gregkash

I believe that O'Reilly wanted out. He only said he wanted to stay in Buffalo after a full off-season of Shawn Michaels "Losing his Smile" talk and the uproar that followed. I truly believe he wanted out. He wanted out of the Avalanche when they drafted a young stud and made him captain. Essentially the same thing happened here. It was clear that Eichel was going to be the Captain and surpass O'Reilly. And hey, maybe I'm 100% wrong. We will likely never know and if we do it'll be in several years, but I think he wanted out.

That is some pretty bad logic. The Atlantic is deep at forward for sure, but Marner and Eichel and Point (all of whom he did not have making it) are in the top 10 in points. That's ... awful.

I really hope he turns it up in Rochester and can earn himself an NHL contract. He reminds me of Max Afinogenov with a better Drive and better finish. Here's hoping. He's very fun to watch and just a good dude.

I'm bored. I know a lot of you will disagree. That's okay. Jack Eichel Ryan O'Reilly Alexander Nylander Rasmus Ristolainen Sam Reinhart Evander Kane Jake McCabe Brendan Guhle Kyle Okposo Linus Ullmark Marco Scandella Robin Lehner Nathan Beaulieu Nicholas Baptiste Jason Pominville Justin Bailey Zach Bogosian Evan Rodrigues Benoit Pouliot Johan Larsson Zemgus Girgensons Victor Antipin Hudson Fasching Casey Nelson Chad Johnson Josh Gorges C.J. Smith Jason Kasdorf Nicolas Deslauriers Jacon Josefson Justin Falk Sean Malone Matt Tennyson Taylor Fedun Kevin Porter Seth Griffith Jonas Johansson Eric Cornel Vaclav Karabacek Kyle Criscuolo Devante Stephens Brycen Martin Adam Wilcox Matt Moulson

I think it would be a mistake to play Reino at center. He's become a net front presence but that is a hard place to play when you're a center. You need to be up and down the half wall and behind the net and get back on D. I don't see that happening. With no respect to what wings people play. Kane - Eichel - Reinhart Okposo - O'Reilly - Pominville Pouliot - Larsson - Moulson Some Mix of Girgensons, Rodrigues, Bailey, Fasching, Josefson, Deslauries I'd still like to get rid of Moulson and Add a top 6 winger to force Pommers down to third line, but it doesn't look like that's happening.

Yeah I guess Guhle is off limits now. Until the end of the season then of course it absolutely will depend on where the Sabres are at. I'm okay with leaving Girgenson's open. I think we should keep foligno. Him, Larsson and Gionta are an excellent fourth line in my opinion. We badly need a top 6 winger. So I'm thinking someone who might be unprotected will be getting moved sometime soon as a sweetener in something. AS for 19-18-9 not being over .500. That's 46 Games Played 92 Possible points. 47 Points acquired out of 92. 47/92 = .511 .511 > .500 So. stop it.

- I think a lot of you are crazy stupid and it keeps me from reading the boards a lot of the time. I realize the same can be said about me, but you wanted unpopular opinions. - I don't think this team is as bad as you think right now. Bottom of the Atlantic, yes, but the Bottom has been raised. We are ABOVE .500 and tied for Last place. That's pretty crazy. And as it stands, with 3 games in hand we're 5 points out of 3rd. The parity in the Atlantic this year is real, and if 5 points separates playoffs from Bottom feeders, you don't suck if you're outside looking in. - I think the team is playing better hockey this year than last year. - Based on his play I would re-sign Gionta to a 2year/6mil contract if he's okay with not being Captain anymore. - I think Nillsson has earned the right to start over Lehner so far. - The Kane Trade was a good trade. Myers is worthless, Armia isn't what I hoped he would be and Stafford is one of the blandest players to ever play in the NHL. - Ristolainen is going to turn out to be the best contract GMTM makes. He already is earning it this year, but next year I think we'll be thinking we're lucky if we had him signed at 7 mil/year - I can live without Girgensons. - Deslauries is useless, if he's worth anything, send him packing. Even a 7th round pick. Hell, some of those future considerations. - I hate when Eichel plays with Foligno and Moulson or Gionta etc.. He's too fast for them and they cannot keep up with his rush. Ennis is a terrible idea on his wing too cuz you don't need two guys to carry and hold. - Guhle should be called up. We aren't winning the cup this year. Get him his experience now, for next year. - If you can convince him to waive his NT/NM clause, leave Moulson unprotected for the expansion draft. He's almost a guaranteed pickup for a team that needs to fill salary with a little bit of talent. - Call Nylander up ASAP. Same reasons as Guhle. - I think Ennis still has a 20 goal season in him somewhere. Maybe not this year, but next.

