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Fair. Good analysis. I'll further your pint by saying scoring wasn't and isn't our problem anyway (we were 10th in league in goals and 2 goals away from tieing the leafs for 7th). Team defense is the issue; tied for 3rd worst last year. Right now, I believe our defense is better, our goalies are not. With a team GAA of 3.50 and a hideous save % of .888 (UPL at .887) we desperately need an NHL goalie. I know the defensemen were partially resposible for the bad goalie stats but not 100% responsible. UPL is not a #1 goalie in this league and Levi isn't there that (and I don't know if he gets there TBH)

Jokiharju 3 x 3m AAV with Bruins

And he cleaned up a lot of his issues in that really nice stretch at the end of the season. But almost all of those issues re-appeared again last year - Short side cheating, like no side to side moves, rebound control etc.

You might be right, looking at just D might change things. I just think people tend to focus too much on the now with the AAV on long-term contracts. The way I look at it is that $5.5 for this year is about what you pay a #3 and in 6 years likely projects to #4 money. Personally, not a fan of the contract because I think Hague isn’t going to be a 3/4 over the term.

I cannot see Mariner's agent even returning Adams phone calls TBH... how much money is enough... why would you effectively take the last real quality years of your career and sign for 5 or 7 years here... Dude has got to have a burning desire to win a cup... and if he doesnt is that the player you target? Bottom line, this is not a place you come too if you want to be successful.. we have a lot to do before we change that narrative... maybe someday... but not today... then there is the money.. so many holes to fix, I dont think Mariner gets you to the promise land there is a whole culture to rebuild...

At bare minimum, we still need an absolute stud on the top 6 and a legitimate #1 goalie. That would at least get us into contention for the 8 spot. To crack the top 3 in the division is still years away.

I am not against resigning Byram... I am not sure we get a return that makes us better... if we do, then certainly trade him... I think free agency and who we may or may not sign gonna tell the tale here...

That’s only if and a big if Josh Norris stays healthy. He hasn’t yet and now he’s our #1 center.

recreating peterka in the aggregate. nice job, pete.

If Provorov wasn't making 6.75mil the past 5 years I'd target him at 6mil

Sabres get a bit of grace because Tage is on such a friendly deal, but basic cap management dictates their #3D makes about $6M. As the most attractive UFA Gavrikov is going to get more than that. Plus Gavrikov to New York seems like the likeliest move in free agency.

Great post. It is an argument for re-signing Byram. Also, if we do trade Byram, it is an argument to just pair Power with Dahlin, as I think their results could be similar. It's ok to just put your two best D-men together and let them play 25 minutes a game. Maybe Samuelsson and Kesselring would work together as a 2nd pair.

Are we? Dylan Cozens shot at 7.9% last year and Josh Norris shoots at 18.1% for his career average. Jiri Kulich shot at 11.2 but only played 62 games. Zach Benson shot at 8.3% I get it, Peterka's 27g is something ppl are worried about replacing but flipping Cozens for Norris probably replaces half of them straight up. Norris getting 24g compared to Cozens 11 doesn't seem far fetched. That leaves about 13g between Kulich, Benson, Quinn, and Doan. And that's if we are that worried about last years goal total. I hate agreeing with Adams, but I am just not convinced this team actually has lost that much scoring.

No. I see what you're doing. Don't be trying to get Korpisalo (1 good half season every 4 years) and his garbage contract off of the Bruins ledger. He and his sub.900 game are stuck there forever. The Sabres already have that guy in Luukkonen.

They won't sign Gavrikov, though I like the player a lot. Guessing a lot of the reason they don't want to sign Byram is they don't want to allocate that amount of money to D. Coming off a contract paying him $5.875million per year, Gavrikov is going to be paid a lot.

Defensively better, offensively worse. Know what would make this team better? Having an NHL goalie on the roster. Jake Allen should be the focus at 6pm today, followed by Ehlers. Robertson is probably a pipe dream

(and still have Leinonen....)

I don’t like the idea of moving Byram without adding another defenceman. Dahlin Kesselring Power Timmins Samuelsson Bernard-Docker Bryson That just doesn’t look any better than last year’s questionable group.

In the case of Byram-Dahlin, they keep the puck out by possessing the puck and threatening the opposition to back off because when either of them gets the puck they can immediately begin the transition to offense. https://www.naturalstattrick.com/pairings.php?fromseason=20242025&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=ALL&loc=B&toi=500&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410 Then, sort by GF%. They are better than the other top pairs in the league with big minutes: Hedman-Moser, Samberg-Pionk, McDonagh-Cernak, their +20 goal differential is the same as Toews-Makar. In most cases, the B-D pair gives up fewer goals in more minutes than any of those, and in times they do give up more goals, they scored many more, too. What's odd is Ruff didn't play them together more. Just specific to bad defense, it's not just the D-corps -- we're also underselling the importance of good goaltending (Toews-Makar gave up a ton of goals early in the season because of crap goalies) and the commitment of the forwards to getting the puck out of their own zone. Give it 12 hours... he may not be. (At this point, I hope they keep him, because I think removing him weakens their blue line and brings Bryson that much closer to the daily lineup.)

We can fix the Leinonen draft pick f-up!

Ya if he ends up staying there really is no issue with that, especially on a short term bridge, he will be motivated to play well and while he isn’t the biggest guy he played pretty tough last year and never shied away from anything personally if Voronkov is on the table, you do that all day, it is almost impossible to get guys like him If they sign Gavrikov it sure does

Don’t know if a summer of Voronkov, Doan, Kesselring and Timmons for Peterka, Clifton and Byram makes this team better, but it sure makes it bigger.

I think this is bad math. You would want to look at average salary of defenders and go from there. Idk if it would move it up or down but I would guess down. Hague isn't worth 5.5 a year in the same way Samuelsson isn't worth 4.3, at least IMPO

While I think he ultimately goes...keeping makes the team better overall. The fa market can address the forward need. I still believe GMS are trying to call kas bluff...I would

I’m aware of the booger sugar culture in hockey. It’s prevalent. There are probably a bunch of guys on the team that partake. Young good looking millionaire athletes are going to find an outlet. Just weed out the guys with a problem (maybe even get them help), and build a team.