Taro T

Do they have a youth team associated with the Marlies themselves? The Amerks lend their name to a local youth hockey organization here in Ra-cha-cha. If they do, could be as simple as letting that team use it to go to a summer tournament seeing as how the Marlies aren't using the bus. Saves them the cost of renting a bus and is likely a tax writeoff.

Because they (for whatever reason) like these coaches enough to have them in those roles this year. If they have contracts that expire on June 30, then ANY other team can put them into the exact same role as they filled as employees of the Sabres organization whether the Sabres organization would like to keep them or not. If they have contracts that expire on June 30, 2025 or later THEN in order for another team to poach them, they have to give them what would be a promotion above their current position. The Sabres would also have the option of bumping the guy up themselves rather than letting him interview for that higher position in another organization. Though it looks like it ISN'T putting a priority on winning (gee, they give rewards to guys that aren't getting the job done) it's actually putting a priority on winning. They expect these teams to be winning this coming season and expect the people they have in house to contribute to that. Are they correct in their assessments? Don't know. (And personally wanted the Sabres PP coach to get punted into the sun.) If they're wrong, then all that is lost at the end of the season is several $k of Pegula bucks. If they're right, nothing is lost and they can keep the same staffs in place provided nobody wants to give any of them promotions. (Like Peca and Weber received.) It really is that simple.

See them more in the Buster role. 😉

But if you flip that question, would you trade THEM straight up for Tage, you'd likely get the reply back: H*ll no. No. (Possible maybe due to age.) No. No. No. Heck no. Yes. Maybe. (Depends on whether he wants to play again this year.) No. Maybe. No. Which puts him POSSIBLY in the top 10, if those are the only guys you look at. Doubt Vegas would send Eichel back for him either, just picking one name that isn't in that top 12 list. Petterson and Zibanejad would likely be a no and a maybe too. People tend to like their own guys and even overrate them because they see them all the time and know for sure what their ceilings are and see them reach it every so often.

So they have Kulich getting the promotion rather than Rousek. Interesting. Still expect that one to play out the other way but would definitely not have any money on it. Kulich is a driven mofo.

And yet roughly 1/2 of the coaching staff in Ra-cha-cha has already left for other organizations.

Well, personally fail to see how your post does "move the conversation forward" because the reason Thompson got moved to W last season was he was ineffective at C while playing through the injury. So, no, in the case where Thompson CAN'T effectively play center, it doesn't make sense to keep Thompson at C. Which is why my response to you was that my preference (under normal circumstances) would be to have Thompson at C. And pointed out that the post you were referring to was not advocating for Thompson to be moved from C. Were your post responding to my post to have been in response to @PerreaultForever's post expect THAT would've driven the conversation further than your actual post in response to him. My 2 cents. YMMV.

As long as the players collectively get a precise percentage of HRR, wtf would any member of the NHLPA be unhappy about players on a different team getting "underpaid." The pie is going to be the exact same size at the end of the day regardless of how it gets sliced. And if Tage Thompson (just as an example) is getting $3MM less than he "should" that's $3MM less going into the denominator when the final escrow payments/refunds get calculated. It still is amazing that people worry about the nominal $'s that are there and that somehow by having the nominal $'s increasing for some players that it will magically increase ACTUAL $'s that players in general take home. (Yes, having a larger nominal contract will cause that particular player's take home pay to go up; but it actually LOWERS the take home pay of every other player in the league.) Face values of contracts being greater does NOT increase the amount of money that players get. Increasing ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise sales, and TV and streaming revenues is how players get more money. And players should be mildly ticked when somebody gets their contract bought out or goes onto BF-LTIR but effectively retires because that's money that counts against the player's share that ends up going to guys that aren't even playing. And lastly, these guys are taking the "team friendly" deals because they WANT their teammates to be here too. There is only so much nominal money available under the salary cap and if every guy squeezes every $ out of the team that they can (which is their right and do not begrudge the guys that do so) then they necessarily won't be able to play with all the guys they want to be playing with.

Personally expect that Mittelstadt is going to get moved to a wing to cover for Quinn's absence. But whether he's a W or a C this season, haven't advocated ANY lineups where Thompson isn't playing C. (Pretty sure haven't advocated moving Cozens to a W either barring additional injuries / in game adjustments due to score/ time remaining.) Was VERY specific in what my post you are quoting was in reference to. A very respected poster stated that he couldn't think of any scenario with Thompson at W; was merely reminding him that it happened last season; additionally Tommer actually played pretty well there.

Success being relative. They had 10 more points than the 2nd best team of the tank/post-tank era. They had, until the final 10 game segment, some of the worst goaltending of that era. And with coaches, you should ALWAYS want to have them on a contract through at least the end of the next season or else they can walk away as soon as the current season is done even for a lateral move. Nobody's going to prevent a guy from moving up the food chain with another organization, but you can keep guys from just walking away. And you can always can them if you choose. It's Daddy Bigbucks money; have no issues whatsoever with him spending it.

There definitely was an evolution in his game last season. A lot of people have Rousek written into the Sabres lineup this October (including yours truly, but only have it down in pencil), but Kulich is going to give him a good run for his money. It's a shame neither are projecting at this point as an NHL C or Jost's spot in the top 12 (with Quinn out) would be in serious jeopardy. (It could be anyhow if they keep both Mittelstadt and Krebs at C; but if Kulich could slide into Krebs' 4C role between Okposo and Girgensons then Jost would be this year's Hinostroza.)

