dudacek

You know what I’m finding very interesting? In that podcast with Millard (in the Granato thread, well worth the listen), Donnie gushed about how helpful four veterans were in helping transform the team’s attitude post-Ralph. Staal is gone, and apparently Reinhart, Risto and Okposo trades are being seriously considered. Seems odd to rob the new coach of all the guys he was leaning on. Taking that a step further, Eichel, McCabe, Okposo, Reinhart and Ristolainen all wore letters last year. There is a good chance all could be gone. Has that ever happened?

Okposo in the expansion draft and 1 for 2, but you gotta promise to take a defenceman.

Might be good for another poll. I’d say a good 2/3rds are against dealing him, it’s just that most of us accept it’s going to happen and are so deadened by losing to put up much of a fight. What @New Scotland (NS) is seeing apathy, not support.

Jack Quinn seems like a great kid with a very thoughtful, mature approach to his game. He could use a bit more arrogance in his approach. He’s got more game than people give him credit for, and maybe than he gives himself. He will be a valuable member of our core. (There, I said it.)

Jeff was never as good as his first 40 games fooled us into thinking, but he should not have fallen off the cliff this much. I’ve done enough digging into Donnie’s past to hear him talk a couple times about talented young players needing to learn to use their teammates to make the next step. Watching Jeff, it’s like he never had to take that step. I thought he tried some this year and it didn’t work for him. His confidence is shot and his game is caught in between. I think there is still a chance he can find himself - he’s not old and he’s willing to work - but it’s less than 50/50 and we’re talking 25 goals, not 40. I disagree with those who chalk his play up to linemates, or deployment. It’s on him to be better.

It may be the same sequence you are talking about, but that time when Dahlin reached for a puck along the blueline, oiled it over the forechecker, danced to his right and let go a dart for a goal was a thing of beauty, like water rushing over rocks on a creek bed. Dahlin is Dahlin because low-percentage plays for most guys aren’t low percentage plays for him. You coach him to play the percentages and you take away what makes him special. His game seems tailor-made for Donnie’s approach.

Skinner got about a month or so on the top line with Sam and Victor under Donnie. His numbers increased significantly, but even with good ice time and linemates, he was still under a 40 point pace, and he lost his spot to Bjork. 40 points is not good enough to stay on the top line, especially when you aren’t adding anything else.

My impression Eidvinsson is not that he’s a big oaf overrated for his size, but that he’s a highly skilled big man with all the tools, but questions around his actual game. To me, he’s kinda like the Seiders and the Brobergs and the Nurses - D-man prototypes that seem to get picked between 5-15 every year. Some disappoint, some develop into studs. Dont like him myself, but I don’t think he’d be overdrafted in the top 10. I think outside the top 20 is too low.

This so many times over. I’m glad I’m not the only one on this train. I mean when was the last time the Sabres did something that Brawndo and LGR are both in favour of and it went all wrong?

Come on man, it’s a great script. I can hear the keys clicking on your Smith Corona as we speak.

Reports out of Minnesota indicate Kevin Fiala could be moved due cap issues. He’s 24 and has averaged a pro-rated 67 points over the past two years. Sounds like Guerin has been reluctant to put Rossi on the table, but the situation with Kaprizov has ratcheted up the tension. And a 1C is obviously that team’s missing link. From what we’ve seen and read might be on the table, Im really starting to wonder if an Eichel for Rossi and Fiala based deal might be the best option out there for both sides.

Adams is on a mission to “fix” this team. He wants to start the process now He believes removing Jack from the room is a necessity for this. The window for the maximum return is now; after the draft, cap space and roster space starts to fill up, assets get removed from the table, bidders move on to other plans. For better or worse, Eichel will be traded by the draft.

