TrueBlueGED

Unless we move McCabe, so we really need a 3rd pair LHD? Not this year, but maybe next year. I think it all depends on the price of the 2C we (lord willing) acquire. Can we get someone on a $5M contract for a few years and Casey signed cheap after this year? If so, I think we might be okay unless Sam, Hoffman, and Montour all have bank-breaking seasons. Might have to pay someone to take Okposo off our hands though. ...bring me Zucker!

Where have you taken Tom "the cap doesn't matter" Webster and what have you done with him? I don't think that's the proper framing. Eros is nice because he's good and cheap. He's not untouchable, but I think most would simply prefer to keep him.

Wait, what? Did he get hired by a team or something?

Of course he isn't a savior, no one player is. If we traded Jack for 2 cap dumps and a handful of magic beans, would that be okay under the reasoning we won't know for 4 years and we finished in last with him anyway? Of course not. And we were dealing from a position of strength because he had 5 years left on his contract. Botterill didn't use that leverage, and that's on him. The trade was an abomination from the time it was made, and any attempts to frame it otherwise are really trying too hard. It doesn't have to define Botterill's tenure as GM, and I've said before plenty of GMs have made really bad trades and still be successful on the whole. But I really wish people would stop trying to frame or rationalize this trade in anything but a negative light, because the evidence simply doesn't support anything but it sucked.

I like Nyquist a lot! My concern was always going to be term, but if they end up at 4 years, that's not bad.

While technically true (except for Miller, who is already in his prime), let's be honest: the likelihood of either Thompson or Johnson becoming O'Reilly-caliber players is incredibly low. So low, in fact, that I don't think we reasonably need 4 years to judge the trade a flop.

It could. Could also mean their ask was too high or they said thanks but no thanks.

If we were to do this, we damn well better do more than challenge for the playoffs.

Lazar is worse than Girgensons at basically everything. So yea, not even as a 4th liner.

If he plays a single game in a Sabres uniform, something has gone horribly wrong.

Remember when Rutherford straight said he wasn't trading Kessel? Example 10,000 of why nobody should ever take public comments by GMs at face value.

Good point. This is likely about getting rid of Zaitsev's contract, not acquiring Ceci.

*squint at their blue line and forwards* Yea, I really don't understand why they'd be using their super limited cap space on a forward.

I challenge you to make a definitive case he's better than Reinhart and Skinner. Those 3 are all on the same level.

Dubas acquiring Ceci is...a surprise, to say the least.

You'd trade more for Cirelli than Trocheck? Or is your "stuff" in the above scenario significant?

If he signs for any real money, does that increase the chances we can get somebody like Johnson on the cheap? *I mean signs with Tampa, obviously.

He's younger with a 40% lower cap hit.

And I'm not even remotely confident in Krueger picking the 1 combination out of 4 that might work. Part of why I'm so gung-ho about trading Risto is to prevent coaches from being their own worst enemy.

I trust your eye and I don't have any issue with them playing together if Risto stays, but I'd have a major problem if part of the reason for not making a move is that stretch of hockey. Pilut is injured to start the season, and there's absolutely no guarantee Krueger sees what you saw or values Pilut enough at all to pair him with Risto. There's a lot of "ifs" in the keeping him scenario.

Some of it depends on how you interpret "aggressive." I basically view it as having targets and going after them without much regard for cost. For example, Tim Murray was aggressive in going after the best winger on the market (Okposo) when, long-term ramifications aside, he probably would have gotten much better value for similar on-ice impact by going to the second tier of free agency. I think being aggressive in UFA more often causes GMs to pay good players as great players than to secure great players. It's not always bad, but I think this is a pretty common consequence of the approach. If somebody aggressively pursues Panarin and matches his ask, I don't think it's inherently a bad move because he's a truly elite player.

I might be hopping on the Olofsson hype train. Is there still room?

200 minutes is about what Nylander has played. It's not nothing, but it's close. I bet you could find a random 200 minute stretch elsewhere in Risto's career where both eyes and metrics say he played well.

Not to mention that the Dman Botterill acquired is a better player.

If they really do want to go all out for Panarin and Bobrovsky, they're not going to be able to do it by letting Mark Pysyk walk, ya know?