DarthEbriate

I don't think GM Sheevyn would say Okposo in that sentence. Because there's blocking youth and there's blocking youth. Last year, Quinn and JJP had some names cleared in the offseason: Hayden, Caggiula, Eakin. The folks they had to beat for playing time were Bjork, Hinostroza, Sheahan, and Asplund. It's still TBD which players are cleared out this offseason. But, currently the players that Savoie, Kulich, and Rousek are pushing on for the bottom 6 (if JJP-Cozens-Quinn is a 2nd line): Hinostroza, Greenway, Jost, Mitts, Girgs, Krebs, KO, and VO (or JJP or Quinn). That's a step up in talent (especially offensively) from Bjork, Sheahan, and Asplund. And I believe Sheahan-Girgs is a push; Girgs has much better wheels. Based on what I saw in Seattle, Savoie gets a good look in October, but needs another year to grow physically and doesn't get game 9 this season. He's too good for the WHL, but a day too young to be where he belongs in Rochester. Kulich also gets another full season in Rochester to bulk up with a callup or two along the way. Rousek is the 12/13 in Buffalo. If the goal is playoffs, you want NHL veterans and physically mature players for the season's grind and not even more kids under 21. (And yes, a vet 3/4D and goalie too, but I'm trying to stick to forwards.)

Does Canada go with Levi today? (or do they go home without a medal?)

Jackikin Eichwalker: "I have brought peace, freedom, and wins over Stars to my new Empire."

KO is still solid. He’s going to win board battles and help the youth. He and Z turned Krebs from a positionless player at the start of last season into a grinder center with a ton of value for this team. Maybe KO can replicate that with Savoie. KO is only 1 year removed from 45 points (when he had a PP role) and still managed 28 pts last season with a much smaller PP role (some PP2 time); not bad for a bottom 6. His downside is he won’t get any faster and he started to take more hooking penalties last season than you want to see. He’s got to clean that up a bit. But in the playoffs they don’t call hooks anyway.

Never forget Dalpe! 21 gp in the Eichel tank season. He won 60% of his faceoffs and had linemates like D'amigo, Ellis, Hodgson, and Varone.

Your Johnson thread is 20 pages long, but the watch is over.

Kulich no goals. Slacker.

There will be no escape for the princess Hershey giving up 2 or fewer this time.

They were going full Alamo Death Star mode way too early. The thing is... the Death Star only needs one shot. Two shots. Nice.

Ah, yes... this one. This was JBot trading the 2018 BUF 6th (156 overall, 1st pick in the 6th round because the Sabres had finished dead last) during the draft to Toronto (Dubas) who had just finished with 105 points (3rd in the Atlantic and seemingly on an upward trajectory) for the 2019 TOR 6th. So... he was banking on the Sabres beating the Leafs in the standings in 2018-19? I guess? The 2019 TOR 6th was 177th overall (21 spots later). The Sabres didn't use it. Instead, they packaged it and the 2019 BUF 7th to move back up into the 5th round for Cederqvist. Hey! A good selection for a 5th as he's helping the Amerks. However, the reason they didn't have their own 5th is because it was traded to PIT for tweener F Scott Wilson to help bring that Pittsburgh know-how. The player Toronto selected with 156 was Pontus Holmberg who has 37 NHL gp and just had a nice series (in a losing effort) for the Marlies. So you could read this as Dubas wanted this guy, moved up, and didn't have to give up anything to make the trade and selection.

I don't know what that is. 😇 But their wingspan is only a bit shy of an Eta-2 Actis class interceptor....

Hope he gets in in game 3 with the Amerks up 2-0 and no pressure so he can play a little looser.

Like... UPL bad? Canada is giving everyone a chance... something they didn't do during the Olympics. Maybe they're just saving Levi for the knockout rounds? Right, Canada?

Option 1: If you must retain the lottery, make it a true lottery. All non-playoff teams get equal odds. The downside is the lack of 1st round picks traded and you'll always have the possibility of whining about "Bettman's favorite" or "big market" winning the lottery... which happened this year anyway. Option 2: Do away with the lottery entirely. Worst team picks first. It takes a minimum of 2 seasons to break a competitive team down to the studs to get to Bedard/McDavid level, so if you want to go for it, go for it. It might be 4 years before you're even competitive again (McDavid/Draisaitl), and it may be 10 or more (Sabres). If you're an owner, that's a long time. If you're a GM, you probably won't be around then anyway.

As long as Milic isn't on the Hershey, Savoie will be alright. That said, I at least let him get a couple practices in before allowing him to dress for a playoff game. I also just watched 3 games vs. the T-birds, and while he looked dynamic at times, he also disappeared for long stretches and was overpowered a whole bunch. I'm tempering my expectations for when Savoie starts playing against adults who can take away time and space from him even better than the T-birds did.

Only 2 of them are even defensible. Disco Dan had the Cup-pedigree with Pitt, and also had played for Anaheim under Babcock and would work the heavier style team GMTM was wanting. Housley was one of the hot assistants (based on NSH's D) leaguewide looking to make the jump that offseason and what better place than a team you played for? They even went out and added Montour for him -- Dahlin/Montour, Risto was still young then and maybe even salvageable, the D-pipeline looked good for that setup. Then, they went and Kruegered it. I guess Nolan was defensible, too, as long as knew understood he was bantha fodder for the McEichel tank.

Following Krueger's defensive orders and playing fewer minutes than Ristolainen. Same as Dahlin.

This is the way. If a franchise is going to have something like 5 ownership switches/reconfigurations in 20 years, leave one city for a grass-is-greener situation, not pay rent for that greener grass, have a couple scandals in the front office, forfeit a 1st round pick for rules violations, constantly tank, constantly siphon revenue sharing, and get turned down by a 3rd city who would rather have a landfill than their garbage... maybe they just don't deserve to be there. They're besmirching the good names of Khabibulin, Teppo, and... I dunno... Jason Doig. (Doig is an OK name.) I applaud Cooley for seeing to his best interests and hope that other players do the same. Maybe when no one wants to be there (including Auston Matthews), then Bettman will allow the franchise to move. I do hope Cooley is able to get some NIL and cash on the side while he Gophers it for a couple seasons and then hits the UFA market.

Savoie (and Benson too) seemed hell-bent on getting in one-on-one and deking him for something ice level and Milic wasn't having any of it. I don't know if Savoie got a single shot elevated in the final 3 games. The Ice's final power play was clinic in T-bird defensive positioning and waiting for the perfect shot. It resulted in 0 shots on goal when trailing by one.

The T-birds are beasts. Milic with the deserved tourney MVP. Savoie had 27 points coming into the series. His stats vs. Seattle in the final: 5 games, 0-2-2, 23 shots, and -4

That's a nice penalty shot. Hauser's leg just wasn't extended quick enough. A two-goal cushion for the T-birds and with the way they play defense and how hot Milic is, that's going to be tough to overcome.

There goes that. 1-0 Seattle on a deflection, which feels like the only way someone scores tonight.

Yup -- he or Suchanek as a 5th/6th to take an Amerks backup role next season and... maybe someday something more. But that way you have someone ready to play if Subban or Houser wants to test UFA.

The Sabres need to draft Milic with a mid/late-round pick so that Savoie doesn't ever have to face him in a game situation and can work on his shot in practice. Milic owns him.

This is excellent news. I'm excited to see what he can do. He was getting decent minutes for his age in the KHL and did just fine. And the Amerks really needed this. Glotov does show up in their system on Eliteprospects, but it seems unlikely.