this is where you get that annoying EA sports message about "signing and trading players". Except in the real market, that matters more. Just trade the 5th (maybe a 4th) for Paquette. Don't involve Larsson

Or just keep larsson

You want Risto on the PK?

Also I think its more of a system than the players.
They do a decent job of limiting high danger chances 5v5 bit can't do it 5v4

fair point. my thinking was that in advance you let larsson know and he would approve before hand because he gets more money if buffalo retains some of his salary. games are different then real life so best to take advantage of it.

risto has ability to disrupt play, and is not the black hole on defense he gets rep as. still not best in league by far but best as far as RHD on this team, real boost came from LHD coming in.

team has had 3 coaches with more or less the same guys playing pk and its never been better then middle of the pack so i cant blame system. there are far to many games where buffalo won the 5v5 battle but lost game because of special teams so a player change is needed in my opinion.

Risto is actually the worst defender.

Opposing Teams are 90% more likely to score on Buffalo when he's on the ice. As opossed to Buffalo's 10%.
Eye test matches after he gets caught flat footed on the penalty kill

They've also held onto Smith for awhile and watching the system they have now it's pretty ineffective. They're not generating anything

Read Chad's work on DBTB or Allison and Meghan Hall about the power kill

This attack is still ****. I think if Pegula save Botterill for the fourth season, then that's how it will be. Then the team will score 80-85 points, will not get into the playoffs and Botterill will be fired.

were did you pull your numbers from for that. as i have risto as 2nd best on team for DPS. https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/
i usually see risto do what i said earlier he disrupts play, mostly on the boards not as good with his stick. the guy is hard hitting energy and 6'4'' he has body to be great defender.

i am not sure about how i feel about smith. i agree that pk system is ineffective but 5v5 isnt that bad. they do really need help in puck recovery tho they lose alot of 50/50 battles.

dont have the cap to go out and fix everything all at once. Need mitts, cozens and/ or tage to just step up and take the 2c away from Johansson. Just need that gap closed on special teams and they would have won at least 5 more games and that would have them in playoffs.

I typically use evolving wild or hockey viz
https://twitter.com/ntrider825/status/1232877386569601024?s=19

This kinda shows how it looks like he disrupts play but in reality the opposing team just runs over him

risto is just on the bad side but pretty close to the pack on hockey vis. so i dont think him to be that bad, definitely better guys out there but i dont think he is the cause of the issues.