SabresBaltimore

No one will take Molson($5m) from us. I'm not sure we could get rid of Bogosian ($5.1m) either, especially after his injury this year. Maybe if he comes back and has a good remainder of the season someone would want to take him (assuming Botteril wants to trade him). We could probably trade Pominville ($5.6). Who do you see getting moved away to free up cap space next year?

Can we really afford to keep Kane? Next year we have just under 18 million in cap room and have to sign roughly 10 players. If we give Kane the big payout he's going to want to stay here, I'm not sure that leaves us enough to sign all the other players we need. Now after next season we gain 10.6m in cap space when Molson's contract and Pominville are done. So we sacrifice next year and play a bunch of cheap players and wait for 2019-20 to sign what we need? And that all assumes Kane stays healthy. He's yet to play a full 82 games, and only has played 70 or more games in 3 of his 9 seasons.

I'd hate to lose him, but I think it was already inevitable. I'd rather get something back from him than nothing. Why would Kane want to re-sign in Buffalo? Especially after how awful we are this season. And in traditional Buffalo fashion he's having a possible career year in the last year of his contract. I'd have no confidence that this year isn't just a blip though. He's only had 30 goals once (he's averaging closer to 20/year), and he's never been close to a point/game player. Plus he's got injury issues (has never played a full 82, and has only played 70 or more games in 3/9 seasons). The injuries are probably why he's only hit 30 once, but it doesn't change his ppg production. The only way I see him staying is if we give him several dump trucks of money. Will he be worth it, or will he be the next Molson, Leino, etc? I'm already worried Okposo is moving to the overpaid category too. We'll see if this season is just an anomaly or if it was last season that was the anomaly for him. Plus, we have a lot of free agents this off-season (although tbh, I'm hoping we don't resign many of them and sadly Molson still has 1 more year), but we'll still need to sign roughly 10 players, with just under $18m to work with. If we give 8-10 of that Kane, that's less than $2m/person. If the timing was better, next year Molson frees up $5 the following year, and Pominville 5.6M, which would let us be able to manage another big contract.

Can't wait. I'm hopefully going to get up to Buffalo at the end of the month for a game, but for now Center Ice is a go!

I'd like this idea, especially if it keeps him around the Sabres organization after he retires as a player. If your injury scenario takes place though, would we have to sign him to a new/different contract and would doing so prevent him from going to the Olympics?

Thanks!

As nice as losing a big ugly contract (Molson, Bogosian) would be, I'd be happy to lose Kulikov over both Ullmark and Carrier. It's going to be interesting to see all the wheeling and dealing between now and the announcement of the Expansion Draft results. Although I'd expect them to just talk to Kulikov now while they have an exclusive window and wait to sign him in July 1st and still take Carrier or Ullmark from us for the expansion draft.

The Washington Post just published the Capitals list. Anyone seen something about ours yet? I know they will be officially announced tomorrow, but apparently that didn't stop the Post.

I hate the new playoff format. How is it that Columbus has to play Pittsburgh in the opening round? As someone rooting for the Caps (and Toronto hater) I'm happy the Caps escaped those 2 teams in the first round, especially Pittsburgh, but I think they should just have stuck with top 8 teams and do the old 1-8 matchups. Of course with the Caps post season record, and Toronto doing way better this year that I expected they'll probably beat the Caps in 6 or 7 games instead of losing in 5 like they should.

Apparently all of them think Former Sabre Brayden McNabb will be taken from the Kings.

I agree.

I guess it's maybe it's the wrong choice of words, because you can't really hold an owner accountable apart from possibly just stop buying tickets/merchandise and stop watching the games/following the team. If enough people did that, it would effect the owners, but it might also cost Buffalo the team if the owner gets fed up and hemorrhaging money. Of course if both teams were perennial playoff teams that would fix itself, so maybe that's the right approach. I go to about 2 or 3 games every year, which I think is pretty good/high considering I live out of state. I've kept going despite how bad they've been. My buddy I go with is considering getting rid of his season tickets next year though. Really what I meant by that though was I'd like to see the Pegulas being more pro-active than they have been about changing up the management of the teams. They shouldn't be doing it to placate anyone. They should be doing it because as fans themselves they should be more frustrated with the poor results than the fans (though probably not more frustrated than Bucky or Sully) I'm honestly more frustrated with the Bills than the Sabres at this point, but much of that frustration isnt the Pegula's fault. To me I drew the line this year when they didn't fire Whaley. I think they should have fired him when they bought the team. I'll give GMTM 1 or 2 more years. The team isn't as good as I'd have liked it to be at this point, but I do still think it's moving in the right direction despite the standings this year.

I have a lot of gratitude to the Pegulas for keeping both teams in Buffalo. And for all the money they've brought into the area. They deserve a lot of credit for all of that. However, I do agree that the Pegulas should be more accountable at this point. Of course as usual Bucky is just way off base. I do think Waley should have been fired with Rex Ryan though. And my patience for GMTM is starting to run thin. If the Sabres don't finally make the jump to the playoffs next year/he doesn't give us some real defensive depth this off-season he should be gone too. When the Bills inevitably miss the playoffs again next year because Whaley resigned a so-so QB whose best skill is running the ball, no one should be surprised. And Whaley should finally be fired. I hope that doesn't mean Sean McDermitt would have to go, but of course that would be up to the new GM. I like the hire, although we'll see if I feel the same way after next season. The Pegulas shouldn't accept missing the playoffs again from either team and they should hold the GMs accountable by firing them and finding someone who can get the job done. Of course that's easier said than done, especially when it seems that the only people willing to come to Buffalo require to be overpaid to do so..

Yes.

It's the name of my college team. So I find it rather strange.

Boo SLU. Go Clarkson! :P

Thanks!

I think the problem might be that most of our UFA aren't playing that well, and the ones that are playing well like Kane he probably (rightly) asked a ton for. I mean maybe someone could hope Kulikov or Franson will be a good depth D, but if

I'd rather no trades than bad ones, we don't really need draft picks at this point. Of course a few of our UFA may now leave for nothing when we could have had picks, but it's hard to say.

Yeah. That's another good point.

The Winter Classic is/was a great idea. Adding in the Heritage Classic for 2 Canadian teams, fine. Stadium Series? Over-saturation. It's also BS if we'd have to be the Home team and play in NYC. I know we've held one here already, but as that article points out, it was 10 years ago now. How many Winter Classics/Stadium Series/etc have The Rangers played? Or the Penguins for that matter. Big Market teams get preference I guess, but Buffalo sold out instantly , and it's much better venue than a baseball park. Buffalo always have the best TV Ratings for Hockey games too. We deserve another game in Buffalo.

I'm sure NBCSN is super excited to be broadcasting this game. Hopefully we give them a show..

Who needs to play a full 60 minutes? Apparently we don't. We've done this several times now. I'd love to see what they can do if they play with that intensity all the time, but for now I'll take the comeback win.

Well, I guess we could go hire Claude Julien: https://www.nhl.com/news/c-286509024

I really enjoy this. I'm glad they are doing it again.