dudacek

Am seeing a few mocks where Martone falls.

Agree they may have been Dahlin-less. But a world where Bill Zito inherited Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Kane, Bogosian, Lehner, Okposo, Ristolainen, McCabe and Ullmark and didn't hire Phil Housley would have been interesting.

Miller/Lucic is my choice for the most overwrought and irrelevant Sabrespace meme. There is one player in the entire NHL from that team. It has about as much impact on the current players and their psyche as Darcy Regier's tie. Yet here it is, still chewing on people's neurons. By all means, punt Samuelsson into the sun and curse Adams for having Power and Kulich on the ice at the same time. But please, let this one go.

Ah, further back. Agree with Sam. I always thought they worked to keep Jack, but were unsuccessful, and ROR was more about the Sabres wanting to dump him than the other way around. But that entire COViD team was largely them happily sending those players out the door: McCabe, Montour, Hall, Risto, Staal… I guess they tried on Ullmark. Curious what will come out of the Peterka situation once the dust settles as to the whys and the spin. But all that really matters to me is the result.

Thanks for the link, will give it a listen. I thought his frustration was pretty clear locker clean out.

Who are you thinking of?

Jackson Smith please. Can't see myself being really unhappy with anyone in @LGR4GM's top 15 at 9. And I don't have any desire to move up. Looks pretty flat to me. Not big on Frondell and O'Brien as top 5 or 6 picks but they have value at 9. Don't want Eklund as a fit, but I like him as a player. And I'd be fine with "reaching" for Carbonneau or Bear or Aitcheson as guys I usually see mocked lower down because I like them too.

Thatcher Demko would be a significant upgrade. I have no love for EP40, but objectively he’s a much better bet as a 1C than Norris. And having him and Tage on either side of Ras is a PP even the Sabres shouldn’t be able to ***** up.

Very real concern. I disagree though that his at-worst is a point total he has yet to hit. At worst, he is Jeff Skinner: an overpaid 45 to 65 point offensive winger who doesn’t play winning hockey. (Not saying that’s what he will be, just that it’s as likely as “80-point winner” particularly if he stays in Buffalo)

This is exactly right, and i'd be interested if they are. I would rather go with Cirelli than Peterka in my top 9 with this mix. A Norris Cirelli McLeod centre spine is a lot more veteran and harder to play against than what we had last year. Something like this? Thompson Cirelli Benson Tuch Norris Zucker Quinn McLeod Greenway With Kulich forcing his way into the mix.

Sports typically work in such a way that unexpected factors create chaos in expected results. That random "what-if" factor is what typically keeps fans in most markets invested. That it hasn't happened in a positive way in 14 years is what makes the Sabres such a confounding mystery and outlier. Intellectually, I can buy in to the possibility that Owen Power takes a step, UPL bounces back, and Norris and Quinn provide the 2nd-line competence last year's team lacked. I mean, I watched Tage Thompson go from 18 goals in his first 4 pro seasons combined to a 38 in his fifth. Good things happen. I just can't really believe it will happen because Buffalo.

Everybody (except @JohnC) wants massive changes. Nobody (except @terrypegula) wants Kevyn Adams to make them. I suspect what’s coming will not be warmly received by Sabrespace because it will involve hyped pieces being moved for less-hyped pieces by an untrustworthy GM. That’s what happens when you move talent for roster construction and that’s what you’re asking them to do. If it happens, trading your #2 D and your 1LW a few months after swapping out your 2C in would be among the most significant transformations this team has made in a short period in its history, meaning hockey trades, not sell-offs. It’s certainly not Eichel ROR Lehner Kane and Bogisian, or Lafontaine Hawerchuk level. But it does represent meaningful change. Im not confident we’ll be better in a month but I’m starting to believe we’ll be different.

Even Seravalli explicitly stopped short of saying Peterka won't re-sign. The fact of the matter that seems to get forgotten in the hype and recent trend of locking young players up long-term is that Peterka has no arbitration rights and is under Sabre control for another 4 years. the team has the hammer. He can sign an offer sheet and risk the Sabres matching. Or he can hold out. Not sure he has any other leverage here if he actually wants to move.

No shame in being the Ekblad, the Sergachev or the Guy Lapointe. I hope they can get something done.

“Byram is terrible” as an argument is, well, terrible. If you’re talking performance he’s in the top half of the league, if you’re talking toolbox he’s in the top 1/4. He is the Sabres 2nd-best defenceman. There are 3 good arguments for trading him: he wants a role that may not be available to him; he wants a contract that may be an overpay for the role he will play; he has trade value that could be used to improve the team in other areas. You have control over him for 2 years. You run the risk of arbitration or an offer sheet taking you down a path you’d rather not take, but none of those options result in untenable situations. It’s a complicated situation but it’s not “bad” in and of itself. He has value both as a player and as an asset and you have flexibility in how you choose to proceed. So you determine his contract demands, you determine his trade market, you consider the other roster options you have available. I believe they have decided to trade him and that the return will likely make the current roster worse. But it may also create the space for other moves that will lead to an overall improvement. I don’t have confidence that will be the case; I think Bo’s best years are ahead of him and I predict many “he wasn’t that good in Buffalo” posts in the future.

Self-serving because they are saying some of the things I’ve been saying on here. They get into it quickly maybe 9 minutes in

Some interesting takes in the latest Fairburn/Baker podcast on Byram Peterka and their fit and future.

Yes the numbers certainly bear that out. Sorry for suggesting otherwise

Right, because Dahlin is at 70% with everybody.

Glad to see I’m not the only one around here stooping to using sarcasm. On that note, they probably would have been much better off just sticking with Dylan Cozens, or trading Cozens for Filip Chytil instead.

If net neutral means 70% goals for, sure. Oh right, goals for and against is the single most meaningless stat.

I’m not entirely sure what 0-11 represents, but if you are trying to say Byram’s play is directly responsible for a team losing streak and has no bearing on goals scored when he’s on the ice, there’s no point talking.

Interesting listening to Rick Dhaliwal (Vancouver radio guy with good agent contacts) this morning. He said the Canucks were desperately trying to add Norris at the deadline to the point of where they had trades lined up to bring in players to flip to the Sens to seal the deal. Their bid failed because “they didn’t have a Dylan Cozens to offer” We’ve always questioned why the Sabres threw in a 2nd in the deal. This may be part of the answer

I was applying the "Byram wasn't a good trade" logic I read above to the McLeod trade. I've always maintained the Mittelstadt trade needed to be judged in the context of how they backfilled his spot. And I think I'd do Mitts and Savoie for Byram and McLeod 10 times out of 10, both on a value level and on a roster building level. The Sabres dropped in the standings because Quinn, Power, Cozens proved woefully incapable of the roles they were given, UPL backslid precipitously and the coaching change had the opposite effect of what they intended. if people want to pretend Byram's +11 at nearly 23 minutes a night represents a screen door on submarine that helped sink the season, they're welcome to that opinion. But its wrong.