dudacek

Agents were waiting for the market to be set. It has been.

I think a large portion of the hockey media spent exactly this amount of time on the Sabres. 1. Pretty bad last year. 2. Long history of being bad. 3. Didn't do much except trade one of their most exciting young players for two guys I don't know much about. 4 Next team please. Doesn't mean they're wrong: many of us have come to a similar conclusion knowing the entire roster inside and out. But they didn't do the work.

Yep, there’s been a notable difference between what the models are saying and what the traditional hockey media is saying. I think that may be exactly at the heart of what I’m talking about. For example above podcast posed the question: Dahlin/Thompson, Seider/Raymond or Sanderson/Tkachuk? Nobody even considered the Sabres, despite the fact that by the Athletic’s own rankings Dahlin is a full tier above the rest. Instead they talked about Sanderson breaking through. Even Dahlin is an afterthought. People acknowledge he's good, as in almost certainly top 10 good. They don't realize that he's good as in surefire top 5 good, despite what all the counting and analytic measurables say. I still read people talking about how he needs to improve defensively, or hear broadcasters say things like "out-of-character for Dahlin" when he crosschecks somebody or sticks a glove in their face. They don't pay enough attention to know who and what he actually is because the Sabres aren't interesting enough to force them to pay attention. The Sabres stink is a real thing.

Athletic hockey podcast had an interesting and largely worthwhile breakdown of our division. Fairburn was good as usual with some of his usual stuff, but it was notable how non-invested the hosts were in the Sabres compared to the rest of the division. I mean it’s pretty clear that underlying the professionalism there was a strong undercurrent of “this team doesn’t really matter.” I think it’s reflective of the general tone of the national media toward Buffalo this off-season: we’re the awkward cousin that they slide over because they have to while waiting to get to the more interesting people at the wedding. As far as I’m concerned the team is reaping what it’s sown, but I’m not putting a lot of stock in what the national media is saying, rightly or wrongly because I don’t think they’re paying much attention.

His is one of about 8 names I don't recognize and I suspect are guys looking to earn contracts. We seem to be lining up for Georgiev/Levi tandem in Rochester, assuming he clears waivers, which should be wonderful for the Amerks record, but maybe not the best way to develop Ratzlaff and Leinonen. @Brawndo had earlier wondered if Ratzlaff goes back to juniors as an overager. Another option might be loaning Georgiev to another AHL team needing a #1.

The recall was Komarov, not Novikov

The Leafs have morphed from the all style and no substance team to a savvy, structured veteran Berube team that doesn't beat itself. But they're going to struggle to score goals when Nylander or Matthews isn't on the ice. They're no gimme, but they're vulnerable. Math demands someone hitting 100 points in the Atlantic, but with Barkov out the entire year and Tkachuk for half, there are no dominant teams in our division.

There are 18 forwards, and I'm wondering if Meyer is injured or has been because he's a weird keep and we haven't seen a sniff of him. It look slike Östlund, Dunne, Kozak, Geertsen fighting for the final 1 or 2 spots with Greenway injured.

You're right. I miscounted: Byram, Power, Johnson and Bryson are the 4 lefties. Maybe Mule is ready? That would balance things out over 5 pairs.

The Jones Komarov switch may literally be just to balance the pairs and give them 4 righties. It looks like a Johnson/Bryson battle for #7

This appears to be the current roster, soon to be minus the cuts above. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/roster

Helenius again. Thats an interesting trend. His 4th game. Might be 4 for Kozak too. 3rd for Dunne, Rosen, Mrtka and Geertsen.

James Reimer signs a PTO with the Leafs. I’m surprised. I thought for sure he was done.

Two wins over BlueJackets minor league team is all it takes for Sabres fans to start tilting the odds 😜

Barkov and Tkachuk out for any extended length of time make Florida vulnerable to missing the playoffs. They had 98 points last year.

Well I guess 103 and 1 this year is still within reach.

Four-giev!

Goal and 2 assists for Doan in a little over 4 periods?

Power finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting. He had 35 points and was +10 playing 23 minutes a night with Henri Jokiharju and Ilya Lyubushkin. My God people, why this desperate need to rewrite history?

If I'm reading this correctly, Pegula spent: $91.5M in real money (projected) on NHL player salaries this season as opposed $86.5M last year, and $63.3M in 2021/22. https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/cash/_/year/2025 His internal cap doesn't seem to be written in stone.

It’s quoting an athletic report from Pierre Lebrun. NHL contracts cannot be undone. Tage is getting $7M for another 5 years in deal that Tuch probably doesn’t want to repeat.

Oh Tuch clearly has all the leverage and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Where I’m coming from assumes 2 things: Tuch wants to stay more than he wants to maximize his contract; and the Sabres aren’t playing hardball in terms of the current market. Which, IMO was set artificially low by Elhers. I think if Tuch wants $9M over 8 years it would be done. The question is determining how much more than that he could get as an UFA under the new reality and the answer is no one really knows. Is he going to take $9M and watch Kempe sign a UFA deal for $12M this summer?

Agreed. He's got to decide how badly he wants the security of term. I bet the Sabres would give him $10M over 3 years in a heartbeat, but might balk at $10 over 8 years because of how that deal might bite them Jeff Skinner fashion if the cap stalls again. But picking the wrong spot in between reduces his earning power on another contract significantly.

About as good a lineup that youll see in game 3 of the preseason being iced by the wings. Much better test for our guys. Wish they’d let me watch

Here’s the thing about the NHLPA resetting the market: The players are getting 50% regardless, every extra dollar McDavid squeezes out of some team is just a dollar less for the Justin Danforth and Conor Timmins of the world. No skin off Bettmans ass.