Taro T

Too soon IMHO. Not a given yet that he'll be an NHLer but he still could grow into one.

IF the bridge isn't burned, and from what we know of Ullmark and Adams can believe it isn't, then absolutely would be interested in seeing Linus back in Buffalo. The B's would be looking for a cheap backup for Swayman, from Buffalo's perspective don't expect it would be a dealbreaker to include either of Levi's backups as part of the package. (Though would prefer trading away Comrie to them than UPL; Boston's defensive style would give UPL about as good a chance of succeeding as anybody's. And he's young enough, he just might succeed. Would hate to become the '20's version of the '90's/'00's version of TO when it comes to Bruins goalie trades.)

And, would add, if Greenway and Mitts are regular linemates, expect there's a greater chance that Mitts ends up on the PK than if they don't. Expecting Greenway to be one of the usual 4 PK F's.

Very hard to say, because he came off the PK right about the same time that Comrie got injured and the goaltending went kerplewy. That also occurred (slightly) before Mitts line started gettting 3rd line usage vs the 2nd line usage they'd started the year with. So, expect they took him off the PK to let him focus on improving his 5v5 play. Would they bring him back to that role? Who knows. Before answering that, would need to have the coaches answer the question of was Mitts good on the PK because the goaltending was reasonably good and the D hadn't been decimated or was it because he was actually good on the PK. Thought he was pretty good there, but as others have stated, it was a very small sample and again he was a part of the PK when the goaltending and D hadn't gone through the injury wringer.

So, you have a $6MM backup for a year. Big whoop. The cap will be at least $6MM higher than it is now then. And this is where getting guys like Thompson and Cozens on ~$7MM deals pays off. Do not see Adams making a move on Swayman because there will be other options available and doubt he wants to start an offer sheet war with anybody. But it won't be because they'd need to give Swayman a 3 year deal at $6+. Levi isn't THAT much of a hot house orchid that he can't have competition on the roster. Actually expect that he'd thrive in that situation. He talks about how he loves the pressure. Personally, based upon his work to date, believe him.

If they did make an offer to Swayman, pretty sure that if they gave him a 3 year deal it would walk him to UFA status (didn't look closely at his history, may be off by a year). That would be worst case for the B's and should they not match would let Levi share the crease for the next couple of years and if Levi dominates then Swayman is his backup that 3rd year (maybe even the 2nd and 3rd years) and then he walks and the Sabres either find a new backup for Levi or somebody in the system is ready to step in as the backup at that time. (Yes, the cupboard is pretty much barren today, but that can change w/in 3 years.)

No. But they have been slowly moving the start of the league year back towards July 1 (where it traditionally was before the lockdown) and this past season still started a bit later than normal. Had the SCF run the full 7 games, the last game would've been played on June 19 so the league had a conundrum should they keep to the traditional weekend draft. They could either swap the 2 teams in the finals out of playoff mode and into draft mode in less than 1 week or they could have the 2nd day of the draft coincide with the free agency signing period opening. Neither is a particularly good choice and players become UFA's and RFA's on the 1st day of the new league year so were they to move the FA signing period out a week that wouldn't really work either. So, they took a page out of the NFL's book and had the 1st 2 days of the draft (and the NHL only has 2 draft days thankfully) during the week. Expecting the draft will be at its normal time next year.

He's already been replaced. 13 or 14 on the depth chart at the end of the year. Only 1 guy ahead of him in the top 12 MIGHT not be back (Girgensons). There are at least 3 kids knocking on the door to try to take Girgensons' spot if it is in fact open plus they might grab a 4C that can work a PK and knows what his side of the blue line looks like. And, expect you're right that fans underestimate his value and he'll bring back something good either as part of a package or in a 1 for 1 deal. (More likely the former.) A fair amount of fans don't expect him to return anything particularly valuable. Personally, expect that's incorrect. But, though he has value, he doesn't have much here as he cannot get onto the top PP unit nor into the top 6 F's and he isn't enough of a line driver to make his being on the 3rd line a mismatch for opposing teams though if he has a line driver he could create mismatches for the other team. Not his fault he's a goal scoring specialist on the 3rd highest scoring team in the league and a team that still got outscored (barely) by its opponents. There are a LOT of teams that could use his skill set and put a good value on him. The Sabres happen to be a team with different holes to fill and he could be a big part of filling them (either today or in the future as a prospect/high pick).

Mainly because Kulich is only 19 and would be better served getting top line minutes in the AHL rather than being an 8 minute per game 4th liner or healthy scratch. Don't see there being an opening on W in the top 9 available for either guy and expect Rousek will transition to 4th line better than Kulich will. Rousek looked good in his very brief callup last year and is ready IMHO for the NHL. Expect Kulich will be a mid-season callup when an injury hits in the top 9. Which of the 2 stays in the lineup when all are healthy again, no idea. But it is good to see the Sabres finally having enough depth again that guys that can actually play in the NHL will be on the farm team. Been a long time since we saw that.

Lance's offer sounds reasonable IF Pesce has told Waddell that he absolutely won't sign next off-season AND he told him he'd only accept a trade to TO or Buffalo. Barring that, yeah, the offer seems a bit light.

