TrueBlueGED

I think you're way too excited about one okay season.

There's just not a ton to like coming back our way. Yes, this. Down year and all, I'd be interested in Muzzin...but for some reason I don't see that happening.

This might make me a bad fan, but if I could nab $4-5k for my tickets, I wouldn't even hesitate selling at least one of those games.

He was also 2 inches shorter than listed. Drop baby drop!

Not necessarily. I think Botterill wants to talk to one or two guys from the teams still playing. One of them may be his top choice, or he's just doing as thorough of a job as he can.

It may well be unfair, but given the type of player he was, I have some concern that Boughner may be too sympathetic to the Deslauriers of the world for my liking. Maybe not players as bad as Deslauriers, but the bangers that don't do much else. Boughner says all the right things, and his work with Burns is encouraging, but it's something that'd be in the back of my head. I wouldn't have that concern with Housley. Again, this may be wholly irrational, but he wouldn't be the first coach in history to be overly drawn to players like himself.

I don't know if Boughner has surpassed Housley for me, but he's moved into a 1a 1b situation. I wouldn't be upset at all if Botterill just went ahead and hired him.

The one player I absolutely do not want is Rasmussen. Yes, it's because of the failure of his previous incarnation. No, that's not a good reason.

Don't let facts get in the way of a lackluster troll attempt.

Boughner has a better coaching resume than I thought he did, and those quote were the type of thing I'm looking for in a coach. And given the player he was, I'd imagine he has the presence that Botterill is looking for. Not sure if it's been mentioned, but a couple guests were on the WGR morning show today giving some insight. I could get excited about this.

I also think the things Drouin does are more readily observable while watching a game. It's easy to notice when somebody dangles through a few defensemen, something Samson will rarely do. It's a lot harder to notice the pass that was identified and executed by being a smidge ahead of things mentally.

I can't take it anymore: it's Petersen. E N! If we're going to bitch about how much losing him would suck, or pencil him in as our Cup winning goalie, or cast aspersions on his character, we could at least spell his name right :p

Patrice Bergeron needs to be at least mentioned in this conversation. I eagerly await him being scapegoat traded like Subban.

"Approximately $2M" = "exactly $500k" The ultimate in Hammy math :p https://capfriendly.com/players/andrew-ladd https://capfriendly.com/players/kyle-okposo I'm not a fan of Okposo for 7 years, but there is nothing about his cap hit that's an overpay right now.

We're 2 pages in and nobody has made the obligatory "Who is Cal Peterson?" joke yet. We're slipping, Sabrespace.

On-ice value, trade value, or both? I actually think his on-ice value is underrated by most around here, but I agree that his trade value probably isn't as high as we'd like it to be. All the more reason to not trade him.

I think he could be better than that, but I agree with the general sentiment that he is vastly overrated by Sabreland.

He most certainly does not. He did look good, but then Niskanen left in free agency and Maatta got exposed. Seriously. It's been two years since his advanced metrics were good. And speaking of fancy states...welcome back to Earth, Pekka "regression to the mean" Rinne!

*dons tinfoil hat* You're assuming he told Vesey anythjng other than to run in the opposite direction of Bylsma as fast as his legs could carry him. :p

The coach's challenge remains a good idea with terrible execution. The good news is it's incredibly easy to fix. The bad news is, as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem...which the league is loathe to do.

Mittelstadt, Heiskanen, Makar. In no particular order.

No. Just no. Not even close. Briere is a career .72 PPG player, Vanek .79. If Briere had more skill by a mile, was he supremely lazy? I mean, c'mon, it's not like you can point to his 200-foot game as being better. Again. Vanek is criminally underappreciated because he wasn't the franchise player we needed him to be after the co-caps left. But he was a great offensive player. Vanek is easily a top-20 Sabre, and can make a case for top-10 in terms of skill. His worst season as a Sabre was better than Kane's best, whom people are perfectly willing to invest 7 years in.

Griffin Reinhart is a complete and total bust. Some around here rag on Samson's skating...he could skate rings around Griffin.

I see no reason we can't have the best of both worlds: what you describe who also has the Xs and Os down.

Vanek has to be one of the most underappreciated Sabres of all time. He'll be a nice value signing for some team.