Taro T

Can't get a guarantee making the deal with 2 years left on his existing contract. Until his John Hancock is on the paper there is no guarantee and he's not allowed to ink that until July 1 2025. This proposed deal with 2 years left on his existing deal would happen presumably in July 2024.

Shoot. Atlanta's market was robust back in the 70's. The Flames never averaged less than 12k per game until the final year when they were on their way out the door and they still stayed above 10k per game. The thing that killed them was the fact that even though they made the playoffs in only their 2nd year, and were consistently good (but not great by any stretch) they never managed to win a playoff series. Which was the real kick in the pants to Atlanta fans when the team immediately made it to the semi-finals in its 1st year in Calgary. And @GASabresIUFAN is on the right track blaming a large part of the Threshers departure on ownership being disjointed and then not particularly interested in hockey. Having no success in the playoffs was the rest of what killed them off. (IIRC they made the playoffs only once and then got swept in the 1st round that year. Or did they actually win a series only to be swept in the 2nd round. Know they got swept in their "best" performance in team history.)

Am really hoping that McDermott goes back to his more attacking defensive roots than returning to the bend but don't break defense that Frazier favored. If he does, expect them to give up more points overall but also to flat out see the Bills run more teams out of the building as getting the ball back to Allen more quickly (either by a 3 and out or a big play drive) will result in the offense scoring even more than they currently do. And if the offense is clicking, well that D is very good against the pass. And attacking the QB should make it even better (typically). Also like that DaQuan Jones will now have Poona Ford to spell him keeping 1 run stuffer in the middle of the line at all times allowing Ed Oliver to concentrate even more on penetrating through. (And he was looking very good until messing up his ankle last year.) And yes, losing Edmonds wingspan in the middle of the D will hurt on passing downs some, but not having him hit the wrong gap or react to the gap too slowly will help on running downs. Bills games will flow differently this year, but really looking forward to seeing what they can do.

That, or with him being from Atlanta he figures that by bringing Houston into the league around the same time, it'll buy his Atlanta Shermans 😉 an extra year or 2 before folding as the Houston team will fold long before the Hotlanta team proves that 3rd time isn't always the charm. 😉 The 4th largest city in America (at the time) couldn't sell out a 65k seat stadium in a state where HS football is the national pastime and the local team was in the midst of a 7 year playoff run without having a local grocery store regularly buy up the last 5-10k seats for all opponents except the Stillers, the Pokes, and the Browns. Know there are a couple of huge advocates here for putting a team in Houston, but simply don't see it lasting. Maybe if by then the NHL has become a TV dependent league (like the NFL is now) rather than a gate dependent league it might work. But just don't see that transition happening in time for an expansion team to there getting helped enough to stay viable. (And still believe that expansion beyond 32 teams is darn near the worst idea a league which regularly tries to top its previous worse idea could come up with.)

Could definitely envision women coaching, scouting, & GMing at the NHL level. Some even at elite levels. Don't expect it to ever be close to parity head count-wise between women and men. Not because of sexism or anything nefarious but because so many more boys play hockey than girls do. (And regardless of how hard Nike, ESPN, and others work at increasing female participation in sports, don't ever see girls wanting to play sports like hockey at the same sort of participation rates as boys do.)

That's the dream at least. Could you imagine Dahlin feeding him? Awe-some.

Well, Sabres were the team he wanted to be with in '15. Not sure if it's because that't the team he wanted most out of the 30 or because it was the team he wanted most out of the 6 that realistically could've gotten 1st overall.

Logo doesn't look very much like Val Kilmer. Artist could've done much better. 😉

Realistically expect him to move on to another or-gan-eye-zay-shun next year as even though there are anywhere from 1-3 job openings on the 4th line next year (which is where he slots in should he get the call) there are also at least 3 and probably 5 guys slotting ahead of him (not including Rousek) in the pecking order to win any of those slots unless he gets an injury call up this year and sticks it.

