dudacek

People can't get past their perception of a hierarchy of three locked in pairs. Even when the team they watch 82 times a year already doesn't deploy it and tends to play everybody with everybody within individual games, never mind from game to game. I would imagine it will look a lot like Lindy's 22/23 NJ squad (except Dahlin getting more than Hamilton and Kesselring less than Smith): Hamilton 21:46 Marino 21:04 Seigenthler 20:09 Severson 19:57 Graves 19:57 Smith 15:33 With the pairings constantly shifting, Mule and Parayko getting leaned on more in defensive situations, Byram and Power in offensive, and Kesselring getting a relatively sheltered role.

They're the best team in the NHL over the past three months and the 6th-best team in the league over the past year. They will have filled their perceived biggest weakness with a player that may best address said weakness without giving up anything off their roster. Is that really as far-fetched as people are going to read it?

I'm kinda raising my eyebrows at the GM blame. Both front offices know, people in and around those front offices know, the involved player and his agency know, probably same with the agents on the other side, as well as the personal circles around all of the above. The entire thing around the Blues sell-off seemed to be that the players were warned to get ready and be ready. But it also seemed to have an air of the players weren't digging their heels in to stay and there was some pre-understanding of what was off the table. I'm going to assume Buffalo wasn't off the table for Parayko, but he is making sure he's done his due diligence before he makes up his mind, and I would suspect part of that is listening to a sales job from the Buffalo organization. Don't blame him, particularly given the history of the franchise.

As much as i like to keep both Tuch and Byram, I think this deal also sets them up for the potential of Mule Dahlin Power Paryako Moving forward while they develop a Parayko replacement (Kleber?). And then Byram (directly or more likely indirectly) gets moved for the Tuch replacement, or the Tuch contract space.

If he were to reject the deal that would be a huge blow to Buffalo vibes and great fodder for the palm trees crowd.

Anyone saying this is a 3rd pairing defenceman is absolutely crazy. He made Team Canada ahead of Byram and Power and will absolutely shine alongside either of them. We needed a stay-at-home RHD and we just went out and got one of the better ones in the league.

My god people, this is 6'6" 230-pound defenceman who can skate and kill plays. He just played effectively in a shutdown role for the deepest hockey nation in the world at the highest level of hockey there has probably ever been. He's won a Stanley Cup. He's basically right-handed Mule and he will make our defence corps the deepest and best in the NHL. His analytics — like most players in his situation — are a function of his hard usage on a terrible team. Not celebrating until I see the price, but he's definitely far more valuable to this team and its chances over the next few years than Mrtka may ever be.

Not Nick Roy?

I am not even saying you're wrong in that this may bite them in the playoffs. But you are vastly overstating the strain it is putting on our goaltenders right now. The number of open looks and odd-man rushes the Sabres are giving up right now compared to last year is night and day. The defence has been picking their spots wisely, and coming back hard. The forwards are doing a much better job of covering. And their goalies are making better reads because their skaters are forcing their opponents to be much more predictable by limiting time and space. Generally speaking, the Sabres are forcing teams to play the game at a much faster pace, and the talent of their team means they can execute at that pace at a much higher level than most of their opponents. There is a reason they've lost just 5 times in their past 32 games. They are playing a game that exactly suits the skill set of the players: they can outskate and they can outfinish most of their opponents.

Chad speculating on his pod that the interest in Thomas is a sure sign that they don't expect to be able to re-sign Tuch at a number they like. The way I read Friedman's meanderings was that they wouldn't and didn't

The Athletic guys were definitely speculating, not reporting. Friedman was pretty clear that his sources pushed back hard against Power being part of the deal. I took his bit with Futa as saying the deal was something like Norris and 2 or 3 top prospects for Thomas and Parayko. I took the inference to be that the Sabres had met the general ask, but the package as a whole wasn't good enough for the Blues. He was pretty clear that the teams could still be circling back on Parayko. Dreger said again today the Sabres and Blues are still talking about RHD. And Seravalli called the sabres talk overheated, re-iterating the Blues ask is incredibly high and they haven't got an offer yet that they're considering. He says he knows for a fact that the Thomas camp has yet to approached about waiving.

I watched him closely in the Olympics. Looked pretty good to me.

Parayko would be such a great add. In terms of most obvious immediate need: big, RH shutdown defenceman, he is bar none the best potentially available option.

And yet Don Sweeney has been doing it for years.

I think you misunderstood me. I could see Thomas using his NTC to block trades elsewhere because he would rather go to Buffalo. Good team, close to home, chance to play with good players in his preferred role: it's not always about palm trees. The agent being Dahlin's (and Norris') is an interesting factor as well.