Rousek will spend time in Buffalo this season. No doubt about it. And he likely will look good in a bottom 6 role when he gets the opportunity. But with the numbers at F that they have, unless Savoie looks like he did in the AHL playoffs during camp and doesn't earn a 9 game look (which is possible, but still would be leaning against him dropping the ball) don't know that there'll be room for Rousek on the opening night roster. Though could see him as the 14th F should they go 14-7-2 rather than 13-8-2. Not necessarily what the expectation for the lines will be, but on opening night realistically could be Skinner - Thompson - Tuch Quinn - Cozens - Peterka Mittelstadt - Krebs - Greenway Savoie - New 4C - Okposo w/ Jost as the spare (presumes Girgensons doesn't re-sign; and simply don't see Olofsson back this year). Rousek would be the next man up, so if they go 14 he'd be sitting in a press box flying to games rather than playing a key role and bussing to them. Agree that Rousek will get the look before Kulich does unless something unexpected happens this summer. EDIT: And IF Savoie doesn't earn that 9 game look, Rousek likely leaps Jost and is in the opening night lineup. But right now, that's still a relatively big if. (And it grew with the 2 game AHL stint.)

The "burned year" is STRICTLY on the ELC. That has nothing to do with getting credited with an accrued NHL season for FA and pension purposes. A healthy skater needs 40 games to accumulate an accrued season. Power's cup of coffee coming out of college doesn't count as an accrued season.

Yep. They (for whatever reason) made their decisions on how to proceed based upon the order of getting the arbitration decision. By the time Dumont's rolled around, there was nothing left in the kitty. Would be really interested in hearing from Regier at some point WHY they decided to make their decisions in that order. Was it they really saw those guys as interchangable in value to the team; were they trying to not show favoritism to certain player/players to keep from upsetting the chemistry in the room; or was it something other?

Something about Andersen just don't like. Just always considered him overrated for what he actually is. If they can't land Varlamov or one of the really big fish, well, he's better than what they had to be paired with Levi. But would really like to see them looking elsewhere. He and Gibson are the 2 guys that have been linked to Buffalo to a degree that this kid would not be happy seeing being the guy they land.

And not expecting a 2nd piece, but in addition to the Graves-esque guy he brings in, Adams really should bring in another Lyubushkin too. The D would be flat out set and could weather injuries much better than they could last season.

Will be surprised if it isn't nearly unanimous. (It won't be unanimous, but expect it will be quite close.)

Good for him. But not happy to see him moving outside the organization. Maybe he comes back to take Appert's role when he either moves up in Buffalo or takes a position elsewhere. Would be a logical next step prior to getting a HC gig in the show.

The big goalies struggle with them more than the smaller guys do typically at the NHL level because the smaller guys have to have better reflexes / reactions simply to get to the NHL. The behemoths square up and there's nothing to shoot at. Plus, it's tougher for the big guys to get moving when they are set (inertia is real). And you're right that it's better to get any goalie moving, but the guys with better reflexes are going to handle the need for movement better. PS - Levi has great lateral movement too.

Had Gailey hired a DC that actually had a clue of what he was doing wouldn't have been horrible. But the game sure seemed to have passed Wannstadt by by the time he got to Buffalo. Gailey knew O extremely well. He wasn't a good HC, but there were several (mentioned here already) that were significantly worse during the drought.

A 6 year deal gives them 7 shots at it (he's under contract this coming year still). But a 4 year deal or a 3 year deal still has him having arbitration rights. Arbitration isn't as big of a concern (IMHO) as him being eligible to receive an offer sheet which happens anytime after a 1 year deal is signed. And neither is really all that big of a threat if the team is doing right by the player. They can negotiate a follow-up deal a year before any other team can talk to him and if he's being treated right (he will be) there's a really good chance that he'll sign that 3rd contract at the same point in his career as Dahlin is on the verge of doing (1 year before the end of his bridge deal). Just IMHO, thought a 5 year deal is the worst outcome, a 6 year deal is the next worse. And yes, we can agree to disagree.

Pretty sure he meant tha tyou can get Sunday ticket without buying the rest of the YouTube package. Which is doable, but it costs an extra $100 than it would if it is bundled w/ YouTube TV. And either way, if you order it by some time in September, you'll save $50 over waiting until past that date (believe it is 9/16, but not positive, it IS sometime in September that the non-early early bird early bird discount goes away. (Had it been purchased prior to June 6, it would've been $100 off whichever option was chosen.)

Your "worst outcome" ISN'T happening. This kid has gone from 3rd pairing to top pair within the 1st year (1st couple of games in tournaments) at EVERY level he's been at w/ the exception of the NHL and that's because he has a Norris candidate ahead of him and very little quality outside those 2 and the team had significantly worse outcomes when those 2 were played together rather than each playing on separatre pairings. There is no ####ing way he has peaked. Totally get wanting to stay cautious but waiting until he's played another season (or x seasons) will just make that next deal all that much more expensive. Ideally get him for 7 or 8 years. If that is a no go from Power's perspective, sign him to a 4 year deal. It'll max out the time they have him on the "cheap" bridge deal without putting significant leverage into his agent's pocket.

Dick(less) Jauron. Quotable quote "it's hard to win in the NFL." No Schlitz Sherlock.

Would be surprised if he falls to 13. IF he gets past the Caps wouldn't mind seeing them move up slightly to grab him. (Getting a guy that could be 1st overall were the draft to NOT include Bedard and were geopolitics different is a good thing.) Wouldn't be willing to trade up ahead of Washington because it'll likely cost too much.

Nope. Backing in is when you get in by clinching even though you lost the last game (or few) and were literally going to go backwards in the standings if the teams around you were reasonably competent.