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It does seem like a reasonable risk to take when you’re talking about $16+ million a year. I wouldn’t be surprised if McDavid winds up doing that if he actually re-signs with Edmonton.

I'll take a player who is relentless. He's not shown that ability and so muscle won't help him succeed. Now, if the muscle gives him the confidence to have success in adding a relentless quality to his game.. great.

Assuming he doesn't have a career changing injury during said "shorter term deal". Other possibility...looking to play in major glamour markets.

A shorter term deal and then even more money 3-4 years later?

This is insane if true, I mean how much does he think he is gonna get???

I’m with you on all that. I have some hope but when we are hinging team success on things like Benson breaking out, Kesselring offsetting Power’s timidity, so on I get worried.

Unlike most other people.. I don't really need him to be physical at all to be happy with his play. If he scores 10 to 15 goals... Gets 30 to 40 assists... And most importantly uses his size and reach to get to loose pucks and get them out of the zone before the opponents can get to him... Then I don't need him to be physical. In a way... Him learning to use his reach to clog up passing Lanes and to reach loose pucks and tip them away from the defender more effectively than a smaller guy does.. That's a form of using his size in a way I would accept. All things being equal it will be great if he would be physical and hit more, but if he does the other things and uses his size positionally, he can be an effective two-way defenseman without it.

I am most definitely cynical and apathetic. I don't know why everybody isn't? They did very little. They may even have gotten worse. They certainly didn't get better. Adams is still here. It's a ridiculous franchise that is breaking my heart. You post this after insulting me for saying Montreal has passed us and has a better GM and mocking the idea of them making the playoffs. Nice.

Hmmm

Hear, hear. I was just confused over Liger's call for Power to be "mean." I've used the metaphor of a crease-clearing gorilla before. I've stuck with it because I just dig it. I think it's the combination of crease clearing (alliteration) and an inherently fun word gorilla. Anyhoo. Power's never gonna be mean. Maybe in flashes, here or there. But he's not gonna become a mean, nasty mofo. Set aside the example of an all-world player like Lidstrom. Can Power just be stout and tough in his own end like Billy Hajt was?

From memory, the priority is reverse draft order and it is tumbling waivers from there.

The Sabres goaltending hurt them so much last year. Take a look at UPL the year before. For the season he had a .910 save percentage. From Jan 1 though the end of that season, over 3+ months he had a .919. However, last season it dropped to .887. I know some on this board will say the defense in front of him was terrible last season. My personal opinion is the defense was not that much better or worse last year than the year before. Shots allowed, high danger shots, and other advance stats were similar both years. Not the same, but in the same ballpark. My eyes tell me he let in a lot of soft goals last year that he was not allowing in the previous year. Conclusions from those numbers: Had he played last year like he did the entire year before, the Sabres would have allowed about 30-35 goals less, making them well into the positive goal differential as a team. The vast majority of positive goal differential teams, especially once you hit +10 or more in goal differential, make the playoffs. Had he played last year like he did only in the 2nd half of the previous year, things would be even better by 5 or 10 more goals. If nothing else changes from last year about this team except UPL stepped up to be an average level goaltender, this team at least competes for the playoffs. If nothng else changed except UPL started to play like he did the year before, a much better than average goaltender, then this team makes the playoffs.

I think Luukkonen is the most important piece in terms of stepping up, but Power and Quinn are neck-and-neck for number 2

I've seen a lot of articles/talk about who needs to step up this year to turn things around and I've noticed Powers has been absent from most of those lists. If he can't get it together in the defensive zone we're going to have problems. I've been patient with him since he came into the league at such a young age, but now's the time for him to take a leap.

Are waivers not in reverse standing order?

Lidstrom was an elite defensive and offensive player almost from moment he came into league. Would love Power to play the positionally genius way Nick did. He does not, and appears lost at times.

I understand not being interested in the promo videos. I will say these hokey videos help my wife become more interested and invested in the players & the team. She didn’t grow up a hockey fan.

When did the Inkification of Liger occur? I don't think of Lidström as "mean" - by way of example. I'll settle for Power being heavy and physical in his own end. I don't think there's much, if any, "mean" to tap into with him.

That the people you post and seem to trust lie to you and its easily proven every time.

I think it's about 50/50 that every single one of @dudacek's hopes comes true. For example, to quantify a few: Norris outscores Cozens' 2024-25 and is also a + player. Quinn stays healthy and hits 69 points. Older & Stronger Power-Kesselring eliminate more rebound goals than Power-Jokiharju were able to. The team save percentage leaps from 31st in the league to... 22nd. I think at least 7 of the hopes happen. My worryum is that even if all the hopium hits, there's a distinct possibility that the team misses the playoffs because the division rivals finally have to play their starter against the Sabres, or in the case of the Panthers: they have to show up for 20 minutes instead of 5 over the course of the game. This season's Sabres should see a step in the right direction (just in time to name Appert the next HC and solidify Sheevyn as GM for the next few years).

You're unwittingly prodding me to share a story from my own life that illustrates this principle in (what I think is) striking fashion. I'll refrain, if you do the same.

So some super hero origin story? Superbowl's bigger.

And like most yachts-owning billionaires, it will be listed and used as a private charter for rent, thus allowing a generous business tax write off. Much like billionaires do with land by growing a small crop or having a few barn animals allows them to write their properties off as “ranches” to, again, enjoy a nice business tax write off. East Aurora’s own Jeremy Jacobs enjoys being a “rancher” and all the tax benefits that provides.