Trettioåtta

He did come across more frail than I expected. Hopefully he hasn't lost a step mentally...

Samuelsson can also get added to the list. Jokiharu too possibly, That is 4/5 D men all under 25. We don't need to keep adding young D-men. We have young D-men who play in the NHL. None of those forwards who are comprable to Helenius play in the NHL. Until they do, they do not make picks like Helenius superfluous.

Teams aren't allowed to talk to pending UFAs, but it is remarkable what teams can accomplish by 12:01 on day 1 of free agency. Some real quick talkers.

Iafallo earns $4 million to be a bottom 6 player. Ironcially we should be receiving a mid-round pick to take him, not the other way around! And to be clear, I think we should be doing precisely that - take NHL players who are overpaid for assets. Win-win. We improve our team now, and add some stores to the pantry for future days.

Said the Leafs in 2019. I think people udnerestimate how close to the cap good teams operate, and the magic they pull to stay there. Florida is shopping Ekblad, Tampa is not re-signing Stamkos etc. You can only bury 900k or so per contract in the AHL, and you need to start trading 2nd round picks and up to get people to take that sort of contract. I'm not saying it is unmanageable a situation, I'm saying I wouldn't put myself in a position that forces me to manage it for no real gain. Buying Skinner out and not replacing him (i.e. using his cap space to enable us to do something we couldn't do if we kept him) seems pointless to me.

I don't know much about Mikheyev's game. Is he defensively good enough to be a defneisvely responsible third liner? Laferty would be a nice fourth liner. For the next two years cap space doesn't matter too much - I think we should be getting decent NHL players who are on bad contracts (relative to their ability) that expire within the next two years. Improve that way to make the playoffs and give some breathing space for the young guys to mature.

The last two drafts have had basically no NHL player trades happen on / near the draft. I think teams all want to retool, not rebuild (thanks to teams like Sabres, Sens and Wings all bombing at it).

The only trade that has happened, that I wish the Sabres had been in on is Mangipane. And for all we know, we were in on it and he said no to coming to Buffalo. There has been a dearth of movement across the league in terms of trades. This is basically day 2 of the offseason proper, i'm willing to give it to at least day 5 before I jump into the pit of despair.

Hopefully in 5 years we are more like Tampa, Colorado, Florida or Dallas. Ask those teams if they would like an extra $2.4 million in cap space now. We have operated with a lot of cap space over the last few years, and have been rubbish with lots of young guys on cheap contracts. However, in 5 years, that money could be the difference between keeping a guy like Quinn or being forced to trade them. I want to make the playoffs, but I also don't want to burn things to the ground to make it next year, and then settle into being a bubble team for the foreseeable because we made hasty moves for thr sake of it.

No comment on the choice. But deeply dissapoitning we didn't use it to improve our roster for next season.

Trade time, please

She didn't touch him, so it evens out...

Skinner has been top three in goals on this team for the last three seasons. Across that time frame he has averaged over 30 goals a season. If we buy him out, and get nothing but cap space in return, we need to somehow sign / trade for a player who can put up 30 or so goals a season, otherwise our anameic offense has just loss a significant chunk of its blood. JS may not play defense, but he is good at what he does - which is score goals - and that should not be forgotten or dismissed

I think for me, I have just tired of the rhetoric of endless 'addition by subtraction', and that the Sabres will perform better if only they get rid of one of their top performing players. Especially when we have had those players go on to perform well in cup winning teams. I am not opposed to buying Skinner out, but it is clear we are on basically every NTC list, and will struggle to sign players without overpaying. Therefore, buying Skinner out only benefits the team if there is a clear plan for how to use the cap space / roster position. Doing it to 'shake the team up' and having more cap space that goes unused, or to clear a path for a rookie who isn't quite ready to be in the NHL to make the team is simply a repeat of what we have done for for the last however many years.

I see no value in trading assets for Jeff Skinner 2.0, whilst buying Jeff Skinner out. Moreover, Jeff Skinner 2.0 is looking for a big contract. So suddenly we are paying the Jeff Skinners $12-13 million three years from now, when we have a bunch of young talent to pay. Plus on top that we also have to trade / sign a guy to be defensivley responsible. Deck chairs on the Titanic

Given our cap space, this move only makes sense if we plan on using that extra $7.5m this season. The easiest / cheapest way is probably trading for decent players who are a little overpaid for their ability and whose contracts end within the next two years. As right now we are losing an offensive top-6 player who scored goals - something we struggled to do all season - with no replacement

Lindy loves Marino in NJ, and he plays a defense-focused game. I think he's be a great pick-up

Sabres in mid-season form already

How long before someone suggests signing him because the Sabres lack truculence and aggression?

When will Dahlin or Power extensions be announced?

Anderson single handedly beat Florida on Feb 24th. He will have been two weeks rested, and has had a few rough games recently, so is due a good one... Also he is a vet and will have faced the pressure in the NHL before

The goalie choice is the biggest decision of the season. It's gonna feel like a playoff game. Both sides bringing their A-game.

Stillman probably done for the season. Ouch

I wonder what we were looking to trade for? Chychrn?

Are Washington and Detroit buyers or sellers? Weird trade deadline