You sure about that. The Eulers won a 5th cup without Gretzky. Gretzky took the Kings to the Finals once and didn't go there with the Blues nor the Blue Shirts. Messier was the captain of that 5th Eulers W and also got the Rags their only SC championship in 83 years.

It all comes full circle. (Hopefully.) D'oh!

Flat out can't see that being the plan and honestly believe the reason Tokarski is back is to have a 3rd goalie that they are ok with (not good with, but ok with) playing a couple of games if ABSOLUTELY necessary should whomever their preferred 3rd goalie is gets waiver claimed.

After the fight or after the suspension for the hit on Ohlund?

To the 1st bolded: Bales is getting paid the big bucks to help both of those backups reach their potential and if there is too little separation between them for them to do anything but look at potential and flipping a coin PERSONALLY would go with the guy who's floor is higher rather than the guy who's ceiling is higher. They need to win TODAY, winning 3 years from now would be nice too (that's for @Thorny 😉) but isn't as important as winning today is. And the backup that isn't going to give up the killer stinker goal/game has more value IMHO than the 1 that may have a S% that's 0.015 higher in 3 years than it is now. To the 2nd bolded, and this may be splitting hairs, but if Hellebucyk gets brought in, Levi is NOT the primary goalie. If Saros gets brought in, Levi is NOT the primary goalie. If Swayman or Ullmark gets brought in he probably / isn't the primary goalie. We expect there to be no change in the status quo to the goaltending but being over 2-1/2 months out from the opening of the season it isn't a given. Personally would be disappointed if Comrie is lost via waivers, but wouldn't lament it.

Minor distinction, but IMHO significant, Kozak's ceiling is Adam Mair. And this team could use an Adam Mair in his prime right now. Would be better than Jost at that 4C slot. And am in the camp that thinks he has a long shot to make it to the NHL at best. (But it would be a great story if he does eventually do it.) Could still have Jost as the injury fill in on the 3rd line as Adam Mair didn't translate particularly well moving up the lineup.

We are both in agreement that it would be a good thing for Adams to address the goaltending. And we are both in agreement that having a "proven" vet to pair with Levi adds way more leeway to the upcoming season than running with status quo. We also are in agreement that if status quo remains and the season goes kerplewy that Adams should be held accountable for that. (Not necessarily saying he should be canned should that happen, but he ends up on a very short leash moving forward in that case at a minimum.) And it comes back to semantics whether it's nice or crucial to upgrade the 2nd G position. IMHO it isn't crucial as they CAN make the playoffs (and probably should) even with the goaltending they have now; but it sure as #### would be nice to have that expected to be better goalie (and should it be Saros or Hellebuyck brought in, that KNOWN to be better goalie) so that a run of D injuries like they had last year WON'T lead to an 8 game pointless streak putting the entire season into jeopardy.

Muckler had been on record that the team was going to change directions. And IIRC Mogilny was believed to be on the trade block, but NOBODY expected him to be traded for a handful of magic beans and a used puck bag.

Possible. But could easily see somebody taking a chance on him. Comrie is more likely to clear waivers IMHO even though would personally rather have him backing up Levi than UPL should it come to 1 of the 2 of them backing him up.

Absolutely hated that trade when it went down and the other key pieces leaving as well like Hawerchuk. Looked like the Sabres were throwing in the towel for the long term, not just a single season. But the reality was the Sabres had the third highest payroll in the league and pretty much nothing to show for it.

