Chimpradamus
Registered User
Funny how this turned into a Buffalo vs NYR thread. Buffalo can start with sorting out their own internal crisis before comparing themselves against any other team. Not being seen as a decade old failure in team composure and results is a start.
I have nothing against Buffalo and I like a couple of their players, but I don't see how adding Hall is any way a team progress for them. It's not the top players that is a problem in Buffalo (especially not the top forwards), it's the bad depth, the weak mentality and the lack of overall talent. They didn't need Hall. They needed a strengthened core and not look like a joke when the top players aren't on the ice. They didn't lose games by giving Eichel more ice time.
How ironic former Edmonton player Hall signed with Buffalo, the opposite side of the same conference coins. How simple minded GM minds think alike. Adding more pipes to the gun without enough ammunition or an iron shield to hold in the other hand. Sure, Buffalo has Dahlin and such on the defensive end, but it's still such a weak core. I'm absolutely not impressed by the Buffalo D and they don't have a goalie to cover for it.
I'm not impressed and I don't see how Hall will make them step up their game. It's not the player they needed, but it's the player they got. Luckily it's on short terms. Hall is not a player you add to win the cup, as to speak. Hall is a player you pay to patch gaping wounds with some dekes - and he's made a career out of it. Or being a cheap mercenary in a late trade, which is the only rational thought I have behind Hall's signing, if he has any competitiveness left in him. Or is just self aware of his ceiling as a player.
Nothing he has shown so far has proven to me he's not another version of Phil Kessel - an elite complimentary player and not franchise player. Too one dimensional and flawed to ever be a true star. He will produce, but he won't win you playoff rounds and he won't carry a team. In Kessel's case, not even his line. Hall, sometimes. Yes, I know what Hall did in New Jersey, a garbage team he carried with no pressure. Just like Nash carried Columbus the same way and then sucked ass in New York when he couldn't do what he wanted, felt performance pressure and things mattered.
It doesn't help to pay $9m to players such as Skinner either. Sure, he's a skilled forward, but he doesn't carry his envelope on the ice by about $2-3 million. And Buffalo just added another one dimensional forward such as Skinner to the lineup. Albeit to a better price and terms than Skinner, but that certainly wasn't hard to accomplish.
Buffalo to me tries to play hockey like Toronto and NYR before the salary cap (or Toronto even with the salary cap), without the budget. Big names, no identity or core structure. I have no idea what Hall does in Buffalo apart from getting paid and getting some highlights reels. A comfort star for losing teams. What Buffalo should've done was reforming their core - and if they couldn't, well, I still don't see why they should sign Hall, apart from pleasing simple minded fans.
All in all, you can call me a sceptic. I will eat crow if I'm wrong and Buffalo sucks. I think they will be a 9-12th placed team.
I have nothing against Buffalo and I like a couple of their players, but I don't see how adding Hall is any way a team progress for them. It's not the top players that is a problem in Buffalo (especially not the top forwards), it's the bad depth, the weak mentality and the lack of overall talent. They didn't need Hall. They needed a strengthened core and not look like a joke when the top players aren't on the ice. They didn't lose games by giving Eichel more ice time.
How ironic former Edmonton player Hall signed with Buffalo, the opposite side of the same conference coins. How simple minded GM minds think alike. Adding more pipes to the gun without enough ammunition or an iron shield to hold in the other hand. Sure, Buffalo has Dahlin and such on the defensive end, but it's still such a weak core. I'm absolutely not impressed by the Buffalo D and they don't have a goalie to cover for it.
I'm not impressed and I don't see how Hall will make them step up their game. It's not the player they needed, but it's the player they got. Luckily it's on short terms. Hall is not a player you add to win the cup, as to speak. Hall is a player you pay to patch gaping wounds with some dekes - and he's made a career out of it. Or being a cheap mercenary in a late trade, which is the only rational thought I have behind Hall's signing, if he has any competitiveness left in him. Or is just self aware of his ceiling as a player.
Nothing he has shown so far has proven to me he's not another version of Phil Kessel - an elite complimentary player and not franchise player. Too one dimensional and flawed to ever be a true star. He will produce, but he won't win you playoff rounds and he won't carry a team. In Kessel's case, not even his line. Hall, sometimes. Yes, I know what Hall did in New Jersey, a garbage team he carried with no pressure. Just like Nash carried Columbus the same way and then sucked ass in New York when he couldn't do what he wanted, felt performance pressure and things mattered.
It doesn't help to pay $9m to players such as Skinner either. Sure, he's a skilled forward, but he doesn't carry his envelope on the ice by about $2-3 million. And Buffalo just added another one dimensional forward such as Skinner to the lineup. Albeit to a better price and terms than Skinner, but that certainly wasn't hard to accomplish.
Buffalo to me tries to play hockey like Toronto and NYR before the salary cap (or Toronto even with the salary cap), without the budget. Big names, no identity or core structure. I have no idea what Hall does in Buffalo apart from getting paid and getting some highlights reels. A comfort star for losing teams. What Buffalo should've done was reforming their core - and if they couldn't, well, I still don't see why they should sign Hall, apart from pleasing simple minded fans.
All in all, you can call me a sceptic. I will eat crow if I'm wrong and Buffalo sucks. I think they will be a 9-12th placed team.
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