Please stop. He can't go to Rochester. He can't be traded. He can't be waived. We can't put him on waivers, it violates his No Movement Clause. We can't send him down, it violates his No Movement Clause. We can't trade him, it violates his No Movement Clause. Buying him out takes unnecessary cap space for an unnecessary period of time. Your best pet is to put him on the third line and hope you can get 10-20 goals from him this year. EDIT: I was checking out Cap Friendly, they've changed Matt Moulson's status from No Movement Clause to Modified No Trade Clause. If it's modified No Trade Clause then ignore the above.

I specifically don't bother with the forums much because of the megathreads. It's impossible to find where a new development starts easily. I'm not into it.

Okay I just looked it up. "A No-Move Clause (NMC) can be added to a player's contract in the years after they are eligible for Group 3 Unrestricted Free Agency (7 Accrued seasons or 27 years of age)" Bogo has been in the league since 2008. I believe his NMC is in full effect this year. That said, maybe it doesn't kick in until after, without contract details we just don't know. Edit Phrased Poorly

That might actually be true. I think the age is 27 for the NMC to click in, but I think there is an exception if you've played x amount of seasons. I honestly don't remember. Either way, You're protecting Rasmus, you're protecting McCabe, was Pysyk going to be the third guy you protect between him, Nelson, Ruhwedel and Bogo? MAYBE, but I don't think so. I honestly don't think they're done acquiring defensemen.

Several things played into this and I believe it's a good trade because of them even if Pysyk ends up being a better player. 1. Move up in the Draft to get your guy. 2. Swapping a Right Hander for a Left Hander 3. This about finding someone to play with Risto, not necessarily who the best player is. Kulikov fits better than Pysyk/Gorges/Bogo/McCabe 4. This leaves the D pairings at Risto/Kulikov, Bogo/McCabe, Gorges/whoever wins this position. That isn't bad. 5. Kulikov is on an expiring contract. Why is this good? Options. If we do sign Stamkos we might be like Guhle is now ready, we don't need Kulikov, let him go, save the cap. Expansion draft we can only cover so many defensemen and we HAVE to protect BOGO because of his NMC. Pysyk was likely lost anyway. Get something for him. 6. The extra pick means nothing, we have too many picks and not enough contracts. They're sweeteners.

This has more gimmicks than a WWE match. It sounds like something the XFL would do. 1) Completely rebuild goalie equipment to make it form-fitting And completely put goalies at risk. These shots are coming in sometimes at over 100 MPH. There are certain things you can do to take away SOME of the extra equipment but these goalies are getting run over a bunch, crowded up on, and bombarded with vulcanized, frozen rubber at unimaginable speeds. 2) Eliminate offsides No thank you. I've never thought, OH if only he could be completely out of the play and cherry pick this would be more exciting. I always hated those guys in street hockey who didn't play D and I'd hate them in the NHL too. 3) Allow players to kick the puck in I think the only thing stopping this is safety. Skates are shoes with knives on them, you don't want people kicking them around. 4) Force goalies to stay in their crease at all times: Goalies give the puck away more than any other player. If anything you want them playing it more. 5) Increase the importance of offensive zone faceoffs This is just silly. XFL style stupid hockey. -=======- If you really wanna increase scoring. Start calling interference again. The obstruction is back full force. The holding, the picks on dump ins. I know it's hard to play Defense with it in there but we all agree that Hockey was exciting when Ovi was scoring 60 and there were two on ones and three on ones and comebacks were possible. Also if you wanna increase scoring. Make winning mean more. No overtime point for the loser. Or, my preferred method. go to the 3-2-1 point system. 3 points for regulation win, 2 for OT/SO win, 1 for OT/SO loss. Extra points means teams pressing extra for more goals to win that game. Hopefully also cuts down on OT games. Make all penalties the full penalty time. If you get a two minute minor. you're in the Box and Shorthanded for two minutes. Regardless if a goal is scored. This should also crack down on stupid penalties players take. Although it probably wouldn't. Allow bigger curves on sticks. this allows players to maximize how they want to shoot and how makes them best, in their opinions. I don't think too many players would change their stick too too much but some snipers definitely would.

It's just veteran depth. I really think they're waiting to see if Chicago will clear space for Oduya, if they don't I believe he pulls the trigger with the Sabres.

Diego Costa is amazing. AMAZING.