SalarySwishSalarySwish
Avatar

Hammerwise

Member Since
Aug. 7, 2018
Favourite Team
Toronto Maple Leafs
2nd Favourite Team
Philadelphia Flyers
Forum Posts
6319
Posts per Day
3.0
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 21 at 6:54 a.m.
Thread: Ideal
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Hammerwise</b></div><div>Dont know about that, hes playing between 3rd and 2nd line time, still very good 2 way, leader guy, "gritty", plays pk and more recently pp, and on pace for 40+ pts again = if that qualifies as terrible then of course the trade will seem off.</div></div>

His analytics are terrible in 5v5 and both special teams - but it is true that he is playing in those middle six lines…undeservedly. I’d only take him if we could retain half his salary and even then I don’t feel like he’s worth giving up picks over. I love gritty players but only when their grit is effective - and Laughton isn’t effective enough in my honest opinion. Last season he was decent, if he could go back to his form from that time it’d be a win for the Leafs but that’s a lot of “ifs”. Maybe he isn’t suited for Tort’s style of play and a coaching change could help that.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 20 at 6:06 a.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 20 at 5:46 a.m.
Thread: Are Lindholm and Lindstrom enough for our rebuild
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Hammerwise</b></div><div>I don't know, theres a few things that worry me:

Will harris or barron develop as 7th dmen, and with prospect depth of hutson, guhle, reinbacher, maillot, struble, xhekaj too much and soon to overtake those two? I would think if both or either being the 7th they should be dealt, because they're never going to get and keep a top 6 spot with that depth.

Size: The top 6 is not very big, and Lindholm is not a physical player, and the top 12 forwards are not up to the task physically. While Dach and Evans play a gritty game, Anderson alone has size. For that reason, maybe Lindholm isn;t the guy, and somebody with size and skill is needed in that top 6: Anderson and Gallagher arent that guy.

Other concerns: Evans at 3C is a reach, and Roy on 4th line a waste, alot of speed and skill in top 6, 3rd line probably isnt effective enough without a real playmaker and not quite a shutdown line either, not quite convinced that the goaltending is above average.</div></div>

I'm starting to think that next season is going to be another rebuild-part season.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 16 at 7:55 a.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 16 at 6:43 a.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 15 at 3:01 p.m.
Thread: Selling at TDL to get the right mix
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Hammerwise</b></div><div>Maybe this all feeds in to what I see as BUF's issue.

Stuck in a long rut of not making the playoffs, laden with tons of high quality youth, some of which cant get a look in, because of the depth, but the wrong mix of players. The defense is too full of young puck rushers, the forwards arent overly physical or two way guys.

They need some solid lunch-pail veterans who might not put up pts, but allow their teammates to continue their development/scoring.

Buffalo doesnt need another top 9 scorer, or a puck rushing/PP blueliner, they need solid two way guys who ae phsycially and mentally tough.

Gooidrow probably isnt the guy, but a Hathaway/Parayko, a reclaimation project in the expensive but physical 25 yr old Peeke, those are the type of players BUF doesn;t have. No offense to Okposo, Girgensons, Stillman, etc.... but they havent been part of the answer for a while.

ANd the idea that BUF owner, who is absolutely loaded, not wanting to spend the money to even approach winning, makes me wonder (as Billy Beane said): "What are we doing here? If we're not playing and spending to the best of our ability to win, are we just wasting our time?"

Theyve now signed Power and Dahlin to huge long term deals, but you're not going to let them develop and play like the superstars theyre paid to be by getting them quality pairing partners?

Look at the expiring vets they have and what theyre paying them, and some of them not even playing: Johnson, Okposo, Girgensons, Jost, Stillman, Oloffson, Robinson, thats almost 18mil, a quarter of the WHOLE cap in middling vets, on a team spending well below the cap and tell me the GM and owner have truly stepped up to compete or at least make the playoffs?

Just wasting part of the careers of these young guys, while sitting on a gold mine of youth</div></div>
You’re right about a lot of things. I am not sure why Adams refused to make that next step this year. The fans generally do have a better idea of what the team needs than those who are in charge of actually making those decisions. we were all very excited about Devon Levi, but it is exceptionally uncommon for a 20 year old to come out of college and take a starting NHL goaltending job right out of the gate. It was a bit naïve to assume he would be able to do that without putting a staunch defense in front of him. Adams thought Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson would be enough. He was also naïve to think that so many players having career years last season would simply repeat again, especially with Jack Quinn being injured for almost half the season before coming back (and then getting injured again after playing about 17 games). We didn’t sell high on Olofsson, of course they probably thought he would slot in for Jack Quinn, so they needed him. Thompson‘s injury bug wasn’t something we could anticipate, but Cozens struggling should have been foreseen. And Tuch probably overachieved last year, but should still be a solid 25 goal man if Thompson is getting him the puck. It all adds up to another year where we just didn’t take a step forward, and it’s hard to be optimistic.

