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Until the roster set it's tough to say and I don't make money bets but if want a gentleman's bet sure.

How many teams are in the business of acquiring futures with the forthcoming cap increases? Seems like a buyer's market.

I'll bet you 50 bucks Zach Benson produces above the 45pts in 82 mark next year. That's 0.55pts per game or higher.

Ya I worry that you won’t get the old version of Provorov. I don’t think he is a bust, I guess I worded that wrong I think contract regret potential is higher with Provorov vs Gavrikov but again Jarmo traded for Provov so probably knows him too, if Jarmo thinks it’s good I’m okay with it

Watching his play last year, I thought he lacked the caliber of shot to be a first line player. As you point out, Evan Rodriques played most of the season as a top six player. That doesn't mean that he is a top six player. E Rod is an earnest and consistent player who played a lot on the top two lines. However, that doesn't mean that he is a top two-line caliber player and is paid commensurately so. Because of the cap teams are constructed differently. There is a distinction between being on a top line and being a top line player. The pay scale tells how he is ranked as a player.

He’s been around that long already? It feels like he was just drafted maybe 5 years ago. But then again, I can’t even remember what I ate for dinner 2 hours ago.

I miss those days. I know that sounds crazy, but your posts were fun and the Sabres have imploded right after he finally left.

Funny coincidence, my wife likes to call me her supernatural tool on the right occasion.

Maybe but I think Zegras was wildly overrated because of that stupid lacrosse goal.

It is understood that @dudacek is a quick draw. Everyone knows that. 😀

Evan Rodriguez had 32 points in 82 games. He played most of the year in Florida’s top 6. Edmonton’s 5th and 6th highest scoring forwards had 30 points. Carolina’s 5 and 6th highest scoring forwards had 39 and 36 points respectively. I wouldn’t want Benson/Kulich/Quinn as line 2, but Benson with Norris/Thompson or McLeod/Tuch, could be very effective lines.

Right now, his shot is so weak that I don't see him as a first or second line forward. If he came into camp more physically developed and more capable from an offensive standpoint, I would be ecstatic to be proven wrong. The more important issue for me regarding his individual stats is not what his production is right now but rather whether can it be surpassed by another player. We'll have to see who the front office brings in to determine what his role will be. Although he played a lot on the first line last year, he was in my estimation not a first line caliber of player. The criticism for his elevated role should be directed to the front office.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm surprised. The Las Vegas team had an expansion fee of $10 million.

Not sure what you mean by “bust”. Dude has played nearly 700 NHL games, averaging a minimum of 22 minutes a game every year. Or did you mean he will be a bust as a signing? He’s only 28, not too risky in terms of depreciation.

So much demand that when the Fort Worth NLL club stopped operations last year, no other city was interested in buying a team that was established and had made playoffs the last two seasons. They just folded. The Bandits are a unicorn that they have a good team in a big league city arena and little to no competition for fans during their season (since the Sabres suck hard ballz). Rochester is a more typical city for the league and if they can't support an NLL club, why would another city want to jump on that?

45 points puts you at around 150th in the league in scoring. 91 of those players are listed by ESPN as "C" or "D" (yes i know there is discrepancy between where they are listed and where they play) ... that means ~ 60 wings scored 45 or more points last year. Given that 2 wings per team play on the TOP line ... one could make an argument that 45 points as a wing is borderline TOP line production. Not sure where the arbitrary nature of "45 points is not top 6 production" comes from. But stats don't back it up. I think there was a long discussion on McLeod in this same context. In today's watered down NHL, not every top line player is putting in 90 points ... Edit: Dang, @dudacek typed less and beat me to it! and I was totally debating the point 🙂

Not debating your point, just adding context: There are 192 top 6 forward slots in the NHL. 45 points was good for 137th in forward scoring last year.

I’d prefer Gavrikov, Provorov to me has bust where I think Gavrikov will be good for many years

If he's bringing you 45 pts in a top six role then in my opinion he's not a top six player. I have extolled the virtues of Benson as a player as much as most people here. However, because of his current lack of physical development I don't see him being a top two caliber of player. Will he eventually do so? I'm confident that he will. But right now, I would say no. I have never felt that he was a liability playing on the top line. But that is not to say that I felt that he was providing the team first line production. If he comes into camp more physically developed than in his prior years, then good for him and the team. I will be open minded about where he should be slotted. But what I have seen so far that type of leap forward is a lot faster than I expect.

Little surprised I haven’t seen this name attached anywhere to the Sabres, given their need for defencemen and the fact he was one of Jarmo’s last big acquisitions in Columbus. 28, 6’1” 213 - he’s a left-handed shot who usually plays RD. Unremarkable analytics but he’s always been a horse when it comes to eating minutes and in tough deployments. One of the bigger UFAs on the market projected to get around $7.5M from what I’ve seen. Not sure if he’s what we want with Power, but he’s a legit 2nd-pairing player. Basically, he’d get Mule’s role and Byram’s money. Should we be interested? Do we have a chance if we are?

If you think you really had to explain that for people to catch the humor, the reputation and sense of humor of this board has sunk like the Titanic. 🥹🤣 I was actually going to type something very similar, but thought, no need.

Yeah I'm old school that see 3rd liners as defenders, top 2 lines are majority of scoring and 4th liners are grinders that don't kill you with bad defense. Benson to me isn't a great on offense. He might get to 45 in three or four seasons but see it next year for sure.

If we move Peterka to Chicago I want Sam Rinzel and Teuvo Teräväinen at the very least. Maybe also a swap of 3OA and 9OA.

You don’t think he can contribute 45 points in a consistent top 6 role? I’m pretty comfortable with that considering he put up 30 as a teen in a lesser role. Also, the only way Peca was on the Sabres 3rd line was if you defined 3rd line as “matchup line”. He led all forwards in ice time during the run to the finals with 21:44 a night.