nfreeman

Holy mackerel.

Do you want to provide any detail or contribute anything to the conversation besides snark?

So it looks like UPL is injured again -- am I crazy or is this a pretty frequent occurrence with him? He had double hip surgery a couple of years ago, got hurt earlier this season when he was starting to play well for the Sabres and now another injury right at the start of the playoffs? He's only 23, but this doesn't seem to bode well.

MAF's career earnings are about $80MM. 2 years x $10MM per year would increase his career total by 25%. And he'd get to join a situation with some parallels to the expansion Vegas team he joined -- team spirit, passionate fan base looking for a reason to jump back in -- plus some familiar faces from Vegas and some promising young talent. Is there a cup contender that could afford to pay him even $5MM per year?

This is fair but IMHO the biggest reason Reino had to go was that he didn’t want to be here. I think KA was 100% right about that being a deal-breaker.

On paper that WR from Boise St looks great.

Well, it wasn't a playoff game, but it was still a pretty nice way to go out, both for the team this season and for RJ, the soundtrack to our favorite hockey memories. I think this might be my favorite RJ moment: Thanks for the memories RJ. Enjoy your retirement.

One of the other mods banned you for a month, not me. Regrettably, this isn't the first falsehood you've posted about the way you've been moderated.

Well, this isn't what you said a few posts above -- you said Ullmark wasn't good. As for repeatedly harping on things in multiple threads -- how many posts in how many threads have you made saying Eakin stinks? Check yo'self.

What is this obnoxious dismissal of someone else's opinion based on? Ullmark is 10th in GAA this year, 10th in SV% and 17th in wins despite only starting 41 games (6 fewer starts than anyone with more wins).

How so? And this was obnoxious.

Neither is Taylor Hall, but they signed him.

Now this is a game where a win would give all of us a nice smiley feeling to hold onto during the offseason. And if Fitzie were to lay out Marchand...

Events like today, combined with Levi needing 2 more years to get to UFA, make me reasonably confident that he'll sign with the Sabres. Has there been any comparable event with Portillo or Johnson, each of whom is 1 year away from UFA? I'm not aware of any, but something similar could certainly have occurred.

CB or WR in the 1st round.

That's an interesting question. Would Vegas go back in time and undo the trade if they could? I guess I think that unless Jack has been a huge DB and alienated everyone in the organization (which is possible but unlikely), they probably feel that he did quite well for having missed an entire year and are fairly confident that he will come back and be a great player next year and thereafter, and that the team overall will be healthier and better next year than they were this year -- so I don't think they would undo the trade.

Aside from the attitude/culture issues, it's fair to note that Eichel has missed quite a bit of time with injury over his career. He didn't miss substantial time in his 1st, 4th or 5th seasons, but: 2nd year -- 21 games missed 3rd year -- 15 games 6th year -- 35 games 7th year -- 47 games

So he’s been…cast in an unlikely role? Ill-equipped to act? With insufficient tact?

I vehemently reject the Derek Roy comparable for all current Sabres except Mittlestadt.

IMHO he's absolutely a 1st-line center. I'm distinguishing between "franchise center" -- McD, Crosby, Malkin, Matthews, MacKinnon, Barkov, Eichel, etc -- and "1st-line center," which I think covers the franchise guys as well as the next 15 or so guys who, if one of them is your #1C, you aren't sitting there bemoaning your team's lack of a good #1 C. TT can score it, he can pass it, he can skate, he can forecheck, he can kill penalties and he can close out games, and he's early in his development arc and is going to get better. If he doesn't have the best non-ELC contract in the NHL, it's freaking close. As for ROR, I wouldn't trade TT for ROR right now, but I don't think STL would trade ROR for TT either. One more note on TT: DM said on WGR this week, in response to a question about whether TT needs to improve his playmaking, that actually TT is an excellent playmaker and it's his linemates who need to improve their awareness and readiness to capitalize on TT's playmaking. I agree that I'd sure like to see another year like this from TT before I proclaim him a true #1C, but I'm also sure looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, and I expect him to be really good again.

I agree with most of this, but I don't think bringing him back would've been a problem if he had wanted to sign an extension last summer. However, since he wanted to go, I agree that moving him out was the right move as opposed to exercising their control over him as an RFA and keeping him here against his wishes.

Dallas' goalie is keeping them alive.

Has anyone figured out the playoff implications if the game goes into OT?

I don't think this is a fair description of events. STL missed the playoffs the year before the ROR trade, then won the cup with him, then made the playoffs and lost in the 1st round in the 2 covid-affected seasons, and are having a great season this year, with 109 pts in 80 games so far. That's not a team that had 1 good run with ROR and then fell apart. ROR is the captain of a very good team that he's led to the playoffs 4 times in 4 years, including 1 cup. That's pretty good leadership. And you can be sure that the Blues are very glad they made the trade.

I agree with all of this, and if the Sabres somehow obtained a top-shelf starting goalie who came with a 4- or 5-year commitment, I'd be fine with it. BUT I also think: - KA knows he needs to convince Levi and Portillo to sign here - KA thinks giving a 4-year (or longer) deal to an established goalie will impair his ability to sign Levi and Portillo - KA thinks there is a decent possibility that UPL will be good enough to take the #1 job well before 4 years have elapsed - KA is a firm believer in the "don't box the young guys out of NHL slots" approach - Giving a goalie a 4-year deal would conflict with that approach So my prediction is that KA will not do so. YMMV, of course.