thewookie1

I think he'll be surprisingly good this year due to his likely elevated role. Unlike most players who might get depressed due to losing; I highly doubt it actually effects him. He comes from Latvia, where winning is a rarity in international play. For him, what matters is if he gives his all every game and doesn't cost us a game. He's always been a hard worker, and guy with some skill that has never truly put it all together but I could certainly see him hitting 15 goals again. He's never been a playmaker but between his above average speed and adequate hands; he should be able to score somewhere between 10 and 20 goals.

You cannot terminate a contract without losing the player. The most you can do is suspend him without pay. That would prevent him from being paid but also keep him from signing elsewhere.

That was a nice comeback, overall ugly game but its nice to see they never gave up. Hinostroza was dog tired at the end of OT

The new name is rather stupid, to be honest, just start a new one when the 1st game of the season begins.

Well even a dead clock is right twice a day. He got Jokiharju right and perhaps seeking Granato

Where's PA, he's probably so excited he's fainted.

Other GMs can go F themselves then. We aren't trading Eichel for 2 Conditional 1sts and a Cap Dump. I'd still push Vegas for Krebs, Tuch, & Smith with some conditional 1st in 2023.

You cannot have conditional players, only picks.

I believe all that got banned were Signing Clauses. Depends on the Conditions and the players involved. We need a top tier Young Center, and a 1st in 22 or 23 minimum.

100% this. I lost a lot of respect for him over this article; he does the age old annoying thing of yelling about moral platitudes and demonizing the other party while ignoring anything contrary to his emotional response to the surface level appearance. The Sabres don't have a gun to his head nor have reps at every hospital to prevent him from getting a surgery. He can get the surgery at any time but he'd be suspended without pay more than likely until either he works out a deal with the Sabres and/or the NHLPA to solve the problem amicably.

A Pain in the Neck - an article about the Eichel situation recapped upon season start Dahlicious Goal wins game for Buffalo - article about Sabres winning a game after a highlight reel goal by Dahlin. Is Skinner back? - article in December after Skinner starts the season well He's everyone's Cozens - article on how Cozens has risen to become a leader in the locker room and on the ice 5 in a Row, How Granato has made the impossible, possible. The Sabres record and the Panthers Injury Bug only two of many occurrences the league has seen going into the Olympic Break He's alive! Eichel's surgery rehab has concluded and could be traded or in the lineup within the week. Neck 'n Neck, will the Sabres hold onto Eichel until season's end due to playoff race? Kyle Dubas fired after embarrassing loss to division rival, Buffalo, in Heritage Classic. Lightning strikes twice, but Sabres strike three times in OT thriller in Tampa 10 Games Left, Sabres and Flames top the most interesting potential new playoff teams. We have found the Fountain of Youth and it's in Buffalo - article regarding Craig Anderson's impressive season splitting time with Dell and UPL to a lesser extent. Do you believe in Miracles? Yes! - Sabres clinch top Wild Card spot with win over Boston in game 81. RJ to call Games 3 & 4 in 1st Round matchup with Islanders. Series Tied 1-1 thanks to a Butcher Sabres take Game 5 and the Series Lead back to Buffalo Game, Set, Match... Sabres trounce Isles 6-1 in Game 6. Buffalo to meet Carolina in Round 2

I definitely feel that way for the most part. I can’t hold Staal or Hall against him since their complete collapse wasn’t even analytically likely. His one major problem is his lack of an ability to acquire a goalie. Part of that can be chalked up to the market and the 3 goalie rule from last year however

My guess is he's waiting on Hughes; hence the hold up. Likely Hughes is waiting on Dahlin and thus we have a stalemate where both sides are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

You're wrong Primarily because there isn't enough information. Medical compromise seems off the table. It takes two to tango and it seems like the Sabres are a bit more flexible than Eichel. The Sabres keep telling Eichel to find a consensus of doctors to which he has failed to do so yet has dug in on his desired treatment. He hasn’t been able to make a creative deal involving conditionals or salary dumps materialize. We have no clue what he's been trying to do. All the information we have is that Buffalo is asking for a king's ransom and other teams are refusing to even give ransom for a peasant. NO conditionals can be placed on players and I doubt KA wants 4 picks. And he’s boxed himself out of allowing Jack a dignified road back to the team by allowing things to get personal. To be honest, Eichel sort of did that to himself. Between his end of season statement, former agent's tirade and trying to use his preferred surgeon as a propaganda tool on Friedman's podcast doesn't exactly come across as dignified or in good nature. The Sabres have literally only done 2 things, state they will not trade him for pennies and as such are in control of his contract and stating their doctors are unwilling to sign off on the replacement disk surgery. Whatever breaks the logjam is going to come months after it could have, too late to help Granato and the kids execute this seasons plan. Better to get better assets than lesser assets sooner; prospects are exactly like money placed in CDs. They don't automatically collect interest and gain value over time. Granato and the kids will do with what they have like every other team has always done. He’s done a good job of making Jack the bad guy, but in the process he’s allowed things to get to this point and he’s failed to execute his job: making the team better. Again, information wise we cannot actually know if there was some earlier great trade worth Eichel. Last time we rushed into a trade and set up a line of no return was with ROR and we all saw how that went. Patience is what we need right now. Of course if we fail to get great assets it will have been for nothing but the general idea has been done correctly for the most part.

Technically even that isn't fully true. You can have selfish or egotistical players; but they can't be there from Day 1. You have to have a core group which effectively keeps the team in line. You don't need a team of choir boys but you do need a solid core group of player that greatly outnumbers the bad apples. Plus the bad apples cannot all arrive at once; they must be trickled in slowly in order for their indoctrination to set in or else you could create a civil war.

Who knows, Fish likely fed Eichel’s ego whereas Brisson is likely far more level headed.

I'd lean to genuine, I saw him at the Bills game prior to going in talk with a random security guy he knew for at least 5 min. He was all smiles and never came across as entitled or playing up a persona He's a genuinely good guy; whether or not he's a good GM is the real coin flip.

Supposedly they have a large number of invitees. The WGR guys think that’s why Quinn isn’t playing. After all he just returned from a Hernia

Murray could find players but didn't have one iota of understanding of "team building" If players were robots, his strategy would of worked but players are not mindless automatons.

I honestly believe had Botts been fired within the prior season Reinhart would of been a long term Sabres player. You could honestly tell both Reinhart and Adams were sad at what ended up happening. Hell, if COVID hadn't happened, yet Botts was still fired, I think we'd of signed Reinhart long term. Perhaps like Pominville someday he'll return 🙂

Damn you San Jose; seems like Adams really wanted Eklund but fell one short. Oh Samson, we will miss you.

Every game is winnable, it all depends on the circumstances surrounding them.

So an emergency goalie essentially. I guess the Maple Leafs embarrassing themselves against a Zamboni driver made the league want to prevent that again even if under the guise of COVID stuff.

Changing everything is far from a good thing however. Tradition is very important in hockey so some changes don’t make sense. However, I would change the goal song and bring back the full horn with sirens from 05-06. Didn’t they just change the PA announcer due to the whole 97 rock scandal? PA, what is with you and hating the anthem singer lol. I’m good with classical male deep voiced singers. I love the gravitas. I’m not exactly fond of the disposable wannabe pop star girls or making a gigantic show of it every game with children’s choirs and such. Now if we could steal the Chicago singer….. I’d certainly do so. One of the few exceptions are MTL’s old woman opera singer and the country themed Nashville anthem. I wonder if Seattle will use a Grunge singer for the anthem?

Ok, I certainly agree with most of that. My only caveat is we should compare Buffalo to Vegas. Vegas likely has the best game presentation in the league.