The Ditch part deux

to - Dan, VV, Will, Skinny, All-Pgh, Tim and even Halo - something about yesterday mornings posts ate at me all night. I was missing something, besides my brain, as several of you alluded to "missing the point." Or maybe it was called being "obtuse" from Dan. I always think of "The Shawshank Redemption" when I hear that word and know it's never a good word to be linked too.

Well after several rereads of Dan's initial post - I got it! The dim light bulb FINALLY went on. Slowly, but it went on. I saw what Dan was talking about. Hey, he's an Ivy League guy for a reason and I'm the bottom dwelling Catfish for a reason.

What Dan was referring too, and even VV in one post, was my overall consistent and persistent negativity about the Flyers, from the mascot to ownership. I admit it, I'm cranky over the Flyers. Maybe it's the no Cups since I was 4 years old. Maybe it's the 6-7 years in a row of not getting out of the first rd of the playoffs? Maybe it's seeing the Caps and Pens win the Cup and realizing the Flyers aren't even close to winning it? Maybe it's seeing the Phillies and Eagles parades down Broad Street and wondering "when are the Flyers going to have their victory parade?" Maybe I distrust their new ownership and GM? However like Dan said it's tedious and a broken record. I like to think of it as the teacher from Charlie Brown - wah, wah, wah wah... None of you guys or the guys who left the site-Red, Matty, HBob, Red Hessian, Lulz, Cutter, and others signed up for that bullshit. I'm sure you hearing ragging and nagging at home. You don't come to the Ditch for that shit. I'll get back to this in a second.

to Will -- I was willing to tank to maybe, a big maybe, get semi-marginal prospect named Jack Hughes. Tanking , although done in professional sports from ownership, is not what a being and sacrificing to be a pro athlete is all about. It's almost like the 1919 Black Sox and losing on purpose! Is Hughes really worth losing on purpose? Who the hell knows? Thanks to the standout play of Rookie Goalie, Carter Hart, the Flyers have won 8 games in a row and Anthony Stolarz won one game for 9 straight. The Flyers have left the basement of the league standings with their 18 straight points and are only 5 pts out of first place. VV and Dan are right - be happy. They made up 18 pts in 3 weeks! Life could be worse. Will was right in the sense that losing as a pro team or any sports team intentionally is wrong. It's against the very nature of playing sports whether pro, high school or in the backyard. You play to win, not lose. You play to win, not dump games to get some 17 pimple faced kid who could great, marginal or some dud like Alexander Diagle. For that stance Will, I was wrong and you were right. My apologies.

Now back to the Ditch overall. Look guys, I can't promise to change my stripes overnight and be the happy Catfish when I post from now on. I can't love the Flyers ownership and GM overnight. That's asking a lot. I can't promise what happened yesterday won't happened again and it has happened before. I'm human and on this site I get all riled up and make a lot of mistakes. Some reading comprehension mistakes, some typing mistakes , some bad judgement calls, and for the most part - just not thinking before I hit ENTER on a post. I can promise to do better and be happier for the sake of myself, you all and not only the Ditch thread but all threads on the website.

Phew! For yesterday and all past days of major mistakes across the board on the Ditch thread and all other threads, I apologize to you all. My passion for a sports player, athletic event or team gets blinded and clouded quickly and the errors and mistakes come out of me quite quickly. Once the hole starts in the dam, it's hard to stop. Several posts yesterday finally stopped it. I thank you all for that. You all are good guys for putting up with my shit for 7 or 8 years and all deserves medals. Again, I apologize to all of you for yesterday and all past incidents as well.

 

Like I stated earlier, Cat... its all good. I crossed the line with you more than once and regret dong that. Its cool we can all just simmer down, reconsider and move on... thanks for listening.

 

man the crossbar and goalpost got some work last night in the Flyers-Kings game. Stolarz looked solid in the loss. He saved a lot of shots in OT, but lost in the shootout after several big saves. Flyers had some bad shootout attempts. Couterier shot it at the goalie from 20 feet away. No idea what his strategy was? They got a Key point though as they tied it with 17 seconds left. If Stolarz can stay healthy, he could be a solid #1 goalie some day. Rumors are Brian Elliott is coming back soon from injury. Having 3 goalies is a nice luxury. No idea what they would do with 3 of them ? One streak ends, another begins...

 

I saw gritty crashed the kings broadcast.

 

he loves tormenting them.

drew doughty was pissed at some fans last night as he kept turning around on the bench and when the game ended he stared at the flyers bench? after the first OT shootout goal, he made some silly hand gesture and starting yelling at the flyers?? no idea what his beef was. he has like 3 teeth, so he needs to see a dentist.

 

Lots a talk about the Flyers Hart, but lets mot forget the Blues, Jordan Binnington. The rookie got a shot at 10 straight starts and won 8 of them. Maybe teams might stop shelling out cash for the vets and look for these young, work for peanuts types... certainly working well in Philly and St. Louis.

 

wow didn't know that. good stuff Will. i think teams don't want to overburden these kids too soon and throw them to the wolves. however matt murray was called up in January and let the Pens to the Cup. Cary Price played well at a young age and so did everyone's nemesis, Patrick Roy. Some teams can't afford to wait until the goalie is 22 or 23 to start. The Flyers were in a pickle with 2 starters hurt short term and their backup goalie hurt as well. Plus the fans wanted to see Hart after he dominated and owned the WHL circuit. Will makes a great point of the money. If a rookie goalie can work out, you're not paying him top dollar on his rookie deal.

