dudacek

A world where Will Borgen is simultaneously of significant value AND might be available on waivers is funny to me. Besides @inkman, I wonder how many on here have seen Borgen play more than a dozen or so games?

LOL. Good point. We are now short of D with questionable offensive upside. 😘

As well he should have been. Too bad, oh well. Now go get a better replacement.

Good. I hope a message is being sent to Rasmus about becoming a leader of this reset core. Its a message you don’t have to send Dylan, but I think with Ras you are going to have to give him permission. He’s a good kid who may not seize it without permission.

Steady, stay-at-home 2nd-pairing RHD. With Risto and Borgen likely moving on, I had interest and would have paid that price.

You know, it's entirely possible. Minimal, expiring contract, fills the role of the emergency keeper and crosses off the "must pick three goalies" requirement. They may not want Miller's cap hit, or think they'll get much flipping him. They may not see Borgen among their starting 7, or think he will clear waivers. And they may believe Girgensons is overpaid compared to others they can pick up for the same role. After that, who is even remotely interesting?

Sabres do an advance presser before the draft every year. Nothing unusual about this, and the presence of Forton is confirmation. There will be another Friday night and a final one Saturday night or Sunday morning. And look at Charlie sliding seamlessly into @Brawndo's shoes. Some fine holiday relief there.

Trying so hard not to take the bait here…

If we are making a deal with the Rangers, I hope Braden Schneider is one of the pieces coming back. More talented than Borgen, more reliable than Risto and just as nasty as either. He projects as an excellent shutdown partner for either Johnson or Samuelsson moving forward.

LOL at the bold. Talk about damning with faint praise. In other news, Derek Roy was a very good NHL 2C. Over a 5-year stretch post Briere he was the 18th-highest scoring centre in the NHL. Be very happy if Mitts could become a Roy.

Kent Johnson is the most talented player in the draft, IMO. Most talented does not equal best hockey player though. High-risk, high-reward there for someone.

Not in the context of #1, but the Buffalo News is again reporting the Sabres are very high on Luke Hughes. Might be something to keep an eye on if we get a 2nd pick. Lysowski says it’s Power or Eklund at #1.

Looks like the Kraken are going to have a lot of talent that slips through their fingers.

Matthew Boldy is an excellent prospect Id love to have in the organization. Very Jack Quinn-ish.

I think Zegras is probably a better player than Power and will have a better career. I think he definitely fills a greater need for an Eichel-less, Reino-less Sabres.

As confident as I am the Sam could garner a top 10 pick in value, there is no way he’s getting the equivalent of two top 10 picks in 8 and Turcotte. Turcotte’s star has fallen a bit, but not that much.

Not sure whether Friedman’s report is good news or not? Not that there has been anything confirmed, but the internet seems to think 3OA and Comtois were offered. If Anaheim has bowed out and it is down to Minnesota and the Rangers, can we assume the leading package now beats that? To me, that would mean at minimum Kakko and Rossi would have to be on the table with a number of pluses, no? If the offers were never as good as the rumoured Duck offer to begin with, we are in trouble.

As a guy who wants Eklund, the decisive separation Power seems to created in the minds of some scouting departments would be something I’m trying to leverage. What would Seattle or Anaheim be willing to offer in order to switch spots? I might trade first overall for Zegras. Would the Ducks trade Zegras for Power?

@Thorny, wondering if you think there is any chance the Sabres take anyone other than Power? Thinking back to your posts on how the consensus #1 prospect seems to always get picked there once the consensus is arrived at. As much as @LGR4GM may still feel otherwise, Power has arrived as the industry consensus #1. You can’t reasonably argue otherwise when all 10 head scouts polled by McKenzie ranked him 1st. Well,” said one scout, “the only rationale I can see for taking anyone other than Power at No. 1 is because you’re a team that really wants or needs a forward more than a defenceman. Because if you don’t care about position or you want a defenceman, Power should be the guy.” The scout added that if a team is taking a forward at No. 1, the top three candidates would be, in no particular order: Beniers, because he’s the most complete centre in the draft; Eklund, because his energy and skill level give him enormous upside; and Guenther, because he has the tools to be a first-line scoring winger in the NHL. But make no mistake, the consensus No. 1 in this draft is Power. It’s clear-cut and unanimous on TSN’s list.

Yep, the Wolf report was early March. The Maclean one was more like a month ago.

This is not two anonymous social media posts: The Wolf one was quickly refuted by Tim Graham who tweeted “The Sabres are not for sale” and Die by the Blade’s Anthony, who called the Tweet not even 1/2 way, maybe 1/4 right.

I think Tage uses his length very well for stripping pucks. I also think it’s weird that some of the same posters who think 23-year-old Tage Thompson has reached his ceiling after three pro seasons in the Sabres organization also think 24-year-old Will Borgen can still be a top-four NHL defencemen after three pro seasons in the same organization. (wrong thread?)

Not that I disagree, but there has been surprisingly few concrete rumours and discussions about what a Reinhart return might be, considering that it will one of the more important moves this team has made since The selloff for the tank.

Why would they be? The Pegulas are trying to amass capital for a massive new stadium project for their flagship holding, the Bills, after a year where revenue sources have been hard to come by. What evidence have we seen this might even be a consideration? Nothing concrete at all. I remember a Tweet by a Buffalo media personality earlier this year that was quickly discredited by media more closely connected to Buffalo Sabres coverage. That was followed by a suggestion by well-connected former NHL GM and national hockey media personality Doug McLean, where he referenced “a friend of John Torterella” as an interested buyer. The report did not generate legs. Circumstantially, the Pegulas have been downsizing and divesting themselves of many of their secondary holdings, as well as gutting overhead with the Sabres, bringing in an insider from their business operations side to run the team, and preparing to sell off their three most fungible hockey assets for inexpensive futures. These are behaviours that can be simply chalked up to normal business operations during tough times. But they are also moves I associate with major corporations preparing a property for sale. @Buffalonill had started a similar thread based on an anonymous post on another hockey forum that got deleted. I’d like to see more conversation on the topic

So the 7 goals in 21 games to finish the year wasn’t any kind of “click”? He certainly looked a lot better to me than he did when Botts sent him down 40-50 games earlier.