oddoublee

i hope that is the case. he is financially brilliant. does good charity work. but is a bit of a weird and eccentric guy that would make the sabres about things other than the sabres. this sure is fun gossip though!

This is where I am at. There are worst options than Ruff - and it is not a loss if we end up with him. But there is a part of me that would hate to see him come in - and the team starts terrible and he gets let go, tarnishing is legacy with the team. I suspect competitive winners do not think like that - and it is more of a 'fan' concern. none the less...it goes through my mind.

^this. Personally - if i were to base this strictly off of play, in-season and exit interviews - I would not make a single one of them captains out of the gate. Not saying none of them are captain worthy - but for a team basically saying their flaw is a 'lack of work ethic' tells me that no one on the team was able to take control of it. A leader sees that early, and takes it upon themselves to solve it - regardless of the head coach. Hoping the next HC evaluates and decides based on season based results- and if no one emerges - no one gets it. OR - pull a Messier like the Rangers did. Go get a proven leader from another team and make them captain day one. That would send a hell of a message...

Wow...I did forget moose. Must've been subconscious due to flicking ligr in the ear over a hypothetical moose trade I don't really care about. Skinner is getting top 9 minutes at a minimum - probably top 6 minutes on this team - very sad, but the roster and his salary will make them (coaching/mngt) do it. I sincerely believe the answer is 3rd line minutes - with extended playing time when the team is down in the 3rd period. You only get 20 goals and 20 assists maximum out of that; but it is the best play for the team. The mitts trade is 'probably' going to haunt them the next couple years (assuming that move ends up being made in a vaccum). Bryam is fine - but they are way to deep at LHD AND way to deep with youthful forwards not NHL ready. At a minimum, one of the LHD's has to go to help fill out this roster. I really do not think people should be shocked if they hear rumors that they are trying to move Powers for a first line forward or top 6 center in the offseason. Probably won't happen - but I suspect rumors will come out on it. To the players and NHLPA's credit - no movement clauses are being widely used more than ever - and I do believe it is really impacting Adams ability to make a move. I am no apologist of Adams at this point - but he may very well be handcuffed with this current roster.

I love your internet sanctimony. Never change!

I'm a millennial chief

no - i am not one of those people who screams size and grit. not saying the team doesnt need it - but i dont scream for it. i just think the team is horribly lopsided on D depth - and horribly lopsided with youthful depth. it can only go so far - and so many of these guys rarely pan out to anything other than bottom 6 or bottom pair dmen. fans and gm's love youth more than they should. i suppose because it is tangible in writing - but most good teams balance it out. as the team stands now, it is going to flame out over the next 2 - 3 years and we could have nothing to show for it by having a surplus of underachieving high draft picks. i mean, what has the organization shown us that we can feel confident that they know what the hell they are doing with all of these high draft picks? and fyi, very in touch with how a lot of organizations work - doesnt mean it is right. your favorite team is an example of that. but no worries, you can get a nice dopamine hit from buying another sweatshirt or jersey!

you bet slugger

i dont care about his age. defenders of his style can play into their mid 30's. protected 1st round pick. even if it wasnt - what do we have, a 5-10% hit rate? muel is not as good. plain and simple. muel is not regularly reliable. muel is not playing from the coveted right side. savoie is no guarentee of anything. what i do know about him - his younger teammate got called up to play a full season and is currently a 3rd line winger - and should probably be in rochester - but a fine 3rd winger for the next year or two. Savoie got sent back to after one game - on a team that is in desparate need of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th line help. while i hold out 'hope' for him - it is just that - hope. we know nothing about him at this point. as an aside, the sabres are not tough to play against, even if savoie is ready, he does not help with that. corsi? for a guy who play 2/3's of the game taking faceoffs from his own end? could care less about his corsi. while i will not pretend like a lot of posters i have watched him play a dozen or so games - most of you would be lying if you said you did - i have watched him - and he is better than any of our RH shots on the team. a lot better. you want to be a winning organization? take risks. 'lose' a couple trades. in the nhl, rarely anyone gets to coach or gm a team for more than a handful of years. and this isnt even close to the eichel value as st louis is getting nothing like tuch in return. besides - value of a player goes down when they demand a trade and the owner demands a big no on a surgery. poorly played cards is what that was. in the end, give me a guy who solidifies our RH side well enough for the next 3-4 years - i take it because it fills a need. young depth is NOT a need on this team. all of this is moot. the blues would reject this offer. parayko would reject this offer.

