nfreeman

KA may have cooperated, but I doubt this is his preferred outcome. I'd guess that Östlund just moved to the top of KA's "assets eligible to be traded" list.

As others have noted, the hit on Eichel was 100% clean, and Eichel made it worse by stumbling head-first into it. First things first -- the Sabres need to make the playoffs -- but this series should make it crystal clear that they need more nasty if they want to be Cup contenders. That was a bloodsport match last night. I counted six former Sabres in the lineup last night: Eichel, McNabb and Carrier for Vegas and Reino, Montour and Fitzie for Florida.

I hope Eichel is OK.

Good to see ya, friend!

So, Savoie played in games 3 and 4, which the Amerks lost, right? Did he play in game 5? Does anyone who's been watching this series have any impressions of his play?

Exactly. Kane was a 92-point guy the season before last. He's won Cups, a million playoff games and the Conn Smythe. His hip failed him and he couldn't skate last year, so he looked lousy. But if the surgery works and he can skate again -- and if he would sign a one-year contract -- he would be a major addition.

Kane had hip surgery today. Out 4-6 months. He might be available around Thanksgiving at a deep discount. Just sayin’…

The underlying point here is reasonable -- there's an opportunity to make next season the best Sabres season since 2006-2007, the Sabres seem to have a ton of good young prospects already, and advancing that opportunity by getting Helle is worth sacrificing a valuable asset in #13, which may or may not develop into another good young prospect -- but I think the bolded items are exaggerated. For the first one -- we cannot know how these prospects will develop. It's quite likely that more than one of them will wash out, get injured, decide to go back home, etc. In the meantime there is plenty of room on the Amerks' roster and all of them are far away from having to clear waivers. For the 2nd one -- not wanting to give up #13 this year is not equivalent to not putting any value on Helle. I, and I think most here, would give up the Sabres' 2024 #1 plus UPL and a decent prospect for Helle. That is a pretty good package for a guy with 1 year left before UFA. I'd be curious to know what other goalies with similar contract situations have recently been traded for better packages.

There's the rub though. There are a ton of pit bulls that haven't been properly raised and whose owners gave up on them and left them in shelters. People adopting them as rescues generally have their hearts in the right places but in most cases it's too late and that dog is a loaded weapon ready to go off and capable of causing major injury to people and other dogs.

I agree that the bolded is what this boils down to -- is KA willing to pay this price for a rental for what could be a special season (and, for Sabrespace purposes, should he be willing to pay this price)? It's a very interesting question. Among other factors, I also agree that unlike most goalies, Helle is a pretty safe bet to be a difference-maker, and he is exactly what the doctor ordered for this team. If they pick him up this summer along with a credible defenseman, I think I and everyone else here will be over their heartburn at the acquisition cost and will be extremely excited by opening night.

I agree with much of this but not with trading Helle at the deadline. If Helle is good, the Sabres will most likely be well in the playoff race. It would be nuts to trade their stud goalie at that point just to recoup some assets. At that point, I'm pretty sure they would stick with Helle and let the chips fall where they may in the offseason.

The contract is the biggest impediment to the trade IMHO. I think the following are pretty much locks: - KA will not give Helle a long-term extension this summer (because KA thinks it's pretty likely that Levi is the future, and doesn't want to box him out by committing to Helle for the long term). - Although KA would give Helle a short-term extension this summer, Helle would not agree to this as it would be well against his economic interests. - If Helle has a good year with the Sabres, he will not be interested in signing a short-term, team-friendly extension at the end of the season. He turns 31 next May and will be swinging for the fences in seeking his last big contract. While he might be inclined towards staying with the Sabres, the money and term will need to be in the ballpark of what he could get in the UFA market (i.e. $8MM x 6 years or thereabouts -- this would the 4th-highest G salary in the NHL, and his current contract is $6.2MM x 6 years), or else he's gone. So, I think the net result of the above is that the most likely outcome is that the Sabres would be paying a high price for 1 year of Helle. Now, it's quite possible that KA becomes convinced next year that Levi doesn't have the goods, or that Helle is so good that he's worth moving on from Levi and getting a fat extension, or both -- but the likelihood seems pretty low. Given how often KA has mentioned the need to keep replenishing the prospect pool, I just don't think he's going to give up #13 this year for what would most likely be 1 year of Helle.

This is where you get your information? A random blog from 2 dudes with a moving company? That explains a lot, come to think of it. In any case, the 2 college bros on whom you are basing your philosophy, such as it is, appear to be citing city limits population, not metro area population. I think the latter is more relevant in assessing a hockey market, but of course YMMV. I've been to both Tampa and Miami a number of times, including a trip to Miami just a couple of months ago. While both certainly have, in my experience, a good number of Northerners, my impression is that there are many more transplants in Miami and a substantially greater percentage of "homegrowns" in Tampa.

