PerreaultForever

Seattle played Dallas dead even last night. Just lost on a late goal. They're good though. Basically the same as they were. Only one gets out of the division.

I do wonder if both are trying to stay healthy to be available. Leaders don't always have to be "high skill" but otherwise I agree.

Could be coaching. Could be trying to play themselves off the team. Could be they just don't care (or care enough). Thompson's always had these lazy moments. he also has really good ones. The Detroit game was the best example of what he is capable of, but he's rarely shown the desire to be that all the time. imo you need to surround a guy like that with hard working vets. You can't expect a guy like that to be the leader of others, especially youngsters.

and this is why you don't jump on the bandwagon with this team after a few decent games. The disappointment always follows eventually. There were some good things but overall for much of the game it didn't feel to me like they had a chance at all. Only in the third when it was still close. Now, the thing I really want to point out is WTF is Thompson doing on the second Pittsburgh goal? I see some of you bitching about UPL out of position (and he was) but go look at it again and look at Thompson. He's right in front, perfect position to get his stick in the lane and prevent or block the shot and he just floats around between players achieving nothing. Big guy like that with his reach, how does he just do nothing there? These details boggle my mind with this team cause they happen over and over again. Power of course was weak on the third goal but nothing new there. The other thing that bugs me is the 6 on 5. I also watched the Islanders Bruins and in that game Islanders pulled the goalie early and they had 3 guys in and around the paint. Three. Sabres have one guy in there. Just one. Who tf designs this? Is it Appert? It's the dumbest softest most futile 6 on 5 in the league. You just can't give away 4 point spreads to teams you are trying to catch and hope for the playoffs, you just can't.

Well the old adage is if you're out of it at Thanksgiving you're out of it so after tonight check the standings.

Malkin and Eriksson have really picked up their game this year too. It's an odd team. I'm sure Dubas was getting all set for a rebuild and now Crosby etc. has him in a weird place. Got to watch those guys like Brazeau around the net too. Silovs is a good goalie. I wanted Sabres to trade for him in the summer. Anyway, Pittsburgh is hard to figure out, but Crosby definitely wants to be captain of Team Canada at the Olympics, I guarantee that. Watch that net front. Pitt knows how to score in the dirty areas.

6 of 7 on the road is a big hope. So I guess if they do that maybe you can think they will make the playoffs. I will still be interested to see how they perform after the Olympics. We all know the second half can get tougher and more serious. I think this year the Olympics will be the differentiating point and some teams will get very serious after them and pull away. Who that will be remains to be seen.

But to do that they have to win and improve from their current win percentage. The season is already 1/4 over and do you have faith that they will be substantially better than they have been? Because they will have to be.

You can argue about who you are "building around" and you place your "core" parameters around less or more people and all of it is just circular and meaningless. If you trade for a guy who is signed until 2030 you clearly have him in your plans that is irrefutable. If I was GM I'd build my team quite differently. You probably would too and you'd probably do it differently than me and that's why teams are different, because GM's differ the same way. Me, for example, I start with the goalie.

I don't think it "shows us" anything but it was a career highlight goal for him. I doubt you ever see him do it again. It was a nice play though for sure.

that implies an extension.

That's not what you were arguing though. You took issue with my comment of building around him. If he's top 6, you are building around him. There's no need to argue just for the sake of arguing.

Reading stuff on twitter about Tuch's wife being from BC. That could be a thing. Byram is another name they apparently like. Quinn for Power as the primaries? That would interest me depending on details. My dream, Quinn Hughes, Petersson and Garland for Quinn, Norris, Power. Tuch (and whatever picks/prospects make that happen). I'd like to keep Tuch, but I don't want to pay him 8 years at 11.5 as rumored and I don't want him gone for nothing. Quinn, Power and Norris are all players who disappoint me regularly in one way or another so any of them can go and I'd welcome it. If it's me I'm bumping Krebs out of the line up. Norris is 2C, McLeod goes back to 3C and Kozak stays on the grind line. When Kulich comes back something else will have to give.

