all of this is fine, i particularly approve of the lines.

I do think we move montour though. He is available per Freidman.

If we get back into things. IF. then i think we need to add a LHD for cheap.

Buffalo should be sellers not buyers.

Raanta has been atrocious

no

well some people just can't handle reality.

he is better than hutton thats for sure. He has only appeared in 3 games he will be fine

I think we move Montour around deadline. Not right now especially with Borgen and and Risto out. Having Irwin and Davidson in the lineup every night scares me

Theyre 3.5 games behind a play of spot and 2 of the top 4 teams have played 2 more games than them, 1 has played 1 more game than them. They need to do something to kick start the 5v5 scoring, their PP is 1st in the league, their 5v5 defense has been top 10 this season. They have disposable assets to make a move as well.

Hutton has been a lot better than Raanta, in only 5 games. We dont need to hyper focus on 1 guy because of a rumor 2 years ago. Thats what happened with Montour. They should find a solution not the easiest target

I get that it was rumor but he is a UFA after this season he will be cheap to get is my point. I don't think we need to go out and get someone who has term. Idk what other goalie we can get for this package either IMO

They are in the hardest division of all of hockey. Say what you will, none of the teams above them is rolling over.
Yeah you are only 7 points down now...but that's with 16 games played. That divide is only getting worse, I don't see the need to pretend about it. It is what it is.
BOS, WSH, PHL, NYI, PIT. 4 of those 5 teams are going. You can realize that or you can't.
It's not even about BUF anymore. It's about who the rest of the division is.

I think its been demonstrably false that this is the hardest division, I was saying it before the season started, people love to rehash dead talking points just because it sounds smart

They dont have goalies moving forward, UPL is a few years away and Ullmark is just good enough - he isnt going to carry a full season. Getting someone with term may not be a bad idea

PIT is not that good neither is WSH. They are gonna fall off. Dont have the goaltending to make it that far. Once Buf gets 5v5 scoring going like they did last game theyll be sneaky just wait. Im not saying theyll get that last playoff spot but it will come down to the end of the season. COVID really did them dirty cuz the league did not do anything about it. I truly believe if they did not get hit with COVID theyd be in a playoff spot right now

I think if you resign Ullmark for 3-4 years after this year and get a goalie like Driedger, Grubauer, Mrazek on a deal we will be ok. Split the starts

dead talking points. Two of the preseason largest favorites to win the cup are both in the division. BOS and PHL.
Not one other division has that.
Lets be honest, they got probably the best team in hockey in BOS. PHL is loaded. WSH and PIT will continue to be hard teams to gain space on for points in the regular season. The NYI are always that team closing everyone else off from even thinking they are next. Which is why the metro usually gets 5 teams in and the other division only gets 3. You take that fact, you realize they only get 4 teams this year, you swap out a middle team like CBJ for a league best team in BOS...I don't think it's close. It's still the hardest division in hockey.

winning a cup and closing other teams out of the playoff hunt are two different things.
You are talking about two teams that regularly rack up 100 points. This would be no different than any other year if it was an 82 game season.
Do they have what it takes to win a cup, maybe maybe not. But that's not really the issue. They have more than enough to beat on teams and win the games to rack up the points to push other people out of the race. That hasn't changed. If anything the division is harder with the subtraction of CBJ and addition of BOS.

Probably should be sellers. But with 1-year of Hall...and Eichel itching to win or leave...that is tough.



Here is how I see the East:

2 teams are locks for playoffs: BOS, PHI
3 teams think they're locks, but they're not: NYI, WAS, PIT
3 teams think they can get there, but probably won't: NYR, NJD, BUF
0 teams are locked out of playoffs.

At the end of the day, its likely BOS, PHI, NYI, WAS in playoffs...but its still pretty wide open

I dont see a situation where the 3 of them are available, let alone affordable

IDK who was calling Washington a cup favorite. The North has 2 more likely cup favorites, now that were in season, I would have also put Tampa and Dallas above them, now in season that central division looks way rougher as well

I am not saying buy a goalie now, i am saying IF we hang around, lets see what we can do.

We brought in a ton of new players and didn't have a preseason, we already went through our covid stuff and it hit us harder than almost any other team, we have had unbelievable bad luck in scoring (goal posts, etc.).

Lets see where we are after 30 games.

eh the central isn't all that good. I think FL is over rated. TB is a good team. CBJ is not the same without a center. CAR was always the bubble team in the metro and if they were still in the metro they would still be the 5-6th team. The only thing that has changed is their division got easier. Basically they took the two worst playoff teams from the metro dumped them in the central, and added TB and DAL. But CBJ has fallen apart.
NSH has been on the decline for years, Chicago is in middle of a rebuild, DAL had a rocky start.
As for the North, there is no one there that is the "more likely" cup favorites. TOR would be a 3rd place team behind TB and BOS if they were all still in that division. BOS just owns them.
Everyone else there is behind VGK and probably STL.
It is what it is. Metro is still the hardest division. You take anyone of those 5 teams from the metro, drop them into any other division, and they are still a playoff team.
I don't think you can take a lot of the 3-4th seeds in the other division drop them into the metro and they are a playoff team.

I just don't make excuses. You aren't the only team dealing with things like injury etc.. BOS had Pasta and Marchand out...still won. The penguins had like no defense like 2 starters....still won.
excuses only go so far. Every team has one, but good teams find ways to win.
As far as bad puck luck, all teams have that too. You got to create your own luck at some point.
It is what it is. Like I said, it's not just about BUF it's about the teams who are ahead of them. They just don't roll over, they know how to collect points and win games. They have done it year after year, no excuses.

I was stating reasons not to quit on the season after 16 games, not stating that we are cup contenders.

the trade above involved trading a pending UFA goalie, a prospect who seemingly can't take the leap to the NHL and a 3rd round pick for a goalie who the team could resign in the offseason. I hardly think thats a blockbuster.

This deal is fine. But what are your thoughts on a larger deal? Someone mentioned in the thread above that Montour would be available, would you add him to the deal and Coyotes add half retained Goligoski? Bump the 3rd into a second for retention. So deal would look like:

To BUF:
Raanta
Goligoski 50%

To AZ:
Thompson
Hutton
Montour
2nd

Would be willing to retain on Raanta as well if that gets the deal done