nfreeman

Good man. This is statistically the best thing you can do for long-term health and happiness. Some free Sabrespace advice: - Pick 3 things you really care about and then let your wife have her way on everything else. - Clean up around the house. - Keep your pants on when away from home. Congrats!

Let's not gloss over the money quote from Jokinen in that article, eh?

I gotta say, this seems like a whole lotta nothing to me. He didn't refuse to be traded to the Sabres (not sure whether he had a NTC, but either way he certainly could've made it known that he didn't want to come here) -- he refused to sign an extension as part of the trade. I think Necas, like most NHL players, would've signed an extension with a new team as part of a trade, and not waited 1 more season to go to UFA, only for a huge contract -- and I think very few teams would've offered Necas a huge contract.

Awesome: family trip to the Pacific Northwest. Not awesome at all: returning to work.

I think JA is going to have a huge season. The Bills don't have a Tyreke Hill, but they low-key have a bunch of weapons in Kincaid, Cook, Shakir, Knox, Curtis Samuel, and Coleman, and I think the RB they drafted, Ray Davis, will contribute as well. JA is in the rich, meaty part of his prime and is going to spread the ball around like Joe Montana.

I was in Italy last October. We visited Rome and the Amalfi coast. Both were beautiful but I was pretty surprised at how crowded it was -- not just Rome, but all of the small towns on the Amalfi coast. I've since spoken with others who have had similar experiences in Europe -- it sounds like early fall is now almost as busy as peak summer season. So, I'd recommend going in late October (I was there in the 2nd week of October) or early November. Otherwise, each of Rome, Venice and Florence is great. I'll disagree with @Sabres Fan in NS -- I wouldn't give short shrift to Venice, which is unique and beautiful, and slower and quieter than Rome and Florence. Overall, my advice for any of the cities (and really anywhere in Europe) is that while you'll of course want to see a number of the main tourist attractions, you should also make sure, on most of the days you are there, to give yourself plenty of time to have a leisurely lunch or coffee in an outdoor cafe on a piazza (which is a big pedestrian square in an old neighborhood) that doesn't seem too tourist-trappy and soak up the atmosphere. Also: - You should adjust your expectations for the hotels -- European hotel rooms are small and crappy. - You can use uber and lyft there the same way as here. - The subway is easy to use in Rome and there is a pretty cheap express train from the airport to the city center, from which you can take the subway or an uber to your hotel. - You'll need comfortable walking shoes during the day and a pair of decent-looking shoes and some respectable shirts to go out for dinner at night. - Visa is the most popular credit card there -- you should make sure though that your visa card doesn't charge you an extra fee for overseas transactions. Enjoy.

Nice. Good job by KA.

Excellent thread, #freejame. Lots of good hockey talk in here. I agree in particular with the points that many have made about goaltending, how the team responds to Lindy, and improved power-play. Those are the three biggest considerations, IMHO. But many other factors mentioned in here are likely also to play a role. And, as seemingly has been the case for years now, a significant number of things will need to go right for them. Still, I think they will be much better this year, that Lindy and UPL will both deliver, and that overall it will be much more fun to watch the team.

15-26-41.

There you go again, swinging that big red X in a reckless, wanton and destructive manner. Will no one think of the children?

I don't give a crap what various internet yobs think about the trade, but either way: KA needs to be right about McLeod and the other moves he made this summer and going back to the Mittelstadt trade. He's accountable for the results.

Interesting. So at this point they probably value Rosen and Östlund (and Kulich and Helenius and maybe Wahlberg) higher than they valued Savoie.

I too wouldn’t call it arrogance – more a determination to follow one’s plan, and a belief in that plan – kinda like trust the process.

I think to get Farabee it would be something like Krebs plus a good asset like Östlund or 2025 first-rounder or similar. Philly would get much more than just Krebs from another team.

I would be interested in either of these deals but I don't see why Philly would trade Farabee.

Well, I'm not expecting much in the way of punishing physical play in the d-zone, but I am expecting McLeod to use that speed in a 200-foot game to be in the right place on the backcheck and disrupt the opposing offense.

Someone pls correct me if I'm wrong, but I think UPL has 2 more seasons before UFA -- so a 1-year arbitration award wouldn't be a disaster. Still, I think they need to sign him to a 3- or 4-year deal and get some stability at the position at long last.

Well, I don't see them taking on a guy who can't play just to burn some cap space and cash in exchange for a draft pick, but I think they are still very interested in getting a good player that a team has to move for cap/contract reasons -- which I think is kinda what just happened with the Oilers and McLeod and what might still happen with the Jets and Ehlers. I think there are still a few -- but only a few -- teams with cap/contract issues that are reasonably likely to result in good forwards moving. I think KA will be involved in those discussions if he likes the player. I had no interest in giving a questionable UFA a long-term contract, which is what it took to get most of the UFA top-6 forwards. Still, I too would like to see the financial commitment unquestionably being there, and with them still well below the cap, we can't really say that yet.

Me? Team Storm Cloud? I beg to differ. I am happy with today's trade, very happy with Lindy's return and reasonably happy with the offseason so far, I still believe in TP as an owner and in most of the players, including the ones who disappointed last year, and I'm reasonably open minded on KA.

Maybe. I guess that would move Benson to the 3rd line with McLeod and Zucker, which could work out pretty nicely. But now that Savoie is gone, KA probably woudn't give up both Kulich and Östlund for Ehlers. Maybe one of them plus a 2025 #1?

I think you're right about Byram and the impact on the likelihood of keeping Joki -- although this increases the pressure on KA to keep Byram. As for Joki, I think he'd be more attractive as a trade asset with at least another year under contract though, innit? I suppose that might've cost over $4MM per year though, and they weren't sure how attractive he'd be at that price. Still, it kinda seems like they're just letting a pretty solid asset go for nothing here.

I can see it for the FNG, but I kinda think they should've been able to make a deal with UPL without him needing to elect arbitration. It'll probably work out fine. The Ullmark debacle looms in the background though.

The Sabres having 2 out of the NHL total of 14 guys elect arbitration, comprised of their almost-certain starting goalie and a guy they just traded a pretty valuable draft pick for, isn't a great look. I sure hope they sign both to decent contracts before those hearings.

This is kinda strange -- Joki will be a UFA after next season, so, they've effectively escorted him to UFA and given up control over the asset.

Here's a somewhat related question, for those well versed in analytics: shouldn't the "goals above replacement" stat, in the defensive context, be "goals below replacement"? In any case I'm pretty sure I'm correct in interpreting the various fancystats that have been posted as meaning that McLeod's analytics are good, maybe even very good for the role he's going to play here. I like the trade so far. I'll take @tom webster's word for it about Savoie not being highy valued around the NHL, but he still seems to me like a pretty good asset and thus a real price to pay in this deal. This should be a good barometer of the Sabres' pro personnel aptitude. I think Savoie is also the first important asset brought in by KA that he subsequently traded (and Taylor Hall does not count IMHO). If McLeod is good, he's going to be here for a long time. Go Sabres.