Except Norris doesn't have a broken bone, he has a bum shoulder and now (possibly) a groin injury (or something similar since it's mid body off a face off). One good hit into the boards and that shoulder is gone.

Excuse me, but it's not an "exotic notion". He has an 8 million cap hit until 2030. You trade for that you obviously have him pegged in to be part of your top 6 core.

I'm not taking a sub par offer but I don't have to win the trade either. If the on ice team can get better than it's good for me regardless of what the on paper trade looks like. I don't think they need Norris and I don't think they need 3 goalies so I'm looking at a move there. I also have to have a firm Tuch plan. make a final offer and see what he says. Then act accordingly as you cannot let him walk for nothing like Ullmark. It's scientific and medical. Injured areas are never the same as they were.

I don't disagree with most of that. There were a few early games that had me thinking, hmmm, are they getting it this year? But I didn't want to get too excited and then they started losing in OT etc. and things started to look the same. I still don't see enough fight on the boards and winning puck battles to take them seriously but it does look more like an actual hockey team. It would be nice if they could win some face offs too.

I got really bandwagonesque when we had that win streak with Eichel-Skinner-Reinhart tearing it up. That was the last time. Last few years I've settled into a prove it and show me kind of view. Just don't trust this team to show up every night. It's been calming since so far it's been constant.

True, but each injury makes your body more prone to more injury. We will see what happens I guess. As for the chatter, not surprised. One, I think there are always vultures looking to pick at the carcass. Two, I think it likely some think they can get the better of Adams. Three, there's Tuch, too many goalies, too many bodies period. I suspect there's a few teams looking at this or that and seeing what the asks would be.

It can, but that win streak has to happen. In this compressed schedule, relative to other teams, they are actually healthier now than some so there is a chance to move up but they have to show up every single night to have a chance at making that happen. Cautious optimism is the best i can do.

We are going to have to agree to disagree here. First look at how much they are paying him. next look at how little he plays. It just doesn't make sense to build around him. I mean look at it this way, if by chance they get good enough to compete for the playoffs or even in the playoffs, do you want their success to rest on this guy who is one hit away from out for 6 months? I wouldn't. But let's leave it at that. If Adams is still GM he obviously won't trade him because he will want to validate his own decisions.

I say this every year but few people listen. Don't look at the points, look at the win percentage. That's the stat that matters for making the playoffs. Right now they are 7th from the bottom of the league. Third from the bottom in the conference. Second from the bottom in the division. So it's basically exactly the same as every year.

I disagree. Even if he brings some great hockey I just don't think he will stay healthy so building around him leads to problems. You'd be better off shedding that salary so you can pay Tuch or whoever else. He won't stay healthy. Guaranteed.

Honestly, I kind of did forget about Kulich at the moment I wrote that. He's not that vital. Regardless of his goal I still don't like Quinn and would give that spot to Kulich when he comes back. I prefer the 2 way game of Kozak to the pure offense of the third line they went with before. Alternatively just get rid of Krebs. He's pretty useless too. If there was a way to trade Norris I'd do it now if I was the GM. There likely isn't though.

This one was more meaningful to me than the Chicago game. A couple more and I might start to believe. Cautious optimism. Zucker has made a big difference. The lines look more balanced now. If Norris ever comes back Östlund goes back down. Kesselring for Bryson, there's your full team. No idea what the goalie plan is as always but UPL made some good stops today. I'd be happy to never see Greenway again tbh. I don't know what happened to Samuelsson over the summer - maybe his dad told him he was a disgrace to the family name - but he's not the same player at all. He finally looks like the solid defender we wanted/expected and is kind of giving us what a lot of us hoped Kesselring would bring after the trade. In any event his play has changed things a lot. The biggest impacts on this team over last year are Doan being able to play top 6, Kozak being solid bottom 6, and most of all Samuelsson being solid. Refs were far too involved in this game and the Benson no goal was bs but there are tons of these every season, or even every week. It's just garbage but it is what it is and they overcame it so whatever. I've seen Carolina play better than that but all the same Sabres beat them today plain and simple. They were the better team. Now we see how long this lasts.