 

I miss-typed - Binnington won 8 out of 10... oops, but still, pretty damn good.

 

Per Cat's message #63463 posted above. I do not want to risk having my silence as being disinterested. I would rather keep most of the conversation private between myself and Cat. We have exchanged a few private messages and I want everyone to know that I accept completely Cat's heartfelt and sincere appeal. I have the great benefit of having met Cat in person, and as ALWAYS been the case when I've had the privilege to meet someone from L4S in person, I have found the person to be much greater than the impression one gets from an avatar. Therefore, I already knew that Cat is a very good man.

I do not throw that out as an empty platitude. Cat is a very good man. One reason for that is he is very passionate. As another person that has been given that label, I know that sometimes passion can get the better of anyone; however in the end it's a great virtue.

Cat and I are completely good. I hope that we'll continue to see the give-and-take, the ribbing, and occasional disagreements. Cat has provided us all with a model to do this with complete civility.

Thank you all, and especially, thank you Cat.

 

Thank you Dan !!!

 

It's pretty much now or next year for the Buffalo Sabres. They gave up the OT point to one of their chief competitors for a wildcard spot last night at home to Carolina. They have a handful of home games over the next few, and it's almost an imperative that they win most, if not all of them. Otherwise, they'll be going into the deadline period looking up at a playoff spot, without a realistic shot.

Of course, Jeff Skinner is a pending UFA. And, the team cannot give him 8 years until after the deadline. But, if they both want that max. term then I think both sides will be comfortable going past the deadline with an implicit agreement to get him extended. However, if the team continues to falter, and if they do not have that implicit agreement, then the team would be derelict to not parley that asset into something good. The team also has an overabundance of D - not great D, but NHL caliber D. It's going to get interesting.

I want to be very clear that I very much want the Sabres to make the playoffs this season. The team won't do dick once they get there, but it'll give the young roster very valuable confidence. More importantly, they will learn things from playoff hockey that they cannot gain in any other way.

 

I just want these guy's to battle. No matter what, play to win and give 100%. If an NHL team makes the playoffs with no chance to advance, at least they made it and had a shot.

 

Party on 31st street as the Rangers celebrate their 25th anniversary of the '94 stanley cup.
Messier and the gang will all be there pre-game.

 

Skinner, Eichel and Dhalin have really been powering the team this year.

 

It's a pretty nice power unit; especially with the C and the teenager, there's a lot to build on.

I hope that this season proves to be a solid building block, and not a stumbling stone. The Sabres do not have to make the playoffs to make this season a relative success. But, that sure would help!

 

The sabres have to get Reinhart, Mittlestadt and Nylander going, then you'll really see the team moving forward. If they could find a way to bring back Skinner next year, he's really fit in well and maybe he realizes he's found a home in buffalo and it would be in his best interest to stay there.

 

Don't look now, but Reino is actually playing well this year. He's proven that he does not need ROR, (or Jack), to produce. He doesn't have all the tools one would want for a high draft pick, but 2014 was a weak class.

He is extremely smart, and that helps a team win too.

Mitts is 19 and looks like. It takes longer for some to grow into jus man-body than others. This year he's devoted himself to learning the 200 foot NHL game. I think he'll be fine, but clearly it was optimistic to throw him into 2C this season.

Alex Nylander is beginning to be a concern. He has better skills than his brother (& dad). But due to injury and apparent apathy he hasn't put it together. At 20, it's way to early to give up on him, but I hope he really dedicates himself this summer.

Tage Thompson is someone else to watch out for. He's 6' 6" and not in his man-body yet. He's a good skater and has a nasty slap shot; it's not a given, but he has the potential to be a matchup nightmare for every team.

The Amerks are cultivating a winning identity for the prospects.

There's still a lot of work to do, but there's real reason for optimism.

Skinner? I think it's really up to him at this point. He's not going to be a Leaf, and playing with Jack, uhmm, has helped his production. He can stay very close to home and be a regular all-star. If he wants. If he really wants to max out his income then I think he may go to FA. It's his choice.

 

Haven't seen much of Nylander, eventually they have to give him a shot on the roster, even as a third liner, he can't stay in the ahl much longer. Skinners value based on his overall career is somewhere around $7.5M AAV, I wouldn't get carried away and expect him to have this type of career year going forward, I think he might find a sucker team to give him over $9M.

 

Yeah. I agree on your assessment for both players. GM Botterill ran the Pittsburgh farm when he was the AGM there and was well-known for his slow-grow approach.
I think the team implicitly acknowledges that the approach works for some - and not for others (Mitts & especially Thompson as cases in point). I hope they're taking the right approach with Alex.

I think the Sabres could go as high as an $8.4MM AAV for Skinner. His career numbers are relevant, but they do not tell the whole story either. His bump up this season could be somewhat attributed to the proverbial change in scenery. He shouldn't be rewarded too much for that.

On the other hand, he's never had a pivot close to Jack's skill. And they've got clear chemistry. I think it's reasonable to project very good numbers for him on Buffalo's top line for several years. My concern isn't the AAV so much as the term. He gets risky if he's signed until he's 35 (8 years). I'd be happier with a 6 year deal if the AAV is $8MM+. The other matter will be movement/trade clauses. With the Seattle draft coming up I hope they can be mitigated.

But in the end, and for the reason you cite, Skinner has the leverage here. He knows he might get as much as a $66.5MM contract ($9.5MM x 7 yrs.) on the open market. Does he enjoy Buffalo as much as he says he does? Does he appreciate Eichel for what he means to his production - really? We'll find out soon enough.