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Don't forget Dahlin getting injured really broke the defense. If we assume he plays 80 games, that might get you those 4 wins.

And that would be me. My wife and brothers ask me all the time why I care about them. It goes back to the AHL Bisons, 1966, the Aud, and a Pepsi with pop corn from the old fashion poppers.

Team is maybe break even, never mind 4 extra wins

Unsure. My first thought is no but maybe there's a carve out.

Provided the Amerks that year didn't have any other 19 year olds who'd been eligible to be in the CHL, yes, apparently.

So Benson Year 1 could not be in the AHL but after a year in the NHL he would have been eligible to play in the AHL in year 2?

Any word if this is also going to apply to trade deadline day transactions? Would expect they'd make an exception to that so the players that get moved down on paper will be able to play in the AHL playoffs when the parent team's season is done. But, without seeing the actual paragraph from the CBA, don't know for certain.

"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?