Taro T

Fully expect to see a steady diet of Levi the last couple of weeks. Hoping that he's alternating w/ Portillo but not expecting it.

The good: 3 of the 4 lines were working tonight. And Granato realized the other line wasn't working & limited their ice time. (Apparently 1 shift not enough.) For the 2nd game in a row the Cozens line was deployed as a true 2 and this time they flat out dominated. They gave up almost no scoring chances typically going against Stamkos & could've had 4 goals easily rather than just 2. They looked like a true #2 tonight. Cozens burying a rocket. He gets chances, and it isn't all that important that he become a finisher as both his linemates are finishers, but IF he can start converting even 1/3 of the chances he gets, the Sabres are about to have 2 #1 lines after a decade + that never had one unless Eichel was on the lineup. Dahlin & Samuelsson just keep getting better & better together. Whatever analytics guru saw something in Jost deserves a bonus. He's got that "4th line" humming & they were deployed as the clear 3rd line because of it. Granato seemed to be (except for the late Stamkos goal) matching lines. Are we FINALLY out of "development" & into "let's act like other NHL teams" by matching lines & unbalancing the forwards ice time when they don't deserve to get balanced ice time. The bad: The Mitts line was not good. Believe their 1st goal against was on Power taking the wrong man, but he' a rookie & it seemed Olofsson had time to recognize it but did so too late. Granato has the other 3 lines rolling. Will be interesting seeing how he gets this one there too as Mitts & Olofsson seem to have absolutely no chemistry though they have in the past. Power, even w/ the assist, did not bring his A game. Fully expect he'll bounce back in Detroit. And still nearly won it had the puck settled down for him. UPL. He needs to get his movement under control better & take away the bottom of the net. The ugly: The shot Lyubushkin took off his ankle/foot. Fear that's broken. The PK. They'd been pressuring the past couple of games and looking good. This one they gave way too much space. Don't envy Detroit. They're in for a ticked off team.

A 10. 2 picks after Nylander.

That said, the deal that makes sense to move, say, Dahlin won't happen because nobody would offer what it would take to legitimately pry him away.

We have one side of the story. There is at least 1 more side to the whole thing. Will reserve judgment until having more info. 2 items that will come out in the action (don't know whether they'll become public but the board reviewing this will get the info) that would greatly affect which side is "right" (IMHO, YMMV) are why her boss told her she was 'mentally weak' (or whatever the phrase was, not re-reading the complaint, that phrase gets the jist of what she os alleged to have said). That seems a very odd thing to state without there being more that came earlier in the exchange. (And realize she is diagnosed w/ PTSD, but that in itself would not seem to warrant that put down. (Maybe it did, but would like to know more context there.)) The other item which would be material to her claims is was Yeo approved to speak to journalists for whatever reason? He very well might've been approved to speak w/ them having had speaking to journalists a big part of at least 2 of his prior jobs (HC of the Wild & then the Blues; he would've had a lot of experience in that area and MIGHT have been approved to do so because of that experience). And, while it may have been "colleagues" only 1 example was cited. And again, due to his background, he may very well have been permitted ahead of time to speak on behalf of the 'Nucks.

Know you were making a funny, but UPL gets this one because Anderson got the last one & will get the Avs game.

It seems they did give him a shot at making the roster but he was unable to beat out Hinostroza nor keep them from signing another player for the 4th line & PK that at present has not only beaten him & Krebs out, but Hinostroza too. Yes, Krebs is at the tip of this particular spear, but there are 2 other guys he couldn't beat out. In his favor, he DID beat out Bjork, so he has that going for him. Not sure it's better for his development to have Krebs in the pressbox than playing in Ra-cha-cha; they've indicated they feel he will learn from watching & being around the team. Personally expect he'd reinforce habits they're trying to break him of by sending him down, but also expect they still see him as a player that will contribute offensively on a 2nd or 3rd line. So, Krebs stays up for now as the 23rd healthy body. Will be interesting to see if he goes down should they get a 24th healthy body that is a skater. He's the only guy not with a regular role that is waiver exempt as of now. Really curious if Sheahan would be doing this if his wife was handling it better. After seeing her clip, expect this might be more of a "happy wife, happy life" scenario than a "good Lord, please not another garbage plate." Maybe she's always wanted to visit Switzerland. She'll likely get to do so for ~4-5 months.

He misheard a lyric w/in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." No biggie.

Unfortunately, the networks want those 4 extra games & the conferences are more than happy to give them to them. Personally would say 6 is about ideal. When's the last time 7 had a legit claim on the championship? But that would never fly when there's 2 or 6 more games to be played.

Neither is Pilut. The expectation is it'll be Krebs sent down if the skaters are all healthy, but they've avoided that to date. Earlier in the year when all were healthy they ran w/ only 7 D, so it'll be interesting to see who goes down.

Yup. That is the floor of his value.

