nfreeman

BTW, it's of course a matter of personal taste, but I think the black-and-white photo of the younger RJ with the rock star hair was a better avatar.

Evidently, the After the Whistle podcast (Petey and Rivet) is reporting that the deal is done at $10.5MM x 8 years.

All 3 outcomes are eminently possible but I chose the best case. Great intro for this one and series of threads generally, @dudacek. I really like the info about him doubling his production in his prior 2nd seasons. Power stepping up a level could, low-key, be a major factor for the team this year.

These cost overruns aren't due to hedge-able causes.

I think he’s gonna be great and the team will believe in him and play better in front of him, as they did for Miller and Dominik. Even so, I wish they had brought in a credible 1A.

Most likely outcome IMHO is waived to Rochester with no one claiming him. However, I chose best case scenario, as I’ve done for almost all of these. In this case, I think there is a pretty decent likelihood he outplays UPL in the preseason and earns the job. If it’s a tie though, I think UPL will get it and Comrie will be waived.

Again: why do you keep doing this? Why don't you do this with your own posts?

I agree that there is a pretty wide range of potential outcomes for Mitts, although if he stays with the Sabres I don't think Holzinger is one of them. I think 50 pts is pretty close to a floor for him -- and although Holzinger got there once in a 10-year career, and was faster than Mitts, Holzinger's hands and overall offensive game were nowhere near Mitts' IMHO. If he stays with the Sabres, I think Mitts will stay in the top 6 in ice time among forwards (probably in the 5-6 range), steadily improve his game and pretty regularly exceed 50 pts. In Quinn's absence this coming season, I expect Mitts to hold down a spot on Cozen's line, which means he will continue to get a lot of ice time, with talented linemates. I don't think he'll ever be one of the key pillars of the team, but he's made himself into a valuable, contributing supporting piece. He's also clearly well liked by the coaches and his teammates. Looking at his stats, it's kinda interesting IMHO that he played 77 games in his first full NHL season, which was Housley's 2nd year (76 pts, something like a 15-game losing streak in the 2nd half and Howie got fired! Great job all around!). Then, 31, 41 and 40 games, covering the glorious Krueger era and DM's first year and including a few serious injuries, then all 82 games last year. So while he didn't cover himself in glory before last season, he also found himself in a highly dysfunctional environment in which his personal obstacles included injury.

I hope everyone here is having a nice summer weekend with friends and/or family. It's gonna be a hot couple of days in the NE! I kinda wish the hockey world cup were now instead of in May -- I am really enjoying the basketball world cup and it's whetting my appetite for the regular season to start. I'm sure I'd feel the same way if a bunch of the Sabres were playing in a highly competitive tournament right now with a dozen or so teams stocked with a lot of good-to-great NHLers. Still, it's been a nice weekend so far. Enjoy.

I think Skinner very much still has his legs and his fire, and he has 2 great linemates, and the 3 of them complement each other very well. As long as he keeps his hands and the 3 of them stay healthy I think he will be very productive. I think he’ll also be very good in the playoffs.

There is some truth to this but Weber was better than Stillman and good enough to play in a decent top 6.

Messrs. Briere and Afinogenov are proffered. Completely agree with the rest.

New prospect rankings from Expected Buffalo: https://www.expectedbuffalo.com/expected-buffalo-2023-top-25-sabres-prospects-rankings-levi-benson/

Well, it's between Bryson and Stillman for the #7 spot, and neither of them covered himself in glory last year. It's quite possible that Bryson beats out Stillman for the #7 spot and dresses for plenty of games due to injuries in the top 6.

I'm pretty optimistic about JJP. I think he'll cement his spot with Cozens (and probably Mitts) on the 2nd line, increase his average ice time from 13:39 to about 15:30 (which would've been 6th on the team among forwards last year), improve his all-around game and increase his scoing production from 12-20-32 last year to something like 18-28-46.

If I may...

So between @dudacek's summary, Quinn's injury and the expected composition of the forward group, I'm starting to think Savoie has a pretty good chance to make the team and stay here. IMHO, the idea that Quinn is going to rejoin the team and be effective around New Year's is highly optimistic. This is a major injury. I think the Sabres are going to err on the side of caution and that Quinn is going to miss most of the season. If Quinn is out, the concern about having too many inexperienced players in the lineup is reduced, as that leaves only JJP and arguably Krebs (who has played 135 NHL games). Skinner-TT-Tuch Mitts-Cozens-JJP XXX-Krebs-Greenway Zemgus-Jost-KO I think that spot with Krebs and Greenway will come down to Savoie, Rousek and Kulich. DG loves offense, Savoie produces a ton of offense, and Krebs and Greenway need that element on their line. I'd much rather send him to the AHL, but as between Kulich and Savoie, the fact that Savoie can't go there might actually help Savoie stick.

First, this is a different point from the one I was reacting to -- which was your claim that Jacobs would block the Sabres from moving. Second, you are correct that the league would certainly prefer an expansion team to a relocated team. It would take several years of terrible attendance and the franchise being an embarrassment to the NHL, combined with zero buyers interested in keeping the team in Buffalo and several buyers interested in moving it to a new city, for the NHL to approve a move. My point was simply that under those circumstances, Jacobs by himself would not and could not prevent the team from moving. Overall, I'm not super-concerned about this happening anytime soon. But if TP sells the team, the likelihood unquestionably rises from essentially zero.

Gotcha. Thanks. I think there is zero chance that Jacobs would, or could, block the Sabres from moving.

What does this mean?

Interesting. It could certainly be a precursor to a sale of one (or both) of the teams, or at least a move intended to make it easier to do so. It could also be as simple as eliminating redundancies -- if they are going to limit their operations to the 2 teams, a parent umbrella organization, and its executives and employees, probably isn't needed. It does seem like this, along with the recent announcement that arena improvements are in the offing, plus a rising salary cap and a (hopefully!) team on the rise, and of course Kim's health situation, make a sale in the next couple of years more likely. We'll see.

I agree -- I think unless he gets an extension offer he really likes, he's ready to take his shot in UFA.

I think it's pretty clear that Pesce wants top dollar. If he's not willing to give Carolina a hometown discount, he's not going to do so for the Sabres. Which begs the question: what can he reasonably expect as a high-quality, top 3ish defensive defenseman who is turning 29 in November and whose career high is 30 pts? Orlov's scoring #s aren't much better than Pesce's, and Orlov just got $7.75M per year, but only for 2 years. Parayko has similar scoring #s -- he just got $6.5MM x 8 years. So I'd guess Pesce wants at least $7MM per year x 6 years and wouldn't agree to an extension with the Sabres for much less than that in either AAV or term.

Here's the google translation of the obituary: I hate to say it, and I hope I'm just misinterpreting the translation, but based on this it looks like Gilbert and Carmen lost a child at some point. Awful. RIP Carmen and God bless her family.

Such a great bit. I still don't know how he knew where they were from.