Taro T

Nuts. Was hoping they'd be blue.

Claiming Krueger didn't want a goalie upgrade is flat out unsubstantiated speculation. Considering Botterill reportedly had 3 potential deals NEARLY worked out to bring one in, it puts a bit of a crimp in your Krueger was both calling the shots & didn't want a goalie theory because that's a lot of effort to NOT try to bring in a goalie off your own volition if you're Adams. And consider, having an honest to goodness NHL goalie as a starter w/ Ullmark only tasked to be a backup might have completely obviated the need to go through 6 goalies as guys playing within their ability level are less likely to hurt themselves than those that have to try to exceed their abilities.

Murray was content following the owner's directions? Really? Mr ZFG? Not seeing it personally. Regier absolutely worked within whatever constraints ownership put upon him. So will give you that one. But that was the case w/ him from day 1 & he actually was oftentimes successful with putting good teams on the ice without necessarily having access to the resources his rivals had access to. But didn't Botterill get canned because he refused to gut the front office? How is that displaying being content w/ "carrying out the owner's directions?"

Just how "honestly" did he commit to trying to make the Sabres work? He entered the season w/ Hutton & an injury prone Ullmark as the "established" goaltending. Tokarski & Johanson were their understudies w/ UPL & Houser in Cincy. Realize he came "close" to getting a goalie, but the fact remains Ullmark who had never been 'the" guy was the only legit NHL quality goalie & he still might only have been of backup quality for all we knew entering that year.

It absolutely was made prior to bringing in Murray & at a higher pay grade. Did people forget Regier's "there will be suffering" and Ted Black shooting his mouth off which resulted in changes to the lottery? Murray was brought in to make sure the tank was successful without being too successful & to remodel the Sabres into LA/Anaheim East. He accomplished the 1st goal but failed at the 2nd.

It's possible we're all worrying about him potentially being intransigent needlessly. He seems to like it here & it's quite possible he appreciates the fact the Sabres took a chance on him way back when & he'd like to be a part of the solution here. We all saw how psyched his team was when he scored. That wasn't just because they were on the verge of a 2 game winning streak. My expectation is they'll work out a 3 or 4 year deal that works for both sides. No idea what the $'s will be but wouldn't be surprised if the AAV was in the $4's.

So, maybe it was the chicken & not the egg that came 1st. Or is that the other way round? 😉

Yep. Well stated.

You keep focusing on one half of the dynamic while ignoring the other 1/2 of it. Adams would've gladly traded Eichel on his 1st day on the job but HIS boss didn't want that to happen. You try to make it out to be one sided and all due to Jack not wanting to go through a rebuild. That is only 1/2 of the picture. Adams didn't want him. If in this current reorg your boss makes it obvious you aren't wanted, you going to stick around hoping for another reorg or are you going to take the hint? And that wasn't meant to say that Adams came out and told Eichel he didn't want him there which led to the "if you're going to go through another rebuild & you think it'll make it easier to accomplish by trading me, then by all means do so" nor was it meant to say only management wanted the divorce. They both mutually wanted Jack to move on. Not sure what the difficult to fathom part is in this matter. Adams preference was to start the rebuild coming out of COVID, not to start it this year.

Would agree. But if the Sabres win the 2nd lottery draw, then they're both most likely in play. (And, not that the league would ever cheat at a lottery were it even possible, but a top 3 pick sure wouldn't hurt in getting fans back in the stands. Just sayin'. 😉 )

They were at an impasse because management didn't really want to build around him & he didn't want to go through another rebuild. They both wanted the divorce. And the kids (fans) are the ones caught in the middle. And, it's possible when all is said and done that this will be one of those truly rare trades like Nieuwendyk for Iginla where both teams can honestly say they believe they won the trade and nobody will say it's purely posturing. In order for that to happen IMHO is Eichel needs to play as that 1.2 PPG player we saw prior to injuries 2 seasons ago & play at least 70 gpy & Tuch needs to stay at a 0.85-0.9 PPG player (he's ahead of that now), Krebs needs to hit close to his ceiling, & that 1st rounder needs to be useful (not great but useful).

Really think the way to go (providing something crazy doesn't happen) is getting Jiricek/Nemec if available w/ that 1st pick & then get another C & RHD with the 2 later picks. Would set them up for from 2 years out w/ a reasonable chance of icing a hybrid of the '06 vintage Sabres (lots of good/very good F's w/ no true elite guy, though w/ the sheer numbers also the ability to have a couple put up close to elite #'s) & Nashville (3 1/2's, a 2/3, and 2 4's & a beeeotch to play against) presuming at least 1 of the 3 goalies pan out. Would also leave them w/ a viable pipeline to sustain that for a few years.

This. And this. 😉

Had the Sabres not wanted to trade him away, not convinced they wouldn't have let him get the surgery he wanted. (Not convinced they would've either, but the rationales change tremendously minus that caveat so they might have.) So, were he still a Sabre, it's probably better than 50/50 he'd be playing already. Water under the bridge. Still painful as the ice chunks bounce off those of us standing under that bridge, but still, water under the bridge.

Are there no players the Sabres medicall & training staff can't mess up? 😛

It's not like Cozens went out of his way to go after Nelson. After getting speared, an opportunity presented itself. He availed himself of the opportunity. Could he done so in a better way? Yeah probably. But overall, big picture is, Nelson shouldn't have speared him. Pretty sure he now won't do it again. And if he'd've waited for a different opportunity to address Nelson's actions, we don't know that anybody would even remember why he did whatever that happens to be. Presuming he even gets the opportunity for retribution. Nelson knows why he got crosschecked. Maybe it's the start of Briere Ovie 2.0. Always nice to have a reason to hate the Aisles that's actually current and not 40 or so years old. 😉

That's the one. 🍻

Doubt Mittelstadt playing on the 4th line lasts more than a game or 2, but makes sense considering in ~50% of the games he's been in he's left 1/2 way through the game. Let him get 12 minutes 5v5 plus 2nd PP duty & if the healing injury feels good through & after that consider giving him a bigger role vs the Avs. Expecting that when Casey is ready to move up he centers Cozens' line, Dylan centers Eakin's line and Eakin centers the 4th line w/ Jankowski taking Bjork's spot (we can hope, right?) but would rather have Jankowski as that 4th line C.

Actually am hoping that monster DT from GA is the pick.

A looooong time ago (prior to the salary cap), recall a couple of 4th/5th rounders going back into the draft because they'd really taken off & ended up becoming 1st rounders. (Names escaping at present.) That's rare enough, but to have a 6th rounder not sign to reenter the draft & then go undrafted and THEN actually become a useful player is rather unique.

Well, if Gaustad can bring a 1st ...

Don't disagree about Cozens getting a bit of a pass here. But claiming he was "completely unaware" on the Palmiere goal seems a bit harsh as Thompson was not expected to be coming off the ice early due to needing oral repairs.

You sure you're not trying to watch the Aisles' feed? 😛

And come the deadline, maybe that's the best Adams can get for him. But right now w/ about a month to go, no point to giving him away because some GM might get dumb. (If they wait for a legit offer that is.)

Key is he needs it to be "lab administered."