mjd1001

I'm not too worried about Krejci coming back. I think its less than 50-50 he does. And if he does, I don't think hes really a threating player anymore. His last 5 years in a row with the Bruins his goal scoring went down (goals per game), he has a LOT of miles on him, and if he does play with the Bruins he will be 2 years older than his last season starting with the team at what, 36 or 37 years old? He was good (not great, but good) 2-way forward in his peak years when he was 29-32 years old, I'm not worried about him at 36 or 37. BUT, he may be better playing 3rd line minutes than anything else they will have in the system, I just don't think he moves the needle to them doing anything else other than competing for one of the last playoff spots in the east.

I've thought more about this, I think it comes down to the lack of scoring why I have trouble with soccer. I honestly like an indoor lacrosse game more than an NHL game....more scoring. I used to find college football better than the NFL until the last few years, when scoring went up in the NFL. I can't sit through a 2-0 pitchers battle in baseball, and while I don't want a 15-12 game, give me something in the 5-7 runs per team and I'm happy. Over the last decade or so, I have given sports outside of the 'big 4' usa sports a try and I have liked some. F1 racing for example (1.5-2 hours max usually, no commercials) But soccer I have given a few tries, and every time I watch a game I just can't get into it. Sure, I'm sure there is a lot of talent and strategy that happens 'off camera', but every single time I have watched a game it is a task to keep my attention and get to the end of it. The diving and fake injuries don't help. The lack of scoring does the game in for me, but the fake injuries where a guy writhes in pain on the field and is carried off on a stretcher, only to return to the game a few minutes later....If I see that in a game I try to watch (once every couple years) that gets me to give up on it right there and not even ride it out until the end. I have some very faint memories of the Buffalo Stallions as a little kid and I did see a few Blizzard games. I enjoyed the indoor soccer games much, much more. Again, that just re-affirms that I like the greater scoring and less drawn-out game of the indoor soccer vs the outdoor traditional game.

I expect a small to moderate drop-off from Boston based on this. I don't have much of a connection to the Bruins anymore after not living in Boston for over a decade, but I did talk to a couple of co-workers form our Boston office who are huge Bruin fans a little while ago (while waiting for a Conf Call) and what they said is what I expected. The Bruins have started a small turnover of the older guys on their roster, while keeping some of them, and the organization wants to thread-the-needle of doing a soft rebuild/retool while still remaining competitive and playoff bound while it occurs. Kreiji and Bergeron are done, Foligno (while not a major part) might be, and Marchand is still a great player under contract but he won't be carrying this team for years. They want McAvoy and Pastrnak to be this teams without-question leaders, and want to bring along Lohrei, Lysell, Studnicka, and Zboril. Cassidy was viewed as the best coach for the team the last few years, maybe the coach which would give them the MOST points next year, but not a guy who could bring along and nurture a new young leadership group and bring young guys into the lineup as well as who they are likely to pick. Personally, I think this is a mistake. I would have kept Cassidy around for one more year and went 100% toward a cup run next year. Are/were they good enough to do that in 2022? probably not, but the future isn't looking bright for that franchise. The farm system/prospects are bare. In the past 5 drafts, they have a total of 3 guys picked in the top 50 picks of their draft (Lysell, Beecher, and Vaakanainen.) Of those 3, Beecher has had injuries and is just out of college, and hasn't impressed in any of his training camps. Lysell is a 19 year old who was still in Juniors, and Vaakanainen is gone. Studnicka last year was hoped to be a find in the 2nd round, but he has been a pretty big disapointment for them in the last 12 months, not developing much as a prospect. The Bruins should be pushing to be good for one more year with Cassidy, if that fails you go into full blow rebuild mode, needing to rebuild a lot of your young core (rebuild mode, not quite 'tank' mode though.)

At this moment, the Sabres rebuild looks good, but it is hard to compare it to the Rangers. The Sabres rebuild is more focused on the top talent at the Blue Line, the Rangers top talent is up front and in goal. Also, the Rangers are at the midway point of their rebuild 'race', where the Sabres current/newest attempt at a rebuild is much closer to the starting line.

