DarthEbriate

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.

I'd reassign him to join the team, but like Nadeau I wouldn't put him in the lineup. The team is in fire and just got Cederqvist back. Jobst is red hot and also has a full-grown body, if short. I dig Savoie's game, but having watched the past 2 vs. Seattle, he's on the ice a lot. Reino was given a bunch of gruff in his D+1 (and D+2 full rookie) seasons because he was off his skates a bunch. That was in the NHL. Savoie is a still a very slight guy. He was on the ice a bunch against a big (relatively) Seattle team. Including Korchinski straight up tackling him (no call) on a rush along the boards. Savoie doesn't need to get run over by adult AHLers this season. Based on what I saw, he's a 13F next season in Buffalo. I really can see him getting 8 games and going back to the WHL to fill out. The game is good; the body is not ready. When it is his ceiling is Briere. Maybe Point.

I think for the same reason Boussh was helpful in discussions with Kisakov, and the team needs a defensive d-man (to work with Dahlin/Power and play Muel's role), perhaps Gavrikov needs to the UFA target this summer. Orlov is the better player, but he's also going to demand more cash because of the offensive skills and the Sabres aren't going to get him enough PP minutes with Dahlin and Power ahead of him. Boushh is only signed for 1 more year, whereas Gavrikov would get the shiny new 4-year deal. Would he provide the Muel backup, Power-partner, and then help Komarov/Novikov in a couple seasons in the event they make it to the NHL? Is Gavrikov the better play for the Sabres at $4.5 vs Orlov making $6M -- even when the cap goes up?

2-2 after two. And where Savoie was mostly invisible in game 3, he's been very good tonight. Attacking, good passes, and a couple high quality scoring chances so far.

K > Q > T

Milic gives up a goal where his d-man gets outskated to a loose puck between the dots and sliding in on Milic. In hindsight, Milic should have come out to play it, but he would have thought his d-man doesn't get beat to that puck. 1-0 Ice. Edit: 1-1 after 1. Korchinski with a screen shot goal with 16 seconds in the period.

Instead of live, it's television tonight: James Patrick got in some good coaching today and the Ice look much more composed to start tonight's game. Savoie takes a good breakout pass and turns it into a partial break, but Milic denies him. Savoie finds the rebound behind the net and feeds in front for... probably Benson, but it's tied up. But... Too Many Men again on Winnipeg; they did that last night as well. This one was... very bad. Maybe 8 or 9 guys in sell-out change as the T-birds were trying to make a long pass to catch them on the change. Savoie gets a SH breakaway, and they call a slash instead of a penalty shot. They could've called the PS as was a step ahead of Korchinski and the slash on his hands popped the puck off his stick just before he got the shot away. On the Ice's ensuing PP, Savoie misses on the tap-in redirect back too far toward the far post and basically hits it into Milic instead of elevating shortside for the goal. He's going to want that one and the breakaway back. Aside: I don't like Korchinski as much as the draftniks. He benefits a bunch from secondary assists to excellent T-Birds forwards and defensively I just don't see it. But he's got good speed and very good skating.

Playoff Amerks without Kulich in the lineup: 2 losses, 2 goals Playoff Amerks since Kulich returned from injury: 6 wins, 36 goals

Trailing after the first shift and first shot... responded nicely.

Well, if I'm an NHL-caliber UFA, I'm not signing in Arizona in the offseason. If I'm a fringe/tweener AHLer and this is my only shot at the big league, sure: sign me up. Except it's way too hot to live there. If I'm Logan Cooley in the NCAA... no way in hell am I signing an ELC with this franchise and not having a stable future. There could be a new owner, GM, and city in any of the next 1-2 seasons, so I'm staying happily in Minnesota and playing my game. I'll go UFA and sign the same ELC anywhere I choose, thank you very much. If I'm Dylan Guenther or Conor Geekie, I'm letting my agent tell them I'm happy to moved in any trade that they see fit, because I won't be signing anything beyond the minimum RFA years with this chickensh bantha fodder outfit.

Your research is my command. TL;DR - yes. But his linemates and Krueger's game plan crushed anyone who wasn't skating with Eichel. First, some table setting. In 2018-19, Skinner scores 40-23-63 and is 0 +/- while linemates Eichel and Reinhart are -10 and -11, respectively. All 3 players tie or exceed their career high point totals to that point (Skinner has finished with 63 points 4 times in his career). Skinner does finish the season very cold (4 goals in his final 19 games in March/April) as the team sputters. Enter Krueger. In 2019-20 - Skinner is moved off the top line from opening night. VO will net 20 goals with Eichel/Reinhart. I like VO a lot, but you can't tell me that Skinner doesn't score more with Eichel/Reinhart as their games continue to grow. Skinner gets MoJo as his center and a combination of Vesey/Sobotka as his defensively responsible linemates. His main linemates throughout the season: MoJo, Sobotka, Lazar, Frolik, Asplund, Rodrigues, Sheary, and Simmonds. His scoring craters, as you might expect. On 3/7/2020, Skinner finally returns to the Eichel-Reinhart line in time for Ullmark's return from injury 3/9. The season is cut short by COVID on 3/12. Enter Taylor Hall. Now, at least you can argue there's a LW who could supplant Skinner on the top line. Preseason January 2021 (COVID-delayed start to season). Opening Blue-Gold scrimmage: Skinner-Staal-Reinhart is the top line on Gold, the 2nd line on the team behind Hall-Eichel-Olofsson. An injury to Okposo throws a bit of a wrinkle into the opening night lineup, but it doesn't matter because Skinner is on the 4th line on opening night as Skinner-Lazar-Sheahan. He is behind LWs Hall, Olofsson, and.... Tobias Rieder. [[SabreSpace is wild because Hall-Eichel both want to carry the puck and it just doesn't look like the right combination up top. 40-goal Skinner remains on a defensive checking line.]] COVID strikes the team in February and Skinner gets to Line 1 (Skinner-Eichel-VO) on 2/15-2/16 for a pair of listless (but a bunch of folks getting over COVID or unable to fully practice because of contact tracing) losses to the Isles. 2/23/2021 - Skinner scratched for 2 or so games. Note: the team is in utter freefall at this point. Ullmark gets hurt. 3/5/2021 - GM Sheevyn gives a vote of No Confidence in HC Krueger. A couple days later, Eichel gets hurt (or more hurt) vs. the Isles. On 3/17, Krueger is fired. Granato takes over and COVID protocols prevent practices during the couple day break, so the lines remain the same for a bit. Skinner-Lazar stay together on the 3rd line for a couple weeks. 4/9 - Skinner-Reinhart-Olofsson makes its debut as line 2. For the next 2 weeks through season's end it becomes the top line. (The Asplund-Mitts-Thompson line is the line that surprises as #2.)

