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"Hello, rumor has it that the Dallas Stars were recently in discussions for a trade with Pittsburgh. Could Crosby be about to find a new home? We shall see" xoxo gossip girl Basically it's crap like this.

They also changed the AHL/NHL transaction rules.

Oh thank God. I was worried about where we were gonna put Roobroeck

Absolutely. But Zito was still in C-Bus as the AGM the day Botterill got canned and would stay in that role for about 4 more months. Follow the plan they used for the Bills and go back to the 2nd choice. Can follow the "underpants gnomes" plan and even have an answer for step 2 rather than ??? 1. Go with the guy the league recommends that YOUR advisors wants, find out he sucks, & can him. 2. Take the free do-over and hire Zito. 3. PROFIT!!!!

The Pittsburgh connection was always going to put Botterill over the top. Man if we only had a flux capacitor 😁

He was also guided to Zito by the league. HIS advisors helped him make the final decision on that one. The NFL guided him to McDermott and Ryan. HIS advisors helped him make the final decision on that one too. He punted HIS advisor (along with Ryan) and went with who the league had recommended in the 1st place. THAT guy recommended Beane and look at how THAT worked out. Pegula had an opportunity to go with the other guy the league suggested for the Sabres as well and AFTER he'd gotten rid of his advisors that helped him make the earlier decision. Rather than going back to the 2nd choice; he decided to listen to "Chauncey Gardiner." It worked out a lot better in the book and the movie.

Yes!! He showed the NHL bigwigs who is smarter! 😂

Just in time for the NEXT rebuild. 😢

Won't have to, sure. Won't? Yeah, right. They've got what, 44k students at College Park. That's ~22k co-eds. The football players and frat boys ain't landing all of them. 😉

Didn't want Mittelstadt traded for Byram because Mitts was finally getting to his prime and Byram was ~21 at the time of the trade. Didn't know much about McLeod at the time, but pretty sure would've been very good with the Sabres getting a real 3C for Savoie. They've needed to have some of their prospects converted into current players since at least that trade deadline that they let pass without any moves when they ended only 1 or 2 (depending upon how you look at it) points out of the playoffs.

Pegula was guided to Botterill by the league. Same with Murray. That’s why we got Adams because Pegula doesn’t trust NHL people anymore.

No. But the draw of an American degree for international athletes is a huge safety net and the major factor for global recruiting.

95% of their “insider info” comes from player agents that want to get a message out for their player. Friedman loves to “think out loud” about stuff. Seravalli is on so many media hits that he just has to make stuff up that sounds like it could be plausible. Dreger as well.

And, with the current trend, he probably won't have to interact with non-athlete students, either. Let's face it, major NCAA has become differently-branded minor league pro sports and nothing more or less than that.

