dudacek

I didn't watch a ton of Kreider this year and I don't know why his numbers fell off so badly, so it's really hard for me to put a value on him. You're really relying on your pro scouts. Let's just say the trade is Peterka for Schneider+. Does making Kreider the + improve the deal for Buffalo, or make it worse? I suspect there will be a split of opinions on that one. And once you decide the difference, how do you compensate for it in terms of both talent and cap space. I'm going to toss this one out there as food for thought without actually endorsing it: Kreider and Schneider for Peterka and Clifton. Adding Clifton frees up a roster spot and $3M under the cap for Buffalo for another upgrade on D. Clearly, this trade is based on 3 gambles: that Kreider can bounce back and provide some of the edge, netfront play, size and veteran presence the Sabres need; that Peterka is not going to make the jump to an 80-point player; and that Schneider is exactly the piece the Sabres are missing on the blueline. Those are a lot of gambles. Last summer, Schnieder and Kreider for Peterka would have been considered a steal for Buffalo. A lot can change in one year.

I’m not advocating this, but I suspect the Sabres might be willing to take on Kreider. A big, veteran leader with PP skills and some edge to his game, who gets to the net and scores dirty goals. The contract, age and the season he just had make him a big risk and I worry our management will overpay. But as a cap dump in a deal that nets us better assets, I might consider the risk. The Rangers are one of the few teams with cap issues, and Im curious how desperate they are to dump him.

Is it fair to say Rossi today is pretty much what we hope Konsta Helenius will be in 4 or 5 years? A little more solidly built, but similar game and skillset?

I would be surprised if the information is not coming directly from Peterka’s agent, who has a reputation as a negotiator who likes to keep GMs off balance. You’ll notice there was very little substance there about how and why things got often the rails, only that they have. Whether Peterka actually wants to leave, or he’s just chumming the waters, only he and Peterka know. Most of us remember well how Skinner’s agent played Terry into overpaying Skinner.

It was explicitly reported that Reinhart said he was willing at one point, certainly when he signed his 2nd contract after three years, but no longer willing after 6 years, when he was traded. It was never made clear that I saw where his head was after years 4 and 5. It was implied that Botterill was not willing after three or four years because he generally was not a fan of long-term deals. It was also implied that Adams was not willing after year 5, because of Terry’s EEE policies tied to COVID. I don’t know if either management position was ever explicitly confirmed.

Rossi has 101 points in 185 games, Quinn has 97 in 178. Not sure you can get much closer 🤷

This should not be construed as any kind of defence of Pegula, but there is nothing weird about an NHL owner not being in regular communication with the media. How many of the 32 NHL owners have done media in the past few years? Id say the majority talk in public - as in take questions - when they buy the team, fire or hire somebody to run the franchise, or need money or political favours for an arena or something. Most of them hire somebody to take care of that ***** for them otherwise. Pegula uses Guelli and Adams, his two senior people. Be honest, if you could you would probably avoid speaking to Harrington for five years too.

I’m not convinced Rossi is better than Quinn. He certainly was last year, but that was the first time you could say that since they turned pro. Quinn has better tools and their career stats are virtually identical.

I'm not sure what value Samuelsson has, but I suspect there's some. It's a little like a lower case Cozens; two years of poor play deflated his value, but didn't completely wipe out the impression he made earlier in his NHL career and before it. He's a 6'4" 230-pound D-man who just turned 25; there will be GMs who see that and blame his troubles on an element of Buffalo stink. Also people tend to overrate the burden of his contract. The average NHL salary this coming year is $4.1M, two years from now, it will be nearly $5M I'm not saying 5 more years in what should be his prime at a rate slightly below average doesnt represent an overpay, but it's not an utter boat anchor.

I watched Zito make the offer and Adams accept it. It was a terrible trade. No need to embellish.

i understand the knee-jerk reaction of "we can't trade more good players away," I just don't agree. Look, I don't dislike JJ; I think he's a talented kid and may have another gear. I don't want to trade him, but I do want to get better. And I think he's almost an avatar for the roster as a whole right now: highly-skilled, but too young, too offence-first, and not willing enough to consistently pay the price. Byram's kinda the same. I think @inkman is on the right track here: this should be viewed as opportunity to change the identity of the team, switch out some of what the Sabres have too much of and replace it with elements they are lacking. You're not going to fix the team by moves on the margins: you have to give to get. Peterka can net a real hockey player. Byram can net a real hockey player. Pick number 9 could do the same. It's too bad we've lost all faith in management's ability to identify those players and acquire them.

