dudacek

Isn't that just salesmanship? Preparing the fans for the fact our "stars" might be moved out and giving them a reason to still be hopeful? He can't very well say we are going to trade Risto and Sam for better players not knowing if that's coming. Very perceptive. It was about as pointed as he could allow himself to be under the circumstances and feeds my growing suspicion that Kevyn is not a believer in Jack as a franchise cornerstone. These feeds into my previous comment. We all want our GM to diagnose the problem with the franchise and fix it. He spelled it out right there what he thinks it is. I expect his moves going forward to reflect that.

He had the ability to make people feel comfortable in his presence and confident in his abilities.

Granato has all the communication skills of Krueger without the salesman vibe.

Random thought, depending on the current trade market for Sam: If Eichel is traded without a top centre coming in, the Sabres might be better off keeping Reinhart, even on a 1-year deal. He played very well as a disgruntled 1C down the stretch shielding Dylan and Casey. They are going to need similar shielding next year. Keeping him to aid their development might be worth the difference in price between trading him now and trading him as a rental.

I wouldn't call Gibson's contract a nightmare if he's giving you the top 10 goaltending he's capable of — $6.4 million until he's 33. It is a gamble though. More food for thought is that he has no-trade that kicks in July 1. If they are having second thoughts there, it's gotta be now. As I said elsewhere, whispers are that the sabres have kicked his tires and they love them their USAHockey guys. I only do it if Zegras is included though. We might have to send UPL back.

Serious question, which group would you rather have, 5 years later? Kane, Bogosian, Lehner, O’Reilly, Asplund, Deslauriers, Kulikov or Grigorenko, Zadorov, Myers, Lemieux, Armia, Roslovic, Pysyk, Compher, McNabb, Cernak and White? Now that the draft picks have settled out, I think that’s the net of players still in the NHL. I think I go the first group, largely on the strength of O’Reilly.

It worked when the Blues fans did it for O'Reilly.

Markus signed an extension earlier this year. $3.1x3

Calgary is about to lose Giordano, is desperate to shake up it's core and should be interested in the concept of Risto. Tkachuk is a dick with a poison pill contract and is a body they would move — he carries as many ?s as Jack. They'd dump Monahan in a second, I'm not sure I want him. not sure they'd part with Lindholm. Pending UFA Gaudreau is available. Can we sign him? Pelletier is exactly the type of prospect Adams seems to covet. Between the will and the pieces, I can see something happening.

How much of Eichel's current mood is frustration over losing, how much is frustration over this health situation and how much is a growing conviction (fed by friends like Bogo, ROR and now Hall) that he will never reach his personal goals (championships and superstardom) in Buffalo? I think there is slim chance the first two can be addressed in the coming season, but only if the 3rd hasn't fully taken root. Personally, I think the failure of Krueger was the last straw and his mind is made up. He 'has to think of Jack Eichel.' And even though I blame the Pegulas, not him, I don't think I will ever be comfortable with the idea of him as the captain of the Buffalo Sabres again.

It was a team exec, and I think the point was simply that the return would have been better last year before neck injury and two goals.

It's like Thorny has been saying: what team wouldn't trade their slightly cheaper, lesser version Jack with a lottery ticket for Jack? patrick kane, Tyler Seguin, Ryan Johanssen, Matt Duchene, Logan Couture, Evgeni Kuztnetsov, Matt Tkachuk, Vlad Tarasenko, Mika Zibanejad, Clayton Keller, Mark Schiefele, Patrice Bergeron, Johnny Gaudreau, Brayden Schenn, John Gibson, Sean Monahan, Dylan Larkin... In what world are GMs not putting these guys not on the table in discussing a trade for Jack Eichel? Maybe the deals fall apart with the adds, but the $10 million contract can be made $2-4 million very easily with the "player" part in a hockey trade.

Also from Lebrun: The timing is not ideal for the organization. You hate trading any player when his value is at his lowest, but a franchise player after an injury-riddled, nightmare season? In a flat cap world? Not good. They should have traded him last offseason, one rival team executive said to me Tuesday. Hindsight.

I think this was the plan for this season, adding Staal and Hall to the above core. That ship has sailed.

We started walking this path three years ago when Jason Botterill bridged Sam. It became almost impossible to avoid last fall when Kevyn Adams and Sam's camp determined a long-term deal "wasn't available." And it was etched in stone when the Krueger solution blew up in everyone's face this winter. Heck of an asset squandered by organizational incompetence.

A tear-down implies they built something. They are a last-place team with a bad reputation. Trading Jack and Sam and Risto makes them a last-place team with a bad reputation. It also adds the assets returned in those trades to a young base of Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson, Borgen, Samuelsson, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, Mittelstadt, Asplund, Thompson, Luukkonnen and a top-three pick, and gives them $45 million in cap space in a flat-cap summer. A good GM working for a good owner would shape those assets into a playoff contender this summer.

Blank slate. They are hitting the reset button and blowing the tank fruit to smithereens. It could be Vegas or it could be MessyBalls all over again. Good thing Kevyn Adams has assembled a crack team of expert hockey minds that has been busting their ***** all winter, leaving no stone unturned. The bright side is, it will be interesting. Hang on tight.

I think we have to scratch any thought of trying to match the coach to the players. Because it's pretty clear we won't have a clue what players are going to be here.

Right, so the turnover people are looking for are in the players that have been here for a while: essentially Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Okposo, Girgensons, McCabe, Risto, Ullmark

No disrespect to any of those players, or the total value of that package, which is quite high, but the lack of a 1st liner, or an elite prospect should be a non-starter. The idea that the Sabres would give up what is easily their best asset (and likely a top-10 NHL asset) and not get a top-five asset (or a top-100 NHL asset) from the Rangers in return is hard to figure. But the show-stopper of that deal for me is that another team, couldn't, or wouldn't offer a better main piece. It's for Jack Eichel.

How do you explain a backup goalie going 26/20/6 over the past two seasons with this team?

Maybe the thing I liked best about watching the Sabres’ finish to the season was that for the first time since Ryan O’Reilly wore Blue and gold, we had two lines that seemed like they were a threat to score. The thought of adding a line with Jack and Skinner to the Reinhart/Olofsson combo and the ATM group makes me think an trot out three capable lines, and teams with three capable lines generally win more than they lose. I’m firmly in the Sam at centre camp. It will be much, much easier to find a competent top-six RW than it will to be to find a 2C that can give us anything close to what Sam can.

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster: Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone. Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be. Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out. Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

I have no preferred choices, but Torterella (who I like) and Tocchet (who I don't) would be terrible choices for this group of players.