thewookie1

Not interested in that latter trade; we give up far more than the value of a mediocre goalie and an ok RHD prospect. I keep Olofsson if all they offer are picks and or distant prospects. If they want Olofsson, I want Lundkvist and a 2nd. One is a proven NHL scorer playing injured as an RFA and the other is a Mid to Bot pairing Dman with little proven at the NHL level.

He definitely seems to be slowly edging that way. He’s begun putting the onus on players to step up and take command of their own team. He’s willing to guide and help them but his post games have changed from a tune of their young and learning to their growing and need to keep the pedal on the floor. I’d see if Hornquist is available this offseason. Still a handy net front presence with a mean disposition.

If that NBA player hadn’t touched all the mics in his post game before being said to have COVID; and the Sabres beat Montreal that night, Eichel and Reinhart are still here and we no longer have a long playoff drought. After all, Botts wouldn’t of been fired when we went into COVID break and with this Reinhart likely gets a legitimate extension and Eichel doesn’t bail. Perhaps in 3 years Reinhart will triumphantly return to Buffalo as a vet to help put us into legitimate Cup Contention

This is what I came up with the other day. https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/3071328

Kane only has 1 more year after this year finishes

Interestingly enough he hasn't. Drafted by St. Louis -> Traded to EDM -> Traded to Pittsburgh -> Traded to Anaheim -> Signs with St. Louis -> Picked by Vegas in Expansion Draft -> Signs with St. Louis

He came back already once, how many active players can say they've been traded by the same team twice? Brandon Saad is the only one I can immediately think of.

I think you are on the right track however incorrect in your absolutes. Both Skinner and Olofsson have shown the ability to playmake; they aren't playmakers by trade but can still playmake. Just because you're a finisher doesn't mean you cannot also playmake. Patrick Kane is a great example of a playmaker and a finisher. He even bounced between the roles season to season or even game to game depending on his line-mates. A true finisher that isn't a playmaker would essentially be a player that puts blinders on and fires away at the net. Olofsson was one as a rookie and Skinner was one while a younger player but both have adjusted to passing/creating passing plays since then. Thompson has gained some degree of playmaking skill over time but still is a "shoot first" type of player. Peterka was originally only a finisher as we know one of his knocks going into the draft was his near obliviousness to better plays through passes. He'd put his head down and go for a goal on every shift. However he has learned how to become a more complete player since after he was drafted.

There isn't a good coach that exists who would give the full truth to the media. "Well, part of my team is arguably AHL/barely NHL level in skill, my 1D was out, our 1G had an off night coupled with bad turnovers by our skaters; oh and also they were tired so that made even our better players look worse and made our bad players look horrid. My team has a good amount of raw skill that shows itself at times but creating a consistent showing of it requires discipline, experience and learning to play through the fatigue without turning the puck over continuously." A good coach never throws individual players under the bus unless they know they can handle it and it won't create even further problems.

I don't think Granato can squeeze water out of a stone to the degree we'd need to look great every night. When your 4th line is literally a black hole most games and your dmen's defensive play is suspect besides Dahlin mostly and we have a myriad of mediocre at best goaltenders; no amount of rah rah is going to will this team better when they're already worn down from the heavy game against the Avs.

It’s good to see that even with this loss, the team looked pissed and fought to the end.

I’m almost done with Olofsson at this point. I can understand not being able to shoot; but the rest of his game has vanished. Where is the 200ft threat we saw to start the year? Rough night, unsure why the league endlessly pummels the Sabres with back to backs year after year. Mitts probably pots that last year but playing 10/51 games definitely leaves you a tad off your scoring touch. Without Dahlin our defense turns into a bunch of pure giveaway machines and lacks much of any playmaking ability. Jokiharju was the best of the rest but all of them made brain dead plays frequently

The fact the Avs scored directly due to an ignored penalty that had 2 different penalties just leaves me outraged. God I wish Granato would rip the refs in his press conference like he did during the game. They deserved a better result

Likely due to their age, need no holds bar every night

Technically that would be tampering and potentially collusion.

Based on how he cross checked him I’d say he was looking to inflict pain but not board him. He could of tried and end the guy’s career there with a check at the nameplate. So obviously Cozens wasn’t in a blind rage. I do think Cozens was jawing with him up the ice and Nelson just outright refused to pay for his aggressive “cup check” hence the lower back cross check which would be unlikely to injure Nelson but still give a message. Sometimes you need to do that. I’d tell him to be less obvious next time however. Granted the first time needs to be more public as it sends a message to other players that Cozens isn’t a wallflower. Lastly, Cozens doesn’t become a scumbag unless he begins doing this on a consistent basis and/or doing even more egregious actions. He didn’t knee Nelson in the head or slew foot him into the corner. Lower back cross checks are actually a common defenseman tactic as with proper hand placement you can get away with it rather easily.

Partially he has only 1.5 years of NHL play under his belt. Partially due to lesser expectations. (Dahlin was deemed generational when he's more likely a star) And likely its also partially bias.

No, because then he'll end up in Boston; don't even try to make that happen.

The effort is almost always there; his biggest problem is that he has a tendency of running around. When he settles down he can be a solid defensive winger

Great game, practically from start to finish against a team known for their structure and killing of offense. Happy that Olofsson finally threw the gorilla off his back. Dahlin making great plays in both ends, made Barzal look like a grinder on that 1v1 Cozens with 3As, Krebs with 2As

He also had 2 more years of control so the value was higher

What a joke

That was in part why I was willing to go to 2mil retention if we got Tuch + Theodore, you could easily just pretend Tuch and Theodore made 1 mil more per year. With Tuch making 2 mil more in year 5. In theory if Eichel gets 1ppg and Tuch gets .75ppg then we win the trade from a financial efficiency angle. Why not .45ppg you might ask? Mainly because Eichel is a 1C player with Superstar talent. Tuch is unlikely to be ever as good as Eichel and is a winger through and through so that has to be factored in to their contractual AAV difference.

Any idea if Matt Roy from LA has bounced back this year?

The problem is goalies tend to be a shot in the dark. You could trade a 4th for a guy and have him turn into a star. Or you could be stupid and trade a 1st and have them turn into Aaron Dell 2.0 Goalies are such a risky venture in trades