Reimer v. Lyon. Reimer is in the backup phase of his career and Lyon has never been in the 1A phase of his career. From 2020-2025, Reimer is 3.02 GAA and .903 % while Lyon is 2.98 and .903 %. They're a push. UPL is likely to still be an inconsistent goalie. Levi should start in the AHL but will likely force his way up again. If Lyon is playing slightly better than Luukkonen, can Ruff be smart and play the veteran a bit more -- while not burning out either? Reimer could easily have played more games last season overall, but then at the end was ridden into the dirt. Trust and balance: can Ruff find them? Can this goalie tandem provide both? Right now, on paper, I'd say goaltending is a push. Kesselring will fight and defend teammates: that's good. But, he's only ever been top-4 in a limited capacity because of injuries. Clifton would battle, but was small and a 6/7. Timmins is a 3rd pairing guy. Both new guys are bigger and stronger than Joker, which is good, but I'm not yet sure either is a better all-around player than Jokiharju was (remember, he went to Boston and played great with Zadorov in top-pair minutes and he helped Power look fine-for-a-newbie in 2 previous seasons). The d-corps may come down to coaching and strategy (yikes!), quickly gelling and finding consistency with new partners, and Dahlin's health. Bryson is currently the #7 which means he'll play about 40 games when he's not just happy to be in the press box. The coach needs to play Byram-Dahlin from the get-go (provided one is still on the roster) and try to get the most out of them while not relying on them for everything and killing them by midseason. On paper, now, the D is a little bit better -- with potential to be greatly improved. At forward, by line: Benson (at this age 20) is a downgrade from JJP overall. (For comparison, at 20, JJP got a 2-game looksee and was already physically big/mature. He's always had the build.) However, Benson's ceiling is much higher because of his defensive chops and his playmaking ability. At age 20, he probably still should only be counted on for a high of 50 points (which is very good! for a 20 year-old). Slafkovsky had 51 last year with loads of PP time and top-6 ice. Kulich should be better than Kulich (or he'll have a sophomore slump). TNT = TNT and should continue to carry the scoring load. Quinn is a slight upgrade from Benson (offensively -- he should easily score more goals than Benson did last season), but much worse defensively. Hopefully, that is countered by his new linemates... Norris should be a step up from Cozens in production and drastically improved defensively. Tuch = Tuch in a contract year, but probably a slight bit down in the actual goal-scoring department. 30-potential instead of pushing for 40. Zucker = Zucker, but probably not quite as many goals as last year. Depends on PP time. McLeod = due for regression, until Norris gets injured. Still, he's really solid and can play up the lineup and will be PK1. Doan = Should be able to beat out, and be an upgrade to, Greenway because of his forechecking and possession metrics. With Zucker/McLeod he'd be a very good 3rd line contributor. Offensively, he's not as good as Quinn and slightly better than Greenway -- the two 3rd liners he'd be replacing. Overall, he's a push in terms of averaged out scoring production and also the average of the prior players' extremes defensively. Malenstyn = Malenstyn = fine for a 4th line Krebs = Krebs Greenway is a massive upgrade than last year's version of Lafferty. Penalty killing, grinding in corners, and the occasional brawn. He provides more to the team than we give credit. That said... he's good for 40 games given his shoulder(s), so... Danforth is also a massive upgrade over last year's version of Lafferty. The fourth line is overpaid, but will be solid. Overall, the forwards should be a bit better at a 200' game -- until Norris and Greenway are both injured. Then, it will open up opportunities to those who can take advantage, but it could also swiftly sink the season, especially if other teams are playing their starting goalies and not coasting to season's end already. Finally, how has the PP strategy improved this offseason? On paper, the Sabres should be 4-8 points better in the standings -- so still about 4-8 points short of the playoffs depending on the pace while teams tank for McKenna. And I hope they have a Devils-like Ruff-led 112-point breakout season. That'd be excellent. Then they should still fire Adams into the nearest asteroid field.

McLeod is a high tier 3C and low end 2C from a traditional view. His contract is spot on for his value. You could do better but also far worse. Plus he has enough talent to fill the 2C role for stints even on a solid team in theory.

Would you have preferred that Mitts wasn’t traded for Byram and then have McCleod and Mitts vying with one another for the 2 and 3C spots?

Damn man, that is *****. You at least can have a staycation now a little? I'm heading to the UK Saturday, come join us 🇬🇧😊

I think you are forgetting how pessimistic I was about Casey Mittlestadt . I always found him to be occasionally dynamic, and frequently disappointing. Given we had an emerging Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens, I am more than sure the allure of a prototypical 3rd line center would have been plenty of motivation for me to have optimism regarding a deal like that one. Edit- I would have likely expected the return be McLeod +. I am not sure what plus would have made me happy to move the better offensive player though.

Mitts has gotten 50+ points once. Who cares if he paced for that some other time? Also since his 50+ point season Mitts ain't done *****, meanwhile the second McLeod got more toi, he performed.

I think you're using hindsight here. In 23/24 Mitts was a 57 pt. plus player. The year before he was a minus player but had 59 pts. McLeod was a 30 pt. player in his best year in Edmonton. McLeod's defensive skills are not enough to make up for that difference. If that trade had happened you'd have been livid like everyone else here.

You’d think so, wouldn’t you

Yes, you would expect that to be the case. And can be cut slack for believing it. Because, it REALLY REALLY SHOULD be the case. But the NHL somehow managed in their own inimitable way to make THAT look like good TV relative to what they actually did.

DURING the draft the league was saying this was just a 1 time thing. Wonder what happened to change their minds to keep the format? Was it the Wizard of Oz-esque going behind the curtains to watch the GMs and company welcome the player into their fold? It had to be, right, that and watching the chick interviewing the players during that introduction grabbing every single one of the players she was talking to. Just when you think the NHL can't say "you'll never see us look more like a league that should be less relevant than indoor soccer than we do NOW" they find another gear and make themselves look like they should be a league less relevant than synchronized swimming is.