dudacek

One of the defencemen with Rossi, Perfetti or Raymond on the board would be something I would second-guess. But with those three off the board, I'm fine with.

Jake Sanderson is a heckuva prospect who will eat up a lot of minutes against the other team's best players. Anyone upset with us drafting him is thinking only about last year's team, not the teams when this year's picks will actually matter.

Thompson was always going to start the season with the Sabres because of waivers. I'm sure the lack of 2-way was what the Sabres gave up to gin the third year at that cheap rate.

He is clearly better than all of those guys. What do people think if the key player going their way is Casey?

Yeah, I count 11 trades already. Things are happening.

It’s a good 4th liners salary. its more than he deserves now, but it’s so easy for him to live up to and surpass.

That has the potential to be one of the best contracts the Sabres have signed in years.

This seems to have strayed a long way from me saying that at 8 we will get a good player. If it’s through a trade, Im fine with that.

A GM (Kekalainen, I think) said he expects more trades after the draft.

Well, it hasn’t happened very often. Is Jordan Staal The best player ever acquired for pick 8? And that was pick 8 a player And a prospect. Jeff Carter was for 8 and Voracek. So is Jonas Brodin worth 2/3s of Jordan Staal or 1/2 of Jeff Carter?

Looking at the calibre of players typically picked between 6-10, I would say Strome is probably below average, Brodin and Larsson are probably average and the others are above average. So getting a Strome is the only one I would consider a disappointment from that spot and yes, this year, I am expecting a better player than Strome for that pick. Contracts complicate your trade scenario, but generally speaking, one would take, for example, Dougie Hamilton, over a guy you expect to become the equal of Dougie Hamilton. It’s just a safer bet.

I think we’re on the same page now, but there is no Alex Nylander here. IMO, Strome is easily the worst of the lot, and even he’s hit 50 points twice. (I guess Nylander could still hit Strome heights) The rest are all easily top six forwards or top 3 defencemen.

Yes it would. Nugent-Hopkins, Landeskog, Huberdeau, Larsson, Strome, Zibenijad, Scheifele, Couturier, Hamilton, Brodin. I think it’s a similar draft. I hope we get the Zibanejad not the Strome - and I have no idea who is who - but all 10 players would improve our team.

No, I mean I feel as good as keyboard fan scout can that all of the options from that list will improve our team.

Adams does a good job of making it sound like he is engaged without ever giving much in the way of direct information. I think they might be considering moving pick 8, but he didn't really say that. I think they might be considering not issuing some qualifying offers, but he didn't really say that. I think Johan Larsson is gone, but he didn't really say that. I think he has an internal budget but the cap on it is soft, but he didn't really say that. Pretty much the case for whatever he was asked. The reporters need to adjust and simplify their questions, because no matter how conversational Adams makes it sound, they aren't really having a conversation with him. He responds to some escape hatch aspect of the question, but not the heart of it, and Zoom doesn't allow follow ups. I'm going to need to see what he actually does, then reflect back to this presser to see if there were any tells. I will say one thing: our GM has a brain.

Think teams want them to retain, or take a contract in return.

In terms of his game, he looks a lot like Marcus Johansson — playmaking, smooth-skating winger who can also play centre — but more productive. Definitely a top-six player. Gotta think he wouldn't be a cheap get under normal circumstances. That salary (interesting comparable for Reinhart, by the way) might scare some teams off under current conditions, but this is not a player who would be traded at all under normal conditions.

Frank Seravelli says Fleury plus a 2nd for nothing was offered around the league. No takers.

Here's my draft hot take: Cole Perfetti is this year's Elias Petterson. His skill level and hockey sense are being underrated, while size and skating issues are being overrated. A few years from now, people will be saying he should have gone higher. Got any to share?

I think it's a reflection over the overall strength and variety of opinions about that group after the top 3. Everyone seems to have Drysdale, Perfetti, Rossi, and Raymond in their top 10, and a lot of teams also have Sanderson, Holtz, Askarov, Quinn and Lundell in that group as well. Those dominoes can fall in so may different ways.

Sabres are talking to Arizona about Nick Schmaltz. Vancouver sportsradio host dropped this as an aside just now during a conversation about the Coyotes. No elaboration. Schmaltz has six years left at $5.8 AAV. Contract heavily backloaded. Base salary only $3 million for the coming season. 24, right shot, 45 points last year. Capfriendly lists him as a centre, but I thought he was primarily a winger.

The Sabres have profiled Perfetti, Rossi, Quinn, Lundell, Sanderson, Raymond, Holtz and (tomorrow) Dysdale on their website. They will draft, at worst their fifth-ranked player from that list. They will get a good player.

Top five GM would never have let that happen. 😜

Carter Hutton for Marc-Andre Fleury. Adds $4.25 million in cap space, $3.75 in actual dollars, upgrades our goaltending significantly to take a run at the playoffs this year, reunites Fleury with Mike Bales, who had great success with in the past. Also gives us a goalie to expose in the expansion draft. He has another year at $6 million if we decide to keep him over Ullmark. He’s got a relatively friendly buyout if we need to take that route. Vegas gets a backup to Lehner and gets under the cap without having to sacrifice any other pieces.

Rossi and Perfetti are a tier above the others for me. I think Perfetti has more upside, but I think Rossi is safer and his game fits better with how our young core is shaping up. He’s weakening.