Crusader1969

Excellent Post!

this is a terrible take - Depth is the key reason why Buffalo is behind Toronto and Tampa

plus they aren't going to be able to keep a lot of their depth once Matthews and Marner get their new deals. They lose Gardiner and who's going to replace him?

music to my ears. Keep the picks, unless you do what the Sharks did with their pick - 1st round only if Sabres win the cup.

try spending the day working with a handful of them!

ps. it was right

you cant be serious!?

1000% correct

this may be true but there is no way Toews (im assuming this is who you mean) is waiving his no-movement clause to come to the Sabres. There would be a possibility of Kane doing so. Lebrun on Insider Trading was talking about the Hawks and said a Kane / Toews are legacy players, they will only be traded if they go to mgmt and ask to be traded. If this were to happen it wouldn't be until summer. Case closed for now.

I actually don't mind thinking about the idea of acquiring him but there is no way im giving up all that. I think the Sabres would be doing the Hawks a favour - it clears tons of cap space for them and allows them to bottom out (aka Tank). Plus, he has a NM Clause and may only waive it to come home to Buffalo. I think he should come relatively cheap.

I dont agree at all. I would agree if he had 9 points and was a minus 10 But he is a minus 1 playing tough minutes against players must more experienced than he is.

from what I've seen over the last few weeks, I think Nylander should be first to come up. I think he is doing most everything they've asked for from him. Maybe not showing up on the scoreboard as much as I'd like but I think he shows as much skill as anyone and as much speed as everyone not named Bailey. However, Nylander isn't going to solve the problem they having at center. No doubt Mittelstadt has a lot less points that what most would expect but he is still only a minus 1. I would have thought he'd have at least double the points but a liability on D. I still feel the points are going to come for him, though The real problem is the bottom 2 lines - Erod, Larrson, Bergland et all are literally killing them. Same ole' story of lack of depth.

I like they took Okposo off the 1st PP unit. I still believe that Dahlin will the QB1 sooner or later (hopefully sooner) Im actually quite pleased with Mittlestadt so far, he doesn't seem to be a liability against some of the top Centers in the league. Eventually the points will come.

i completely agree that Samson is humming along as a RW but at some point the Sabres have to find a secondary scoring.

you are correct. Still should leave the Sabres with at least $8mill available. $12 if we can find another home for Scandella.

Not enough offence from Malone - 4th line player. Asplund could be a 3C but Casey needs to put up some points to fill in the 2C. Im seriosly considering Patrick Kane 2019 (if CHI takes 2 mill or so from his salary).

Somewhere are numbers are different. For next season Ive got 14F , 7D and 2G coming in at $71M - way under the cap Fowards - Eichel, Okposo, Skinner, Bergland, Reinhart, Sobotka, Sheary, Girgensons, Larsson, Thompson, Mitts, Erod, Nylander, Smith) I used your numbers for Skinner and McCabe, gave Larry, Erod., Ullmark and Girgs slight raises. D - Risto, Bogo, Pilut, Dahlin, Nelson, McCabe, Scandella I think they can add 1 more high priced forward to the team. I would love to see Scandella traded later this season to clear out his $4mill.

think Samson could eventually move back to Center or is that experiment over?

in theory I agree but the Sabres definitely need to add some more goal scoring Would you consider the Sheary, Mittlestadt, Okposo a 2nd or 3rd line? The other two lines are basically decent 4th lines. Not sure where we add 3 more forwards? (2 if you consider Thompson good enough). Who do we see being a top 9 forward out of the existing prospects? Nylander? not sure of anyone anyone else. Not too long ago, I thought Center was position of strength for the organization. Now I don't see it at all. Who is the long term 3rd center on this team?

I think Scandella is expendable right now. How does Patrick Kane fit into this scenario?

i really wonder about Toronto being a great market to play in? pretty sure there are lots of players who would prefer to play in markets that don't dissect every aspect of their play on the ice, where the media consists of mabye 3-5 reporters. Not to mention the fact that they can't go about their everyday lives in anonymity like they can in most US markets. pretty sure the guys at the Athletic created a category in order for the Leafs to rank #1 overall.

I wish they expanded why Buffalo ranked so low on Ownership and Market. Is this a shot at the city of Buffalo? players not wanting to sign there?

you can delete all the tank threads but we will always remember which side ended up being right. Gloating over. Go Sabres!

the point is that the Tank did not haunt the team.. losing wasnt because of culture and there will be no asterisk next to the Sabres name if they happen to win the cup with Eichel on the roster. The Tank was to ensure they replaced the rotten core with young highly skilled players. I'll be the first to admit that I thought they would have been good by last season but I also wanted them to tank in 15-16 season rather than win a few useless games down the stretch. I would also say that I would go through it again. In the 5 drafts of the Tank it netted 2 elite players (one may go down as one of the top players at his position in history), 2 very good, if not excellent players in Reinhart and Mittlestadt and a still unproven prospect (Nylander). It also gave us enough ammo (draft picks and prospects) to bring in Skinner.

so if the team is haunted, how are they now winning?