nfreeman

If Samuelsson plays, I think the Sabres will bounce back with a nice W. If not, it will depend on how hard Philly is running for the bus. Oh, and I hate the Flyers.

Fair question. I don’t recall who they were (I know you posted on this recently and I think Fitz was one, but don’t recall the others), but my recollection is that none of them was as good a prospect as Portillo or Johnson — and the one that was as good, Peterson, is the one that bailed on them. Both Johnson and Portillo, if they have good seasons next year, will have many suitors — more than the guys who signed with the Sabres had. EDIT: I found your prior post -- it looks like the Sabres' prospects you were referring to were Fitz, Weissbach, Borgen, Sean Malone and Peterson. YMMV, but I think Portillo, Johnson and Peterson are/were better prospects than Fitz, Weissbach, Borgen and Malone.

I hate to say it, but since he hasn’t turned pro yet, he’s probably not going to do so this year, and if he doesn’t do so this year, he’s probably going to UFA.

Two good posts here, and I think you’re both right — it’s quite possible that Portillo does not have much value to the Sabres at this point, as they may have decided that he’s probably going to bail, so including him as a throw-in in a trade makes sense. On the other hand, he would only have value to an acquiring team that thinks it has a reasonable chance of signing him, which does probably eliminate teams like Winnipeg. Playing it out a bit further, I think unfortunately this means that it’s pretty unlikely that the Sabres will get any value out of Portillo at all, unless he decides to sign with the Sabres next summer, which as I’ve said previously also seems pretty unlikely. A team that thinks it has a good shot at signing him would probably just wait until he’s a free agent instead of giving up assets to the Sabres for him.

I'd love to get Hellebucyk, but if Vegas misses the playoffs, you're talking the #15 pick or so plus other sweeteners for 2 years -- that seems like a pretty steep price.

But my point is that it's reasonably likely that his plan is to have his undergrad business degree by next May or perhaps next August -- not some undetermined future point after a number of years of offseason study. For that matter, he may have decided that it will be pretty difficult to get the degree if he turns pro first, which could be a driver of his decision to get the degree first.

My reading of your posts is that you are asserting it's impossible for Portillo to attain a business degree by staying at UM one more year (and that, since it's impossible, the theory that getting the degree is one of his reasons for returning to school must be BS).

Kuemper turns 32 next month. He’s going to be looking for a 5-6 year deal. KA isn’t going to offer that kind of contract.

I think I would throw a huge offer -- maybe $10MM per year -- at MAF for 2 years. He is exactly what they need, they have a ton of cap space and a check like that might get him in the door. He turns 38 in November and his expiring contract is at $7MM per year, btw.

The NHL wouldn't be changing the college rules. The NHL would be changing its own rules about how long an NHL team keeps the rights to a player drafted drafted by that team. You are unfortunately not the only one who does this, but I will also point out that the "lol" here is pretty much the same thing as "Ha ha! What a dumb thing you said!" It's pretty obnoxious and not in keeping with friendly hockey talk.

I don’t think that ever happened. The lion doesn’t concern himself with the actions of the ants. And a craw is stuck in, not chafed.

He’ll be 22 in September and, in a few weeks, will have finished 2 academic years at UM. This time next year it will be 3 academic years. It’s quite possible he brought transfer credits with him to Michigan from Sweden, or that he’s been taking classes over the summer and will do so this summer and next. Elon Musk, Steve Ballmer and Steve Jobs didn’t get MBAs. You could certainly be right that the whole education thing is a pretext, but you keep asserting that it’s impossible, and those assertions are simply wrong.

You keep saying this, and in a fairly caustic manner. Did he say he wants a graduate degree? UM has a pretty well regarded undergraduate business degree as well. It’s quite possible this is what he’s targeting to achieve next year, and it’s eminently feasible.

That depends on whether you think, as I do, that Roy was one of the most gutless Sabres to ever wear the uniform.

Well, if it really is the degree, leaving school in early April isn’t going to help secure it. It would indeed be great if KA were able to finesse this. It just seems pretty unlikely. How often has a drafted, very good NCAA player who stayed in college long enough to become a UFA signed with the team that drafted him instead of waiting a couple of months to become a UFA? I’m sure it’s happened, but it’s probably pretty uncommon.

Leaving aside the vituperative and vindictive nature of wishing failure on a young person, has he said this?

Dude. So you think the view that Portillo is most likely gone is laughable? Is it more or less laughable than Roy for Malkin or Eichel is better than McDavid or BB was an idiot for taking Josh Allen or Rossi is better than Quinn? Can you articulate specifically why you disagree that Portillo is most likely gone? It will be the Sabres vs the field. Why do you think the Sabres will get him?

Let's not be too quick to bury Ullmark, who has been playing very well and may have taken over the Bruins' #1 slot: https://theathletic.com/3240218/2022/04/10/linus-ullmark-jeremy-swayman-playoffs/

@Marvin, Sabres Fan is an excellent poster but he kinda painted himself into a corner here. @GASabresIUFAN very nicely lays out how bare the cupboard is. Yeeeeessshhh. And I agree that if KA blows the goalie situation for a 3rd consecutive season it will be a huge black mark on his tenure as GM.

Ryan Johnson should take a look at those pairings and realize that while the top 4 are pretty clear, everything after that is wide open.

I too am intrigued by a Vanek-Roy-Max redux, but I think it will come in the form of VO-Mitts-JJP, with Asplund moving to Eakin's slot with Zemgus and KO. I think VO-Mitts-JJP will get more shelter and easier matchups relative to the Cozens line, which will frequently match up against the opponents' top lines. And I think VO-Mitts-JJP, like Vanek-Roy-Max, can be highly productive in favorable situations. I also think the parallels between Mitts and Roy are distressingly substantial, although the book is far from written on Mitts.

Why would a quote from Levi, who has 2 years to go before UFA, affect how anyone feels about losing Portillo?

There is zero chance of them trading Samuelsson.

Yes — the franchise isn’t doomed, as I said in a different thread. But it’s still a bad outcome to lose a very good prospect. And yes we have a bunch of draft picks — but whoever they draft will be 4 or 5 years behind Portillo and Johnson in his development. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not good and it’s a real loss of a real asset — possibly 2 real assets.

I guess I’ve kinda been assuming that Quinn would take Vinny’s spot with Cozens and Krebs, Vinny or JJP would take Asplund’s spot with Mitts and VO, and Asplund would take Eakin’s spot with Zemgus and KO. Skinner-TT-Tuch Krebs-Cozens-Quinn VO-Mitts-JJP/Vinnie Asplund-Zemgus-KO