DarthEbriate

Canada started 0-3 in the tournament, needed Germany to defeat Latvia in regulation to make it out of the qualifying round... and won 6 in a row to capture gold. Not too shabby. I'd have liked to see Latvia make it to the medal round for some home-ice fun, but alas. Coincidentally, Canada's fortunes turned around when Buffalo's own Miller was injured and Power started playing bigger minutes.

At this moment: Boston, Tampa, Toronto, Florida, Montreal, and Ottawa. Unknown goalie situation. Eichel ongoing injury.

Looks like Cal Petersen had a nice tourney. Tager with a few secondary assists today. JJP slowly moving up the German lineup. Rieder... rieding.

If you only knew the power of the Clark side of the Force Concept of the Ehrhoff.

Apollon in Appleton, WI. The original owner/chef Stavros passed away years ago and so maybe it's not what it once was. But it's a hole-in-the-wall fine dining in the last place you'd expect to find it. So yummy. And the avgolemono soup... I've never found its equal anywhere else, whether low-end or high-end or even in big, big culinary cities.

Matty Kenobiers? I wonder if he means Old Beniers? Old Beniers Kenobiers. …. I don’t know anyone named Matty, but Old Beniers lives in both zones of the ice sea. He’s kind of a strange two-way hermit. He’s totally a Jedi. A Jedi on the Council and granted the rank of Master.

Life, hockey, and Star Wars are all rich tapestries of good and bad. Lucas wanted a slapstick cartoon hero to perform things humans couldn't in the successfully clumsy oaf way --- in the manner of a Dudley Do-Right. There's nothing wrong with that on its own. Regrettablly, it was packaged in both an offensive and juvenile way. It's where Lucas needed someone to push back instead of a bunch of people saying yes. The simple established use of an alien language and subtitles, perhaps could have saved the whole character and his arc/purpose. Episode I had many other issues beyond JJ, though.

Hug accepted, Count @Doohickie. It's OK not knowing where the Sabres are going. They don't know, either. And they'll change their minds in 2 years anyway. Always in motion is the future. And other 'Spacers are welcome to hug the 'Ebriate as well.

Correct, Bryson is safe. Risto absolutely should be protected over Borgen. He's the better player now. Except there's this Eichel wrench. And Reinhart is gone after next season. Which means --- we're building around the Dahlin age 24+ timeline and Risto has no part in the Sabres' future. Tell Seattle you'll take a 2nd in exchange for exposing Ristolainen. When they (rightfully) call your bluff and laugh in your face, you expose him anyway. His salary and their adherence to analytics means they won't take him. Yes, it hurts Risto's feelings to be exposed, but he's playing for a UFA contract. You then shop him through the deadline (2nd rounder for a veteran rental at a minimum). Keep Borgen, Joker, and Dahlin and build around them (and Power?). Seattle can take Bjork or Thompson or Asplund (whichever the regime feels least confident in). I'd expose Bjork before Asplund. Asplund's got good hands around the net and we can't lose too many Rasmii. Thompson has skills but probably is another two years from consistently being whatever it is he's going to end up being.

Cossa could go late 1st.... He definitely doesn't make it to our bottom-of-the-second pick from Boston. Is he near the top of your board at 33OA knowing that UPL is in the AHL next year and Portillo has at least 2 more seasons at Michigan? (This should probably be in a different thread.)

Hopefully Jar Jar Peterka, too. (And Toby, too!) If he doesn't have the biggest influence (meaning if he doesn't overshadow the owners) then what was the point in hiring him? Is there a read on Karmanos' history with the Canes or Penguins on the type/style of D-man taken early? Yup -- Wallstedt is going to go anywhere from 7-15. Edit: Did I say 7, no. I said 6. 6-15. Detroit hasn't invested in a goalie in a long time (a long time) and Wallstedt has to be intriguing for them.

Guenther: Rebel officer. Guenther wears a vest. He stands in front of clusters of pilots and technicians and gives a short speech, then hands the rest of the presentation over to more important Generals and Admirals and Mothmas. Once upon a time this guy might have been a smuggler or some other type of miscreant in the eyes of the Empire. Guenther wears a vest!

Honestly, this is surprisingly important for me. A huge part of hockey (and most sports) is intimidation. I don't need constant histrionics pr "old school" (like Torts) or Lou-Piniella's-throwing-second-base...again, but I do need a coach who is going to rile the other team on occasion, who's knows how to dig/probe and needle people when necessary, be they at the team, local, media, or national level. And I need a coach who isn't afraid to send out a line for retribution if that's what he or she feels is necessary. Our recent coaches, like our team, have been pushovers. An opposition push has be met with resistance, and that's at the coach level, as well. Edit: The fear is that a coach with moxie will not make our owners feel safe and comfy, so they'll pass. I'd love to retain Granato as the forward coach, but I'm pretty sure he's on the record as wanting to coach. Doesn't matter what level, he wants to be the HC. And that's cool. If he's not ours, then we've got to let him mosey.

