nfreeman

Unbelievable. Anything is possible, but it seems highly unlikely to me that this is just a temper tantrum by Bergy about being traded to one of the teams he would've put on his list of 10 no-go destinations. Who in the world throws a $12.5MM temper tantrum? If there are in fact personal/family issues, I hope everything works out OK for him. Either way, this is better than pretty much any other reasonably possible outcome other than him turning into a good top-6 forward.

Well, his desired outcome almost certainly is a trade to a team in a city he likes that would play him higher up in the lineup. That way he keeps his contract and gets a preferable city and playing time situation.

I would guess that JB has been in touch with the NHL on this as to how long he has to wait before he can terminate the contract. The NHL doesn't get to decide unilaterally, but they can probably tell JB that they will back him if he waits, e.g., 2 more weeks. As a related point, I wonder whether there was any discussion between JB and the Blues at the time of the trade about Bergy's no-move arrangements. In particular, I wonder whether the Blues hid the ball at all -- i.e. did they say something technically accurate but still misleading like "Bergy hasn't put the Sabres on his no-go list" as opposed to being fully honest and telling JB that Bergy's agent screwed this up so STL didn't have to comply with a no-go list if they made the trade that day.

So McCabe is skating with the team? That's good.

While I too had hopes for him, it's hard for me to believe that the opportunity wasn't there for him to carve out more of a scoring role. The team is dying for secondary scoring. The lines have been shuffled multiple times. All he had to do was keep working hard and deliver when they called his number, and he would've gotten plenty of looks in scoring situations. For that matter, a week or 2 before he went AWOL, he suddenly appeared on the top PP for a few games (and didn't do much as I recall). Maybe they were trying to appease him after a tantrum?

The Sabres had a very tough time with Florida's top line last game, and Barkov -- who is an elite player -- outplayed Eichel. Like the AZ game last week, this is a game the Sabres need to win if they are going to be a playoff team, and one that isn't just happy to be there. Line combos: LW C RW Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau Rating: 78.7#15 LW Aleksander Barkov Rating: 81.1#13 C Mike Hoffman Rating: 76.1#24 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 78.65#11 FL1 Frank Vatrano Rating: 72.5#94 LW Henrik Borgstrom Rating: 73.1#77 C Evgenii Dadonov Rating: 79.3#11 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 74.97#15 FL2 Troy Brouwer Rating: 68.6#135 LW Jared McCann Rating: 71.4#131 C Denis Malgin Rating: 72.4#72 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 70.76#25 FL3 Micheal Haley Rating: 67.0#142 LW Juho Lammikko Rating: 71.5#128 C Jayce Hawryluk Rating: 73.4#52 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 70.63#11 FL4 Defensive Pairings Defense Keith Yandle Rating: 78.1#7 LD Aaron Ekblad Rating: 74.6#31 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 76.34#10 DL1 Michael Matheson Rating: 72.6#61 LD Mark Pysyk Rating: 70.8#79 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 71.71#22 DL2 Alex Petrovic Rating: 69.4#126 LD MacKenzie Weegar Rating: 71.6#66 RD DL3 Rating Rating: 70.46

For the record. Salming was a very good player for a long time, but not nearly in the same class as Potvin or Lidstrom.

Well, I'm assuming that at some point in the next week or so, he will report rather than walk away from 90% of his expected remaining lifetime earnings. If he does so, and there are no further incidents, I don't see the Sabres being able to terminate. If he stays away for an extended period, then I agree that it's likely that the Sabres will be able to terminate.

Does anyone have a link to a video of the play on which Beaulieu was injured? I don't think I've seen a replay.

Allen looked quite promising again yesterday IMHO.

I will be very surprised if the Sabres end up being able to terminate his contract.

My game notes: - That was the kind of win a team produces when it has a lot of heart. - Ullmark has had a few so-so games this year, but he's also had quite a few very-good-to-great ones. - Hunwick looked pretty decent. Guhle a bit over his head but not a disaster or a Tennyson. - Howie needs to reshuffle the middle 6. - WTF is wrong with Bergy for not wanting to be a part of this? - Zemgus and Larsson are both making strong bids for another NHL contract, either from the Sabres or elsewhere. Good for them. - It's happening with Eichel. Amazing.

I will also admit that I have been watching Reino's D-zone exits and he is indeed pretty good at them. (He did blow one today though vs Boston that led to Guhle's penalty in the 3rd, which resulted in the late GTG.)

Full Eichel is starting to look like a freaking force of nature.

What a great win that was.

NFW would I break them up while they're going like this. Holy mackerel. As for a nickname, I've been wondering the same thing. Maybe the creative types can come up with something good in this thread and we can make it an official thing.

Skinner has 3 OT winners this year! Separately: what a great game that was. I sure hope Bogo didn’t get hurt blocking OV’s shot at the end of regulation — it looked like he limped off.

Interesting. Did Friedman say he thought Bergy didn’t want to be traded?

Do you think this is the end of his contract with the Sabres? I do not.

The two of them definitely mix it up vigorously and frequently. Looking forward to seeing that. Very likely. Separately: AO, at age 33, has 28 freaking goals in 31 freaking games!

well done sir. I don't think anyone is opposed to adjusting a theory as new facts come in. Certainly the facts we have are not negligible and not favorable to Bergy. Interesting. The point about this being a fully deliberated act is debatable at least. But the bolded -- I hadn't gotten that far but since you mentioned it, I think it's probably more than 50/50 that you're right.

I think the bolded is likely the case. I don't think the Sabres would suspend him if they knew it to be depression-related. Well, if he gets TF over it and reports and promises to be a good citizen, I doubt they can just keep him on suspension indefinitely and get the cap relief. That seems like the right way to go about it. And what he's doing seems like the absolute worst way to go about it. Who is going to want to trade for him now? I have a hard time believing that either of them would walk away from their contracts. Berglund isn't going to make anywhere near $14MM over the next 4 years (and likely not the rest of his life) playing anywhere else or doing anything else. Same goes for Sobotka and his $3.5MM next year.

I've been meaning to say this for a couple of days: Zemgus' goal vs AZ is a dark-horse contender IMHO: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/girgensons-roofs-wrist-shot/t-277437090/c-63854103

This is not good. It seems highly unlikely that the outcome will be that the Sabres are allowed to terminate his contract. So they'll either be stuck with him and his crappy attitude or have to pay someone in trade to take him off their hands. And the checking line, which was really quite effective, is probably history. FFS. Does he think he should be playing with Eichel?

Didn’t you just take issue with my assertion in another thread that the 2 lowest of those picks probably won’t turn into good NHL players? Hmmmmmmm?