thewookie1

I concur with all the retorts to this statement. I wouldn’t say it was any illusion; the number of situations Granato had to deal with can’t be discounted. We certainly didn’t magically become a Stanley Cup caliber team in those 20 games but they actually looked like an NHL team. And that was with Reinhart playing 1C after having not played center for at least 2 to 3 years. No Eichel. Only briefly having Ullmark and primarily having to use a guy who hadn’t won an NHL game in 6 years, and ECHL goalie who hadn’t played in a year, a mediocre prospect in Johansson and UPL for like 3 games. Not to mention we were playing almost exclusively playoff teams that had reasons to win in a condensed schedule. Those are the legitimate excuses that should hold at least some value. Pi, were you somehow expecting any coach to go 20-0-0 in those circumstances? Scotty Bowman certainly couldn’t have even in his prime. Granato had to MacGyver a roster together with almost zero practice time at his disposal. This year, for Granato to be successful we need 3 Things: 1. Player Growth - concrete statistical/analytical/eye test-able improvement from the youngsters. If Mitts and Thompson continue to grow and Dahlin bounces back to his pre-Krueger level and then some I will be very happy regardless of the record. 2. Team Growth - I want to see the team play and behave as a solid unit all pushing to the same goal. When a guy gets boarded, players go to defend their teammate regardless of who’s on the ice or the victim. When things look flat, someone plays a great shift, fights someone, does something to re-rally the bench. I want every player to do their part and to help push their teammates to do better. 3. Show record improvement as the year goes on. Rather self explanatory, I want to be able to watch game 80 and see a better team than in game 5. If they go 5-12-3 in the first 20, I want to see10-8-2 in the final 20. If Granato can pull those three off; I’ll deem the year a success regardless of draft position or overall standings.

Someone should just tell the Rangers and their fans to go shove it

The rumor is CGY is offering Tkachuk+ but the Sabres don't have great interest in Tkachuk since he wouldn't want to be here either thus leading to the hypothetical solution of a 3 Way Trade. In the theoretical world where this is all 100% true; I cannot for the life of me come up with a way to make that work. Buffalo wants a 1C prospect and what teams trading for a 1st line winger would give that up? Secondly I'm guessing Tkachuk wants to go to St. Louis which would further damage his actual value. KA, string them along and use them to get Anaheim and Vegas to up their offers.

If I had to guess, Eichel's likely a pretty good guy but is part Masshole and part out of his depth but refuses to admit it. I think that he probably wants to be a leader but just isn't cut out for it for one reason or another. But even if he knows that he isn't a good leader, his ego is one which can't admit to this problem and thus what we have now. I don't doubt he's a good guy at heart; but he just isn't a leader at this time and potentially may never be.

Ever heard of just playing for the love of the game? We may be a bad team, but we are still an NHL team and once he retires its all over for him. Here he can still get some more starts and end his career on his own fruition versus retiring due to a lack of interest.

Here's another run at a Vegas trade https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2695992

Eventually someone will pony up a bit more, after all you can’t trade players under conditionals.

Somewhere between your opinions is the truth. I agree the Bills are more or less grandfathered in but disagree that most owners want us to move. One thing is the PR surrounding a move of a classic/historic franchise which the Bills honestly are. Just look back at the Browns and the ####show that caused. Only a few years later they ended up putting a new team in the same smaller tier market. In the end Buffalo has a small amount of non-monetary benefits that make it wise for the NFL to keep around. (Especially with a weaker Canadian dollar, Buffalo serves as a pseudo-Canadian team that doesn’t require the headache of international laws or currency fluctuations.

Some of them are very likely. The other pieces still matter to me. Regardless of Eichel’s injury you don’t trade a 1C under contract for 5 years for a prospect and random things.

My intentions include sacrificing potential draft pick capital to assure solid pieces. Your offer is literally my bare minimum for an Eichel trade.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2689398 How's this?