I think most people are comfortable with Hinostroza simply because as a bottom 6 guys he has produced. 13 goals last year for the Sabres in 62 games (16 goal pace). 17 goals in his last 79 games over 2 years. A few years ago with Arizona another 16 goal season in less than a full year. 3rd on the Sabres last year in even strength goals per 60 (only behind Thompson and Skinner). The Sabres haven't exactly had a wealth of players in the past decade that you think you could count on to get in double digits in goals on your bottom 2 lines. Vinny fits that description.

The Flames didn't win, but I think it comes down to 2 (maybe 3) players. Markstrong, Hanifan, and McDavid. McDavid did what he always does. When you beat Edmonton in a series you don't have to STOP McDavid (which is very hard to do), but you have to limit him in key areas/times (which is hard to do BUT possible). The Flames did not do the 2nd one well. Markstrom didn't look great in the Edmonton series, He needs to be better in big moments. The one player I thought was Awful when I was watching was Noah Hannifan. He single handedly was out of position or made bad plays that caused goals against Calgary. Not just the Edmonton series but the whole playoffs. I don't know how injured he was playing (if at all) but from what I saw if he would have played better that might have changed the outlook of the entire series for Calgary. Plus I know he is a D-man, but 3 assists in 12 playoff games for someone who is your $5 millon per year D-man on your first pair is not going to cut it.

They probably would, but the question is how much? They will get their shot in training camp next year with the Sabres. If they are good enough there should be no doubt they will show it and will make the Sabres. If they flame out in camp though, that will be their own fault or a sign they are not ready. After this year in Roch, I expect them on the Sabres, but their performance in camp will decide that.

Or even worse....you start backing out of a spot...when you are already part-way out that other person just turns the corner to come down your lane. Even though you were part of the way out already before they even got to your lane, they refuse to stop and if you DARE finish backing out...they hit the horn, give you the finger, etc. They are so important that how DARE you do anything to slow them down or prevent them from doing exactly what you want. A few years ago I was in a parking just outside of Syracuse. I was driving down one lane and came to a stop at the end of my row. A car with 3 middle age women was turning left from the lane they were in to go into the lane I was in. They cut the corner REALLY short as I got to the end of the lane, almost hitting me head on. Not only did the woman driving hit her horn and yelled at me, but after she backed up and drove by me on the other side, she continued to yell at me and the 35-40 year old woman with her in the back seat gave me the finger. I don't get people. Especially in cars or in parking lots...most people, even when they make a mistake, their first reaction is to yell, scream, confront the other person rather than admit they did something wrong.

I just find Monaco so boring, I wish they would do something. F1 is not without gimicks anymore (Tighter rules than in the past, DRS, etc), so why not do something to try to make Monaco better? Require teams to run at least 10 laps on a super hard time...DRS open all the time for cars behind another one. Someone has to have some unique idea. Here is just how bad Monaco can be....The last time there was a single pass on track for the lead (not while in the pits) was 26 years ago, and that was when the leader was stuck out on Wet tires when the track had dried out after rain and the 2nd place car had on drys. 26 years, and that was the only time. Last years race had 1 pass on track..for the entire race among all the competitors. 78 laps. 22 cars. 1 single pass on track and it was on the very first lap. I guess if the race is awful and they keep it because some people like the setting and the party atmosphere, fine, those of us who like racing have the other 20+ events to watch the rest of the year. But can you imagine an Indy race or a Nascar race with only 1 pass on track for the entire race? the Fans would go crazy and demand changes the next day.

Anyone here big Fans of Formula 1? The Monaco Grand Prix is this weekend, which is the headline event of the entire F1 season. The "Indy 500" or "Daytona" of F1. Yet, the race seems to be incredibly boring. There have only been a handfull of passes on the track in the last decade or so. Its pretty much you are where you are after the first lap...don't mess up your pit stop, and finish the race. It seems like 50% of the fans I talk to say the race should be replaced with a different track someplace else because the on-track action at Monaco might be the worse in all top-tier professional racing around the world. Others say it is such a traditional even with heritage in the sport it can't be touched no matter what? I'm not sure if anyone even reads this thread anymore, but if so I was wondering what some of us around here think.

