khmylev, Sweeney....not world beaters, but not fringe AHLers either. Its hard to believe we lost seven in a row to end the season that year.

To add to your point, it also depends on how much, we as fans, have invested into that particular player. If you jumped on the Tyler Myers bandwagon from the start, and are a charter member of his fan club, generally speaking, you are going to see him through rose colored glasses thus jading your opinion. I was a charter member of the Thomas Vanek excuse makers club, so I am fully aware of this phenomenon. Oddly enough, when you hear people refuse to recognize glaring faults in a player and defend them to the bitter end, it makes the opposing side dislike that particular player even more.

I don't mind Edwards' "homerism" as much as his lack of hockey knowledge. He reminds me of a fan who wants to come off as smart, so he just parrots what he hears from other media outlets without doing any thinking or observing on his own. Edwards is directly responsible for having me go from Center Ice to Game Center. Every time the Sabres played the Bruins on Center Ice, they would always carry the NESN feed. Enough was enough, so I purchased an Apple TV with Game Center to pick my feed.

Yeah, I am blown away by that notion as well. To consider we are potentially part of a multi-verse, and my brain starts oozing out of my ears. If you are ever fortunate (or unfortunate) to take a class in signal analysis, that is when the real fun starts. Younger folks seem a little more adept at this sort of thing than when I attended school, but this was definitely a weed out class at UB way back when. The average grade was around a 23, and the professor only applied a minor curve (i.e. everything below a 50 was an F). The final exam looked like it was something found on the ship from Roswell.

Be grateful you don't. Power Series will make your head explode. In all seriousness, Diff Eq is pretty easy if you have to take it. If you took Physics at UB, it is a complete waste of time. Nothing but deriving equations, and absurd problems (i.e. the magical "frictionless surface"). Hopefully they breathed life into that curriculum since I went there, because teaching just theory without practical context is a sure fire way to turn off people's brains.

Those were simpler times.

I didn't know the terrorist group was into ranking emerging hockey talent? "Death to the infidels! Allah be praised, Connor McDavid is the number 1 prospect"

Lucic is a candy a$$. Great to see Prout cave in his face.

well, I disagree with your disagreement. Smehlik is Myers' upside in my opinion. He was exactly like Mike Wilson the past couple years (outside of an occasional burst, he fell a lot, and got beat on the outside). Hopefully this year he'll progress past that. Disagreement aside, I'm just excited you drew a comparison and gave a thoughtful opinion outside of the typical "he's a good skater", "he has size", "he won the Calder and has potential".

I agree with you totally. I am totally baffled why people think Myers is anything special. I will admit he has been solid so far this year, which is a huge departure from how he started other seasons. But I haven't seen him do anything spectacular. Nobody ever seems to respond, but I am genuinely curious what people think his upside is. Nobody ever wants to hear this, but he draws serious comparisons to Mike Wilson, another large defenseman from years gone by. Myers has more offensive ability than Wilson, but on the defensive side, I see no difference. Neither of them utilize(d) their size properly. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, what is the point of having a 6'8 defenseman who isn't intimidating? The guy doesn't have to fight everyone in sight or throw huge checks every shift, but he could skate with a carton of eggs out there without breaking any right now. So to me, his size doesn't mean anything. His skating ability is really nothing to write home about either. "Skates well for a big man" is an under-handed compliment. It equates to...."Wow, I would expect you to fall over every two seconds, so the fact you show some dexterity is amazing".

1999. Even without the injuries, its difficult to say whether we would have beaten the Canes. I think people assumed that based on the hope generated from the Ottawa series. Based on legitimate hope, I would vote for 2006, but I don't agree we would have walked through the Canes or Oilers. That is a false assumption that gets worse over time.

I suppose it depends on what circles you run. This lost me a bet once, and everybody looked at me like I was a crazy person for even suggesting Ruuttu was traded for Hasek. Yeah, this ranks pretty high with me as well...definitely top 10, especially seeing that McDonagh is developing into an all-star.

Or put the MSNBC spin on it..... "Vanek faked an injury during the Bruin series because George Bush told him to."

Outside of being a lopsided trade, this was the most blurred trade of all time. Very few people remember it was really Christian Ruuttu traded for Hasek.