He played on the wing last season when recovering from an injury down the stretch. There's 1 scenario where it happens.

Except they didn't have one of the best PPs for most of the year. They had a several week stretch where the PP was absolutely lights out starting just before Cozens got moved to the top unit but it didn't start the year great and it fell off the face of the earth the last couple of months of the season. The entry on the PP was bad the entire season. Considering the talent on the PP, personally was extremely frustrated with the overall play of that unit (the aforementioned stretch where it was beyond good not withstanding). That unit has to be run better this season because they aren't going to be facing a steady diet of backup goalies this year. Agree with most of the rest of your post, but the PP for most of the season was relatively terrible.

Nope. The mascot hockey game. That was AWESOME. Sabretooth scored a goal!

ftfy.

So you were SERIOUSLY ASKING IF THE SABRES WOULD KEEP 9 OR 10 D on the SABRES ACTIVE 23 MAN roster? Holy funk Batman. And, would the Amerks be better off with career AHLers Prow and Davies or Clague and Bryson? Hmm, that's almost as difficult a Q to answer as whether they'll keep 9 or 10 guys on the parent team's 23 man roster. Enjoy Jacksonville Jeremy and Ethan. Do you think if they keep Comrie and UPL that they'll carry Tokarski too on the 23 man roster? Enquiring minds want to know. 😜

You then proceeded to edit the original daftness to go even further into strawman land? Im-####ing-press-ive.

If you actually read the entire post you would see that it was SPECIFICALLY SPELLED OUT THAT ONLY 8 of the 10 (or 11) would be on the Sabres and the other 2 (or 3) were Ra-cha-cha bound. The others are there for depth.

Maybe. A year ago would've said no. Without getting moved to C and without getting Eichel's spot on PP1 he wouldn't have had a big jump. But after watching him the past 2 seasons believe he was going to take off that year Eichel left even if he stayed on the wing. It just wouldn't have been as high. But he would definitely have improved under Granato's tutelage. When he tore up his shoulder doing the 2nd thing mites are taught to NOT do when getting hit into the boards (right behind putting your head down; you NEVER do that) was nearly completely ready to write him off as just not being able to get "it." Couldn't have been more wrong. Argued long and hard against ever moving him back to wing. Expecting if he goes back to W that while he won't be breaking 100 points, he's still going to be a force to reckon with and that take that he can't play W will be shown to be nearly as wrong.

Why wouldn't they carry the 10 (11 counting R. Johnson) they have into the season? Remember, Kevyn Adams was the beneficiary of insufficent Sabres Blue Line depth back in '06 and he was bitten hard on the arse this past season when Samuelsson, Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, etc all went down at the same time and the Sabres were left with Dahlin, Power, and 4 dwarfs (skillwise, not necessarily sizewise, though Bryson might've qualified that way as well 😉 ) and proceeded to lose 8 in a row. Win one of those in regulation and we probably don't see Okposo back this year nor are we as fans as desperate to see UPL and Comrie upgraded. Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Power aren't getting traded. Can't see E. Johnson nor Clifton getting traded either. Just how much value is there in trading away Jokiharju or Busch? If they make a trade for a Pesce, could see Joker going out as part of the package; but at the end of the day, they still have 10/11 deep at D. Maybe the Hellebucyk trade is still getting discussed. Could see Joker part of that package as well. But other than those 2 potential trades (or something in the same vein) what trade is getting made to lessen the D depth? Fully expect to see them keep 8 in Buffalo with Clague, Bryson, and R. Johnson in Ra-cha-cha.

Would actually put them both very close to each other as each has a different strength. But could you imagine seeing a team that had BOTH of them. That'd be the bomb. (Well, were it not horrendously dysfunctional.) (Plus, could you imagine a team having Murray's apparent 2nd target to dump his 3 2nd rounders - Alex Tuch on that team WITH Thompson and Eichel.)

Overall agree with most of the analysis. But you are predicting the Bruins to lose more than 20 more games outright than they did all of the last regular season (135 ->94 points which is 0-20-1 worse than they were last year). Am expecting a huge falloff, but can't see them being on the wrong side of 100 points this year. Expecting them or the Sabres to be the 3 seed in the division with the other likely the 2nd wildcard. Yes, the Metro's top 3 are better than the Atlantic's top 3 top to bottom (in a 1 to 1 ranking) but after their top 3 (Carolina, Joisey, Rags) am not overly impressed with any of them. Would take Buffalo or Boston over the Aisles, Pens, and Caps. The BJ's will be better, but expect they're in the Otter/Red Wing category and Filly is still in Hab territory until they aren't.

That's actually pretty good. Could work.

That is an ugly bottom 6. But technically all 4 lines have a center.

Interesting. Would have Eichel higher than 18th, but not sure exactly where between 8 and 17. In Buffalo, only because of injuries. That year he got 82 points in 77 games he was well on pace to end up over 100 points through 50 some games but then played through a leg injury that significantly hurt his productivity. (Had 5 points in the 12 games surrounding him being out a few in mid-March.) Want to say he was battling through injuries again that season that got cut short by Covid, but not recalling ottomh what the injuries were that he was dealing with.