nfreeman

I hate to say it, but this strikes me as probably correct.

I don't think it's a cap issue. I think it's the $50MM left on Jack's deal, which will not be insurable when Jack has the ADR, and the (logical) desire of the acquirors to reduce that number as much as possible by getting the Sabres to retain part of it, take back bad contracts, or both.

Not every negative opinion about other posters needs to be aired.

Instant karma's gonna get you...

So far we’re getting subpar JA.

Looking like paper tigers so far.

To me it seems like Zemgus’ line is the 2nd line, Cozens’ line is the 3rd and R2’s is the 4th. I think the Skinner move is about getting him more ice time since Cozens is getting less these days.

In theory, yes. In practice, I think there is zero downside to wait until draft day 2022. I don't think the trade return that day will be worse than what is available now and I think it's substantially likely to be better. I agree that waiting beyond draft 2022 would be prejudicial, as the draft picks received in trade at that point would be 2023 picks at the earliest.

Why?

Well, no one can know for sure, but I think it is pretty reasonable to conclude that waiting for teams like Vegas, Montreal, etc to feel pressure will result in better offers than whatever has been offered to date. There also doesn’t seem to be much if any downside to waiting.

But why would he do this?

It's an interesting test of the predictive power of the masses as to a question that 99% of the masses have close to zero knowledge -- and even in that scenario, the predictive power of the masses has proven to be surprisingly accurate.

It sure seems like the lines and pairs have been pretty stable other than injury adjustments. Of course, they’re off to a great start, so there hasn’t been much pressure to juggle them.

Well, per our recent conversation, I think this is another situation in which KA should be judged on the outcome. If Levi turns into Tom Barrasso, and Reinhart continues at his current good-but-not-great level, then Levi will be more valuable and KA should be credited, especially for making a silk purse from a sow’s ear.

FWIW, here is the SB Nation Vegas site's ranking of their top 25 players under age 25: No. 10: Dylan Coghlan No. 9: Kaedan Korczak No. 8: Jack Dugan No. 7: Lucas Elvenes No. 6: Nicolas Roy No. 5: Nicolas Hague No. 4: Peyton Krebs No. 3: Zach Whitecloud No. 2: Cody Glass No. 1: Alex Tuch

Well, I think a huge part of a GM's job is to predict outcomes based on available info and get enough of them -- especially the big ones, like drafting Josh Allen over Josh Rosen, or an Eichel trade -- right over time to produce good results. In this case, KA's analysis on pulling the trigger on a trade has to factor in a bunch of information, including medical prognostications, the trade market, what he thinks the trade market will look like in a month, the risk of losing a grievance, etc. It probably is unfair to credit/blame a GM for the outcome of a single big move, instead of the aggregate of a bunch of moves over time, but that's why they get paid millions of dollars to do a job that a million message board mouse potatoes would love to have.

This is more than fair and of a piece with holding KA accountable for the final results -- not just of a trade, but of everything -- which I totally agree with. At the same time, the other scenario has to be considered: the Sabres walk away with Theodore and Krebs in exchange for a diminished Eichel or an Eichel who looks great for 20 games but gets knocked out again when the ADR can't hold up the NHL grind. If that happens KA is totally vindicated.

Well, some of us have been of the opinion from the get-go that Eichel's value would be significantly reduced due to the injury. I think the injury, not KA's decision to move on from Jack (which is still only a working theory here, although I admit it's pretty persuasive), is and has always been the key factor in reducing his trade value -- so those IMHO are the circumstances under which it will have been a job well done by KA. You are of course correct that the proof of a Theodore trade, or any other trade, will be in the pudding.

If they get as good a player as Theodore back for Eichel, (i) it's a great result, and vindication for KA and (ii) they would be dumb IMHO to flip him for picks and prospects unless we're talking crown-jewel-#1C-type prospects.

As others have said upthread, and as I think most would agree, Deluca .500 would be a great season for this team and a huge surprise. IMHO they've gotten a substantial amount of puck luck in the last 2 games (TB and Anaheim), so it's possible that their current results are closer to the 2019 mirage than we'd like to admit. If they keep playing that way they will lose a bunch of 5-2 games and finish below NHL .500, let alone Deluca .500. Having said that, I'll note in response to @PerreaultForever's point about a run of injuries in their future that they've already lost their #1 or #2 C in Mitts, a top-pair defenseman in Joker and their #3C in Eakin. (Anyone can chuckle all he likes at those players having those designations, but they are the correct designations on this team.) They also lost Samuelsson, who might've forced his way into the lineup with a strong training camp. Those are 3 or 4 real injury losses.

Whoa.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Asplund shoot a one-timer before, let alone score on one.

Anaheim had the better of it, to be sure. The Sabres got more of the puck luck they had vs TB or else they would’ve been trailing. They did come on after Zemgus’ goal though. Are DD and Rayzor in Anaheim or are they calling the game from Buffalo?

I've seen this "accumulate a bunch of defensemen and use them as trade assets" movie before. The ending was lousy.

Dude.