Well, depends strictly on how we're defining nice and crucial. The Bruins would have been comfortably in a playoff spot had they had Comrie or UPL as the backup to Ullmark. No ####in' way they set RS records for W's and P's with either of those 2 backing him up. But they didn't NEED to set RS records if the goal is a SC championship. And even with that much better backup who got regular usage during the RS, the Bruins went back to conventional wisdom that in the playoffs you run your #1 all the way until after Ullmark had played way more in a row than he'd done since November and it was too late for the now out of a rhythm Swayman to bail them out. So, they definitely would've run Ullmark to the end in the playoffs having one of those other 2 backing Linus up. Heck, Linus might even have been more used to getting a bunch of games in a row if he had a lesser backup and would've been more prepared to run the table so to speak in that case. Really do expect that IF Levi plays the way we're all realistically hoping he can play (meaning playing at the level he's shown so far, not turning into the current Saros or Shesterkin at the mere age of 21) AND the D is as improved as is likely from both Dahlin and Power being 1 year closer each to their peaks, Lyubushkin being a year into the system &/or Jokiharju being consistently a 3rd pairing guy and not dragging down Power, and the addition of Clifton AND they play actual defense in their own end that the team will make the playoffs even stuck with Comrie &/or UPL as the backup provided they show a bit of improvement. And, none of those IF's are remotely unattainable on paper. (One or all could be unattainable in practice, doubt it but possible, but until they play the games, paper is all we have to go on .) So, in that regard, it would be NICE to have better, but not necessarily CRUCIAL because once they get to the playoffs, they AREN'T playing the backup.

That's the thing. It ISN'T a knock on Levi to say the Sabres should have a proven vet to pair with him. Even if he plays 50 games at a high level, there are still 32 games that it would be nice to have better than last year's UPL and Comrie to be the backstop in. And if Levi does succumb to the "21 year old goalies aren't ready for the NHL on a night in night out basis" adage; well then it's not just nice but a necessity to get better play out of the "backup" position. MIGHT Comrie &/or UPL be better this year than last and even so much better to be good enough? Yes. But it is far from a given. (Pretty sure it's a given, should he stay healthy, that Comrie WILL be better than last year. But will it be good enough to withstand the rigors of being forced to be the #1 for a spell? Again, it's possible, but far from a given.)

Which is why the thread title is "favorite" Sabre trades not "best" Sabre trades. And as discussed in the OP it really is meant to be geared towards bringing a guy (or several) into the fold rather than punting them into the sun.

That was another one that was pretty cool when it happened. They ended up getting Chicago to keep 1/2 of his salary (actual salary, no cap yet) plus they got Dumont in the deal. And all for freakin' Grosek. Was pretty happy with getting Mike Grier the 1st time too. For Jakub Klepis. Was actually pretty happy with landing Klepis for Varada because the Otters were really good at drafting F's at that time, but he never panned out and Grier was a huge part of that magical '05-'06 team.

Would be cool if he could. Would mean he's gotten better than Jost, which would be a good thing.

Personally, expect UPL is FINALLY starting to get comfortable with the surgically altered hips. He hasn't been as bad at crossbar shots and even 5 hole this last season as he'd been in the recent past. (But, yes, his glove hand is definitely below average.) So some of those issues you've mentioned COULD get cleared up, but it definitely isn't a given they will. And also believe that all those other issues besides the glove are products of UPL being poor at anticipating plays. It's something that he CAN and should be able to get better at with experience, but it remains to be seen whether he can get good enough at that to allow his size to be an advantage and not a disadvantage (necessarily slower reaction time than a smaller goalie would have when they both twig onto what's going to happen at the same time; but if he's anticipated the play and is set there really are very little areas of the net that a shooter can try for). Your point about Levi coming out high is important as the Sabres need to watch the backdoor and also the below the goalline to the slot pass MUCH better than they currently do because those both will tend to be a prime way to beat Levi (backdoor, because he'll either be forced to make a highlight reel save or will be beat badly; below the line to the slot because there will be a lof of room to the far side before Levi can get out to take the angle back down). Let the kid take the shot and worry about taking away the passing lanes forcing him to move. Even just creating a slight momentary delay in that pass will typically be enough to allow Levi's athleticism to make the acrobatic save we saw (your Rags example being a prime example) several times over just 7 games.