thewookie1

Drouin would be a huge no; he has been god awful with Montreal and is a serious head case

Tage Thompson got hurt

I void this, no offer will be accepted due to it being in the division.

Are the Oilers even trying to free up either McDavid or Draisital? They seem to be a package deal 9 times out of 10 and thus very "easy" to shut down and take advantage of their weaker depth. Its effectively what Chicago did last year as well.

Eichel for McDavid 😏

Technically hiring a new coach would be something within the purview of most ownership groups. After all, the HC will be their most prevalent representative of the team outside the team's stars. What it really comes down to is Adams and Karmanos asking the Pegulas for permission/opinions or are they laying out their strategy for future spending. The former could very from awful to shoulder shrugging indifference going forward. The latter would mean that at very least the Pegulas were no longer directly trying to make player personnel decisions. As for Donato being willing to take a AC job under a different coach I would be very hesitant to believe it could happen. The lone scenario I can come up with would be the Sabres hire an older coach, all 32 NHL HC jobs are filled, Coach Q doesn't have space for him, and the vet coach invites him to return. Aside from a Hitchcock/Yeo situation I cannot see it playing out that way.

I could certainly see that being the case. Eichel, Reinhart, and Risto are tired of being here to various degrees but likely have genuine positive feelings towards the Sabres and the city as a whole. After all, we drafted them, developed them, cheered for them, etc. After all, one can be heavily disappointed with management/ownership and be open to trade yet still have a semblance of loyalty to their teammates and fans regardless. It seems as if Hall literally only came here to work us over and play with Krueger. If Eichel hated the team and city, he wouldn't of bothered trying to play this year and would of outright stated he wanted out. Risto is by far the most ready to leave yet he's never shown it during games; he has never become unwilling to lay his body on the line for the team.

Beniers The Yotes can win the a drawing however in that case the NHL will merely put the balls back in and run it again.

The Carolina one was good, I can understand why we didn’t take Montreal’s offer. Essentially the MTL trade would of been downgrading ROR for a 2nd and Poehling. We held firm on getting the Top 5 pick they had. Begs to question why we took such a rough offer from StL. Botts must of really had confidence in Berglund being a solid 2/3C

Dumba kind of makes me want to say no. He has been on the trade block for multiple years now and hasn't exactly impressed; plus his contract is nearly up.

Martinez's contract is up at the end of the year. They'll have 21 players signed and 3mil in cap space going into next year. Alright let's have a go at it. Tuch would be my 1st target as he's a fast, big, player from Syracuse. His 4.75mil cap hit also aids in that cap crunch. I want Glass and Krebs, why? Both haven't lit it up at the NHL level yet and are 22 and 20 respectively. Plus with Eichel they actually won't have a center role for them. (Their center depth would be Eichel, Karlsson, Stephenson, Roy/Kolesar) From there I have to find some more cap, while Fleury would be the most preferable due to his skill and position of need; I just can't imagine him waiving to come here. Thus we are left with Ryan Reaves at 1.75milx1 and Will Carrier at 1.4milx3 Lastly a 2021 1st Really the problem with Vegas is they have no game breaking potential piece. Krebs and Glass are solid prospects but neither are can't miss future 1Cs.

Yes Also Taylor Hall deserves to go to hell for what he did in Buffalo and in his trade.

That's why if we are left with Boston or eating his salary then Eichel better be ready to sit around for 4 years.

To be honest I would never expect any public admittance to guilt. We’ll likely just see a drastic change after it has occurred and we will all draw conclusions from that. That being said, I doubt they’ll ever fess up to running the team badly as it is rarely something done from the negative angle in any situation. One basks in the light of success and hides or downplays the darkness of defeat.

The Pegulas are well-intentioned inept hockey owners. Typically involving some amount of overconfidence in their own skills and lack of an ability to read the crowd. But at their core, they do want the Sabres to succeed for both money, prestige and the city itself. Melnyk is honestly a terrible individual whom happens to have money and uses it at every chance he gets to punch down and around. He doesn't care if the Senators win per say as he does if they are profitable. If someone convinced him that injecting his players with a special serum could help cut down on food costs, he would immediately ask for free samples.

Sadly that really isn't possible. Playoff hockey isn't something teams could handle for 82 games, they can barely make it 28. The regular season is a jog where as the playoffs are a sprint the finish. Also I'd disagree the regular season is unwatchable, while the Sabres have been bad I have found plenty of entertainment bouncing around on the hockey package watching an odd assortment of games. (My father is a Blackhawks fan hence the need.) There are typically a couple snoozers but also a couple fun games as well most nights.

Sabres fans would be furious if we took Top2 D with 1 year left on his deal into UFA, a goalie with 1 year left, and a 1st. To put it simply, if Jones played better than he had this year and had 4/5 years left on his 5.4 mil contract then he'd be a superb target. However he doesn't thus an easy no.

Actually Tyrod Taylor was the QB that year. Allen was draft after the drought breaking playoff appearance. They were a scrappy group that pulled off a miracle after literally trading Dareus, Darby and Watkins and having almost 50mil in dead cap. The Sabres don't have to trade their core pieces for mediocre talents which is certainly an advantage. Other than that our equivalent would be akin to a hodgepodge of hard working vets and youngsters that are backstopped by a solid goalie tandem sneaking into the playoffs in Game 82. Unlikely but not impossible.

So what the Bills did their first time back

Sounds like some good sources. Don't listen to Jared Crabgrass though, he's the Eklund of their group.

Beniers would still be my favorite, not really all that interested in a Dman due to the wait time on them.

Very good article If we decide on Granato however I would like to see at least one seasoned former head coach as an assistant. Hell, I'd even Quinn (The former Rangers coach) as an assistant if he ends up on outside looking in on HC jobs. I don't know if his system would work in the playoffs but I do get a sense we'd at very least have a fun watch and development in all the youngsters.

I buried him in minors, if he wants he can stay in Sweden for the year. I'm maximizing my cap space next year so we can take on a cap dump but also so we never have to see Eakin again. His buyout being extremely cheap is the only reason I'm even entertaining the idea. (Effectively the savings gives us more than 1mil back in cap space.

To me the Rangers are untouchable; I don't care how badly they want Eichel; I'm just not frankly interested in sending him there. Zegras or Byfield would be important and vital pieces to trade for Eichel. Both are 1C potential players. (To be honest I see Lafreniere as a winger more than a center.)

I'd outright demand Byfield. Anyone else doesn't reach good value to me. We need a potential 1C not a 2C and a couple wingers. Their vets want to win soon, well if you want Eichel then we demand a guy who could become a 1C in his own right. After all we should know from 2008 through 2012 that without a 1C you don't get very far. Essentially, with Turcotte and Beniers we'd lack a true 1C potential player. Both of them, along with Cozens and Mitts for the matter are all 2C level prospects.