dudacek

Bet the house on Skinner. It’s now the most inevitable thing in the universe.

That seemed inevitable. Ride shotgun with McDavid for a big year, finally make the playoffs, and make up the money you just lost with a big free agent contract. And probably win another cup in the process. Regardless of whether the move works out for the Sabres or not, you know much we’re going to get roasted for this one.

It’s become hard to read the off-season on paper over the years. Take Carolina: i see them losing 2 really good defencemen in Pesce and Skjei, Teravainen and Guentzel from their top 6, and another useful piece in Noesen. In comes a good defenceman in Walker and lesser pieces Gostisbehere and Carrier. That looks like a pretty significant downgrade, but does anyone really think they’re vulnerable? Tampa added Guentzel and McDonough, but lost Stamkos and Sergachev. They’ve got Perbix, Raddysh and Moser as their 4-6 on D and their bottom 6 up front right now is Sheary, Eyssimont, Glendening, Chaffee, Ylonen and a minor league call-up. Who thinks they’re going to miss the playoffs? You’d think the salary cap would create parity, but the same teams keep making it year after year: Tampa: 7 years straight Boston: 8 straight Florida: 5 straight Toronto: 8 straight Rangers: 4 of the past 5 Carolina: 6 straight Pittsburgh: 16 of the past 18 Washington: 9 of the last 10 Islanders: 5 of the last 6 That’s 5 teams in every year and the other 4 sharing the last 3 spots. It’s sickening. Can we please flip the ice this year?

I think your 3D is more important than your 3C, but the discussion is worth having. And where should your 3C rank compared to your wings? I had Casey as the Sabres 5F at the start of last season.

Is there anyone excited by Zucker? Is the team is better than it was last year, who knows? But it looks better than it did this morning. Can I have that, at least?

We're never going to get much proprietary info out of the Sabres, but you have to think their analytics team has done a deep dive into potential pro acquisitions in much the same way they do for the amateur guys. And that they are privy to more information and context than we get from our usual sources. Acquiring Malenstyn given what the regular charts say certainly raises the question of whether or not they are listening to their analytics team. But getting Malenstyn and then immediately following with Aube-Kubel tells me that's highly unlikely. I've been waiting for some Moneyball to drop ever since the department was added. From the hockey nerd perspective, this is one of the most interesting acquisitions the Sabres have made.

I remember when this guy was the Canucks' hot, young prospect coming out of college. Fans were all over this kid as the solution to their problems. Kinda like Brendan Guhle was for the Sabres back in the day.

So those 27 goals were just 2 seasons ago. Showed good, darting quickness and goal scorer's hands there, and some fire. And think he's got more give-and-go, and forecheck to his game than (bad*) Skinner did, and can supply some finishing off the cycle that we were lacking last year. I seem to remember him with some net-front PP effectiveness too, but I think that was back in his Minny days? Can good chemistry with Malkin translate to good chemistry with Tage? Can his finishing skills unlock some of Krebs playmaking on line 3? Is his overall game and fit a plus compared to Skinner's in a middle-six role in the style Lindy wants to play? You're going to get more hits and blocked shots, is the boost on D enough to offset the loss in O? All of this is predicated on the idea he's not done. Any one know his story last year?

Not sure anyone sees Zucker as a top 6 winger, but that's probably the case with Benson as well. I'm not sure how we're going to see Ruff put lines together, but I kinda expect it them to be built with purpose — "I need a line to do this" — more so than simple stacking. The rest of this post is spot on to me: they identified needs and addressed them with what was available; they have yet to find a way to address the most pressing need.

Certainly not in the sense that typically means, but Lindy has a history of using Greenway types as safety valves with more offensive players: Grier with Drury, Hecht with Briere. It's going to be fascinating to see how his approach to utilizing the holdovers differs from Granato's. I forgot Henrique was still out there. Pretty much the last potential 3C UFA no?

I saw Clague as a 1-way. My mistake. I think the point still stands.

10 forwards and 8 defencemen now on 1-way contracts. UPL, Krebs, Jokiharju and Malenstyn still to re-sign. $20M in cap space left.

Realize Bryson, Gilbert and Clague are spare parts but the Sabres now have 8 D on 1-way contracts, in addition to Johnson on a 2-way and Jokiharju unsigned. Adams made a point of talking about how depth is needed, so that’s probably all this is, but it certainly puts them in a position to flip Johnson or Jokiharju if they so desire.

Are we up to 7 Sabres signings now? Is this some kind of record for the 1st 2 hours of free agency for Buffalo? And I don’t know that we’ve eaten up much more than $10M yet.

Nice

And as many suspected, Jacob tested the waters and came home. Curious as to the pay cut. I seem to remember a few of you extremely pissed we took somebody over Gilbert in his draft year. With these 2, the Clague signing and Ryan Johnson it seems like the defence is set, pending what happens with Jokiharju.

Talk about an exciting and risky afternoon.

They’re actually a little busier off the hop than a lot of teams. Nothing big, but also nothing stupid and they’re filling needs. But there is still a ridiculous amount of cap space available and a gaping hole at centre. Need them to make that one big move, preferably a trade.

Malenstyn is fast and plays hard, same with Aube-Kubel and Lafferty, and Zucker at least used to be fast. Okposo and Skinner and Olofsson not fast. I think we are seeing a follow through and their commitment to create an identity in the bottom 6. I can see these guys creating some energy for the Peterkas to feed off. Just get me that 3C.

I betcha Zucker gets first shot up top and the other 2 get bumped down. Add Aube-Kubel and a real 3C and a workable picture starts to take shape. Would have liked someone better than Zucker replacing Skinner.

So they saw Washington sneak in and went after the only line on the Caps that was actually good at their role? It was Dowd I thought they were after and he”s the only one they didn’t get. His numbers don’t really show it, but I remember him as an annoying *****.

Dickie

Do you mean Rosen has no shot with the Sabres? Because the kid has a fantastic actual shot. Hard and accurate.

I think Lindy would beg to differ. Zucker is getting paid with the Skinner savings to fill the middle-six wing roster slot Skinner vacated. I guess you could also make a case that he is replacing Olofsson. But I think that in the minds of the Sabres, he’s replacing Skinner.

Wow! Out of the box signing there. Good for Will.