mjd1001

I agree it doesn't happen much, but I think you are hurting yourself by not trading in your division. You want to make the BEST trade, I don't care if that is with Boston, Toronto, whoever. My goal as a franchise is not to beat the Bruins, it is to beat EVERYONE. If trading with Boston gives me a trade I think is 0.0001% better than an offer I have from a western conference team, I'm making that deal in the division. The only reason I can conceive that teams don't want to do it is if you are afraid you will 'lose' the trade and by playing that team more often it will look worse for you, as a GM. If my GM is afraid of 'looking bad' so hes going to rule out trading in the division, then I want a different GM.

Boston.....negative 13 now for the Bruins in goal differential, 3rd worst in the league as I type this. Marchand 1 goal in 10 games and a minus 6. Both goalies with a save percentage now below .900. Pastrnak the only player on the team with more than 3 goals. Yeah, they might turn things around, they aren't terribly old overall, but they don't just look bad, they look really bad right now.

Dawson Knox. Ok, we are at the halfway point of the season. Ok, 8 games used to be the halfway point, not we have a 17 game season but close enough. Knox. In 8 games, they have thrown him the ball 11 times and he has 7 receptions. Now I know he is good blocking, but he's on a pace for under 20 receptions, and I read his cap hit is over $14m next year and over $17m the year after. Maybe hes a good blocker, but they can't keep him around at those numbers, can they?

It could be all smoke and no fire. It could be a lot of different things. It could be trading a guy who has taken a step backward (Quinn) and a high level prospect for a guy similar to Quinn that might be more expensive but producing right now a bit better.

I lived in Daytona Beach, FL from the late 1990's to 2001, and in the 2000 election in Volusia county we had early voting back then 24 years ago and the lines were LONG for voting early.

Maybe he has a deal involving Cozens (I doubt it but...) and that team would be using Cozens at wing, not center, and wants to see just a small sample size of Cozens at wing....so Lindy was told to make the move to put that on display.

The issue I have is, I think he has been doing that all along. I think a Primary reason Murray is gone is the didn't like it and said something...and Botts, I think it has been written he didn't like how we was being 'managed' from above either. I think Adams is here becuase he would do what Pegula wants him to do. If Pegula fires Adams, he is simply firing his own mouthpiece.

I know I'm saying the same thing over and over every couple of days, but I actually would like to see but I actually would like to see "Adams unleashed" before I see him fired. The problem is we should have seen that last year or the year before. I really think Adams does the leg work but every move is approved by Pegula, and Terry even suggests some moves. My impression is that Adams is like a chef and waiter at a restaurant... He talks to other teams, does the work and puts together a "menu" of options for moves that can be made.... but it's really Pegula that is making the final choices. There is some evidence to this years ago and some circumstantial evidence recently. Beyond that there's no smoking shotgun but I just get the impression that's how things are run there.

As per my post above, what is up with Columbus? It is now more than just one or two games, they are consistently looking really really good.

Of the line combos listed above, who gets benched for Benson? Quinn? And is that a long-term thing?

Ok.... This isn't exactly the same but it came across that way to me or reminded me of something else I don't like... Commercials where they have really, really old people acting like young people, like people in their 70s and 80s out surfing or hang gliding or doing crazy stuff like tha....but also.... Just the same where I watch the financial news and there's a little 13-year-old kid who all of a sudden has this incredible knowledge of financial markets and is telling me what to do with my finances and investments... Or maybe even that insurance ad where the little babies are playing pickleball. I think maybe the first time somebody did something like that. It was fun... But those ads are really old and really annoying now.

From a strictly personal opinion standpoint: -Me 2 years ago: Cozens should be wing. Sabres: he's a center -Me last year: Cozens style of play suits wing, he doesn't have the mentality/style to know how to play C in the D-zone. Sabres: He's a center -Me earlier this year: He isn't scoring, his whole line is awful, demote him or move him to wing. Sabres: He's a center -Me 4 days ago: He's getting chances I guess, he is streaky, keep him at Center, give him time. Sabres: Lets try him at wing!

Firing Adams has to come with Pegula saying he is going to 'keep distance' from the franchise and let the new GM do his job...that he will just be a fan going forward. Until/unless that happens, you are going to likely get the same result with just a different name on the door.

Just noticed the Caps vs Rangers, and Capitals put the game away with an empty net goal....goal song? Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue...same as in Buffalo.

Quinn has played 9 games this year vs 27 last year, so 1/3 the games. But look at the 2 screenshots of where he is getting his shots from. He thrived last year shooting from the center of the ice. This year, in 9 games, he has ONE shot from the center of the ice in front of the goalie, compared to 24 (not even counting the wrap arounds form behind the net, he hasn't had one attempt, or the one from near the blue line.) So, on a per-game basis, he would have 8 shots from between the circles if he was getting chances like last year though 9 games. This year....1.