couldnt agree with you more...our first line is probably best served as a second line on a contending team. as of now, this is what the team realistically looks like from a 'holes' perspective (imo): 1st Line: Peterka ? ? 2nd Line: ? Tage Tuch 3rd Line: Benson Cozens Quinn 4th Line: Greenway Krebs Skinner (i know, i know - prefer he is gone outright, but he wont be) 1st Pair: ? Dahlin 2nd Pair: Clifton Bryam 3rd Pair: Joker Power Bench: RJ and Rousek Now sure, we can plug Skinner into the first line, Rosen, Savoie or Kulich into this line or that line and move Tuch up to this line or that and this and that. On D, move RJ up to 3rd pairing and blah blah. Problem is, that is not a winning team under this current coaching staff - or possibly most coaching staffs. It is a middling .500 club.

I'd love to hear why it's a massive overpayment. Muel, Savoie and a protected first round pick could all be a hill of beans compared to RH top 4 damn that is parayko. The promise of the future is what is massively overvalued.

I would. Parayko aged 30-36 vs Muel over the next 6 years, at 2 million more, right hand shot, plays D, transitions the puck and is a league veteran..... St Louis would be stupid to make the trade. Thus, the sabres should jump all over it if that is all it takes. You can win in the NHL with 30+ year old dmen

To be fair to Byram...he needed at least two weeks of DG coaching and the Pegula CC to ruin him

i remember discussing this with you on another thread - and you are dead on. BUT.... I think most fans need to brace themselves for a 4+ million average on his next deal. if the organization wants any of his UFA years - you are looking at 5+ million. Cap going up + organizational desperation + organization overzealous past signings = bigger contract for UPL. At least that is how his agent is going to approach it.

slightly off topic - but i just saw the current sabres is only one year younger on average than our beloved 05-06 sabres team. either that means by that by the end march of 2025 - we have either witnessed a big jump in the standing - or we are no longer allowed to use that stat to be hopeful about things to come...

I answered yes - but timing is everything. at the moment - i am an anarchist sabres fan and i love good questions. that said, if i was the decider of all things sabres - i would say no. the kids have talent - the parents are the trainwreck. so im just going to hope child services comes in and puts the parents in jail for excessive abuse and neglect.

He might break it next year. His shooting percentage is lower than normal - but he is still getting that shot off. I personally won't be shocked if he racks 45 next year.

Wow....nice post. I always saw him smaller than many of the guys you listed. Maybe part of that is his tendency to play in the tougher places...making his size stick out a little more. Either way, thanks for posting this!

well sure - if there are enough solid veterans and leaders around him and the culture is pre built - he is a nice 3rd line winger that gets additional minutes when the team is down multiple goals going into the 3rd period. the sabres are not that team. also - he is probably not a 25-30 goal scorer in that scenario - probably a 15-20 goal scorer if he maintains interest levels.

i wouldnt say he is the sole reason. there are always multiple puzzle pieces that create the nightmare scenario the organization finds its self in. he is most likely one of the many pieces that has attributed to this spectacular implosion of a franchise. he is a really likeable vet making him impressionable on a young team. that is a franchise building no no. if want things to get better; start removing as many bad pieces as you can. skinner is one of them.

To be fair, how do you know he was hurt? It's all speculation either direction. Tage has been average this year. That's a fact. All else is 'whatever'

His upside is a point a game player. Good to have. His size makes the odds of it happening less favorable. Not impossible...and worst case, a top 9 forward....but he will have a tough battle towards 75-85 points a year. Fwiw....I like the kid quite a bit...just not a building block you build your franchise around.

Girgs is fine. He is definitely not the teams problem. Lock him up for 2-3 years imo

I always saw the Skinner contract as reactionary to the ROR debacle. Pegula and Bortteril panicked. Plain and simple.

If I knew going in this team would be an 80 point, .500 stagnating club...give me the gritty bruisers. At least then I have a chance to like the effort behind the losing. This teams currently makeup is simply immature and hard to get behind.