nfreeman

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.

That seems pretty GD dysfunctional. Eichel and Lehner -- together again! It's magical!

This is fair. Grubauer got 6 years x $5.9MM after splitting the #1 job for a few years, and of course Ullmark got 4 years x $5MM with no more than 37 starts in any season, but you are probably right that 6 or 7 years isn't likely for Husso. Even so, I doubt KA gives a 4-year deal to a FA goalie.

I don't think Husso is realistic. He doesn't turn 28 until February and will be one of the top UFA goalies available. He's going to want a 6- or 7-year deal. KA isn't going to give that kind of term to Husso or any other goalie for that matter. I think KA wants to see what he's got in the 3 young goalies and isn't going to commit starter money for more than 3 years to anyone.

I agree with all of this but I think the highest FLA can pick is #27, and that's only if Colorado passes them for #1 overall in the NHL standings. Since they are, in this scenario, a division winner not making the conference finals, they are in slot 27 (if CO passes them in the overall standings) or 28 (if Fla. finishes #1 overall).

This is fair, and I agree that it would make sense to trade him as part of a package for a proven, good, young RHD. I just don't think they'll move on from Bryson without a good, proven NHL defenseman to replace him.

I don't agree with this at all. At least 1 more NHL season will pass before Johnson signs. Even if the Sabres manage to keep him, he'll almost certainly need at least 1 year in the A -- so at least 2 NHL seasons will elapse before the Sabres will know whether Johnson can handle a regular NHL role. Meanwhile, Bryson is a guy who has already shown that he can do so, and will presumably improve with more experience over the next 2 seasons while we see what Johnson can do.

I too think it would be nuts to trade Krebs or Mitts unless it is part of a package for a no-BS really good young player coming back -- which seems pretty unlikely. And I say that as a longtime Mitts skeptic. He's shown enough post-RK last year and post-injury-return this year that I want to see what he looks like with a full offseason of conditioning and a full season of playing. I'm far from certain that he'll be a good NHL forward, but he might be, and there's a non-negligible chance that he'll develop into a good top-6 forward. The same is true of Krebs IMHO. He's fast, he's skilled, he has a great attitude, he seems to have good hockey IQ and he's just starting out in his career. That's not the kind of guy you trade for just a decent vet goalie or defenseman. The Sabres are finally in a position where they have a bunch of young, talented forwards. Not all of them are going to blossom into legit NHL top-6 or top-9 guys, but we don't know which are and which aren't yet, and there is no reason to rush the decisions. I also think KA feels more or less the same way, so I would be pretty surprised if either of them is traded.

Well, I think from Vegas' perspective trading for Eichel was a hockey move, not an entertainment move, although the Q factor was a nice bonus. But I think they made the trade because they thought, justifiably based on pre-injury Eichel, that they were getting a 25-year-old superstar who is under contract for a while and who had maxed out on wasting his career with a dysfunctional franchise -- and acquiring a guy like that is supposed to make your team better. The problem is that Eichel is not where he was pre-injury. I watched parts of the game last night and he doesn't look, to me anyway, anywhere near as fast or as powerful as he was pre-injury. Maybe he gets back to that level after an off-season of conditioning, and if he does then the trade will look much better for Vegas, but maybe he doesn't.

I'm quite excited and as I said in another thread if they bring in a real goalie this summer I am going to be making all kinds of silly predictions. But I think both things can be true -- the Sabres can be greatly improved AND their opponents can be less focused and/or intense than they are against, say, the top 10 teams in the NHL standings. Not to mention the fact that no one in the EC has needed to play with any desperation to make the playoffs for pretty much the entire time the Sabres have been playing well. Next fall, if the Sabres are, say, 15-8 at Thanksgiving and in 2nd place in their division, they'll get everyone's A game. I think at that point they'll be able to handle it, but I also think it will be a very different environment from what they're facing now. YMMV, of course.

I am generally unimpressed with Anson but as I have said before, I agree with him on this — the Sabres aren’t getting the opponents’ A games most nights. It’s worth noting that Carter played 10 years in the NHL and probably has a good sense about how the players feel about games like this one.

Why does Bjork keep getting starts? He’s been completely useless.

I would agree with this if he’d gotten them to the playoffs, or even close, but again — they missed the playoffs by a mile in his first year and then did worse in his 2nd year. I don’t see an incredible accomplishment or really any accomplishment at all.

80 pts is still a solid 16 or so (more this year) out of the playoffs. DDB was the best coach since Lindy until DM came along, but that’s a tallest midget award if there ever was one. DDB got canned in April 2017 and hasn’t gotten another HC job since then.

OK, so tonight we have: Seattle at Dallas — this is the big one, as Dallas is 2 points ahead of Vegas and each team has 4 games left Vancouver at Calgary — Vancouver also has 4 games left and is 2 pts behind Vegas Anaheim at LA