Taro T

Depends on the details of how it the protection was worded. Oftentimes the team trading the pick away has the option of deciding whether to send the pick that meets the protection criterion or the following season's pick unprotected. And they'd have to let the 'Nucks know by a certain date which pick they're getting, so they can't wait until the pick is on the clock to tell Vancouver it's yours, have fun with it. 😉 But it might've been written that if it's top 13 it automatically remains with the Rags.

As already replied, as it happens to turn out, if one of the Sabres best players goes out and an even better player comes back, well guess we MIGHT be able to have nice things. (Of course, if Robertson did come back in a Peterka trade, no doubt at the last team practice before opening night Quinn will lose an edge in the warm up skate crashing into an unexpecting Robertson which causes his knee to blow out. All while Peterka becomes a 50 goal scorer while wearing flourescent green. So, guess we really can't have nice things.)

Well, yes. People keep making it out that you have to get rid of one of Power or Byram because with them there are 3 offensive D-men on the team while wanting 2 Offensive, 2 2-way, and 2 Defensive D-men COMPLETELY overlooking the fact that Dahlin IS the team's best DEFENSIVE defenseman. He is the DEFINITION of a 2 way defenseman. Keep the "big 3" D-men; bring in another top 4 guy (ideally someone that allows Dahlin to fully unleash his offensive game; but if that doesn't work out, his offensive game is still pretty darn good when paired with Byram) and if Bernard-Docker plays well enough to also effectively be a top 4 guy, well then you've actually got a good thing in having 5 guys that can all be top 4 with one able to eat up 25+ minutes a night and 2 others able to eat up over 22 minutes per night. Your 6 can be darn near anyone at that point: Clifton, one of the Ra-cha-cha kids, a FA you pick up off the street for a particular usage (PK, toughness, whatever), or even the undersized Bryson (NOT this kid's preference btw by any stretch of the imagination) and it doesn't really matter. He won't get enough ice time to have HIS weaknesses fully exposed. If both Samuelsson's and Clifton's contracts are gone, you CAN afford all 3 of the "big 3." Whether Dahlin is paired with Byram or you're giving him a more defensive partner and letting Byram and Power run the 2A and 2B pairings; it SHOULD work. And ideally having Kekaliainen in the room saying WTF are you weakening this part of the team that was already weak might cause somebody with decision making authority to ask that same question. And IF Byram going out the door ends up being the grease that gets Robertson IN the door, well, then there is a logic to weakening this part of the team that was already weak as there can be other opportunities to bolster it.

Yep. 😄

Need significant improvements in both areas for the other changes to have a legit shot at being enough to get them where they need to be.

Has any Penn State player actually been ranked this high?

So, you're saying he'd fit right in? 😉

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make THIS happen!!!!!!!!!

And in year 24 for Buffalo, friggin' Hudson Fasching bounced a puck in off his knee keeping the Sabres 1 point out (2 technically because of tiebreakers) of the playoffs in a year that the conference's 8th place team made it to the Finals. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

And again, the Penn State connection raises the Bat Signal. And THIS GM seems to do what his owner wants unlike some in the past (Nylander fiasco, cough, cough, cough).

Didn't seem like tons of seats had opened up when they held their relocation event. Would say it was in the 100's of seats, not 1000's of seats. But really didn't look that closely at how much was available.

100%. But Adams doesn't HAVE to ALWAYS be associated with running the team. He could (dear Lord, PLEASE let this happen) get moved to a position running some other piece of Pegula's empire. Kevyn gets a promotion and we get a reprieve. (At least until we find it is was so that Jerry Forton gets to take over. 😢 )

And, the FLA experience shows it CAN be done. But you have to have the right person in the driver's seat and more than a little bit of luck. (Had Fasching not kneed that puck into the net in a game that FLA wasn't involved in and that games ends with a Sabres OT victory, then FLA likely misses the playoffs (not positive who'd have the tiebreaker between them and the Aisles with NY having 1 less point as they'd then both have the same points and same ROW). Sadly, the Sabres don't seem to have either. But maybe Jarmo can whisper some magic and this off-season becomes another inflecion point for this franchise.

And that's where coaching comes in. Good coaches get the most out of their players. They can't get more from them than the players have in them, John Cooper couldn't take the Ducks this season and win the SC, but they can get more out of them than even the player realizes he has.

If your actions are going to cause "suffering" you need to pick a different course of action. And if you can't see that, you need to be removed from your position. Their in the entertainment business. There is nothing entertaining about being made to suffer.