I still believe the best deal with Vegas is around: Krebs, Tuch, Smith and a 1st. If you can get that; anything more is gravy.

As long as its not the Rangers and we get a potential 1C I can live

I'd guess because he doesn't think the surgery is the right course of action and that would leave Eichel's camp at an even worse position. The guy was supposedly one of the first in the States to do that type of surgery and has done a lot of research on the operation. My guess is he sees it being to risky due to where the herniated disk is and the potential life threatening risks that could come from it. Essentially, Eichel would be told to have the surgery if he weren't going to play again or was nearing the end of his career. Because he's still so young; the benefits and risks are far more drastic. A fusion is known to both work and allow a player a long career. A replacement hasn't exactly shown to be able to produce the same results. Primarily because its rare and most cases are far more recent hence a lack of long term data.

I'm guessing the Pegulas didn't exactly ask for what was reported. Hell they could of asked for 85% funding to start but the media obviously loves to blow things up like that. After reading it, here’s my guess. Pegulas are asking for something between 1.1 and 1.5 billion for the new stadium. The Pegulas are pledging around 400 mil in their money to renovating the KBC. If you put the stadium cost at 2 billion, and add the loan from the NFL the state pays about 75%. They are likely trying to hedge further privately funded KBC renovations with County/State assistance on the new stadium. The original price tag on the stadium’s projection was around the funding request hence the news saying they want 100% funding. They unlikely gave any serious threat about moving the team but sensationalism is far better for clicks.

I doubt the NFL would really want to move Buffalo over teams like Jacksonville. Primarily due to the appearance of a moving a team that sells out with a season ticket waiting list versus a stadium that has to cover multiple sections in their stadium. I don't doubt Buffalo is one of the smaller markets, but we are also one of the more rabid fanbases and its extremely unlikely Bills fans would follow them elsewhere. Effectively, while Austin might make more immediate money; Buffalo is far better in terms of publicity and helping secure a Canadian audience. I doubt Jerry Jones would want a 3rd team in Texas and since he'd be the primary proponent for a move I can't see it happening. Oddly I think the NFL likes Buffalo to a certain degree; we help bring in viewership and revenue from Toronto while also being an easy target for the whole idea of "see we don't only care about money" which protects the NFL some from potential tax troubles.

They'll make an agreement here; the NFL does like Buffalo due to its fanbase and I doubt the Pegulas actually intend to move the team. That being said we'll be hearing a lot of this as they try and angle themselves to get more public funds.

I partially disagree. He was a great scout but had zero ability to understand personality based value and the greater interconnectivity between a team’s players. He took the whole players are “robots” approach and ignored any and all potential personality clashes that could arise.

Oh I never meant it that way. I was more alluding to the feeling that whatever we put in the NYS pot tends to end up primarily in NYC and the surrounding region. Granted they put more in; but it still is aggravating nonetheless because we seem often overlooked

I’d rather help pay then lose either team; we are always stuck paying for primarily NYC stuff as it is. May as well get something from them. That being said; I’d be more interested in a 3way split between the NFL, NYS and the Pegulas

You just bury him, the option you gave would be completely unacceptable to the fans and I highly doubt they are so completely inept as to think otherwise

The lease to the stadium yes, I think the NMC is in perpetuity; at least in theory

One thing is that the Bills aren’t allowed to be moved due to their purchase agreement.

I came up with for SJS Eichel for Couture(25% retained), Eklund, Robins, 2022 1st and 2023 1st The 2022 1st has a Top 10 Protection that can be used to shift the picks 1 year into the future. Couture is a guy who'd want to be here due to being a BIlls fan and from the area. Additionally he could be used as a shield for the young centers behind him. The retention makes him 6x6mil and a buyout becomes reasonable in a couple years regardless. Here's my version of it: https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2681817

Girgs and Okposo would be my go to for the next C. Both are very team 1st and never quit.