Alright Van...I can understand that.

Personally, I'm trying to look at the longview of this season, is this team fit for the playoffs? Is their success coming the 'right' way? Thats a hard thing to define and quantify, but many of us have the feeling like our top 6 are utterly underperforming, and that if they were doing what they're supposed to be doing then this team might actually be 'for real', but until then it isnt.

Hell yeah, they're doing great in the standings, if this continues we'll have a nice berth in the playoffs and have a good chance in the first and second rounds, would we survive after that?

Just my two cents of course.

If Pominville would hit the net more than once every 10 shots he would be awesome!

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

All this team needs is to learn how to shoot. If our stars get a good sniping side to them, we win the cup. We would have the goaltending (for sure), the defense, and the scoring touch.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

In the playoffs, they can't/won't beat NJ, Pit, or Ott. I'll be happy if they hold on to 1st place, get a 3rd seed and win one round, but let's not pretend that they are any better than that right now.

They can beat Pit and NJ, not Ottawa. They lost to Pit because Lalime let in a bad goal, and it was a back to back game, and Fluery was amazing. All stood against us, and we almost did it.

As for NJ, I don't know, they look like they can. Ottawa they never win against idk why.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Agreed, unless this team makes some trades, this season is over even before it got started.
And there in lies the sad reality of it all. We have such an excess of Dmen that multiple trades could be made and we could see a real increase in scoring which in turn would increase this teams chance of success.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Maybe we can try and get Semin or Sharp. Semin wont come cheap at all, so Sharp would be nice!

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Fluery was not amazing. He didn't have to make many tough saves, and Pit missed about three goals. NJ, Pit, and Ott play a tight defensive game that would shut Buffalo down in the playoffs, and of course Ott can beat Buffalo anytime, anywhere, etc...

I look to Kovalchuck in a package trade with Vanek, Pomminville/Stafford, 1 of our Dmen (Lydman, Butler, Paetsch) and pick or defensive prospect.
This would give Buffalo their line 1 LWer. (Insert Roy/Connoly at center)

For the RWer to replace Pomminville/Stafford (which ever goes in the trade for Kovalchuck) I would think Ales Hemsky is a name that comes to mind. You could look to another however.

The point is, utilizing Vanek, Pomminville/Stafford, 3 expendable Dmen and picks/prospects makes it very viable to complete 2 trades in an effort to bring chemistry to the top 2 lines and increase this teams chance for success.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Alright, that makes sense, I just thought that all the criticism was a little unnecessary given our record. I know where your coming from with our 6 under performing and being worried about the playoffs glad we got this worked out.

Aw damn, I used my mom's account to post that, sorry. (2 accounts, same computer = DAMN!) The message stays the same though, I over-reacted a bit to your pomminhatred jk and glad we got this worked out.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

We haven't even come close to peaking yet.

Just you wait.

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Wheelhouse

Favorite title of any thread ever.. Gonna think of Pomminshit every time I see him on the ice..

I don't really hate Pomminville.. There's many times where he gives a lot of effort and he puts himself in places to score goals, I just don't know what to make of his shooting.. I sure hope it get's much better because it's very frusterating to watch as a fan him not cash in on great opportunities..

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Miller, Myers and Greir are sick, but not Jesus Christ..

KILL OTTAWA

I wish all the Pominville bashing would stop. He's a solid all around hockey player. You don't have to worry about a catastrophe happening when his line is on the ice. Even when he was scoring more, he was never an offensive dynamo; in fact, I could never figure out how he scored so many points. Still, JP ends up somewhere on the score sheet on most nights, he plays a competent game in all situations, and he is by all accounts a good character guy.

It's not his fault he's making too much money. What's he supposed to do, nobly return half of the salary because he's not as good as Ryan Getzlaf?

Thank you.

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Wheelhouse

I wonder if having a new baby around the house has something to do with it.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

...geez, people. First Vanek can't help being paid so much, now Pominville can't help being paid so much...pretty soon Connolly couldn't have helped playing one season and getting paid for three, only to turn around and not be able to help the fact that he got a raise which he can't live up to...

Wish I could use this shit where I work. You get a raise: You train harder, you work harder, you take on more responsibilities, you step up, you spend more time watching film and practicing, you become a team-leader and involve yourself with the development of weaker or younger players. You peform to meet a higher standard. It's called "professionalism".

What's this: "I never asked for millions" shit?

Give me a king-sized, fucking break with this homerism. I'm a fan, and not even I can swallow that weak, runny shit.

C'mon, man.

And that's what they've done and continue to do.

Funny you fail to realize that.

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Wheelhouse

Funny I fail to realize that? Funny you take it for granted that it's happening as you'd like to have us all believe.

"Luck favors the prepared." Ever hear of that truism?

Conversely, bad luck befalls the unprepared - Snakebit? That's another way to say: "things ain't comin as easy as I thought they would, so I'll just wait for my luck to change..." And wait. annd wait. aaaaannnnd wait.

Here's another "old world" truism - "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

These guys are "unlucky" for a damn good reason: They're not working hard enough. They're not hungry enough. They are too comfortable with their failure. They are contented and complacent.

They have talent - And they believe that's all they need to have.

How can you fucking say that?

They win and win and win and win and win. They DON'T have that much talent. Roy, arguably our best forward, isn't even being CONSIDERED for team Canada.

We have a bunch of under dogs, who will never ever be considered near the top of the best players in the league.

We're anchored by a rookie phenom and a red hot goaltender. But if you somehow believe that they're the reason we're winning all these games, then my respect for you has dropped tremendously.

Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to play the type of system Ruff is running? Always pressuring the puck carriers, always funneling to the outside, always clogging the passing and shooting lanes... that type of play requires the utmost dedication to conditioning and speed.

As young kids, they didn't have the confident or know how to compete at this level the past 2 seasons. With a little more veteran leadership and a revamped attitude, they've come into this season and perked up ears around the NHL.

Your argument would make sense if they were losing, but they aren't. They're winning.

Bad luck on the power play on Saturday night was certainly for the unprepared. That's because the coaching of the power play the past 3 years has been absolutely terrible, and people have been calling for a change for a while now, not because the players weren't prepared to play.

They competed all night against the defending Stanley Cup champs, and took them to a shootout without Miller in goal.

The ONLY REASON we've been able to win games is because the effort has been there. Put this roster on paper, and people would think we have no business to compete with the likes of Chicago, who we beat, or Detroit, who we beat, or New Jersey, who we beat.

If you want to talk about areas they can improve upon in their game, then fine. I'll talk about that all day with you, because they exist.

But I'm getting really sick and tired of people accusing this team of not putting in the effort, because it's pretty obvious that it's been there.

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Wheelhouse