I never looked at the numbers this deeply, but from watching the games, my opinion was he is the 2nd or 3rd best guy on this team. Ability in the offensive zone he seems tied for 2nd with Power. He seems to me to be pretty reliable with defensive zone exits (pass or skating out). yeah, I will admit he isn't a exactly a bear getting the puck out of corners or cleaning out the front of the net, but I've been decently satisfied with how he plays.

Cozens is taking a LOT of shots. Could it be he is so desperate to get that first goal that he's taking all the shots, not looking to get his wingers involved at all? Cozens leads the team in shots. He's taking 25% more shots per game than last year. 40% more than his career average. Its not the only thing for sure wrong with Quinns game, but if Cozens is just letting a shot off all the time without looking to get Quinn invovled, it might be something?

How good is Columbus? 9 points in 8 games, a positive 8 goal differential. Wins over Colorado, Buffalo, and the last 2 they blew out Toronto and blew out Edmonton. And they are doing it with "bleh" goaltending so far. Other thing I am watching is Kaprizov in Minnesota. He might be what I consider the most under-rated player in the game now. 15 points in 8 games so far. He had almost 50 goals and 100 points last year with missing 7 games. Since he came into the league, he is 6th in goals and 10th in points in the entire league. I think most of us on this board know he's good, but he is on the border of superstar/elite...and I don't think he gets that recognition.

Part of me would like to see a poll just to see how wildly the results swing game to game. I get the impression they results of the poll would swing more after a single win or a single loss than they would be over the longer term actual moves in the standings.

Ok, I obviously never played hockey at a higher level than recreation...but... -As fighting goes away and hits are more regulated, speed/quickness/'shiftiness' becomes slightly more important than strength used to be -Speaking from experience on the ice, a really big, strong guy won't come out ahead of a collision on the ice vs a thinner guy IF the thin guy has great balance and can 'regulate' himself on his skates better than the 'bigger guy'. -Endurance. Endurance I think is become a huge issue the last 10-15 years in hockey. Carrying around any un-needed weight hurts you and makes you a liability at the end of any shift over 45 seconds.

Up until next week, I though Cozens needed to be benched, demoted, etc. I changed my mind on that last week. He is playing his game. He is 'playing' pretty much the same as he did 2 years ago. He is just in a 'shooting slump'. I know people say 'give him new linemates' or 'he needs to be moved to wing**' or 'move him to the 4th line'. I get the frustration, but honestly he is PLAYING almost the exact same way he did 2 years ago positionally, maybe getting even more shots. He just needs to start converting. His game is no different at all EXCEPT for accuracy. And if you look at his career, he is a very, VERY streaky shooter. He goes months at a time shooting as well as Thompson, then a month or two shooting under 5%. No rhyme or reason for it...its random..and that is who he is. So, you just wait for him to emerge from this shooting slump. No new teammate, no new line, no new position will help that. We are into 5 seasons of proof that that is who he is regarding shooting. Now, LONG term, the question is.....you are going to get shooting streaks out of him, but what is he OVERALL? Is he as 12% shooter? a 9% shooter? a 7% shooter? You are always going to get streakiness out of him, but IF you determin he is a 10-12% shooter overall, he's your 2nd line center. If he is a 7-9% shooter then even with his 'streakiness', you are wasting valuable minutes giving them to Cozens. ** I personally do think his style of play is better at wing, but it appears no one in coaching/management is going to make that change.

Well, yeah most of recent history, but remember last year they were on the positive side of things ( just barely at a +2, but they WERE positive for the first time in years.)

And any assists given on 'goal scorer goals' are even worse. You are listing very specific examples. I have not mapped out every single goal scored by him or anyone else in the NHL, but to me its obvious that his goals are mostly scored when 'replacement level players' in the exact same situation would not have scored them. OVERALL, I place much higher value on the ONE goal scored than I do on the 'up to' 2 assists given.

9 game for Mitts this season, 5 goals and 7 assists (46 goal, 64 assist, 110 point per 82 pace). I don't think that pace will keep going at that rate, and in the first few games he had some pretty bad defensive zone coverage issues, but right how he's fitting in nicely. If he does keep going at even a pace close to this, this would be one example of "the guy who doesn't reach his peak at 22, but keeps getting better every year, through age, 23, 24, even 25."

If we take that back to the topic at hand... Tage.... There is a valid point to be made... I don't agree with it. Totally... That assists can be just as valuable as goals. Yes, I agree they can be but overall I think goals are more important. If it was really easy to do, what Zach Hyman... Or Tim Kerr... Or Dave Andreychuk did.... A lot more players who score 10 goals a year would be doing that and putting up 30 up to 50. But seriously now back to Thompson... I think watching him play... I think most people would agree that he doesn't get those Zach Hyman type goals. Tage is creating his own space, and his shot is one of the best in the league. Thompson might be one of the top examples of someone who gets his goals as a result of his own talent and work, not just tapping in someone else's leftovers.