Thorny

Ya I mean if Edmonton wins the cup we’ll have to grudgingly agree they are the 6th best team in the nhl. We can’t forget to square the data the league uses to determine who the best team is for the season with our own personally chosen, biased markers for success, like Expected playoff wins inferred based on how tired we are randomly guessing the teams to be and also prospect pool strength.

Exactly. I’d imagine the winning has value in and of itself, probably great value. It’ll help the entire environment and it’s attractiveness to outside players

Proof meets pudding Least so far

McPowerplay strikes again. Have a feeling it’s the Oilers year i still cannot remember a final 4 with 4 more unlikeable teams. Worst rooting playoffs in memory. Thank God for baseball

Jason Botterill didn’t sign him because he was a CHL player and wouldn’t have drafted him at all had he been the GM when he was selected

Always felt Briere brought it even more so. Left every bit of his soul out there Biggest thing is that powerplays go down and the importance of even strength play goes up. At least it used to be that way not as in touch with current playoff product - - - As for “clutch” I do think it mostly comes down to being by able to play your usual game when the game gets tighter “do your job” You see the grittier guys shine more because the rules aren’t adhered to as stringently by the officials

Do you just hate the rangers or have you co-opted Florida as a second team?

That was a really nice pass by Bennett on the goal

Very much agree, feeding into.. The swap as you point out made a ton of sense in theory: evaluation is in limbo because of the execution - issue with Byram was *specifically* the type of dman he seems to be - which you’ve pointed to before, as a stance others have: “I wanted a D man just not THAT one.” His offensive production is definitely reasonable but at least some portion of those still skeptical of the trade already knew this to be the case: issue is how poor his actual defence was. He produced offensively at ES but also gave it right back at ES. Whether or not Byram improves us more than losing Mittelstadt hurts us is indeed as you point out the only way to evaluate the deal and imo the answer to that will be determined by how well Byram finds balance

Hagel was a special case because it was a brow-furrowing decision from the word go. Not only did Hagel look like the more promising prospect, considering a system depth comparison signing Hagel was always a no-brainer and it was a clear, focused instance of Botterill declining to sign him because he got much too literal/Sith with his “absolutely no Canadian Junior players” bias. Precisely when his bias became a farce

“Winning” trades is the province of teams less concerned with winning games

Matteo Costantini - 4 years since being drafted. Do his rights expire this June 1 or does he have another college season ahead of him?

And doing nothing all summer except trading Tage for a 4th would be fine if Levi ends up playing like Hellebuyck next season and Cozens pots 100 points. From the perspective of the moment an offseason yielding a 30 point player at best as the crown jewel would be negligent

You weren’t really wrong about Benson. Benson being the best option can be true and also a really sad commentary on the state of the roster Adding a Benson level player as our biggest F addition this summer wouldn’t be positive He has great potential but he’s not “very good” right now. He also doesn’t have a U in his name. So, 0/2 your pro analysis seems swapped, here, Mittelstadt is the guy who’s currently “very good”, bonafide top 6, Byram is the one performing at a depth level

Making the playoffs and Adams moved out of the GM role seems reasonable to me..

Should only be 1 year Realize you mention that possibility in the next paragraph

He does To a significant extent. He’d be an all star regardless but he’s completely elevated to a different stratosphere due to McDavid. Bouchard is the far and away third leading scoring in these playoffs. McDavid effect hasn’t stopped Leon from refusing to where his mouth guard at any point. Pure chew toy accessory - - - when I see the oilers ahead it bugs me, when I see the stars ahead it bugs me. Can’t believe I’m rooting for the Rangers lol

I would manage the 3C position as if the prospects are a non-entity. If they break down the door, good problem

Best game I’ve seen live. First time I ever saw the Sabres win live. Sammy hat-trick, finished off with an EN goal off an unselfish play from Kane

9 shots so far total. Hope I didn’t go Nostradamus on this one

This is how you find out who’s blocked you

Don’t really like Dahlin and Power on the same pair personally

Same ownership situation

The fact things can look, sound, and be THAT depressing, a story filled with potholes along the way, yet result in a team that was a solitary point out is a positive thing imagine if we loved everything KA had done and we were still missing. That would be really stinky. There’s a ton of failure there, actually, which presents opportunity, which means potential for improvement. When the gap you need to bridge with that improvement is minor, things can be exceptionally frustrating yet not shrouded in darkness