dudacek

I know they projected early December, but i don't see that my self. They won't be playing games that cost them more money or isolates the players from their families for months. And they will want to learn more about 2nd waves, border crossings, and vaccinations. I will be surprised if we see puck drop in this calendar year.

Fleury and Stastny aren't an appealing package to me, but if you added Tuch and they took Hutton...not sure what we'd have to add. Fleury, Stastny and Tuch for Hutton and Pietrangelo would have to have some interest to Vegas given the huge cap clear, but I'm sure they'd want a young forward in there too.

It will be. At least as busy as mid-June to mid-July is usually, and the flat cap BS should amplify this. I'm hoping the Flames reputed interest in OEL and Kuemper isn't going to get in the way of a trade with them, but there are plenty of other targets. There is a possibility that the uncertainty stretches out the free agency window.

With the exception of the final month before he was sent down, I think Casey marginally outplayed Conor Sheary during Sheary's tenure a Sabre. That's more of a reflection of how bad Sheary was to my mind than anything else. Conor Sheary was my least favourite Sabre over the past two seasons. Which wasn't an easy achievement.

A team with Jack Eichel, Rasmus Dahlin and $34 million in cap space has no excuse for not making the playoffs, short of serious injury to Jack or a Pegula bankruptcy. I will be shocked if the Sabres have not made numerous changes within two weeks of the opening of free agency. Absolute minimum is an overall upgrade to the Girgensons Vesey Frolik Simmonds Larsson free agent group that includes at least one top six forward.

Neither brings anything but offence. Sheary as a Sabre averaged 33 points over 82 games, Casey 28. Better make it a shot of whiskey.

After watching them play together for a year, I think he already is Sheary. Read that however you like.

You know from the little snippets Adams has given us into the type of player he likes, coupled with team needs, who else might be available, and the general sense that this group wants to buck NHL convention, I wouldn't be too surprised if we did go off the board a bit and pick Jarvis.

Looks like the productive finish window I was remembering was the 18 points in his last 22 games.

Lapierre goes to the first team that: a) is comfortable that the injuries aren't a long-term concern, and b) thinks he is a full tier ahead of their other options. Or at 16 to Montreal because they decide they are desperate for a French star.

Is it? I thought it was 2 points in his first 9 down there, and I did the math from that. But it was from memory.

Tage was trending up prior to his injury, is older, and by all accounts is much stronger. He looked ready to make the jump a year ago. I expect him to be on the roster whenever the next season starts and think he will probably contribute. After a bad start in Rochester, Casey showed underrated improvement: good production (I believe it was 23 points in 27 games) and improved play, getting used in all situations. But while he was making more positive plays, he also continued to make too many negative plays. I think he still thinks the game in terms of being a dominant pond hockey player and needs to learn the pro game. We've had no indication whether or not he has spent his time off becoming a pro, or if he is maintaining his laissez-faire lifestyle with mom's cooking and dad's speedboat. I don't expect him to start the season in Buffalo. Both players are physically talented enough to useful 2nd-line NHLers. Neither has shown the maturity to this point. Tage appears to working hard at correcting his flaws. We haven't seen that yet with Casey.

Very interesting to me that Zito brought in two veteran former GMs almost immediately there as advisors, while Kevyn has basically dodged the question.

I do not, for a second, believe that Pegula was behind the decisions to acquire Carter Hutton, Marcus Johansson, Brandon Montour, Jimmy Vesey, Henri Jokiharju, Miller, Michal Frolik, Sobotka, Berglund, Thompson, Mittelstadt, or that killer free agent class of 2017 over Botterill's better judgement. I do, however, believe that he was behind the decision to trade Kane, and the deadline to trade O'Reilly, and was at least a strong cheerleader for the hiring of Housley and the acquisition of Sheary. I also believe that many (most?) GMs deal with similar levels of input from their owners and succeed in spite of it. Or, as my favourite Josie painting on here is fond of saying Botterill sucked.

Everybody starts with a blank slate.

Exactly to point one. While I do think Dahlin’s first year was special in the sense you’re saying, I also thought it was more or less expected based on the pedigree. It was like trading for Skinner and getting 30 goals, not 40 or 14.

The Pegulas keeping Botterill on if he had made the cuts is not necessarily the same as the Pegulas being happy with him. I am with you that his job performance should have been enough on its own to get him fired, but it was not. That does not mean that his job performance was irrelevant to his being fired.

Nope. He’s played two weeks of hockey. Jury is still out. I’m saying the average GM should be 50/50 on his moves. We’re trying to make the same point.

I disagree. The odds should be 50/50.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about The Botterill era was how infrequently things did bounce our way. Dahlin lottery, first year Skinner, Olofsson, Jokiharju... can you think of other off-season hopes that were fully realized?

Three months in, we have no indication of what Adams intends to do with this roster other than vague indications of embedding analytics into the evaluation process, valuing players who are “hard to play against”, and paying more attention to team chemistry, as well as more concrete Indications of cutting dead weight from the hockey Department and empowering members of the holdovers. I guess Tage was in town for a golf tourney and is looking pretty buff. At least Craig Rivet was excited.

Everything I've seen indicates GMs don't expect that to be the case. it's why there is so much noise about walking away. Reinhart walks in with the three richest contracts that have comparable stats to his, Adams walks in with the three cheapest. Arbitrator listens to their arguments and decides.

Three weeks to the draft. Three weeks to qualifying offers. Four weeks to free agency. Teams scrambling to plan their rosters with a flat cap and perhaps reduced budgets. No AHL games in sight. We're finally going to see some action soon.

I've been saying it all along, I think people are being myopic on this one. It's way bigger than Buffalo. We are underestimating how hard virtually all teams are going to be hit, especially the ones that aren't huge brands. If there's no revenue, how are teams going to fund a $70 million payroll, let alone $81 million? Pierre McGuire on TSN1200. “I’m going to caution everybody including Mark Borowiecki’s agent, these are way different times in the National Hockey League, and you’re just starting to see just a little ripple in the water. This is going to be a very different time financially for the league, and for a lot of member clubs in the league. I’m just telling you. The stories haven’t broken yet, but this is going to be a way different time for free agents, be a way different time for established players. You’re going to see some major cost-cutting around the National Hockey League, major, major cost-cutting. There are people writing stories now about this team laying off these people. You’re going to see a lot more. It’s going to trickle down to player’s salaries. This is a very different time in this league. It’s not getting enough exposure right now. I completely understand because of the playoffs. No one really wants to talk about it. Other industries compensated through mass layoffs, which are impossible in the NHL on the ice. What is possible is declining qualifying offers, buyouts, and refusing to engage in anything other than take-it-or-leave offers to free agents. How much can each individual owner afford to piss away?

That was his reputation when he left Pittsburgh. The fact that he won't have to wear his lack of success in Buffalo is a commentary on both the strength of the old- boys network, and the lack of respect given the Sabres franchise: basically the narrative is it was the Sabres fault he failed.