nfreeman

I definitely agree that expectations have been raised, both in Buffalo and around the NHL, due to VGK. That is as it should be. However, I think that Sabres' fans patience has run out, and that's regardless of VGK's success.

Ducky -- FWIW, I thought the Jets were the best team in the playoffs. They're going to be very good for a while.

I see your douchbaggish friendly attitude from the playoffs thread is still going strong, eh? Yes, of course some teams' #8/#4 are better than others'. The fact remains though that every team in the league got to protect their best players. No one looked at the list of available players and identified any perennial all-stars -- and in fact plenty of hockey writers predicted that VGK would be terrible. And while the Sabres "won" the expansion draft by not having to lose a good player, that is very cold comfort, because the reason they didn't lose a good player is that they have precious few of those.

IMHO, since each team was permitted to protect their best 7 forwards, their best 3 defensemen and their best goalie (or whichever ones they were smart/dumb enough to give NMCs to), VGK's success was in no way "unfair." More broadly, the fact that VGK was able to put together an SCF team with a bunch of 8th-best forwards, 4th-best defensemen and 2nd-best goalies is IMHO an indictment on the state of the game. Goaltending, deflection/scrum goals and special teams continue to have far too great an impact on outcomes.

I think the "get lost" comments upthread directed at SabresBillsFan and Ducky were out of line and frankly disappointing. It's OK to be envious of VGK's success. It's certainly OK, and interesting, to debate whether the NHL was too generous to VGK in the expansion draft (I do not think they were too generous, but that's another conversation.) And Ducky has crossed the line from time to time (although not in a long time I think). But neither of them did anything remotely close to where they would've earned a "get lost." The posters who "contributed" that poop nugget are much better than that.

Brayden McNabb played over 23 min last night (3rd-most on the team) in a closeout game in the conference finals and was on the ice, protecting a 1-goal lead, when the horn blew. Hudson Fasching was a healthy scratch in the AHL playoffs this year. That trade continues to be a dark-horse contender for "Top-3 Worst GMTM Moves."

Just watched this. Pretty funny and Vancouver certainly looks great.

Well, JBott liked O’Regan enough to take him in the Kane trade, so I’m reasonably optimistic that he’ll contribute at the NHL level at some point. I’ll predict that he jumps ahead of at least 2 of Bailey, Baptiste, Fasching and Nylander and gets called up during the season.

I agree that it's undesirable now, but I think it's mostly due to losing. Once Rasmus, Eichel and the new goalie start delivering them to the playoffs every year they willi get good UFAs.

You are right that there is a tax difference, but you are overstating it by something like 3x, at least as regards NYS. The top NYS rate is 8.8%. Also, NHL players pay state taxes to each of the states for their road games, and I think it’s based on 1/82 of their income per game (not 1/365), so they aren’t paying zero state tax. It’s still real money when you’re making what JT will make, but it isn’t 16%+ of his income.

Serious question: if you were JBott, and JT's agent called you today and said JT will sign with the Sabres for $11.5MM x 7 years, would you do it? JT will be 28 in September. He's played 9 full NHL seasons. He's coming off a 37-47-84 season, which was his 2nd-best scoring season ever. He's pretty durable -- he played 82 games last year and has only played less than 77 games once (plus the strike season). The Islanders have made the playoffs 3 times (advancing once) in his 9 seasons. He's got 22 pts in 24 playoff games. He's also on the slow side -- probably about the same speed as ROR. I think I would do it, but it's not a no-brainer and would probably require them to either trade ROR, or bribe someone with a high draft pick or prospect to take KO.

Forsberg as a defenseman would be an incredible gift from the hockey gods.

I was talking about Toronto you hoser.

I was actually referring to the irony of an HR manager -- whose job is all about preventing the company from getting sued for bad behavior by management -- behaving in that manner.

I agree with most of this, except that I think the Islanders would be crazy not to try very hard to keep him. I think in some cases you are right that being the face of the franchise matters to the player, but I don't think that will apply in JT's case. It's a poorly-run, vagabond franchise that is going to play in Brooklyn -- where there isn't much fan support or franchise history -- for at least 2 more seasons, and probably 3, before they move to their new arena. Since the Isles are moving, there won't be much new fan support coming from Brooklyn, so he's looking at 2 or 3 more years of crappy home game atmosphere and likely no playoffs. By the time they get to their new home -- and there is still a real risk that that arena never gets built, btw -- he'll be 31. Those facts I think reduce or eliminate the "spent his entire career there/comfortable/own the city" elements of JT's situation. And I think other teams (most of which will be in lower-tax and lower-cost-of-living cities) will pay as much as the Isles will. There's also the very real fact that he hasn't signed a contract yet despite the Isles trying hard to get him to do so.

I would love for this to happen, and I think Guhle should and will start in the AHL either way, but I also think it's prudent not to expect too much from Pilut.

Chara and Hossa were FAs. And plenty of major stars have forced trades.

Boom! I have to believe playing in a great city, for a great coach and as part of a loaded team on the rise will be pretty appealing to JT. I'm also quite sure that plenty of other teams will figure out ways to make him huge offers.

I was thinking (and about to post) the same thing!

Why do you think this? I think he’s about 70% likely to leave.

Animal House was a classic.

Hay-yell yes!

Irony.

There’s a sale at Penney’s!

This is good news, but I think it prudent to temper expectations here. The SHL is generally regarded as a step below the KHL, and we saw Antipin -- a KHL all-star IIRC -- look fairly well out of his depth last year. Pilut will almost certainly start the season in Rochester, and may or may not have the goods to make the leap to the NHL.