GDT: Buffalo Sabres at Ottawa Senators - 7PM - TSN5 / RDS2 - 4th and Final Sabre Rattling Rigmarole with the JBD Juggernauts (no Brady)

Because he couldn’t retain his players by lowballing them. He still wanted to go after players and win, he just couldn’t afford it. It’s just conveniant to brand sucking as rebuilding.
lol how much do you think we offered stone and karlsson? Nothing? No they didn’t want to be here for a rebuild. Which is fair. And you know thank goodness karlsson wanted to leave
 
By the end I dont think he cared about winning as much as he cared about trying to recoup some level of financial stability for himself. Regardless, its a prime example of why teams shouldn’t do a tear down rebuild.
Well if you’re also going to scrape the bottom of the GM bin and the coaching bin then yeah
 
That’s literally just coaching lol. Look at Jacques Martin compared to DJ lol. Night and day. These kids had the biggest bozos in the league coaching them for 6 years.
If you look at what Sanderson and Stützle are doing relative to the rest of the NHL at their ages they are exceptional. It just doesn’t fit your narrative.

Most 22/23 year olds are not producing the way they are.
 
If you look at what Sanderson and Stützle are doing relative to the rest of the NHL at their ages they are exceptional. It just doesn’t fit your narrative.

Most 22/23 year olds are not producing the way they are.
Well I would hope Most 22/23 year olds aren’t doing what stutzle and Sanderson are doing they were drafted at the top of their draft classes.if most were doing what they’re doing we would have even bigger problems
 
Might be time to get Hamonic back in on Thursday. This is the time of year when you need that grizzled vet presence.
 
Might be time to get Hamonic back in on Thursday. This is the time of year when you need that grizzled vet presence.
That’s kinda what sucks about losing this game. Jensen is obviosuly not healthy and needs a rest, but I can’t think of a worse time for Hamonic to come in.

If we won tonight I would have shut down Jensen until the playoffs.
 
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- nobody fears this team when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no net front presence when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no hitting when Tkachuk isn't playing
- the game is far less entertaining when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no shenanigans when Tkachuk isn't playing
- when is Zetterlund going to become the player so many were giddy about when they traded for him
- here's an idea, create a much better & much more entertaining 4th line, one that hits, one that can drop the mitts, one that can add some offence, one that has a player or two who can play on the PK, one that has a good faceoff guy, one that gives us some hope that the 4th line will achieve something other than just fill a time slot.

Best three lines this team has had all yr:
Tkachuk - Stutzle - Giroux
Perron - Cozens - Batherson
Greig - Pinto - Amadio
 
- nobody fears this team when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no net front presence when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no hitting when Tkachuk isn't playing
- the game is far less entertaining when Tkachuk isn't playing
- next to no shenanigans when Tkachuk isn't playing
- when is Zetterlund going to become the player so many were giddy about when they traded for him
- here's an idea, create a much better & much more entertaining 4th line, one that hits, one that can drop the mitts, one that can add some offence, one that has a player or two who can play on the PK, one that has a good faceoff guy, one that gives us some hope that the 4th line will achieve something other than just fill a time slot.

Best three lines this team has had all yr:
Tkachuk - Stutzle - Giroux
Perron - Cozens - Batherson
Greig - Pinto - Amadio

Giroux is on his last legs, unfortunately.
Zetterlund, although snakebitten, has looked effective on the forecheck and backcheck.
I would sit Giroux and have him be ready for Playoffs. I suspect he wont be back next season or if he does it will be at a fraction on his current deal.
 
Our team hasn't performed well at all this season when a star player is out of the lineup. They just struggle. I wouldn't be surprised if we're winless in that scenario. Our team forward depth is decent (Amadio on the 4th line is good depth), but the very top of the lineup isn't very replaceable. Other teams seem better at adapting with that compared to us.
 
Also, Ullmark needs to do better. I don't care how good the chances are, allowing 2 goals on the first couple shots isn't acceptable. This isn't a one off either, it's been happening semi regularly with him lately, to his credit he usually turns into a brick wall after allowing the two goals, but it's still a problem. He signed an 8m+ AAV contract, start playing like one for the full 60.
 
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Also, Ullmark needs to do better. I don't care how good the chances are, allowing 2 goals on the first couple shots isn't acceptable. This isn't a one off either, it's been happening semi regularly with him lately, to his credit he usually turns into a brick wall after allowing the two goals, but it's still a problem. He signed an 8m+ AAV contract, start playing like one for the full 60.
They weren’t good chances. One of a puck he didn’t cover and lost track of and he left it lying by the side of the net.

