nfreeman

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

I am pretty sure it was about James Taylor (who I think was her ex husband). Mick sang backup on the song, though, which IMHO is a pretty cool little-known fact.

That’s not the point of the teeth-gnashing. The point is that if Johnson doesn’t sign this summer, he, like Portillo, will become a UFA next summer and the Sabres will probably lose him because at that point he will have 32 teams to choose from — and it’s a bad outcome for a franchise to lose a very good prospect.

He’s going to be a UFA with 32 NHL teams to choose from. There are a million reasons why a UFA would choose one of the other 31 teams. I can’t speak for the other pessimists, and I don’t think this means the franchise is doomed, but I don’t see how anyone could interpret this as anything other than the Sabres probably losing a very good prospect. No more, no less.

OK, here’s a theory: Dahlin hasn’t been right since he caught that big crosscheck in the back a couple of games ago. He didn’t look nearly as fluid and confident vs Carolina and Florida IMHO as he has for the past couple of months. When he had that first confrontation with Bennet last night, he looked like he wanted no part of it — like maybe his back was killing him. Just a theory.

Bummer. I think they have to trade him now, innit? He’s probably not going to sign here next summer. I agree with those who have said that they can now feel a bit freer to sign a goalie for 3 or 4 years.

Oh boy.

Well, it depends on the shows, innit?

I love Thai food but not that peanut sauce that comes with satay.

I'm glad he's coming, but we shouldn't expect too much right away. He's a rookie, he doesn't play a flashy game and he's probably pretty fried from an action-packed year that included traveling to China for the Olympics and the emotional roller coaster of the NCAA tournament, losing in the Frozen 4 and saying goodbye to his Michigan team. Think rookie Aaron Ekblad, not current Cale Makar.

Kinda interesting IMHO: https://twitter.com/BuffaloVogl/status/1512455916075032576/photo/1

Correct. They needed to change. There were plenty of different avenues they could've taken to improve. They didn't need to take the route they chose, which many at the time knew was a bad idea -- because it was likely to produce exactly the terrible results that we've seen.

Portillo mis-played the puck behind the net on the goal against in the 1st, and gave up too many rebounds in the 1st, but played pretty well in the 2nd.