Well, the Miami-FLL-Boca metro area has about 6.1MM people, while the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater metro area has about 3.2MM people. Certainly it's less of a hockey market at present than Tampa is. I'm hoping that this year's success will springboard it to reaching Tampa's level in a few years if the team stays good. I'd be amazed if Tampa had more Northern transplants than Miami.

Leaving aside your other observation about Florida, and fervently hoping that these nuggets don't increasingly find their way into your posts as we approach 2024, I will note that Tampa is at or close to the top of the NHL in attendance every year -- and Miami is a much bigger and wealthier market, with more Northern (US and GWN) transplants. So while I agree that Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/Del Boca Vista won't become a hockey town like Buffalo once was or Montreal is permanently, I would like to see it become a hockey town in the vein of a smaller NYC -- i.e. one where hockey isn't by any means the biggest show in town, but where hockey nevertheless has a dedicated, passionate and multitudinous fan base that fills the arena with a raucous crowd every night.

Interesting. That's a pretty high pick to give up for one year of a goalie -- and IMHO it's at least 80% likely not to exceed one year -- but OTOH if any current goalie is worth it, Helle is one of 2 or 3 guys that qualify. I'd much rather give up a 2024 first, but that might not get it done. OTOH, is anyone else going to give up more than that for Helle unless an extension is part of the deal? If KA were to make the trade and include the 2023 #1, I'd probably get comfortable with it after a little while and then get pretty excited about the season. Also, I'd trade Bryson and a #2 for Grzelcyck in a heartbeat, but I don't think that's enough to get it done for Boston. They will get better offers for him than that.

I'm rooting for the Panthers. Reino (and Montour, for that matter) dissed us less on his way out the door than Eichel did, I really like Barkov's game, I like the Bobrovsky redemption story, I like Miami and I like that metro area becoming a hockey town, which I think will happen if the team stays good for a few years.

No question it stings. More so for me with Eichel than for Reino, but I appreciate that YMMV on that. All we can do at this point is learn from our mistakes -- primarily that the tank was a stupid approach that was highly likely to produce exactly the result it produced, and that hiring a HC who'd been out of the league, the continent and the sport for 6 years was idiotic -- and be determined not to repeat them. And we can appreciate that the team has finally gotten back to the upswing with a group of talented, likeable, exciting players.

Well, that was just a fan suggestion, right? Probably not the views of the Star. It does make for an interesting question though, because if Mathews doesn't sign an extension before the draft (or at least agree to one in principle by then -- not sure whether he can sign before July 1), there is a real likelihood that Toronto trades him as he is now one season from UFA. Mathews IMHO is the 2nd-best player in the NHL. If he told KA that he would sign here for, say, 7 years x $11.5MM per year -- what would KA do? What would Sabrespacers do? Who here would give up Quinn, Cozens and a #1 for Mathews? (I would not. I'm not trading TNT, Cozens or Dahlin, and probably not Power either, for any trade that doesn't yield McDavid.) How about Quinn, Power and a #1? Or: Quinn, Tuch, Kulich and a #1? Now you've gotta think seriously about it. Just BSing around on Mem Day afternoon. And I hope everyone is having a great one.

Totally agree, or someone else in this mold who will sign a 1- or 2-year deal. I don't think either of those 2 will get longer than a 2-year deal this summer.

But these are all examples of goalie moves from last season and before then, innit? And no one really expects him to give up real assets for Helle, right? At this point, I would not be surprised if KA brings in a goalie on the Murray/Gibson level if the price is right, but I would be very surprised if he were to trade, say, JJP or Kulich or this year's #1 for a goalie, or if he were to give a FA goalie a contract longer than 2 years. I think Levi is his guy. It's been reported though that Johnson will not play for the Amerks in this playoff run, right? "He's here to be a part of this" kinda sounds like they might play him at some point.

I agree with most of this and certainly would've preferred that he sign earlier and play in this Amerks playoff run. However, regarding the bolded, I think it's highly likely that he understands that he'll be in the AHL next season and is OK with it, and he's OK with it because he knows he wouldn't be ready for the NHL next year. He's almost certainly taken advice from his dad, who's a former player and a member of the Ducks' organization, as well as from other NHL people his dad has checked with. It seems pretty likely that he would've gotten candid and accurate feedback about whether his game is NHL-ready. And if he understands that he'll be in the AHL next season, I can see the reasons to wait until now that others have suggested -- contract negotiations, enjoying the end of his college days, injury, weighing the Sabres against other organizations -- outweighing the urgency to sign and play ASAP. We'll see. KA has spoken reasonably highly of him over the past couple of years and clearly wanted to sign him, so there's a decent chance he becomes a starting NHL defenseman down the road. That would be a win.

I think it’s worth noting that KA deserves some credit here for selling Johnson, a pretty good prospect who easily could’ve been a UFA and would’ve had many appealing options, on the Sabres’ organization.

So next year in Rochester, Johnson and Novikov are the 2 D prospects, right? Anyone else?

Can he play for the Amerks in this playoff run?