Thanks for that. Missed that he'd been moved to the evaluation window. Knew Boettger was back practicing; missed Marquez' update. Thought he could get redesignated to a 4 week IR (if they have any of them left) not necessarily season ending but he couldn't practice while back on the IR.

The penalty might've been the defining action when they decided whether to keep him up as the spare forward or somebody else. Seems Asplund is pretty much ready to be back. Will be very interesting to see who comes out of the lineup joining Krebs in the pressbox. 2 other interesting things to watch, if all stay healthy, when does Krebs get back in the lineup (& who does he replace) and when Bryson is back, again, if they're all healthy, who goes down to Ra-cha-cha - Krebs, Pilut, Fitzgerald, or another F.

Probably sees how much of a train wreck Krebs has been but Krebs stays up and he goes down after a waiver wire pickup beats both of them out. Don't know, but expect he feels he didn't get as fair a shake as he'd been led to believe he'd get.

Yes, the Yotes are stocking up on young players & draft picks and are, as you say, 2 years behind the Sabres. Fully expect the Yotes are hoping to win the next 2 draft lotteries and not fall just short in their quests unlike when they tried in '15 & '16. Then start rebuilding w/ Matthews as the centerpiece in a triumphant return to the desert. Again, my expectation is that they see Chychrun having more value converted into the picks & prospects he'll return than the play he'll bring on the ice. An awful lot of the "insiders" are of that opinion as well. Is it correct? We'll see. And, really expect you are mistaken if you think he'll bring back significantly more than Ristolainen did when he's a rental. Rentals get discounted; it is what it is.

Then basically you are saying they shouldn't trade for any high end guy who's already on/ past his 2nd contract. Because it's very rare for those guys to get traded with more than 2-3 years left before they're UFAs.

True. But did anybody see them having their mid-season funk last year or losing to the Colts this year? Bills need to win out, which is going to be tough given all the injuries, but it is possible. Hard to see anybody w/ less than 3 losses this year, so Bill need to keep doing what they can. And if KC does win out, well the Bills beat them once down there. It's not an impossible ask to do it again.

Don't see any way they'd want a guy as old as Olofsson. Really doubt they'd want anyone older than Cozens. (Not saying he'd have to be in the package, just not other seeing anyone older than that being a part of it. Should the Sabres actually make an offer.)

It's also possible this move was a precursor to a move for a player giving up picks/unsigned prospects. The Sabres were at 48 contracts w/ Sheahan. Levi will take up 1 slot in March/April, leaving them only 1 to work with. Now they have another open contract slot. Gives Sheahan his opportunity to find another NHL (or higher paying than the AHL Euro) job & the Sabres more flexibility on finding a guy that does fit the plan. Win-win.

Absolutely. He thought enough of his own talent to believe he was, in a worst case, the Sabres 13th best forward. Turns out, he isn't. He was wrong, & is unhappy with where he's now at. Adams has been VERY vocal in stating that if a player doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want him. This is just walking that talk and giving Sheahan an opportunity to go where he wants to be (presuming those controlling that location actually want him, not a given at this point).

On July 1, 2025 he has ZERO value to the Yotes. That is a fact. That you don't consider it "relatively soon" doesn't alter that. And, IMHO, teams would be willing to give up more for him now than they would in July '24 or even July '23 so for a team that wants to lose in the near term he'll never have more value for them than he does today in a package of prospects &/or picks. Does that mean the Sabres would have to add a prospect to the package? Maybe, don't know. Hadn't put a ton of thought into it and again whatever the Sabres would have to give up to land Chychrun is slightly more than the 2nd best deal the Yotes are offered. Which was the main point of the post. People tend to look at trades in a tunnel between just the 2 trading parties, but the 3rd team is the one that really sets the value & the trade parameters.

Really jonesing for a trip to Switzerland? Was surprised he was as bad as he was this year. Looks like age caught up to him.

The question becomes, what do we expect the best non-Sabres offer to be? He's got 2 more years on his deal, but the Yotes aren't going to be trying to win during that time, so figure he's leaving on July 1, 2025, so though the Yotes don't have to trade him he'll relatively soon have no value at all. The floor for the deal is what do they see 2-1/2 years of his play being worth staying in the desert. The almost ceiling of what they'll get is that "2nd best deal." Expect that is higher than that floor as they WANT to lose now & can't sell any more tix until they move to a different barn so that floor is pretty low, so that's what the Sabres needed to beat. @dudacek's post should be a pretty good proxy for that 2nd best deal. A non-lottery protected 1st (or lightly protected, say top 5) & the Sabres best or 2nd best 2nd rounder looks to be pretty comparable. (With the best 2nd being a part of the package if the 1st slides & the 2nd best if it comes this year.) Those pieces would be coming into the NHL on the Yotes schedule to rejoin the NHL. The Q becomes, again, is that better than the 2nd best offer.

Further, if they didn't take handedness into consideration for 7 & 8, they'd have 2 LHD working on the 4th pair.

The cheesy original or the cheesy remake? (Had to be the remake, right?)