PerreaultForever

Oh no now he's available to be hired as a GM.................lol

It's funny how so many people around here wanted Kapanen on the Sabres and now the sentiment is Pittsburgh gave up too much. I dunno, but I guess Pitt figures Crosby doesn't have too many good years left so they hope there's some Kapanen Crosby magic about to happen. So I guess this also means they didn't think much of Kahun, or at least that he's nowhere near as good as Kapanen. Interesting.

Not everyone. I mean everyone wanted him signed, but not to that kind of money. myself and many others have always said he's a 30 goal scorer not a 40 goal scorer and should eb paid as such. I mean he's way too high in the list of pay. Way too high. https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/sports/highest-paid-nhl-players-15079518

Bogo just got an assist :)

They were just really desperate to get rid of E Rod :) I didn't even realize you were allowed to make trades with the playoffs still going. Seems weird but its a weird year. Adams should get on with it then, but he won't.

The way things are going I don't see any way to do this other than bubbles so the question I would have is would you watch it? I don't think I would. Playoffs for the hockey starved is one thing, but an entire season of this sort of neutral ice emptiness, nah, I think it would be too long and boring.

It's precautionary as those people are exposed to more people outside of their teammates. It's all working, not a single positive test.

The Funny thing about that talent pool is Boston hasn't actually drafted all that well. Those 3 first round picks they had a few years ago only DeBrusk came out of that. They've also picked far later than us and have traded picks and prospects for playoff runs and yet, somehow they still have more talent coming up than us, why? perhaps they don't throw raw undeveloped talent into second line center roles and they pair rookie defensemen with solid veterans and keep that pairing to let the kid develop properly. Point is, I don't think they've drafted more talent than us, they just develop it better in that culture. Dallas looks good right now. wth?

Or, goalies always look better than they actually are playing under Trotz's system.

Exactly. That's what I was talking about in the Reinhart thread and regarding the ROR thing. Bruins create the culture, build around it, and find players that fit that culture. If you don't buy in you don't play and you get shipped out of town regardless of your talent level. If you do buy in you are embraced, defended, bonded with. It's all TEAM first and that is not Sabres culture and is imo a big part of our problem.

hatred or jealousy? Tampa seemed flat. Bruins were the Bruins. Canucks looked like they were satisfied with a one series win and ready to go home.

I will agree with you that Skinner is grossly overpaid. imo JBot should have made him a final offer at the deadline and if he didn't sign it he should have unloaded him for whatever picks he could get. Skinner held a pressured GM hostage and the team will regret this contract for years.

It came up on one of those extended all day things they run with "free agent frenzy" for one. I know Burke thought it was an awful deal and as I said, he was dead wrong (as he often is). Anyway, doesn't matter as it's not a bad contract and he has delivered on it. many games last year he was the only one earning his cheque.

No, the way he wrote his sentence the answer was yes, and then the reason.

Phoenix folding must have put Colorado to sleep. The goalie injury might do them in though. Huge surprise this one.

Yes, teams did not want to pay the bonus.

All from television at the time, all outside Buffalo. People like Burke. Couldn't find any archived material, which I did briefly look for since I knew somebody would demand proof which I can't deliver cause it was from things like Off The Record, That's Hockey, Tim and Sid type stuff. Broadcasted material not tweets or blogs. Sorry, but it was discussed that way outside Buffalo and I believe someone did comment that they remembered some of it as well but as I also said, doesn't matter.

First off, I did say it was my own personal view so I thought that would make it clear I can't "prove" it as LGR4GM likes to demand when he disagrees with an opinion. So fair enough, it's just an opinion, like many others. I truly think in sports and the media one has to be wary of what is spoken publicly and one cannot assume it is factual either. What exactly did sick of losing mean and how did he get there? It's a good way to force a trade for sure and Jack has laid the groundwork for that as well should he decide he finally wants out. It's also likely that JBot can't totally be faulted on the trade because 1) he had no choice if in fact ROR demanded out privately which we'll never know and 2) it's likely the Pegulas demanded he not pay out the bonus so he took what he could get by the deadline he had and hoped for the best. ROR likes being the star and he responds to that role well. I'm not all the sure he likes being the other guy, the #2 center and so forth. When it comes to this idea of our star and centering the team around him this is perhaps where I see things very differently. You can do that, but many times where organizations do that they are not as successful as organizations who don't. Team first and no one above is a better winning approach. A team like Boston never puts the individual first and they have perennial success. They had Kessel, they had Seguin, they had Hamilton, but when they didn't fully buy in, boom they were gone. Did they win all those trades? No, but they kept winning, and the culture and the team got stronger. So back to the C, ROR hard worker, 2 way player, leader by example, embodiment of what you want a captain to be. You make him captain, you take all the pressure of that off Jack and let him be the kid he was at the time, let him focus on scoring and emulating that leadership idea. I probably do not articulate this idea properly, but if you even get a hint of what I'm trying to say you might have some pause for thought. We are often a team of individuals not a unit working together and we frequently have some of the individuals letting others do all the hard work and to me, it's all a reflection of the culture and approach the team has used.

I'm going to be really surprised if Larsson signs here. He's a hard worker and might be one of our few UFAs who gets an outside offer, and being "sick of losing" he would take it. Looking at this roster I realize there's only about 8 players I'd want back (or see them as valuable for a quality trade) and the rest is just a big bag of rubbish or at best complete indifference. (not including the kids/prospects of course)

I think Vancouver just showed more desire and wanted it more. They have good balance on that team. So with ROR gone, if Vegas beats the Canucks and goes on to win it all maybe this is the year we get a Conn Smyth for Lehner :)

It depends on the player, their character, their physique, lots of factors, but on a team like this there is instant pressure to make it better right away and I'd prefer not to put too much of that on him UNTIL he is truly ready to handle it. So you don't start him at the top, you start him at the bottom, but if he works and develops and shows he's ready you move him up the line up bit by bit. The speed of the curve is unknown.

I personally think anointing Jack as the heir to the throne before he earned it is what helped do this franchise in and it created the ROR debacle. When they didn't name ROR captain, choosing instead to place hold it for Jack, making it Jack's team, that was the moment it all fell apart.

They might if Halak can hold up. Tampa looks pretty solid this time though and they have a pretty solid record head to head against the Bruins. The big thing about these playoffs is nobody is affected by the wear and tear of the regular season. The only injuries are those occurring now and so with generally full line ups upsets are less likely. Bruins do benefit from that and Krejci is on fire which is big for them. The goaltending is suspect though for a close series.

Your comment about me lying is rather insulting. If you read the post carefully as bolded, I am talking about the reaction outside Buffalo. neutral observers/commentators not brainless fans. They were comparing his payday to others and at that time his numbers did not match the dollars by comparison and hence the reaction was along the lines of Buffalo had no choice but to overpay him and hope he lived up to it. Among them I think Burke said we'd regret the signing (he was wrong). Within Buffalo, of course it was different. it was thank you jesus we've locked up our superstar. But that's not what I'm talking about. I don't live in Buffalo, my news take on the Sabres comes from outside the Buffalo bubble.

I tried digging around the sportsnet archives but couldn't find anything. Buffalo's low on their priority list lol. Doesn't matter anyway, the contract has turned out to be a good one so the argument doesn't matter.