Stores that have self-service checkouts but no 'express' ones for people with 8 or 10 items or less. This hasn't been a problem for me much in the past, but it is becoming in issue it seems just in the past year or so. This is for all stores but the most recent example was when I drove by a Walmart and stopped in to get a handful of items. They had self service checkouts on both ends of the store. I'd guess 6 or so on each end, so maybe 12 self checkouts (or more) open. I got my few things and the line not only was long for the checkouts, but it moved incredibly slowly. The other day every single checkout had a customer with a nearly full shopping cart of products, and then some were scanning items at a snails pace. How about maybe just 2 self checkouts reserved for people with not many items? It doesn't happen often but when it does it is really annoying.

I usually park in the middle of the lot or the back of the lot and walk. My wife also complains, she doesn't mind the walk but says I waste too much time by not parking toward the front. On the occasion she drives and I'm the passenger and we go to a store, she looks for the spot closer to the front and we end up driving up and down aisle after aisle taking 2 to 3 times as much time (or more) as it would have been had we just parked in that first spot we saw near the back and walked in.

In this case its McDavid First...and after him a mix of players that can go anwhere from 2 to about 7.... Eichel, Rantenen, Marner, Aho, Connor, even Werenski. I think the rest depends on what your team needs and how their personality meshes with your team. Eichel still might be the best pick for someone else at #2, while for the Sabres one of the other guys might have worked.

All of that is true in my opinion. If management thinks a player is part of their 'core' going forward, look for someone with a 3+ year deal at 6% of the cap at the time of signing.

I don't think there is a team in the league that doesn't want a 'Tuch type' player. Sure, some teams will go out and try to build a roster with pure talent, but no one will turn away a guy because he has too good of an attitude. The thing is those guys are pretty rare, and its hard to get a team who has one to give them up. Which is why I think you hear Adams talking about things taking time, patience, etc. He is probably thinking it is going to be a LOT easier to draft and develop guys like that in your system than to try to get plug-and-play guys form other teams. You can have a developmental system that nurtures those characteristics at every stage, and you will have years to see if the guys you drafted are like that. The downside is it takes that much more time to get them to your roster.

Somewhat related to the weather.... The sites we use to check the weather. I use a couple, but for quick and easy access to a basic forecast and conditioins, I always used Weather.com. Simple easy to read current conditions, hour by hour, and 10 day forecast. The site (and app for that matter) have gotten AWFUL in the past couple of months. For years it had a few adds on the page but nothing too intrusive. Just in the past little while, the ads are still there, but pop ups all over the place. Want to check the daily or hour by hour, pop ups. Done with one and want to go to another? Full page pop up. AND they slow the site down on top of being annoying. Its not just the pop ups..but the 'pop ins'. You scroll down to see a certain forcast, get ready to click on it, and the second you click on it what you WANTED to click on now moves down the page or right off the page, replaced with adds where it used to be. Then there are pop ups that block the entire screen. There are video ads that pop into the corner of the screen not blocking anything but playing sound and video. And these are the ones that you standard 'pop up' blocker doesn't take care of, many of them are integrated right into the site. It is amazing the site and app had ads for year and years that I assume they made money off of, but someone decided to go crazy with extra adds that block the very thing you come to the site for, and it, for me, is almost become un-usable.

I have some hope because in the regular season and the playoffs, we have seen Rochester play games where they have been absolutely dominated and looked awful, only to turn around and to win convincingly the following game. It's what they have a tendency of doing. If that doesn't happen and they end up losing this series quickly, you can still look at the past month as a positive. Has the team played very well all the time in the last part of the season? No. But a big thing for these players is to feel the pressure of a playoff run. Not only did they go through the last couple weeks of the season dealing with that, but they have a couple of series under their belt. That's a positive overall. You want to win obviously, but sometimes the best way to learn to win is to lose, to understand how you lost and then to improve on it... Of course you want to have that mixed with some winning also.

So either very close to or at the veteran minimum for him. Very good deal for Toronto. I don't know what the advanced stats say, but it was obvious to me he isn't the same player he was even a year or two ago. BUT...limit his minutes to 17-18 per game, dont' play him on back-to-backs, and at least for this year you will probably get a player that is very very good in that role (especially penalty killing) for less than a replacement level player would cost. I think Toronto gets a 'role player' who can excel at that role at a bargain basement price, as long as they don't push for too much more out of him. The Leafs are pretty much set on the back end if they want to be without having to pay too much: Muzzin, Rielly, Brody, Giordano, and Holl signed (top 5), with Sandin and Lilijegren being the talented young guys who are restricted and likely to be resigned on affordable deals also. That is 7 right there.