I think there actually will be big news with moves over the next 6 weeks, and new faces coming in on and off the ice. I don’t know that any will be greeted as good news, because we’ve been well-conditioned to be skeptical of whatever they decide to do. I think we’re probably waiting until Adams gets fired in November or December after yet another weak start before we actually get some news that makes us happy. And that will last until we get to the part of the Tweet that reveals Jerry Forton will guide the team on an interim basis while Terry undergoes an exhaustive search to select the permanent guy.

Not disagreeing with your conclusion, but Mtrka has more range than any of these guys. The size/skating combo he offers is not something that's typically available in the 2nd road.

I’m kinda with this, except I don’t trust the management to turn it into the plus it could be. (And I still have @thewookie1 whispering in my ear “Noooo, not 40 goals for the Rangers!!!!”)

Complaining about the lack of change off the ice has masked what I see as a real willful blindness around here to a number of things on the actual roster: The level of frustration showed by Tage at his year-ender The trade deadline whispers of high-level Dahlin meetings The number of winning hard minutes Byram played and the hole trading him is going to create, along with his switch in agents The whispers of Peterka being less than happy with the city prior to the deadline, and the reputation of his agent The struggles of multiple prize core young pieces at the same time: Luukkonen, Quinn, Cozens, Samuelsson and Power The body language of Josh Norris after being traded to Buffalo, coupled with the risk of his contract The panicked overpay they gave Jason Zucker for a likely 33 points and 63 games next year The panicked overpay they gave Jordan Greenway for for a likely 18 points and 58 games next year The determined attempts of Alex Tuch to avoid addressing questions about his future in Buffalo. There are consequences to sticking with a failed coaching and management staff. Status quo isn't going to provide stability, it's going to turn these cracks into holes. We're looking at 20/21 all over again.

Frank says things with JJ and Buffalo have gone sideways and he doesn't expect the Sabres be able to repair them. The says teams expressed significant interest in Peterka at the deadline and the Sabres didn't bite then, but they may not have a choice now. Calls Peterka the best trade chip on the market right now and, next to Marner, the most valuable piece out there. Trade talk starts close to the 18-minute mark.

I’d say today buried the last excuse for not bringing in a goalie, but who am I kidding?

I didn’t see Adam’s give Levi a 5-year $25M contract He absolutely overrated Levi, but it was symptom, not cause. It certainly wasn’t the only swing and miss and it’s not the only reason he’s failed to build a playoff team. He banked a numerous youngsters to get good. Most of them haven’t.

Adams had us on the Tage/Tuch/Cozens/Quinn/Peterka/Krebs/Dahlin/Power/Samuelsson/Luukkonen timeline which he expected to start last year and this year. It was supposed to be augmented by Levi and all those picks from 21-23 to keep us contending over the next decade. He's went maybe 4 for 10 on his first wave and hasn't shown much yet on the second. He misjudged or mis-developed the talent and is now scrambling to re-set.

There's so much about next year that points toward another 2020/21 or 2017/18.

That COVID draft was a real crapshot. Combination of weaker class and lack of scouting. None of the top 9 picks look like surefire stars yet, but most of them still could be, and there's not a ton of separation there. Then you get the Wyatt Johnston outlier — potentially the best player in the draft at pick 23, who didn't play in his draft year. But the rest of the 1st round is a whole lotta maybe. You've got 6 picks who have yet to play an NHL game, and 8 others who have played 25 games or less.

They're usually quite good, so I take these numbers seriously. But the Docker one surprises me. He's coming off an $800K deal and has one full NHL season in 5 years pro. Both the term and the AAV seem high given his track record.

Over the course of 7 games I think he's been my favourite. Plays like a man and a leader.

Helenius is such a punk. Love it!