dudacek

My hope is Adams wants to vomit too, he's just saying what he needs to say in order to steer Terry where he needs to be.

Well you shoulda just said that in the 1st place 😜 The first sentence is fair. So is 3OA Gibson Comtois and a prospect offer, at least in the context of 'Eichel will be traded in the next month'. That is because I believe Gibson is a legit long-term starter, Comtois is a top-six winger with upside and leadership qualities and an "identity" player, and there is a good chance 3OA should bring us a player as good as Cozens. It is because I am fearing an ROR trade — where the best piece we acquired roughly equals the worst piece in this proposal (Tage/Perreault) — that I am open to doing this one.

I quoted you directly. Even bolded the relevant parts. I can agree with your third sentence. The point I am making is that Comtois has realized potential and Thompson had not, which means a lot. An extreme example would be like saying Zegras has potential to be a 1st line centre and therefore has similar value to Eichel.

Comtois led his team in scoring and plays a physical two-way game. Making him a rough equivalent to Tage is disengenuous. These are some of Comtois' peers. Nick Suzuki 41 points, 56 games Robert Thomas 12 points 33 games Gabe Villardi 23 points in 54 games Max Comtois 33 points in 55 games You get that your take on Gibson is pretty similar to all those internet put-downs you are shaking your head at about Eichel, right? Too old, contract too big, risk he might be a net negative, he's not as good as his reputation.... You've called John Gibson a decent backup, and the equivalent of Vlad Sobotka and Patrick Berglund — two guys who were out of hockey a year or so after we acquired them. Any "railroading" will come from your words. People are acting like a) John Gibson is not good, b) that the Sabres aren't in desperate need of a starting goaltender, c) that good goalies will be lining up to play here this summer at half of Gibson's contract. He shouldn't be the centrepiece of the trade, he would be a good addition to it; he takes care of the cap element while still providing value to the roster, and he fills a major need in the organization. I won't discount @Thorny's concern about net-negative possibilities, but I think that's a worst-case scenario that ignores the equal possibility that he can be an upper-echelon starter for us for at least another five years.

Linus Ullmark

Gibson’s last couple have been lesser, but he’s got great tools. I think a trade resets him. Perreault (if he’s the sweetener) has some skill. 17 points in 27 AHL games mostly as an 18-year-old is nothing to sneeze at.

Not sure if Chad has heard something, or if he’s spitballing, but I can live with this return. I’m sick of living in goalie purgatory. Gibson is a top-10 starter, not some washed-up cap dump. He will steady a young team and help shield its growth. I’m not worried about his age in the slightest. Good goalies play well into their 30s. Carey Price is 33, Fleury is 36. Gibson is 27. Ryan Miller was 26 when he broke out and played at a high level in 2005/06 and he sustained that high level us for 8 years, plus a couple more in Vancouver. 3rd could give us Eklund, Comtois is exactly what we need stylistically and it sounds like one more lottery ticket will be part of the package. If we have to trade Jack, this is something that makes sense to me.

Probably none. He’s been in the NHL since 2017

I get why people want the 20-year-old WJC stud over the the 18-year-old magic bean, but don’t underestimate the value of 3OA. 2020 Tim Stutzle 2019 Kirby Dach 2018 Jesperi Kotkaniemi (Brady Tkachuk) 2017 Miro Heiskanen (Cale Makar, Elias Petterson) 2016 Pierre Luc Dubois 2015 Dylan Strome (Mitch Marner) 2014 Leon Draisaitl 2013 Jonathan Drouin (Seth Jones) 2012 Alex Galchenyuk 2011 Jonathan Huberdeau

Except the bold isn’t happening. The Sabres aren’t replacing the bird dogs they fired with other bird dogs. For the most part the aren’t replacing them with anything, but the new hockey hires have been in player development and (apparently soon) analytics. I think there was pretty clearly concern over the way the department was composed and its effectiveness. “What does this guy actually do and is he really helping?” was a question the Pegulas obviously asked Adams to investigate even prior to the pandemic. This is about more than temporary layoffs to weather the storm. More fundamental and structural questions are being addressed.

So Lance says the budget cuts did not affect player costs while decimating the scouting department. Google says NHL scouts make $50,000 a year. Firing 20 scouts saves about $1 million. The Sabres spent just 76 million on players salary this year. I couldn’t find the team figure for last year, but I remember reading it was well over the cap. So the Sabres likely saved at least $5 million on players this year. Far less in terms of percentage impact, but far more in terms of actual dollars.

Or perhaps it was less about austerity and more about cleaning house? It’s not like we thought the Sabres scouting department was doing a fantastic job.

