nfreeman

The good news is that we know Allen can play better, because he did it in the first 4 games. The bad news is that they cannot win a playoff game if he plays like he has the past 2 games, which is how he played in the playoffs last year.

All of the broader hockey B nominees are excellent.

I like this and would just add that goodwill would be created if the Sabres added Kuemper, who had a big year and helped the Sabres have an exciting year that got them to the playoffs. With Kuemper under contract for another year, plus Jack, Dahlin, RK, Terry’s checkbook and Hall’s family not far away, that would be hard for Hall to walk away from. If KA does this they will go to arbitration and Sam will likely get more. I think the more logical move for both sides is a 2-year or possibly 3-year deal that gets Sam financial security and takes him to UFA. Both sides would have some security and plenty of flexibility.

Yes indeed. This is very real and adds quite a bit of pressure to the situation.

This loss is on Allen -- specifically his poor accuracy.

It all comes down to the cost to keep Reino, who is a good player, vs the available alternatives. It will probably cost somewhere in the $6MM - $6.75MM range per year to keep Reino on a long-term deal. He's not going to accept $5MM and the Sabres aren't going to give him $8MM (and no team would do so). If Hall is healthy and back to his pre-injury form, he's a substantially better player than Reino. If that version of Hall is willing to sign with the Sabres for, say, $9MM per year, the Sabres will almost certainly say yes (as every other NHL team would), even though it probably means not keeping Reino. If Hall doesn't return to that level, or if he and the Sabres can't agree on terms, then the likelihood of bringing in a better forward than Reino between now and the start of the 2021-2022 season decrease significantly. The 2 sides are reportedly in talks on an extension. I would love to know what the Sabres are offering.

What a play by Diggs. And a nice throw too.

Let the record reflect that those dastardly refs just gave the Bills a 1st down when Allen had clearly stepped out of bounds on a 3rd down scramble, which led to a Bills FG. Also, JA has thrown about 5 really bad passes so far.

I was not a fan of Doc's, although I certainly didn't hate him. He is quite knowledgeable and he loves the game. I just have always felt that he talked too much (a habit he shared with a number of other sportscasters, like Mike Patrick and Mike Tirico). If the sheer number of words had been reduced by 30% I would've been quite happy with him. In any case, I hope he has a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Welcome @chloewoj!

As I've said previously, I think there is a good chance that Hall has a big year on Eichel's wing, and that he likes it here enough to sign an extension -- and that the Sabres will be very interested in doing so. If that's the case, their decision on Reino will be informed by a desire to maintain sufficient payroll flexibility to allow them to sign Hall. It doesn't seem likely that Reino would sign a long-term deal that is cheap enough (i.e. $5MM per year or less) for the Sabres to feel like they would still have enough room for what it will take to keep Hall (which, if Hall is happy here, I think will be about what Skinner got). The Sabres might be OK with going through arbitration with Reino, since it would only be a 1-year deal and he would still be RFA at the end of it. It's a very interesting situation.

I think your top unit looks right, although I think the substitution of Staal for VO that dudacek proposed is quite possible. On the 2nd unit, I'd expect Risto to have the only D spot over Joker if they play 4 forwards. I also think TT will be in the mix if he can fire the weapon reliably on the one-timer. This would also no doubt improve Staal's happiness level. I can definitely see this happening.

What is the bolded based on? Totally agree on Grzelcyk.

Fleury.

I just re-watched “ The Guard” with Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle and Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos from GoT). Excellent, funny cop movie set in a small town in Ireland. Solid A-minus and perhaps an A. I also recently saw Terminator: Dark Fate. Not great but reasonably enjoyable if you liked the first 2 Terminator movies. I’ll give it a B.

Well, I think KA and RK identified secondary scoring as a major issue in the roster and tried to address it with Staal and Eakin, and of course Hall was a huge addition that will help secondary scoring by pushing a top-liner down in the rotation. I think they also think they will get additional secondary scoring from at least one of Cozens or TT, and that whoever takes Larsson's minutes will contribute more scoring than Larsson did. I agree that they've emphasized grit and character, and that Staal and goaltending are major question marks that will be impactful however they turn out. I think they are planning for Eakin to be the 3rd-line center, for his line to contribute a decent amount of offense between him and one or both of Cozens and TT and for that line to play a bigger role than Zemgus-Lazar-KO, which I think will be the 4th line.

From Eric Duhatschek in the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/2143240/2020/10/16/duhatschek-vegas-hits-alex-pietrangelo-jackpot-oel-sweepstakes-and-more/

This could be true, but we really have no way of knowing, innit? I.e. certainly Hammy could've witnessed, over the years, Reino demonstrating a bad attitude in ways having nothing to do with his interactions with Hammy.

I'm not a big fan of Hammy's, but certainly he has spent a lot of time around the team over the years. There are a number of moving pieces in the Reino contract situation, including his upcoming arbitration, the possibility that the Sabres will want to maintain flexibility and cap space in order to be able to sign Hall to an extension if both sides want to do so and a new GM. KA has said a number of times lately that they want players who want to be here -- I wonder whether he gets that impression from Reino. OTOH, RK probably likes Reino, as he was 2nd among forwards in ice time and stapled to Jack's line. We'll learn more as we get closer to the arbitration hearing.

The bolded is something that we shouldn't gloss over while we're planning the parade. When asked about his struggles in AZ (either in Hall's post-signing presser or on the Instigators), the first thing Hall brought up was his injury. He clearly felt that it held him back last year. Hall won the MVP in NJ in 2017-8, then played only 33 games in 2018-9 due to knee issues that the docs had trouble diagnosing. He had knee surgery in Feb 2019, in which loose fragments were found and removed. He then started the 2019-20 season in NJ and was traded to AZ at the deadline. Further info here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2019/04/08/cause-of-taylor-halls-knee-injury-evaded-doctors-for-months/39318885/ We'll see.

I'm kinda expecting the next move to be picks/prospects to AZ for a goalie.

It just seems much more likely that he starts in Rochester. If he kills it down there, by all means, bring him up and give him a shot with Eakin and Cozens on the 3rd line.

I do not love Reinhart, although I like him well enough, but after watching the Flames in the playoffs I probably wouldn't trade him for Monahan. I was really unimpressed with Monahan. He had zero intensity to his game and it was way too easy for the opponent to clear the zone when his line was on. I would trade Reino for Gaudreau though.

Well, the wheels sure fell off. They got spanked in every phase of the game and they completely lost their composure. JA was bad and so were pretty much all of his teammates.

Interesting. Hutton and Rittich both have 1 year left at $2.75MM. Rittich is probably better than Hutton, but he's clearly a notch below MAF and the AZ goalies. Gaudreau has 2 years left at $6.75MM. So maybe Reino and Hutton for Gaudreau and Rittich? I could see the Sabres doing that deal. Gaudreau is better, faster and more productive than Reino, and there are a number of reasons -- primarily a desire to retain the flexibility to sign Hall to an extension -- that the Sabres might not want to give Reino a long-term extension. I could also see Risto or Montour as the primary Sabres asset going to Calgary, but this seems less likely, as Montour is only under contract for 1 more year and isn't as good an asset as Reino is. The Sabres would need to include some sweeteners -- maybe Borgen and Mittlestadt?