Marvin

My answer depends on the question, "will we have at least two clear-cut, no-questions-asked, across-the-league top-6 centres for the next several years?" yes: Power no: Beniers I understand how good Power looks. But our needs matter too.

*Yawn*. 😉

I re-iterate: 1. Most efencemen at Ristolainen's contract price whom other fans think their team will expose are better players; 2. Most defencemen at Ristolainen's level of play whom other fans think their team will expose are on cheaper contracts. In bang-for-the-buck for Seattle, Ristolainen is someone they should avoid. It would be silly for the Kraken to pick Ristolainen; ergo it is silly to protect him.

I love Frank's Sunny Italy. I took my now wife there when she accepted my marriage proposal. I go there every year on that anniversary.

It's not there anymore, but my favourite restaurant was Bistro Des Artistes in Cleveland. Only comparable food was from Michael Noble (challenger on the original Iron Chef). They make what French food at a gourmet level should taste like. Service was stupendous.

Puppy!

Actually, that is part of the debate about Granato: how would he have done over a season? The can was already opened.

It's a long way to Tipperary.

I can't think of a good reason for Seattle to trade up, but what do I know.

Yeah, I screwed up. I just mis-remembered. As stupid as it sounds, I have been crossing wires on Switzerland and Sweden since I was a kid.

Ja, mon, never remind anybody about Jar Jar Binks ever. IMHO, that character is emblematic of everything wrong with the Star Wars series since its return.

Let us all stop flinging insults at each other about Gronborg and put some objective perspective on him. Gronborg is a head coach in the Swedish Elite League, so it's not like he has only been an assistant, only coaches the juniors / college / developmental leagues, short tournaments, etc. He is an experienced, accomplished coach in one of the best pro leagues. The big problem he has with the Sabres is the Sabres' baggage. 10 years of results from a deliberate tank. Ralph Kreuger's monumental failure. Rookie GM. Unhappy top players. Eichel's injury. Thus, in spite of his accomplishments, his lack of head coaching experience in the NHL -- especially knowledge of the players, other coaches, etc. -- makes him a far riskier choice than he ought to be. How will any cultural differences matter, if at all? How will his lack of knowledge of the league affect the team? Can he exploit his different perspective on the game to the Sabres' advantage? How will he handle the travel, which is positively grueling by comparison? How will the long season affect him? How will his he adopt his strategies to the smaller ice surface? How many other coaches allegedly got invited to B&B 50? (50th anniversary of the collaboration of Benny and Bjorn of ABBA; I do know that Borje Salming was there, so it's not like they don't know their hockey.) When I see this, it is crystal clear that he should have been the preferred out-of-the-box choice over Ralph Krueger -- more clear upside and less downside. Speaking as someone who sees things differently from most, I view his experiences and perspective as largely positive, but they can boomerang and hit us instead. I share @MODO Hockey's enthusiasm for him, but as a practical matter, I think GMKA has to *really* believe in him to hire him.

I remember videos where he said the situation from earlier that season were "just like that goal." He was lampooned multiple times at the NHL awards that year for the examples which were nothing like the call as well as all the other calls which were much more like the Hull goal which were overturned. (IIRC, someone came up with a less egregious situation like Hull/s which WAS overturned earlier in the playoffs.) Dallas players and many NHL execs were very uncomfortable with the unrelenting stream of gags. Lewis can say what he wants. It is straight-up situational ethics. As someone who can't abide anyone saying anything non-inflammatorily derogatory about the Pegulas, I have to ask why you are upset with what you think are Pegula's situational ethics but are fine with Bryan Lewis's?

It could be that rest has helped and the Sabres want it to keep going, but Eichel is being a typical 24 year old and wants things faster. This is not a criticism -- it's just knowing how 24 year olds think.

If this turns out the way @MODO Hockey said it would, we should carry him on our shoulders behind the Stanley Cup float.

I think @MODO Hockey is onto something with Gronberg. But after Kreuger, I don't know if the fanbase would stand for it.

IMHO, unless it is known by everyone except the Sabres that Jack is really OK, this is the only sensible action by the 31 other GMs. The risk for this is so high that I would want nothing to do with the surgery until I see Jack play up to a high standard, and he takes several jarring hits which really put the partial laminectomy under extreme stress, and he comes out of them as if nothing happened, then and only then would I trade for him. The more I think about it if I assume that we trade Eichel in the off-season, the more I think that we will get a mediocre return with a bunch of conditional futures. The average quality of the return would be, in terms of players in the Sabres' system, Girgensons, Okposo, and a first with a couple of conditional picks over the next two years, so we had better get centres in this trade.

I don't think Eichel will care how he is perceived once he is out of Buffalo. We will know exactly how bad he really is once he reports to his new team: Do they waive the physical or alter their standards for him? The only way GMKA can salvage a trade is by making parts of it conditional on Eichel's volume of play and performance in the regular season and playoffs. So if it takes him 2 years to recover, the other team is off the hook for any assets but if he returns to form quickly, the Sabres get extra picks for those 2 years. As it is now, we might only get a #3C, a prospect, and a pick. The conditionals seem like the best way to balance the risk and reward.

Just wondering: if we trade Eichel to Anaheim, do we try to get #3 this year or a 1st next year?

This was before that penalty -- or Darius Kasparaitis would have been penalised in game 7 against Buffalo in 2001.

**** him. I am still correct.

Enough of the Mark Messier worship. If he really were as good as reputed, he would not have undermined a very good Vancouver Canucks team.

I wasn't excited about the McEichel draft. And this one pales by comparison.

There were many games last year where I missed him and Zemgus because the LOG line did what good checking lines do -- keep the opposition's top line in check and getting the puck into the offencive zone. I would argue that they were the best 4th line in the game and helped shelter a multitude of defencive shortcomings from the rest of the forwards. IMHO, had that line been here, Hall, Staal, Skinner, et al. would not have so grossly underperformed -- even with XHCRK's system. The Sabres would still not have been good, but at least Reider and Eakin would have been replaced by competent players. We probably still would not have a playoff line-up and XHCRK still would have sucked the life out of them, but at least they would not have been crushed for games on end against even mediocre competition.

Where do you think he is projected?