That's remains the great debate -- is he demonstrably the BPA or is he the most noticeable since Hughes is hurt and Team Canada is icing a really poor roster at the Worlds that barely eked out an elimination round ahead of Latvia and Kazakhstan? And I must say, I'm good with taking Power if the Sabres deem him the BPA. My reservation is the future. What this team needs is ROR or Bergeron. If that's Beniers, then that's the tiebreaker. This team also needs a scoring winger who can stay on the top line (looking at you, Skinner) and push Olofsson to 3W or even specialist 4W like Kotalik was. Maybe Guenther is that guy. That's the fun of these discussions. What I'm reluctant to become is a team like Anaheim where they've got Lindholm, Fowler, and Manson (and had Theodore and Montour) and still were floundering because they could only ice one quality forward line whose best players were past their prime and carrying all the cap (for us that's Skinner, and I guess Eichel if he's still here). We need more balanced lines for all the young D we've already got on the way. Note: I don't count McCabe or Risto for the future. McCabe should get a one-year rehab-prove-it deal as he'll only be about 9 months from his major knee injury during training camp. He'll be untrustworthy to start the season, but I would like him to sign as it would allow Samuelsson to get more time in Rochester logging top-pair minutes. If McCabe signs as the 7D after next year, fine. Risto is gone at the deadline if we're not contending (likely) and gone after the playoffs if we (somehow) make it. (And, only half-sarcastically, if we did draft for need, I'd point out Wallstedt. 1st is too high, but this team needs all the goalies.)

JBott spent his drafts (and European FA) trying to stock the D cupboard. And... admittedly, it's still in progress. But we do have a lot of smooth-skating puck-moving defensemen. So much so that we acquired and moved Montour and moved Guhle for Montour in the first place, and lost Antipin and Pilut back across the pond and still have a bunch of PMD. Dahlin, Joker, Bryson, Laaksonen, Johnson. We only have 2 young D who are heavy (Borgen and Samuelsson). Getting a starting goalie (Ullmark if healthy, maybe) and an NHL-caliber backup (UFA) will do a lot for our back end, arguably more than another PMD. I'm good with going for the best forward and rolling 4 solid forward lines, which we've not had since 2007. We need quality F depth. One-line forward teams don't go very far in the playoffs.

Classic sitcom two dates at the same restaurant move. During intermission he says he has to go "to the bathroom". Heads to the locker room, switches uniforms, and skates for the opposition in the second period. Then switches again during the mid-second ice scrape. Back and forth. It'll work. It'll work.

Definitely. He's going to go 4-7 and make a team really happy. Not the same position or style player, but I'm guessing he could surprise immediately in the Elias Pettersson manner.

Bounty hunter. Eklund flies a modified passenger shuttle with a savvy astromech droid and a whole lot of firepower. He sports a cape and a sneaky stun blaster in a wrist-mounted holster.

I'll provide a summary list as we get closer to the draft; especially since it's possible, however unlikely, that we move around in the draft order. In the meantime, in @LGR4GM's Option threads appear to be the best place to measure the true value of a player: their ability to be woven into Game Day Threads in Star Wars references. Are there good quotes, is the person's name a Rebel pilot or Imperial officer, etc.? Really, there are no comparisons for Owen Power. This is a generational player name. You've got "Unlimited Power!", "You underestimate my Power!" and "If you only knew the Power of The Concept of Owen." When he needs to be traded: "I think we'd better replace the negative Power coupling." And that's just the beginning! This name also opens the doors on Uncle Owen. "But I was going to Tosche Station to pick up some Owen Power play converters!" "You can waste time on SabreSpace when your chores are done." And if he ever gets blasted and tucks and ducks in a fight we can all sing "T-U-R-T-L-E Power!" All too easy. This is the pick. Or... do we need more of a challenge?

He's not named GM Sheevyn, slowing executing Orders all the way up to 66, for nothing.

Yub nub! We can all celebrate a stunning victory over the oppressive lottery benoits today!

If we do go this route, the possibilities are endless. Unlimmmmmmited Powerrrrrrrr! and all its permutations. And also an underappreciated "The Concept of Uncle Owen"

If I'm looking to trade for a 10M face-of-the-franchise player for the next 6 seasons and give up a bunch of assets to do so, I'm going to know everything about him. I'm also going to know he does a ton for local hospitals. I'm going to know his favorite foods and his favorite style tandem bike. Etc. Unlike the Sabres, my hypothetical glass-half-Dark-Side GM has a pro scouting department and they're not just watching game film and crunching stats. They're investigating injury history, public relations, teammate relations, etc. To be fair, they say that about every Sabre who isn't on an ELC and also isn't named Jeff Skinner. Him they simply applaud as having gamed the system and won. Be near home, low expectations, even lower usage minutes, and one of the top salaries in the league. This is also the worrying part. "Rescuing" a top player from Buffalo is a really cheap enterprise these days. So if I'm outbid, no biggie, but I'm not doing a GMTM and heaping on a bunch more pieces just to land Kane, or ROR, or Fasching.

Some of these wants are little high. I mean, yes, ask for the world for a 1C. But here is a player who has never played every game in a season and is often playing injured (at the end of the COVID season he was playing hurt and finished with 1 point in his last 8 games). He currently has a neck injury. He has been criticized for possibly getting Bylsma fired, being referred to as GM Eichel a couple years ago, and is now has a "disconnect" with management regarding said neck injury. On ice, he's never led his team to the playoffs, is regarded as a PP specialist and while improving defensively never going to be considered a stalwart in his end, and has often been criticized for poor body language. He's being paid like a superstar in a flat cap world for the next couple seasons, and his NMC will kick in by the time the cap rises. We have to hope that a meddling owner (ala Knicks-style Dorian) is ga-ga over Eichel and is telling their GM to get him no matter the cost. Because any self-preserving GM shouldn't be giving up a huge package solely of futures and NHL-ready but young studs for a player with this many flags. They'd also better be clearing their cap for the next few years.

His career really fell to pieces -- traded a few times, bounced between Sweden's leagues. Wasn't a reach, we picked him right about where he was expected to go, speedy two-way bottom six type guy. A Tobias Rieder with more upside. But that's the game with the draft, many more misses than hits.