K-9

Dick LeBeau says, "Hold my beer."

Even if +/- was still an important indicator, Ekman-Larsson is no where near Risto.

Risto is a point getting defensemen. Problem is, he’s not much of a point preventing defensemen. I like Risto as he’s one of our only players with any kind of jam in his game. And it’s unfair that he’s logged big minutes against top opponents since he arrived. Ideally, he would be paired with a more defensive oriented partner. His pairing with Scandella is not his fault, either. Ekman-Larsson is simply a better player, both offensively and defensively. Like Erik Karlsson, he drives offensive play on a shift to shift basis since he’s been in the league. Not sure he’s worth three firsts or not, but he’d fetch more than Risto at this stage. I don’t necessarily want to trade him as I think he’d be more effective paired with a better D partner and not forced to play big, key minutes every night. We screwed up his development in that regard, too.

Agree that Risto won’t commamd much. He’s s 4/5 defenseman in this league. But it’s his propensity for the Scandella-like boneheaded play that GMs notice most on his game tape. I can’t see JBotts offering Point or anyone else for that matter. But I’d rather have Marner if I had a choice. As great as Tavares and Matthews are, I think Marner is the true catalyst on that team. Love his game. Per the bold text and speaking of Housley behind the bench, I offer my periodic update on his record so far. Excluding the fluke 10 game streak (was that really this season)* 49/118 available points for a .415 percentage rate this season. That’s the good news. 33/88 available points since the streak, a .375 percentage rate. Which is WORSE than his NHL worst .378 for last season. Ouch. Once again, excluding the fluke streak*, since Housley has been behind the bench, we have captured 111/282 available points for a breathtaking .393 clip. Make of it what hat you will, but I submit it isn’t just the players he has/has had, especially last year when he had a superior roster. He is part of the problem. *It is important to clarify the fluke streak exclusion because Housley’s fans insist on including it in this year’s totals as they cling to the belief that getting us to .500 after being at .378 last year is some sort of accomplishment. And while certainly a part of the season’s fabric overall, it has absolutely no relevance to the current situation except to serve as a reminder of how much this team has regressed over the last three months.

It might be a lot of things, but why stupid?

I don't recall any accounts of McGahee or Lynch quitting on their teammates, coaches, and fans so I have to say Brown is the biggest jerk. By far.

McD took one look at his game tape from the Steelers game in ‘16 and knew immediately that Zach Brown was not his kind of player. Quitters need not apply.

No. Que the Steelers game in ‘16 for my reason why.

I couldn’t get past the halfway point before I had to stop watching; just couldn’t take the crapfest on display. In the time I did watch, Nylander fit right in; nothing to write home about. He almost looked disinterested at times, but it’s hard to tell for sure given my unfamiliarity with his normal on ice demeanor. Dahlin was the only player worth his salt last night, imo.

Not surprised to hear this. Foster stayed in town over the bye week to work with Josh Allen who was coming off his injured elbow and needed a wideout to work with. Not surprised they hit the floor running when the season resumed.

So, am I to understand that Housley is the only thing right with this team? As if he and the crappy players he is saddled with are part of two different equations? The players suck. Housley sucks. THE CONCEPTS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!

The epitome of a losing mentality. I can see Skinner walking and that will put the cherry on this crap sundae of a season.

This guy:

If they draft Q Williams, their defense will be one of the strongest in the middle of the field at every level, with All Pro talent at several positions. So yeah, they are going to be a tough out for sure. That said, bringing together high priced talent in FAgency doesn’t guarantee anything, either. Chemistry cannot be forced, especially in football.

I just felt it move.

Same 20 yard shuttle time as Metcalf’s. Nice.

It’s not a cap issue. It’s a cash flow issue. They don’t have enough cash on hand to pay signing bonuses to additional prospective free agents.

Asplund is really starting to find his game, too. The sooner we we can rid ourselves of anyone left over from the tank days, the better off we’ll be. Guys like Asplund will make that possible.

Except that the ball IS taken from the offense legitimately. There are a number of ways for a defense to take the ball away from an offense and forcing a turnover on downs is one of them. Can’t get behind a rule that would reward the offense for failing to get a first down.

It’s in thread somewhere. I don’t have the patience to wade through that thread again. Doesn’t matter, regardless. Rosenhaus has to do damage control, anyway, because whether AB dissed the Bills or not, there’s a lot of speculation on social media that he did.

I thought the story was that it never got as far as money because the Bills and Steelers couldn’t agree on the trade parameters. That was in one of the many twitter posts on Friday, anyway.

Interesting that Nylander got the call up. This is a “show us what you got” or a “show other teams what you got” moment for him. If Housley were smart and really wanted to give him the best chance to show his stuff, he’d have him on Eichel’s wing immediately. But becaues it’s Housley, I fully expect Nylander to be on a line with Sobotka and Thompson.

It was a toss up between trading TT and getting Allen. I chose the latter because it involved a series of moves in order to be in a position to get in a position to trade up to 7 in the first place; several machinations. The TT deal was just a single transaction.