When I talk about anti-hype, I’m talking about the conversation surrounding him. “???, I love that guy, he’s going to be a good one” I’ve read people saying things like that all the time about Cozens, Dahlin, Mitts, Eichel, Zadorov, Risto, Bailey, Lukkonnen, Girgensons, Grigorenko, Kassian, McNabb, Ennis, Foligno, Guhle, Borgen, Luke ***** Adam… It’s the shiny new toy, untouchable building block thing that fans fall in love with. I can’t recall ever seeing it with Quinn.

I think the most likely career for Quinn is Jason Pominville. He’s a guy who will set them up, finish them and stop them, and a guy who play when you’re up a man and down a man and when you are up a goal and down a goal. He will be a guy teammates respect and coaches lean on. He won’t dazzle you, but he will always show up. I think it’s ironic that @Thorny is such a big fan of Pommers yet lukewarm on Quinn. Insert Jack Nicholson evil grin gif here. I find the anti-hype for this guy - almost certainly the highest potential winger we’ve drafted since Thomas Vanek - remarkable.

Thunderstorm warning for the tinder dry BC Interior. Not a good combo.

But Eklund not being a centre is. He’s been a centre and continues to be one when he plays with his peers at the junior national level. He was shifted to the wing this year as a teen with men in the elite league as many teens are.

He’s got great skill. So does Alex Nylander. Eklund’s tenaciousness and the way he thinks the game make him a better fit at centre than Johnson, in my opinion.

You are comfortable projecting Johnson as a centre, but not Eklund?

Yes, I do seem to value Comtois more than most. How I would rank your five: 1. Comtois: Already a top 6 winger, still young enough to have upside, fills an organizational need in terms of leadership, abrasiveness and 2-way play. 2. Power: Good player, almost certainly a top 4 all-situations D; questions about his 1st-pairing upside, I still see him as Eric Johnson 3. Turcotte: has Chris Drury 2C upside, plays both ways, leader; questions about his skill, could also top out as a Cody Eakin in his prime 3C (not meant as a shot, Eakin used to be useful) 4. Vilardi: Upside is Ryan or Dylan Strome. Will produce with the right linemates; will not be driver or an identity player 5. Johnson: Nylander — ceiling Willie, floor Alex. A nice throw-in, but not who I'd want as a building block. First three are all close and players I'd like to add. see below While I agree Casey and Dylan aren't enough, there is still the return from a Sam trade to consider, as well either Eklund or Beniers from a Jack trade or 1OA. I would also be very surprised is another centre isn't brought in through trade or free agency.

Eklund is as much a centre as Trevor Zegras. As in he’s played a lot there and a lot the wing. I’m not taking Power at 1 or assuming the Sabres will. Im trying to play the draft so I walk away with Eklund and Beniers.

Player over position to me. Comtois is head and shoulders over Villardi to me. Comtois is that gritty two-way top six winger we are in desperate need of. He is the only proven player with upside being talked about. Turcotte might be better, might not. I like his game, but I’m not sold on his ceiling. 3OA to me means a good chance of Beniers/Eklund. There’s no way we get that with 8. Same. He’s probably going to be similar role, worse player than Casey.

If it’s Turcotte/8 or Comtois/3, I take the Ducks deal all day long. The Kings would have to offer significantly better sweeteners.

This is the crux of it. I believe Jack is not part of Adams plans for the fall; he wants a room similar to what Donnie finished the season with, with lots of space for kids to bond and grow. His goal is almost certainly to trade Jack prior to the draft, or at least the opening days of free agency. After that, the market will shrink. The question is, can he leverage a good deal by the deadline, and if he can’t will he pull the trigger anyways?

Roughly for argument sake: Asplund 1M, Mitts 2M, Joki 2M, Borgen 1M and Dahlin 6M So about 12 million minus 15 million from Jack and Risto and another ~ 1M from whoever Seattle takes That leaves 38 million to re-sign or replace Linus, Hutton, Sam, Jack, Risto, McCabe, Irwin, Reider and Sheahan

If you don’t believe Jack will fully recover, you aren’t bidding on him. If you do, you’re in for a penny, in for a pound. For the teams that are in, it’s a lever to try and lower the price, that’s it.