GoPuckYourself

Our goaltending is awful, defense isn't helping much and the team speed looks pedestrian out there, maybe we need to shake up this lineup again with some speed. It's good to have skill but you need to pair that with some fast guys also.

We unfortunately have 2 goaltenders who aren't good enough to carry the load, I'd give Ullmark a shot and see what he's got, can't be any worse than these 2 have been.

Anyone a bit nervous that Eichel hasn't signed yet?

There is no saving this guy imo, he just isn't that good, he's quicker than fast and doesn't add much offensively, he's one of those old school types and more of a hitter which leads to his injuries.

If he signs here he's the greatest defensemen of all time if he doesn't then oh well he's dumpster fire.

Agree to disagree, I think if they wanted to tank, they wouldn't have filled Watkins shoes with someone as capable as matthews, they would have started Holmes or Streater and same goes for Darby, he wasn't a "scheme" fit, Gianes was a first team all rookie honors in year 1 then got that injury, he came back this past year and struggled, much like Darby but without the injury. If we were packing it in I'd think they'd fill in those positions with scrubs, just my opinions though.

1. Anaheim 2. Nashville 3. Minnesota 4. Calgary 5. Pittsburgh

Would you wait on getting paid if you were getting a raise from 925K to 10M? All it takes is a life altering injury and that money is no longer available.

You can put up all the lame youtube videos you want, There were experts who liked Matthews over Eichel, obviously we'll never know.

Mike Weber? Wasn't he part of the whole letting Ryan Miller get his ass steam rolled by Lucic? Real tough guy he is.

Matthews would have been the #2 selection by the Sabres had all 3 been there, I think Matthews missed that draft by a few days or weeks. It's said he would have went before Eichel, I'm a fan of Eichel but an even bigger fan of Matthews, just my opinion.

Fair show me deal, I thought we got Beaulieu for a bargain 3rd rounder, now at a bargain for 2.4M per season. He's gone up in points each of his 1st 3 seasons starting, I think he could be a solid contributor on defense, solid job by Botteril not going with more term just in case he doesn't pan out.

I hate when people throw figures out like it matters, whether he's the 30th paid or 27th, I'm not a fan of his, if you are that's cool, I just see a bunch of inconsistency in his game, by now we should be seeing the dominance and i just don't see that enough, I'm sure some will blame the poor defense and it definitely didn't help but even when the defense was actually decent Lehner lets in some really easy saves. I've liked Ullmark for quite some time, he looked like he was going to break into the mold then we went and signed Johnson, I don't hate Johnson but I know what he is and will always be in the league, I don't with Ullmark and that's why I wanted to see him backup or even push for time with Lehner.

It's an "ok" deal, I'm not a huge fan of Lehner, he's been inconsistent since we traded for him or injured. I was hoping Ullmark would be the backup, now Chad Johnson is taking away from Ullmark which is just as bad. I like Johnson as a backup but I wanted to find out if Ullmark truly is the future.

You have no credentials to evaluate a player on any type of level other than using the eyeball test which your eyes obviously need to be checked. He isn't the fastest guy on the ice but it's not like he's a snail either. I have no clue what you mean by strawman alert.

I don't see it

So you want Eichel to be feeding Deslaurier while Reinhart gets Kane? PP, PK that is all different I'm talking top 6 should be all your top players on those lines and only the top 6 should be interchangeable. We have a hard time with top 6 let alone a 3rd line with Reinhart, I'd rather see Eichel feeding Sam the puck and vice versa then some bum like Pouliet force feeding Eichel or Reinhart and vice versa.

What's funny is some people think he should be centering a magical 3rd line and somehow come away with 60-70 points, Who will be his wingers? Pominville? Deslaurier? If he's a 3rd line C we barely have enough good wingers for Eichel and O'Reilly to feed and we expect to put Reinhart on the 3rd line?

I'd rather see Nylander/Bailey or baptiste up here rather than signing these old guys, Jokinen wouldn't be bad, I'd love Jagr for nostalgia, he was one of my favorites growing up so having him on the team would be awesome and even at 45 he's still quite good.

Line 1 LW Evander Kane C Ryan O'Reilly RW Kyle Okposo DEF1 RHD Rasmus Ristolainen LHD Marco Scandella Line 2 LW Alexander Nylander (We can only pray he's ready) C Jack Eichel RW Sam Reinhart DEF 2 RHD Viktor Antipin LHD Jake McCabe Line 3 LW Benoit Pouliot C Johan Larrsson RW Jason Pominville DEF 3 RHD Zach Bogosian LHD Nathan Beaulieu Line 4 LW Matt Moulson C Zemgus Girgensons RW Justin Bailey

I'm optimistic but realistic, on one hand I feel the coaching should be better, the players are a year mature, the defense should be much better and the realist side of me is saying although i love the Housley hire as HC, doesn't mean it will work out at all. Plus we've lost Ennis/Foligno/Gionta and Gained Pomminstein/Pouliot so that's a downgrade in my eyes. If the key players can stay healthy there's no reason we shouldn't make the playoffs, also , I'm not a Lehner fan, he'll really need to up his game this year because right now he's not a good enough playoff goalie to compete for a Cup imo.

Radulov signs with the Stars, 5years, 6.25M AAV

If we could truly get a player of Vatanens caliber for him we'd be wise to do that, complete the D, concentrate on forwards in the Draft and FA. We aren't getting Kane for some bogus 3-4 year deal, this dude is all about money, just look at his instagram, I hope they trade him before the deadline, we can do some line changing if need be with the players we already have but Kane should be traded by now unless were not able to get the D man were looking for, for him.

Yeah he's in serious decline, hasn't missed a game in 8 straight seasons, had 2 more goals than the year before and will be playing with eager to win younger players. Lets sign Kovalchuck and be lethal.

I like the direction were heading for sure, couldn't be happier with the HC choice since he was who i wanted since Bylsma was fired, Love the Rochester HC/AGM hirings, the trade for Scandella was a solid deal for us, we robbed Montreal when we got Beaulieu from the Habs, we should be improved on our D. The only area I'm disappointed right now is FA, were real weak at LW especially with an injury but other than that it's been a solid offseason, wasn't a fan of Middlestadt either, a HS kid who's going to play at College, we haven't had much luck with these college players other than Eichel but he was always playing immediately.