DarthEbriate

The Ehrhoff will be with us. Always. And was he overpaid in term? Yes (10 years at age 29? Yikes!). Was his salary a bit high? Only those first two years ($8, $5). Was the cap hit fine for a 2-3/PPqb type? Yup. Particularly since he became the de facto 1D. Was the contract legal? I will make it legal. At the time. The new owner wanted to play like the big markets and so they did. And was Ehrhoff the best defenseman on the roster for those 3 seasons? Undoubtedly. He led the D in minutes and scoring each season and somehow managed CF% Relative scores of 6.6, 10.9, and 6.7 compared to the rest of the roster. The trouble was the team was Vanek+Pominville or nothing, then the 2013-14 season was trading both of them for futures and tanking for Reinhart. Ehrhoff (and Leino) weren't going to put the team over top, but at least Ehrhoff was a good player.

Nevre?

So the Sabres sign MAF to a big 2-year deal and he blows out his ACL in game 11 with a 4-6 record. UPL gets the callup from ROC to take the reins and goes a respectable 10-14 over the next two months until he too is injured for the year. Anderson is a .901 sv% goalie who's getting by on savvy and goes 20-22. Meanwhile, the kids look good and score in the middle of the pack league for Goals For. The D-corps looks amazing. They're tenacious and fun to watch. And then... it happens. Northeastern and Michigan both fall in the opening round of the Frozen Four tourney to 3-1 (empty netter) and 1-0 scores where the opposing goalie stands on his head. Portillo signs and will finish his business degree in the summer. Levi signs as expected. Both rookies go 3-0 with a shutout down the stretch while alternating starts with Anderson as the backup to guide them. Final record 40-30-12 for 92 points and the kids have taken over the pipes to finish the season 6-0 with 2 shutouts over BOS (in Boston) and TOR (at home) and a combined score of 31-7. You wouldn't take that?

Wait... you're saying that the Sabres win a minimum of 40 games (the most wins since 2011-12 when Lindy Ruff was coach 39-32-11) --- As an example, 40-37-5 for 85 points or 40-30-12 for 92 points... and the Pegulas axe their GM for it?

I'm also taking a RHD in the top 41; wherever the BPA matches the # the best (probably 28/41). Heck, Chesley becoming a McCabe-type would be acceptable for the next 6 years (particularly if Power, Muel, and Rasmus all continue to meet their potential).

Congrats to Mr. Anderson. He was a week from retirement and they assigned him to assist some wild young cop... he's getting too old for this ******. But then, it killed in the box office (the team was calm with him on the ice) despite upon rewatch the numbers don't really hold up (backup goalie save percentage). So they decided to do a sequel. And Mr. Anderson -- the Roger Murtaugh of the squad -- got a nice big pay raise. Double the salary. UPL will be with Subban in Rochester.

That's the big question in diversifying. If I get the skilled/fast center at 9, do I double up on the center at 16 or go for a potential high-impact winger in Ohgren/Miro/Yurov. If prioritizing centers within the same tier... Then yes, I might just do that. Savoie/Nazar, Kasper (or Kulich or Lambert), Trikozov, RHD also works for me.

Pronman clearly hasn't read up on the RHD pipeline of Laaksonen, Lyckasen, and Nyberg. Somewhere they're taking 1 or 2 RHD. And... two goalies. Keep the pipeline full and the competition stoked.

Not really worried about him being a locomotive. More of, if I take Z who is basically a 3W/4W off the roster in a couple years and replace him with a similar but slightly better 3C/4C who has 2C upside... that's a win. But I think Kasper projects more to middle six than the bottom six winger that Girgs has been basically his entire career (except the first couple seasons when the roster was in full tank mode and he was a top 6 by default).

Given the various tiers, I want to balance out speed and power among whoever is my BPA, while ensuring a RHD (or Hutson) is one of the 4 picks. My preference is listed 1st. And if for some wild reason Jiricek falls, I take him at 9. This year I play it conservative and make my high picks rather than trade up -- there are still too many gaps in the pipeline to bundle and move around too much. And day 2 of the draft I take a couple goalies. Option 1: 9) Savoie/Nazar; 16) Miroshnichenko/Ohgren/Yurov; 28) Chesley/Rinzel; 41) Trikozov/Beck Option 2: 9) Kasper/Gauthier; 16) Ohgren/Miroshnicenko/Yurov; 28) Snuggerud/Trikozov/Gaucher; 41) Chesley/Hutson/Rinzel/Havelid/Nelson/Salomonsson

Of the prequels... it should be noted that 1) Anakin was written as about 12-13 (thus closer to Amidala's age and not a little kid) and 2) Spielberg could have directed but didn't push for it. Those two items (plus Spielberg's crew making script adjustments) would have changed it tremendously. The concept was good, the execution was not. And that's on the director/producer.

Good signing. Good player. He could be brought up with his Amerks wingers en masse (Quinn and JJP) and take Eakin's place to start the season. He could also pass through waivers and still be a stud Amerk. Girgs has always seemingly been more effective when on the wing, be it with Eichel, Angry Larry, or Eakin. (Except maybe with Moulson/Stewart and Ennis for a bit way back when.)

