nfreeman

We'll be the judge of that, sir. (Early returns are not promising, btw.)

Dahlin and Eichel don't count as anyone here could've and would've made those picks. Sam counts against GMTM because Draisaitl is better, not to mention Pastrnak and others from that draft. It is very possible that Borgen, Olofsson and Asplund contribute more collectively at the NHL level than the JB picks you mentioned. Yes, they seem to be tracking well but there is no way of knowing until they deliver. For that matter, it's still possible (although I doubt it) that Nylander has a better NHL career than Mittsie does. EDIT: of course, @dudacekis correct that Guhle and Lemieux need to be considered in evaluating GMTM's drafts as well.

This is also something for which there is zero evidence -- and again, Dahlin doesn't count.

@dudacekbeat me to it. There is NFW that JB tanked that first season -- it would've been an idiotic move due to the low odds of landing Dahlin, and JB isn't stupid. And there were no tank-like moves that were also cap-related.

I too have had this concern about JB. I think it's fair to say that JB has burned up quite a bit of his "new GM benefit of the doubt" quotient. The team needs to be a lot better this year, and JB needs to be proven right about guys like RK, Mittsy and Montour.

Except that the teams that traded for Vanek, other than the Islanders (who were even more dysfunctional than the Sabres), had no interest in re-signing him once they got a good look at him. Montreal dropped him to the 4th line in the playoffs and his coach publicly criticized him. Detroit had to keep half of his salary when they traded him to Florida. Neither Florida nor Columbus bothered to offer him a contract. Minnesota bought him out. And again, despite being by far the best player from his country, his Olympics coach publicly threw Vanek under the bus for poor leadership.

Goals? Respeck!

How much input/control do we think JB has on hiring assistant coaches as compared with RK?

If nothing else, a top-pairing Dman should be 1st or 2nd in Dmen minutes on his team.

Based on the number of teams and coaches who have had him around, taken his measure and said no thanks to keeping him, including Montreal, Minnesota, Florida, Vancouver, Columbus and his first stint in Detroit. Not to mention the fact that his own Olympic coach publicly criticized him and his attitude.

The difference between Marleau and Vanek in terms of serving as an example for the kids is enormous. Again: there's a reason no one has wanted to keep Vanek around.

Underrated movie with Geena Davis: "The Long Kiss Goodnight" -- action spy thriller also with a young Samuel L. Jackson.

Just for completeness -- here's the rest of the 1st round. In fairness to XGMTM, the hit rate dropped off quite a bit in this round. Still -- Sergachev, Jost, McAvoy and Chychrun were drafted between #9 and #16.

I don't think there is anything wrong with being dissatisfied with Mittsy's season last year. He's young and has a ton of potential, and no one wants to unload him at this point, but I think most of us were expecting more last year.

@GASabresIUFAN-- I hope you don't mind if we merge your new 2019-2020 lineup thread into your existing 2019-2020 lineup thread. Now back to regularly scheduled programming.

They have nasty on D and there is a reasonable chance it stays that way if guys like Borgen, McCabe and Risto stick around, plus Dahlin as @dudacek notes. It is lacking at forward in the top 9 though.

Wow. I looked for KHL salary data and couldn't find anything later than 2016 -- and there is Sobotka, sitting pretty at #4 in the entire league! https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/khl-contract-salaries-highest-paid-datsyuk-radulov-kovalchuk-kontinental-hockey-league/ Having said that, I've read several times more recently that the KHL is struggling financially and that lower-tier players don't make much $$. So while you were right about Sobotka getting paid in his prior stint there, I do think he'd be looking at much less than $3MM per year now (and probably less than $1MM per year).

That was maybe the best Stimson Sabres analytics article that I've seen. Thanks.

...werewolves of London!

My preference is that RK is given a chance to work his inspirational magic with Risto and succeeds in doing so. But I think it's more likely that Risto is traded this summer. Risto really sounded like he was planning on being elsewhere at locker clear-out day, and I felt like RK dodged it a little bit when he was on the Instigators the other day and Rivet pressed him for his thoughts on Risto.

There is NFW that Sobotka walks away from $3MM to go make $125K in the KHL.

The SJ offer wasn’t there for Kane at the time the Sabres could’ve signed him — so he would’ve been weighing a $49MM guarantee against zero for an entire year. We also don’t know whether the Pegulas gave any instruction on this. Either way, though, I think if the Sabres had offered him $49MM at their earliest opportunity, he would’ve taken it.

I think Kane would've signed here for the same contract he got from SJ.

My point was simply that I’m not sure the sabres will have enough cap space for their shopping list.

A top-6 winger and a #2 center will collectively be pricey.