Definitely. I don’t think Jack is a deep enough thinker to go beyond the Pegulas haven’t given him a chance in three tries, he’s not waiting around for a 4th. I would say we would have been at this point last year, but Jack bought in to Krueger, and the Sabres gave him what he wanted with Hall, Eakin, and Staal.

I’m not sure how good Granato will be, but his experience level does not concern me in the slightest. He’s been an NHL assistant for 5 years, apprenticing under Quenville, one of the best. He coached the USNDP team for 5 years, coaching some of the best junior-age players on the planet to great success And he’s been an AHL head coach for 7 years, including being named coach of the year. And he started out as a head coach in the ECHL and the USHL Krueger, at heart, is an inspirational speaker and leadership coach. Housley, at heart, is a player. Granato is a hockey coach, pure and simple. It’s all he’s really ever done and all he really wants to do. He’s got the knowledge. We will see if he has the skills.

Tort’s old buddy Larry Brooks says the Hawks are part of the Eichel sweepstakes. https://nypost.com/2021/06/19/chicago-blackhawks-enter-jack-eichel-trade-sweepstakes/ He speculates Dach and pick 11 would have to be part of the return. I must say, someone is doing a pretty good job of trying to use media hype to flush a blue-chipper on to the table.

From all the comparables I’ve searched, I don’t think you are too far off on Reinhart: 8OA (Canucks have 9) plus a 2ndary prospect like a Fagemo seems to be ballpark, if the interest is what people are making it out to be. The Sabres may have to send a lesser piece like a 3rd back. Risto’s trade value fascinates me. Historically, big, nasty 40-point RH defencemen are gold in the NHL. But then you get that whole conventional analytics argument that says you’d get a better return collecting pop bottles. I suspect NHL front offices are as divided on Risto as fans are. But all you need is two GMs who like him bidding against each other. My brain says if David Savard can rate a 1st and a 3rd putting up the kind of conventional and fancystats he has, then why can’t Risto? But we shall see.

I am of the opinion Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Asplund, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Jokiharju, Dahlin, Samuelsson, Johnson, Lukkonnen is a respectable collection of young talent. We are going to add this year’s 2 2nds, plus a 1st OA, plus another sizeable collection of young pieces by trading Risto, Sam and Jack that could conceivably double that. It should be a base a good hockey man can build a competitive team around. It’s just too bad the previous guys failed despite having similar tools at their disposal. And that we are going to have to wait even longer to see if Kevyn is any better.

Meaning Granato? What is the right decision for this moment?

Have you guys watched much Max Comtois?

OK, this was posted on Reddit by some random guy. Too funny not to share: So none of you are going to believe me, but I'm posting what I've witnessed today during my reffing experience today. Rob Blake is in town for his son's hockey tournament (Battle of Buffalo). During warm-ups, one of the kids goes to Blake's son and the conversation goes like this: "dude, is your dad really trying to trade for eichel?" "***** no, he's trying for Reinhart and Risto" "why not eichel?" "he's a whiny bitch from what my dad says" I skated away cause I was laughing too hard

I just want to be clear: Its your take that Adams would probably rather be keeping Jack, but the injury and the difference in opinion of its treatment has driven enough of a wedge that he has decided the right path is to trade him, even if it means possibly taking a hit on the return. Im not saying you’re wrong, but I am saying if you are right Adams is an idiot.

That was precisely the moment I decided to move on. I'm surprised it hasn't been talked about more. Anyone who said what Jack said in that presser cannot be the captain of this hockey team.

I don't discount this because I don't know Adams. But you are essentially saying Adams is a rat-bastard bureaucrat who values keeping his job over being successful in it, and that he immediately made it his priority to consolidate power, as opposed to building a winner. It seems that you are basing that almost completely on his decision to trade Eichel, and the premise that Eichel should not be traded. Am I missing other factors? It is interesting to observe who Jack has connected with off the ice and who he has not.

Friedman had an interesting choice of words in his Adams/Granato meeting tidbit. “No finality there yet.” Because this has been followed up by Wawrow’s report that the finalist is off to Florida to meet with the king and queen, I’m going to conclude that Donnie is the candidate Terry needs to rubber stamp. If Kevyn met with Donnie to tell him they are offering someone else the job, that constitutes finality. I cannot see a scenario where Kevyn met with Donnie in advance to tell him someone else is going to meet with Terry, but he’s still in the running. Donnie knows they are looking at other people. That wouldn’t require a face-to-face meeting. However, I can see Kevyn meeting with Donnie to say, ‘you are the finalist, but you’ve got one more hurdle, you need to meet with Terry.’ With the understanding that if that meeting goes well, Donnie will be offered the job. To me, it’s the only scenario that fits with both reports.

I’m with you. No objections to Power, but the more I look at the top players, those are my favourites.