Marvin

The layoff killed Florida. Yet again, the team with more than a week off is losing.

They already did in 2007.

Yes.

Just read that Philadelphia is going to fully rebuild. How good is Hart?

I think it is really important to have 3 centres who can all play in the top 6 for extended periods as well as a 4C or 3W who can play 3C for a couple of months without missing a beat. Mittlestadt qualifies on the former and I expect that Krebs will qualify for the latter this coming season or next. (Neither Girgensons nor Jost really do it for me.) This allows for multiple long-term injuries at centre during the season.

In the case of back-diving contracts, it's not Buffalo, per se. I don't think it's a coincidence that the league only decided against back-diving contracts once the Sabres signed Ehrhoff. Once Comcast saw one of the little boys do a big boy thing, they, with the American hockey broadcast contract as a hammer, started lobbying for their elimination. (Philly's GM was the first to complain.) IMHO, if Ottawa, St. Louis, or any of other smaller market teams had done it, the result would have been the same. On the other hand, allowing a team to allegedly stash players on IR until the playoffs is something they clearly allowed for Tampa Bay and Las Vegas, but specifically not Buffalo. In 2007, the Sabres Tim Connolly on IR for almost the entire season and then 2 other players got hurt shortly before the trade deadline. Darcy Regier said on WGR that the league told him and Golisano that any of the 3 players who did not play by game 82 would be barred from team facilities and contact with their teammates for the entire official first round. When asked, Lindy Ruff bit his tongue on his radio show; he was clearly annoyed because, if nothing else, the Sabres and NHL medical staffs had no idea when Connolly would be fully healthy to play, if ever. In this case, I absolutely will claim an anti-Buffalo bias with the league's inconsistent rules on player availability. To claim otherwise is factually incorrect and demonstrably false.

Call Benny, Bjorn, and Tim!

Thanks. This is way better than the data I had to work with back when the Sabres were in the Aud.

Once upon a time, I did an analysis of teams who won a best-of-7 series on spite of losing game 1 and in the 2-2-1-1-1 format. The team with home ice advantage won the series about 75% of the time, while the team without home ice won the series a bit over 50% of the time. 1. The numbers go up for teams who win game 3 of a 1-1 series. They are higher still for the teams who win game 5 of a 2-2 series. 2. It is amazing how many teams with home ice advantage who lose game 1 but win a series do it with LWWLWW or LWWLWLW, but other combinations are far less common. 3. For obvious reasons, the teams who win the series after losing game 1 are typically the team with home ice. For the team without home ice, they usually go LWWWLW or LWWLWW.

One thing just hit me: even if we discount every legitimate and semi-legitimate prospect in Rochester, I could make a persuasive argument that ever player brings something to the Sabres that we could use more of, whereas Kane does not. In Buffalo, Kane is truly redundant.

@LGR4GM and the rest of the draftniks: could we have a compilation of ratings for the above players?

I assume its alternative title is, "Around the NHL: Teams Not in Finals Edition."

We need to spread these out.

IMHO, this is old thinking from back when home ice meant something. In this era, both teams should assume that each splits in the other's barn and plan for 2-2 heading into game 5.

For the immediate future, I am hoping that Adams finds average goaltending.

It takes time. I normally associate lacrosse with Canada and the Canadian border of the US. Good luck to them.

Are you interpreting Friedman's post as meaning, "comparable, younger players on longer-term contracts"? I thought that it would be delusional for Cheveldayoff to expect that because the other team has to decide to do Winnipeg a favour. It would be like expecting Vasilevsky or Demko for Hellebuyck. i thought that it was more, "now players with upside." That's why UPL and Jokiharu are in there with picks. I could be wrong.

Back in the early 1990's, scores like 21-15 were common. It is an indicator of how much defence has evolved over the years.

Joker is not the basis for a trade fir Hellebuyck. I imagine that #13 and UPL would be the basis for a trade. On the other hand, I think Jokiharu and a 2nd is where you start when you ask for DeMelo.

Welcome to the board!

As with back-diving contracts, the rules will change when a team like Buffalo does it. Oh, wait! The league already fabricated different rules for the Sabres in 2007 for the Tim Connolly situation. So, like "No Goal" and "The Hole in the Goal," it is a case of situational ethics.

Is he an NHLer?

I would ordinarily pick the Panthers, but I think the long layoff really hurts them. Las Vegas in 6.

I don't think it was the quality of fandom. We all want the best for the franchise. I think it was philosophy. Those of us who did not "embrace the tank" had our own reasons. Even so, the results would have been better than the worst-case scenario if management had been even remotely competent at finding players for the bottom half of the roster.

Yes! The game is on local TV! Let's go, Bandits!