And the second goal was a short side slap shot all the way from the blue line

People will say well he’s stolen games. Yeah….that’s what we are paying for. His overall season has not been very impressive. Can get that sort of seasons for half the money somewhere else
 
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.... Suzuki then proceeds to win it 29 seconds into OT.

Reminder: Montreal got Suzuki for Pacioretty and we received Brännström for Stone.

View attachment 1004241
They also decided that drafting goalscorers is actually good and took Canfield.

And they decided that elite puck skills was also a good thing and took demidov and Hutson.

They got Suzuki for an old Pacioretty.

We got Kubalik for prime debrincat.
 
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Leafs are a perennial playoff team. Players will go there.

I don’t really blame Staios for Ullmark. It was do or die this season for the playoffs. Brady is not staying if we miss.

Ullmark’s NMC will be a big issue though once that expansion draft rolls along. Merilainen is gone most likely.

What if they give merilainen a NMC as well....then do they get to choose which goalie they expose?

Could be a nice little loophole.

What rules supercede the other? NMC or expansion rules.
 
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Is it true batherson was a -5? If there was one dude who thought he was gonna saucer pass his way into points last night it was gonna be drake f***ing g batherson.
 
Green has to crack the whip. Now.

Sens played a better game than the score indicated sure but were incredibly sloppy to start the game and made some truly awful decisions that led to Buffalo goals as the game went on, which killed any chances of a comeback.

Too many bad habits that aren't just going to go away when the regular season ends.
 
All I'm saying is we're roughly where we should be for our rebuild. Especially for a rebuild where we didn't win a single lottery. We have no idea how the team will perform in the playoffs, and we have no idea how they will perform in the next few seasons as the core starts to enter its prime.

It's only a couple players that we should notice huge leaps from...most of the core has already been in its prime minus stutzle, Sanderson, and Greig. Everyone else is what they are +/- a small percentage barring some miracle.

Greig - 22 (later bloomer offensively so should improve all around)
Sanderson - 22 (still room to grow as a D)
Stutzle - 23 (in offensive prime, but should become better overall player)
Pinto - 24 (small improvements expected)
Cozens - 24 (small improvements expected)
Tkachuk - 25 (is what he is...might improve in playoffs with playoff experience)
Batherson - 27 in a few weeks (he is what he is)
----------
Chabot - 28 (we actually might see regression as his skating slows down...he's never been able to repeat his second season)
Zub - 29 (are we already noticing slight regression with his injuries?)
Ullmark - 31 (in his prime but should start to slow down)
Jensen - 34 (probably will keep getting a bit worse)
Giroux - 37 (is noticeably declining)
Perron - 37 in a few weeks (also noticeably declining)

So we have some players that might see some improvements, while others will see some decline...and the rest are what they are, in their primes.
 
All I'm saying is we're roughly where we should be for our rebuild. Especially for a rebuild where we didn't win a single lottery. We have no idea how the team will perform in the playoffs, and we have no idea how they will perform in the next few seasons as the core starts to enter its prime.
I disagree with the bolded.

Anyone who's watched this team this year can see that they are the very definition of "middle of the pack" ... almost certainly will go out in 5 or maybe 6 games against a good team in the 1st round.

I'd love to be wrong on this, would love to see them beat the Leafs or the TB but it's just not happening.
 
Is it true batherson was a -5? If there was one dude who thought he was gonna saucer pass his way into points last night it was gonna be drake f***ing g batherson.
Yikes. That line had been fairly good lately but somehow him and Cozens were somehow a combined -9 last night.
 
I disagree with the bolded.

Anyone who's watched this team this year can see that they are the very definition of "middle of the pack" ... almost certainly will go out in 5 or maybe 6 games against a good team in the 1st round.

I'd love to be wrong on this, would love to see them beat the Leafs or the TB but it's just not happening.
With Ullmark playing good and us playig pre 4 nations we can compete with anyone in the east.

I truly believe this. When these guys commit to defence they are extremely hard to beat.

When they start believing they’re high skilled high octane players is when they start to f*** up.
 
They weren’t good chances. One of a puck he didn’t cover and lost track of and he left it lying by the side of the net.

And the second goal was a short side slap shot all the way from the blue line

People will say well he’s stolen games. Yeah….that’s what we are paying for. His overall season has not been very impressive. Can get that sort of seasons for half the money somewhere else
Ullmark needs to be much better than last night. You can tell pretty quickly when he is off. Puts rebounds into worse places than usual. He got handily out goalied by James Reimer
 

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