PerreaultForever

Ummm, no. Just, no. I like Tuch a lot, but that's just a silly statement to make. Best forechecker in the league? Tough question. many candidates. Crosby's still pretty darn good at it. At the moment without diving too deep I'd probably say Bennett.

You know what isn't fine? Judging and criticizing me rather than talking about the Sabres.

I'm not worried about that. Top offensive lines are rarely great defensively. The Perfection Line might have been an exception but even guys like McKinnon and Crosby have defensive lapses.

You really don't know what you are talking about. Lohrei is not that physical. He's big, but he's not that different from Power in terms of physicality.

I don't think he's worth it. He might be, but it's not a sure thing. Bussi looked pretty good tonight, so goaltending might not sink them but it's definitely not the Bruins position of strength any more.

would you trade for him - haha.

media predictions. Aren't we supposed to be commenting on why we think those media projections are right or wrong? Media has had us finally making the playoffs this year many times over these years.

My opinion. What we will see from Ruff's team (assuming they listen to him), high tempo, multiple players going to the netfront and more forecheck than with granato hockey. How Thompson fits into that personally idk, we shall see. I think the main (overly simplistic outline here for brevity) is the D will be relied upon to move the puck up the ice, they will be told to shoot more and the forwards will be asked to screen and tip. Simple, basic hockey.

I'm literally torn on this team. 50/50 so I will admit I really have no idea how this shakes out this year. It truly could go either way. I do generally post more negative. I've never denied that. Areas of critique are where the conversations are in hockey. Rah rah when things go well is all too easy and for me, kind of boring. Much less to talk about when things go well. So come on Sabres, shut me up.

Sure. I know you love your analytics and you should enjoy that. I also know you have no respect for the opinion of someone who played hockey and has watched the game for 50+ years. Okay, I'm just some internet guy to you and so be it. Don't worry about it.

Well that's the question isn't it? How many goals does Thompson have to score for that line to be a competing top NHL line? Is 30 enough? Does he need to be nearer 40? If Tuch stays the same, and Quinn and Benson give us as much as Skinner and Benson with Peterka staying Peterka it comes back to Cozens being better. I honestly have reservations about looking at past years because this team should be playing different hockey and that will benefit some more than others but we shall see who excels and who does not.

The optimist in me says the young high skilled forwards will continue to improve and mostly excel and we will have 2 solid top lines. The D isn't perfect but it's deeper. highly mobile and highly skilled and thus should help drive the play. UPL will continue to develop his consistency and be as good or better than last year and Levi will also be NHL able as a 25-30ish game back up. The bottom six will have good chemistry and bring more physicality and compete than we have had in the past. Ruff will game manage well like a real NHL coach does. The pessimist in me thinks our top forwards were overrated, Thompson is what he was last year not the year before. Cozens is also no better than last year and Quinn isn't as good as people think. Zucker is a has been and will be Okposo level at best. The third line won't gel and the 4th line, although fast and adequately aggressive against weaker competition will fall apart against the top competition who have also gotten heavier and bigger as a general trend. The D will be good moving the puck but will still be horrible in their own end and in and around the paint. UPL will drop back to inconsistency and Levi will not be ready and show clear weaknesses. Ruff won't really make a difference and some players might not respond well to him when he demands more. Either is possible. Likely, it'll be a mix of both and that may or may not get us there.

Yes, that's it. They are hedging their bets. They don't want to piss off Levi by sending him down to start the year but they are not sure he's ready so Reimer is insurance. They could send Reimer down but I do think they'd be afraid of a waiver claim, at least until Levi has played some games and they know for sure. They can get away with it since their injury fill ins in most cases are safe in terms of waivers and they can be sent up or down easily.

another assumption. Has yet to be proven. Maybe yes, maybe no.

You never change your mind talking to anybody and you always make assumptions while ignoring what people say. Nothing new here. I've seen every single Owen Power NHL game and every single Mason Lohrei NHL game (except for one exhibition game). Have you? No need to answer. I know it doesn't matter to you either way. I have said repeatedly I think in time Owen Power could be very good and thus better than Lohrei. Right now though, he is not.

Because they did it last year. They won't waive Reimer because they'd be afraid he'd get claimed (maybe even Boston given the Swayman debacle) and they want to play Levi so they will keep all 3. If Levi isn't good he will get sent down later or if Levi is good maybe eventually they waive Reimer but not right away. Just a guess. How will it work? Fine, if they stay relatively healthy.

At this point I think they plan to go with the 3 headed monster again. At least to start. I don't like it, but I think that is what they will do. You'll have the 20 starters and then Krebs, Reimer and a D man (Bryson or maybe Gilbert) and that's it. Kulich, Johnson etc. called up if injuries hit.

Well they gave Guentzel a lot and they already had a lot committed so it's not a huge surprise. I am interested to see how our new bottom 6 holds up but most of all I think this season hinges on what that second line becomes. It could go either way.

This is a potential problem with all those high end picks. If they all get there they will all want to be paid and some of them will have to be moved. Cap goes up though so no need to sweat this yet. Is Girgs 3rd line? That is thinner than they used to be if that's the case.

Saw that too. There is some talk that Swayman's agent hasn't been telling Swayman everything but who knows. Most likely this will end bad for the Bruins, so good for the Sabres. More well rounded and complete, yes. At this time. Lohrei makes less rookie mistakes. Again, at this time.

Well I wouldn't disagree with that. There's a window of opportunity (mostly due to entry level deals) and if we were actually spending the money we might be there but we still have unused cap space. All those teams spend to the cap. idk, if the Cozens Benson Quinn line comes together and is a good 2nd line then we might be good, but it's unproven for now. Have to see what it looks like in actual games. I doubt Zucker-McLeod-Greenway scares many teams at all.

Polarizing comment but I suspect Neely's had enough. That rumor that Swayman asked for 10 million most likely true then. 8x8 seems overly generous to me so this will not end well for the Bruins.

Well I won't get into the over valuing of prospects but just to be devil's advocate (and I just realized there's an unintentional bit of comedy there) Ruff was fired in New Jersey when a team expected to be back in the playoffs fell apart. Now everyone is saying "goaltending" so what if UPL gets inconsistent again and Levi isn't ready and Reimer's an old has been? Then we don't have goaltending either and could be just as bad or worse. That's just saying there are a lot of variables and questions in play and how this shakes out is impossible to predict right now. Hope is what we can have.

I'm not sure why you think this. The teams are now structured in the same way, as are most NHL teams and that's how the cap works. If Thompson doesn't score at least 30 this year we are not making the playoffs.

I agree that Power can be much better and likely will be. idk about Lidstrom I tend to think more like Pietrangelo but we shall see. He has a ways to go though. I don't agree on the trade scenario though and we went over that when it happened so I will be brief. We did not trade Mitts out of a position of strength. We are actually quite thin at center which is why Adams signed a 3C and a 4C in free agency. After that we are down to Krebs. It's not a position of strength. It would be if we had Mitts, but not after the trade. What Byram asks for in his next contract might determine if this trade was okay or garbage.