Who knew George Costanza had bought the team? (Especially considering the OTHER franchises are good to great.)

Well, in fairness, to give the devil his due, the "no, not like that" has been right 14 years running.

Well, in fairness, the only truly "untradeable" player on the roster is Dahlin.

A FOUR is a long way away from a top 2 D-man. If they can't get at least THAT much for Byram, then keep him.

Thing is, AN opposing GM won't be the only one trying to get Byram. And whoever wants him will need to beat EVERYONE ELSE's bid. The fact there'll be a line to try to land him should keep it from being a true fleecing. But Byram will definitely be the best player in the deal so personally fully expect to be displeased with what comes back. (Unless part of the package coming back either becomes Robertson or NEW GOALIE. Would be ok with not getting the best player in this deal if it means the team is ACTUALLY improved beyond simply having guys 1 year closer to their primes of course.)

They're either coming from Peterka's agent (most likely source) or from someone in a FO of a team that's trying to land him. Since Brandon and the other guy got punted One Buffalo is a fairly tight lipped ship. But that isn't really here or there. There appears to be a big prize actually available (Robertson) and a package centered around Peterka seems like something that would appeal to the Stars and for once we might actually see a trade where the biggest piece comes TO the Sabres not the other way around. The last time that happened was when they grabbed O'Reilly. It's been far too long since it happened. Really like watching Peterka. Will not be happy seeing him go should it come to pass. But Robertson is a very good hockey player today and would be surprised if Peterka FULLY reaches his level. It would be a trade that even if Dallas eventually "wins" the Sabres wouldn't lose because for the 1st 2-3 years at minimum the Sabres would have gotten the best player in the deal. Really want to see Robertson brought in. And 2 1sts and Rosen is NOT going to make that happen. You have to give to get (usually) and Peterka could make it happen.

Agree with this on a certain level. But on another level, would say Pegula should never have gone along with the plan (or should never have come up with the plan, if that was in fact the case). The model franchise for the tank, the Pens, particularly the mid-80's version nearly moved. The Pens were very bad and were a serious 3rd place behind the Stealers and the Pirates. (Heck, the Pitt Panthers probably had a bigger following than the Pens.) And even with Super Mario and Jagr and Stevens and Barrasso and Coffey and ... it still took several years to become that SC winning squad and bringing in Ron Francis and Trottier. Should never have tanked. But once the decision was made, AND the decision to do a slow rebuild (the point of getting all those tons of draft picks) was made yes they should've stuck with that piece of the plan (even if they did try to not rival the 70's Caps and early 80's Jets while being historically bad for a Sabres team). But once the decision was made to go for the rapid rebuild, they should've stuck with THAT and not jetisoned O'Reilly. But when the decision was made to recalibrate to having a stud C and a stud D and not a handful of stud Cs, they should've stuck with THAT. But when the decision was made to recalibrate to being on the Dahlin timeline, they should've had somebody that knew how to build a team stick with that one. Guess now we're onto another rapid rebuild phase again, or are we? Wtf knows? Lather, rinse, don't repeat but choose a different brand, lather, rinse, don't repeat but choose a different brand, and so on and so forth.

Yep. And honestly don't have a problem with Bryson being the guy in the press box while Johnson and Novikov continue to ripen. And wouldn't have a problem with some other 6/7 tweener being the guy in the press box while Johnson and Novikov continue to ripen. If he plays more than 15 games as the 6, have a problem with it. Otherwise, meh.

But with the Peterka rumblings, it seems everyone discussing moving him is doing so with the expectation that it ends up netting the best player in the deal (like all the thoughts on him being the big piece to get Robertson). It's not like the Byram rumblings where Byram is the best player out of the pieces being speculated upon. (Which, unless it is tied directly or inderectly to a Robertson-esque move is beyond frustrating.)

Especially if there is no changes in the coaching staff, really don't have a whole lot of confidence on the team getting improved as much as we all want to see. But, Peterka, Byram, and pieces becoming Robertson and a GOOD stay at home or 2 way D-man seems to be about the best we can be hoping for as the key moves at this point. Thing that stinks is for about the 3rd year in a row, it really wouldn't take many GOOD moves at all to get this team back into the dance which brings it back to relevancy. And, like you and pretty much everybody else here would like to see the rest of that list you brought up happen as well. But not sure Sabres fans get as many dolls as we want; pretty sure we're in the group that has to be happy with 1 or 2. And if we only get 1 or 2, want 1 of them to be Robertson.