dudacek

Things that may or may not be true: Pushed to sign Ville Leino and Christian Ehrhoff Instigated the tank OKed the Ryan Miller trade behind Pat Lafontaine’s back Overruled Botterill on the Eichel contract Vetoed any attempt to re-sign Kane Insisted O’Reilly be traded prior to the bonus Steered the signing of Phil Housley Resisted acquiring Russians, feeding the Nylander over Sergachev decision Overruled Botterill on the Skinner deal Instigated the signings of Brett Murray and Brandon Biro because of their Penn State connections. Ordered Botterill to gut the hockey department and fired him when he refused Ordered Adams to give Girgensons what it took to get him re-signed. Pushed for Quinn because “52 goals” A couple of these things are pretty much accepted as true, the rest are just whispers. I’m sure there are others, but that’s off the top of my head. A lot of it is circumstantial, but I think there is evidence.

If there is a team that should be keeping its powder dry for McDavid, it would be the Sabres. Realistically, how many teams would have a better centrepiece to a package to offer the Oilers than Eichel?

Does your list of hot candidates start and stop at Gallant?

Not sure where you are getting this from. We are interviewing Tocchet, who is also interviewing with the Kraken. We are also interviewing Boudreau.

I think it could be Suzuki or Kotkaniemi, Romanov or Guhle or a 1st-rounder for any of the prospects and the value doesn’t change much.

Would Drouin, Petry or Anderson move the needle instead?

If Jack and Sam stay, they will each get 20-plus. Victor probably will too. There is also a chance for Skinner and Casey, but I suspect 15 will be more likely.

Jack won’t be here, Sam won’t be here, Victor won’t get 12 on the PP thanks to Jack, trading Jack removes all hope of Skinner ever scoring 20 again, Asplund and Bjork aren’t good enough to ever score 20 in the NHL. Tage and R2 might find it in them, (under the Weave/PA principle of how garbage fills a hockey vacuum) but I can’t say they’ve shown enough to bet on it; they’ve scarcely proven themselves NHL regulars. Casey’s a long shot too, but at least he has the hands and showed he can create on his own in a prominent role. If we trade Jack and Sam for futures, this team is going to struggle to score goals next year.

If the Sabres are trading Jack and Sam any kind of deal that costs picks seems foolish. They seem poised to to deal two of their three impact talents and most are expecting baskets of hope in return. That said, I like Garland.

From this group, the only one I see possibly scoring 20 for the Sabres next year is Casey.

Do the Habs do it if we send a young player back to avoid blowing out their pipeline: Bryson say, or Thompson? Or like @Thorny says, a pick instead of Romanov?

Will they be interested? Are you kidding? The Habs are a deep, balanced, hard-working team with blueline rock for a captain and one of the NHL’s best goalies. But they don’t have a game breaking star and their weakest position is centre. Their top matchup centre is a UFA. Marc Bergevin will be dreaming up Eichel pitches in his sleep. Do they have the pieces? No. I mean, not the pieces that it should take. They have cap room and they have some good players, and they have a lot of prospects. But they lack the blue chip element that should be the prerequisite for any serious Eichel offer. Now, if nobody is offering a blue chipper, then they might be in a position to make a good quantity offer. Would this work? Caufield Kotkaniemi Romanov and Gallagher for Eichel. Gallagher’s fierce work ethic, leadership and fearlessness about going to the net as a right wing are all things the Sabres desperately need. Romanov is the Habs top blueline prospect, Caufield their top goal scoring prospect and Kotkaniemi is a 20-year-old former 3rd overall pick. It’s a huge bushel of lottery tickets and a legit top 6 winger, probably more than the Habs would be willing to give up. On the other hand, Gallagher is 29 and none of the others are sure things. It’s not unthinkable that the Sabres could be sitting here in 3 years with none of these guys as core players. I see a big need from Montreal, but I don’t see an asset match. Is there a deal to be made with the Canadiens?

After reading this list of 23 candidates reviewed by the athletic, I think Donnie went up a few notches. https://theathletic.com/2586742/2021/05/13/has-don-granato-done-enough-to-be-the-sabres-head-coach-who-are-the-other-candidates/ When “experience” means names like Gulutzan, Yeo, Capuano, Quinn, Martin, Stevens, Hartley and Patrick ***** Roy, and fresh faces are Steve Ott and Luke Richardson... Talk about garage sale shopping.

Anyone think they have already talked?

Finally got my shot

He said it’s impossible to make that call at this point in the process, and added he thinks of himself as a head coach. My impression was that he’d listen to the pitch but thought it would be unlikely Karmanos and Adams have certainly talked like there is no question Appert is coming back. And really, given the nature of the season, there’s no reason to think otherwise

Not much of a Tocchet fan.

No you're not but you aren't responding to the entire post. You might get a late 1st and nobody is taking on Louie for less. And you might also get a late first for Ristolainen. Pick ~10 and pick ~40 for ~pick 25 and ~pick 26 is ballpark enough that Miller for Reinhart is also ballpark.

Really? I saw it as Sabres get ~ Miller for Reinhart, > a 2nd for Risto , and < 1st for taking on Ericksson

To the macro, one of the reasons I wanted to do this was to give Sabrespace an opportunity to look more closely at each team and debate whether or not an opportunity exists for a deal. Thus "Will they be interested, do they have the pieces?" I'm hoping you guys make each other (and me) think of things we hadn't previously considered. To the micro, Jack Eichel has five years left in his contract and no trade protection. Cap and injury risk may or may not have a role in who bids and will certainly have a role in how much they pay. But he will go wherever there is a willing buyer and a willing seller. That's how the NHL works.

I think you are missing my point. It seems like every time someone mentions a player's size as plus, you launch into your spiel about how size doesn't matter. We know that size on its own doesn't matter. We also know that all else being equal it helps.

If use down the stretch means anything (not to mention performance) Cody Eakin will not be centering the Sabres third line next year. Really, it's a nice litmus test for baseline GM competence if Eakin enters camp any higher than the 5th centre and 13th forward on the depth chart. You can make an argument for them defaulting to that spot because of his contract/cap. But the correct move is to keep Sam/Jack/new guy to buttress Casey and Dylan, buy Cody out or bury him in Rochester, and give his spot to Sheahan or another UFA like him. Pencilling him into the lineup shows you learned nothing.

You guys have pushed your "size doesn't matter" thing too far. It's like a player's shot: it's not a make or break element, it's a useful tool to have in the toolbox. It absolutely helps Matty the Mule defend players one on one, it helps Tom Wilson scare the ***** out of the other team and it helped Dave Andreychuk score 500 goals. Pronger's size helped make him special. He would not have been Pronger at 5'10".

Where does this come from? We've never heard any suggestions that Jack hates the city of Buffalo. Why would he hate Winnipeg? We've heard that Jack hates the incompetence of the Sabres organization. The Jets aren't incompetent. Finally, Jack Eichel is under contract for five more years. Why do people pretend otherwise?

In no world does Kaliyev and Turcotte get you the 1st overall pick, even in this draft. In no universe does Byfield equal Eichel.