I tend to agree. The team played better at the end of the year, so they will spend a BIT more with hopes that attendance will be up going into next season. If the teams improves even more and attendance/cash flow go back up, then they will spend a little more next year...and hopefully that cycle will continue.

The last couple years of it won't look good, but it probably wont' matter much. First, you are looking to get Rust through the Crosby end of deal, which this does. The contract after that, the Penguins will likely be in rebuild mode after Crosby's deal is done and you will have the cap room to 'overpay' an aging player like Rust. Finally, in 4 years from now, even a 'bad' $5 per year contract isn't all that bad with what the cap might be if it goes up by then.

I don't know names off the top of my head, but there are some guys that are just motivated more by money than they are by cups. I know it has been years since I heard this, but I remember a couple of players (now former players, maybe Peters??? but not sure) who would mention that guys from North America are more motivated by the cup....but they guys from Europe aren't as motivated by the cup because they didn't grow up following it as much..that SOME of the Europeans care more about Money and the Olympics than they do about chasing a cup. Find a guy like that who is a $3-$4 million dollar goalie...overplay him by $1 million per year, and there you go (wish it was that easy)

Anyone mention a timetable of when he might be available to play?

Reading some articles about the leafs and looking at the comments, as well as listening to a lot of 590 on the radio out of toronto when out on the road for work...it won't be a problem according to leafs fans, they have it all figured out: According to many leafs fans: -Spezza and Giordano will sign for league veteran minimum, they are at the end of their careers and only want to play in Toronto. -Trade Nylander to the highest bidder, Get a young, 1st paring D-man for him that cost well under $3 per year. You know, because all the other teams know how good Nylander is. His spot can be pretty much filled by Knies or Robertson. Another idea posted that has a lot of people agreeing with it is simply to Trade Nylander to Jersey for the 2nd overall pick this year plus something else from Jersey, and then use the money savings to get one of the top D-men out there. -Campbell will give in and sign for $3million per year with the leafs. He can't turn down the opportunity to stay with this team and if/when the leafs win the cup, he will become a hockey legend for doing it in Toronto. -Offer to retain a little bit of money on Tavares contract and move him. Get a haul back for him, including a stud d-man and still save money on the contract. With that savings you can resign most of your free agents (because they are all going to take a home-town discount to stay in Toronto) and maybe even add to the roster. So yes, there are some skeptics in Toronto, but most of what I have read and heard from the Leafs fans is how easy a few moves will be where they can both dump salary AND get better at the same time, and then take that extra cap room they have to sign young stud players to make them even better along with retaining Campbell. Easy.

For those wanting the Eichel talk to go away because he isn't here anymore, its just not going to happen. Is this thread about him? not directly, but when you talk about a coach fired on the team he just joined, of course he will be brought up. Bigger picture, he is going to be talked about for years on this forum, get used to it, and the topic about him IS relevant. He was traded, how he does with his new team and how the players the Sabres got for him peform....that is what fans like to talk about in terms of 'who won the trade'. With just about every major trade that happens, the players get discussed. It has been many years and we are still discussing ROR and who 'won' that trade...and I'm fine with it, that is what message boards are for. Eichel...how he does with Vegas and how Vegas does with him on that team....and Tuch and Krebs.....they will continue to get discussed and honestly that is what message boards are for. Fanbases all across the league and across sports like to talk about trades...the players involved in trades...even well after those players are gone, again, because it is about 'who won the trade' and every move that happens, every coach changed, every winning and losing streak involved will give more to be talked about. Eichel discussion is not going away and I want to continue to read and talk about it because it is part of who this team is, who it was, and the return for him will be part of this team going forward.

I'm really surprised Florida is down 2 games at home. Obviously to many they were the class of the league this year along with Colorado...maybe at their 'peak' not being quite as good as the Avs, but more consistent than them. Tampa just didn't look as good as they have in the past. Same team, but some key guys being a year older now, and Vasilevskiy not looking anywhere close to what he was the last couple years. A very good but slightly older Tampa team with a goalie who all year was very-good-gut-not-great....vs a team that took them to the distance last year in the playoffs who is a bit younger and had a much better year......and even with that Tampa 'experience'....after a LONG 7 game series vs Toronto I expected Tampa in 5 or 6 in this series. Very surprised so far.