Yakupov would've been a year too late. The Sabres would have received Edmonton's 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 firsts. The teams would both have finished in different spots in the standings, the Sabres arguably a bit worse without a 30-goal scorer in Vanek and the Oilers arguably a bit better with him. In altered reality, the Sabres/Kings/Oilers were all involved in 2008 trades that allowed the Sabres to draft Tyler Myers, so that would have been modified by the Sabres already owning Edmonton's 1st in the Vanek offer sheet. DR loved Myers, so the new reality isn't much different -- just add another top 15 pick (Erik Karlsson went 15th) and then Tyler Ennis for the pick from San Jose. 2008, Another 10-15ish pick, plus the two Tylers. (In reality: 22nd EDM - Eberle, but their original pick was ... 12th BUF Myers; 26th Ennis) 2009, two top-15 picks -- both maybe somewhere 8-15. (reality: 10th EDM - Paajarvi; 13th BUF - Kassian) 2010, definitely a top-4 pick for EDM and if slightly worse, somewhere in the 16-23 range for Buffalo (reality: 1st - Hall; 23rd - Pysyk) 2011, definitely a top-4 pick for EDM and if worse, somewhere 10-16 for Buffalo (reality: 1st - Nugent-Hopkins; 16th - Joel Armia) How would this have impacted the team's sale, sale price, the drafts of GM DR or the play of the team is all TBD. Would the have made the playoffs or (more likely) missed the playoffs a couple seasons sooner, meaning no Ehrhoff/Leino signings to make an immediate push because the team was not a playoff contender. Too much altered reality to know.

It was especially fun for Kadri. It was one handshake after another on the thumb, but I doubt he felt a thing as he's got an engraving on the way.

Let me preface this with: take the Best Player Available, don't get cute in the draft! But now let me follow that up with a conjunction but... I'm going to get cute in the draft for a minute: Because we've got 2 picks close together in 9 and 16 and the draft should be a wild mishmash after the top 5... this may be the time to take the unique player early and then come back for the "any of these guys" just a few picks later. If there, I might take Kasper at 9 because he's the early guy who plays a hard-nosed game and he could be one of those float-up/down guys that you always want on the ice. I don't believe he makes it to 16. And then at 16 I can take the more offensively-minded center who remains: Savoie, Nazar, Ostlund, Kulich, any of whom could be gone or start going at that point. (Or at 16 get [f]risky and do a Miroshnichenko, Yurov, or Trikozov.) 28 and 41 fill in the RHD and another fun forward.

I hate losing. I’m still here. Hecht, I started posting here because of the losing and the thought that maybe some smiles could be generated through a cross-referenced idiom.

Hate the player, not the name. (and not really hate, but that’s how the line goes. More don’t draft the player, dig the name.)

Ah, the glory of the SWHS. Even the most silly Star Wars has a place in Star Wars.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi Showbi was fun. It does cause a bit of a character issue for Leia. Luke is all mopey and she gives him a blanket --- but her planet just was blown up, she was tortured, and her super-companion has just self-sacrificed and disappeared! --- she's completely emotionless. That said, the show did have oodles of one of my favorite goofy film tropes: little kids running (and really, just jogging so they can stay cleanly in the camera shot, stopping and turning and looking back) and managing to easily outrun full-grown adults).

It's likely more tied to Olofsson's injury and eventual demotion than to Tuch. Thompson and Olofsson started the year on fire. Then, VO was hurt and found his way down the lineup. Tuch gave Tage a bump mid-year, but then was better placed lower in the lineup after VO/Mitts had their re-health-ifying together. In April, VO and Tager were reunited and both finished very strong.

The 12” Joes (and the Six Million Dollar Man whose head you could look through) just remind me of Barbie and furniture and clothes. 3.75 is about the vehicles… and lining them all up in play formations to play football. My Joes played a lot of football vs Cobra. Destro was one hell of a nose tackle until he suffered that devastating spinal (o-ring) injury. Please do not look up the prices on the aftermarket. 😇

Hasbro Pulse is releasing a Retro line of true-to-form 3 3/4" GI Joes and their vehicles for kids in their 40s. So if you always wanted a Cobra Stinger jeep but you opted for Legos instead because they were cooler and... more constructive? better for your soul?... now's your chance. https://hasbropulse.com/collections/gi-joe/products/g-i-joe-retro-collection-cobra-stinger-with-cobra-officer Note: You have to keep a sharp eye because some of the Retro line are 4" and not the old school 3.75". There's a bit of a marketing mislead.

It's important to get the beat writers involved in the mock because there's has to be the decision point of "best player available meets critical organizational pipeline need" (see Detroit: goalie, so they took Cossa in 2021; see Buffalo: RHD this July). Matt Fairburn did well at getting "X expected to go in this area" matched with the pipeline needs (C, scoring W, RHD). Obviously, each team will have their specific targets, but this is a solid 1st round all around, even if it lacks many surprises.

AGM JBott missed out on working with HC Byslma by a month in Buffalo. But maybe Seattle/Coachella is getting a Sabres band back together. Colin Miller is a UFA.... Lots of possibilities.