Hockey Randomness

[MR25]

I also feel like they've never really built anything around him. The closest they got was playing Skinner with him, and Skinner scored 40 and got a too-big contract. Then they hired Ralph Krueger and he bumped Skinner all the way to the 4th line because... reasons?

Outside of Skinner, and getting the Dahlin pick, what pieces have they even added prior to this year (Staal and Hall) to move toward being competitive? They're just a collection of parts.

[iamjs]

Imagine finally being able to have fans back in the arena only for them to boo you.

now you know why Buffalo hasn't brought fans back.

[mikey]

Are all of these greats the best leaders...? Wayne-o? Mario? 19 year old Sid? I'm not sure (legitimately) of that...they were so good and got teams around them so good (eventually) where no one stopped to notice...

Yzerman was captain choke artist for a decade, now goes down as one of the best captains ever...
Messier has a leadership award named for him (lolz) but look at what he did to the Vancouver locker room...and then how he basically trolled the Rangers for the last seven years of his career...

Remember in 2010 on the Hawks first run, Jonathan Toews was giving birth to a full grown platypus on his way to the penalty box and it was Brent Seabrook that told him to be cool, and it sort of snapped him out of emotion forever...

There are certainly times where the 'C' clearly weighed too heavily on guys and it became a distraction...Thornton in SJ, Desjardins in Philly, Lindros on Team Canada, etc. but there's a lot of meat in between for me...and a lot of it probably doesn't move the needle a ton in either direction...

It's like me scouting someone's wrist shot...I don't sit there and go, "well, I can't decide if it's a 6.5 out of 10 or 7 out of 10 really...let me spend the next three hours trying to figure it out..." I worry about the bottom side of the scale and the top side of the scale, I'll dig in there...the guy that has a 6 wrister can score the same amount as a guy that has a 7 wrist shot if the circumstances are right...not saying there's *no* difference, just saying we're letting circumstances and results creep in to the evaluation process, in this case, the evaluation is of an intangible...

[meow]

Leadership takes many forms. Rah-rah guys. Lead by example guys. Courageous guys. Experienced guys. Friendly guys.

Skill is not a form though. I think NHL teams are in a rut when it comes to naming captains. They look at guys with longer term deals and are high in the points category. It’s not my cup of tea. To me, give the C to a guy that will block a shot with his nose in a 4-1 game in the dog days of January. Those guys earn respect. Being able to toe drag some guy into oblivion does not earn respect.

That brings up a separate point. Leader- true leaders - don’t need a letter on their jersey.

[shmenguin]

There are many ways to be a leader, and this isn’t even about the “C” and the official duties that come with it. It’s really about establishing the team culture as top dog.

Sid had a temper and poor judgement. But would have ran through a brick wall to win. From the beginning, he set the tone that practice matters and that there’s no excuse for not trying to improve. He was the best player in the world pretty early on, but still would come back with a new trick after the offseason.

Sid inspired guys to give a crap. I think that’s the best thing a leader can do. There’s nothing inspiring about Eichel.

[mikey]

Last two posts, they are agreeable...

[shmenguin]

To what meow said, you accumulate so much debt when you rubber stamp a C on a high pedigree guy who isn’t a leader. You can never take it away, ever. It’s either a trade or nothin’

[mikey]

Generally, yeah...but there are some very famous cases where the relationship seemed unharmed...

Thornton in SJ I already mentioned, Desjardins in Philly I mentioned...Elias lost his "C" to Jamie Langenbrunner and retired a Devil...Sakic lost his for a while to some grinder I think...Brett Hull lost his to, hmmmm...I don't think it's Brind'Amour as I can't picture that, it might be Shayne Corson...Peca got a captain's C from some prominent player at at least one stop...

[shmenguin]

weren't those more aging out of being top dog?

[Gaucho]

15 straight goals against.

[mikey]

Nah, Hull, Sakic, Desjardins were all voted top 3 at their position the year prior...Elias was 30 and a near ppg player...

[Gaucho]

[meow]

Have they seen Staal play this season? Woof.

[DigitalGypsy66]

[mikey]

50% retained on Staal. As Buffalo specializes in paying people not to work for them...

[Gaucho]

[meow]

Canada was talking about reducing the quarantine period from 14 to 7 days.

[NTP66]

That’s an overpay for Staal. They have maybe two players I’d be willing to trade for, maybe.

[mikey]

That's a pretty easy to swallow price...Habs had three threes and three fives anyhow...

[Lelldorin]

Quite cheap for Staal at 50% cap hit. A third and fifth picks perhaps combine for a 40% chance to result in one NHL player?

[King Colby]

Yep that's not much especially given their stockpile of picks

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Brendan Lemieux for a 4th to LAK. Seems cheap.

[King Colby]

Personally I don't believe he's an NHL player

[NTP66]

JS Dea - yeah, that one - centered Buffalo’s top line the other night.

[willeyeam]

I feel dirty agreeing with Jack Edwards