It's time for the Jedi Coyotes to end. The cities don't want the headaches of constant moves/threats of moves/legal battles. The general populace has the lingering resentment of past taxes and whatever hidden costs will be found in the future despite any private funding. Just take the team to an actual hockey market that won't need constant bailing out by the league. You can even charge the new city (and maybe owner group) a modest relocation fee. Thanks for Tage and Matthews and ASU getting a hockey team. It was good to see a couple generations of kids grow up with the game. But maybe all the greater Phoenix-Tempe area needs is an AHL franchise to give Tucson a really close rival.

Goals were exchanged in the opening 90 seconds and then the T-birds scored 3 times in 45 seconds to effectively end the game before the first intermission. Yay! As a Sabres fan... Savoie was invisible in the first period (and not in the good 3rd pairing defenseman's name wasn't mentioned sort of way). The Ice woke up in the 2nd and played with some heart and scrappiness. Savoie's best shift all game was a PP where he took an uncalled high stick from fellow 1st-round pick Reid Schaefer off the faceoff. After that initial clear and re-entry, Savoie showed fantastic reaction to keep the puck in at the blue line, had a nifty stickhandle along the boards to create space and get the puck to a teammate, floated to the slot and made another good pass to generate a scoring chance. Elite hands, good vision and really good movement off the puck on the power play all on display in 1 minute, and he should have drawn a penalty to make it a 5-on-3 to boot. No goal came of it though. Savoie and his tiny line (Benson, McClennon) were neutralized throughout the game by Seattle's bigger guys. Davidson (13/16) crushed Savoie (4/15) in the faceoff dot all game. When the game was 5-1, the Ice scored at 4-on-4. Savoie broke loose in coverage and had all day to shoot or pass. He froze Milic and dished to Benson for a tap-in. Lovely play. But that 4-on-4 was the only time he or Benson had any time/space in the offensive zone. The Ice had 38 shots (Savoie with 4) but Milic made all but 2-3 saves look routine. He had one stellar save in the 3rd to keep it from getting interesting.

He's as clumsy as he is stupid. Get him on the hologram videoconference so we can discuss his project roll off date. Folks cannot forget this. He allowed Hall to win the lottery for Power. His ineptitude allowed for a complete culture change, Granato's offensive attack to be unlocked (meaning Tage moves to center and plays legit minutes, Skinner isn't scratched) and the acquisition of Tuch, Krebs, Östlund, Greenway, Levi, Kulich, Kisakov, Komarov (by paying for some Butcher salary), Rosen, Karlsson, a 2023 PHI 2nd still to be selected. Now... would the team be better with Granato as a forwards coach only, a different but real HC at the time, and still have Eichel as captain, Hall, Reinhart, and Risto on the team (the assets moved for the above list), no Power but probably a top 14 pick that season, etc. That's the alternate universe.

Lidstrom's NHL career spanned 1991-2012 and two key forward waves (Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan; Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen -- none of whom played in the AHL in the 90s-00s). And while their core was mostly those top-flight guys and an endless barrage of the best free agents who wanted to be there, they also hade a bunch of these guys who occasionally became core (Kronwall, Holmstrom, Osgood), but mostly were just solid contributors along the way --- and sometimes never for more than just a cup of tea in Detroit. I recognized all of these guys: Keith Primeau, Mike Sillinger, Slava Kozlov, Darren McCarty, Martin LaPointe, Bob Boughner, Osgood, Tim Taylor, Jason York, Kris Draper, Aaron Ward, Jamie Pushor, Mike Knuble, Mathieu Dandenault, Anders Eriksson, Tomas Holmstrom, Jiri Hudler, Matt Ellis, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Kopecky, Valtteri Filppula, Brett Lebda, Jakub Kindl, Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey. Even Ville Leino started out as a Wing! There's some solid careers and playoff contributors. With Dahlin and Power, you're hoping to have an open window with 2-3 forward cores and 20 years of awesomeness. Keep Rochester locked and loaded.

The Concept of Borgen! 😇

It's 1-1 in WHL Final after the first two games in Winnipeg. Savoie has 1 assist and a -2 rating. 10 shots (5 in each game). 0 PIMs and 23 of 40 on faceoffs.

Kulich still maintaining his goal every playoff game streak.