But the cupboard is far from barren, even if we have all the same type of prospects. Luukkonen has been unreal since the end of December, the question is, can he maintain that over a 40 game window? This point his career high is still 32 games in one season, and he did not start this year well.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 15 at 10:05 a.m.
Thread: Selling at TDL to get the right mix
<a href="/users/BUFF36" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@BUFF36</a>
You and I agree on too many subjects my friend.
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>DragonKnight</b></div><div>Would the Sabres like to return to the days of Darcy Regier? "What not to do as a sports team's General Manager" is what Regier did.</div></div> I do not read the Star so I do not know how much influence the hockey writers have on ownership.
Here in Buffalo our press is terrible.
In 1987 our Anencephalic writers wrote "Buffalo Deserves Better" when management fired Scotty Bowman.
Four years later, he went to Pittsburgh and won the Stanley Cup.
In 1997 the writers thought Ted Nolan was the greatest head coach ever.
Management fired John Muckler because there was a difference of opinion between John and Ted that the writers spent too much ink misinforming the public.
Nolan refused to accept a contract the following year and was released by Darcey Regier.
Muckler went on to be a very successful GM and was fired by the Senators after taking the team to the playoffs.
It is interesting that both John and Scotty remained in Buffalo.

There are many more instances in which the press has influenced ownership as they also influenced Pegula to fire Regier.
I can assure you, if Regier was the GM the Sabres would have been in the playoffs 5 years ago.

Tim Murray set the rebuild back at least 6 years.
Botterill got it on the right track with his drafting and trades (four of the five top defensemen, the top 3 centers, top LW and top GK are all his acquisitions).
Adams sits on his hands, sucks up to Terry and lets Jerry Forton run the drafts, Karmanos act a GM, Crow scout the NHL and Ventura run the analytics.
This should have been the year to make the playoffs, but Adams is too risk adverse to make the needed big move.
Since the start of the season added Erik Robinson for at most a 7th round pick, Buffalo will only give up 7th round pick if he plays more than 45 games (an unlikely event as he would need to play in 27 of the remaining 30 games to achieve that milestone).

Well that is my tome for the week.
Forum: Armchair-GMFeb. 15 at 9:28 a.m.
Thread: Continuing rebuild
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Hammerwise</b></div><div>Laughton is playing 3LW currently and PP, but you're right BUF is doing fine/normal. Laughton isn;t a C most of the time, he plays LW more than most and averages between 2nd and 3rd line time, (PK time). You dont seem to know him very well, just as maybe you know the Sabres better than I, and I never proposed Ginning as a Jokiharju replacement.</div></div>

Well then Ginning &amp; Jokiharju swap has ZERO business in this trade

And like i said before, Laughton doesn’t “fit” anywhere up our lineup
Line1- Skinner-Tage-Tuch
Line2- Peterka-Cozens-Quinn
Line3- Benson-Mittelstadt-Greenway

The only spot where he MIGHT be a fit is for Greenway,
bc ABSOLUTELY NONE of those others are coming out of our Top9
Problem (like i said before) is that moving Greenway to line4 makes him a $3mil 4th liner
And besides that, Greenway is playing well for us &amp; he’s got history WAY BACK with our coach, so it’s just unlikely he’d get “demoted” down the lineup anyways

Idk what to tell ya….
Laughton just isn’t the “fit” that u think he is

And again, Jokiharju for Ginning is just a brutal idea
Ginning won’t ever even sniff our lineup with the other Left shot guys we have- Dahlin &amp; Power locked in, as is Samuelsson, and also Ryan Johnson (who was a 1st round pick) playing well for us as a rookie

Just bc he’s big &amp; tough, it doesn’t mean he’s a “fit” either
If he was a RIGHT shot, and big &amp; tough, then MAYBE he’s a guy we’d take a risk on- MAYBE
But it wouldn’t be for Jokiharju, it would be for a mid-late round pick at best


These guys just aren’t what we are looking for,
Sorry