Darryl Shannon's +/-

Not just that, but timing matters the same way it did with O'Reilly. Kane and his style of play makes an 8 year contract as foolish as the okposo deal. Trading him and lucking out with a first round pick is the best possible scenario.

A fun game to play....how many teams give skinner 7 years at 8M per or greater. Oddly enough, I think we backed into dealing from a position of strength.

Clawing into the playoffs is never something we should be jealous about. He's a decent player, but age, personality and cap hit made sense to move on. Do we really think O'Reilly at 31 would help us win a cup while making 7.5 per?

Actually, Hasek year 1 with the wings is even better than O'Reilly this year. Reigning vezina winner pushes way out of town (totally justifiable given criminal element running team, in hindsight), and publically stated he wanted return back to be as small as possible. Past vs present is a far different story given cap management though. After sobotka is off the books, we all might be singing a different tune.

Ha...so we need to eliminate the first 40 years of team history where finances were an issue? Hasek to red wings Kane/Bogo Fuhr to buffalo Lehner/Legwand Peca while holding out

I believe Botterill was aiming for the next 3 years with that trade. Shedding O'Reilly's cap hit and adding assets was the point. I think this year was about (hopefully) coming close to the playoffs. I can't imagine he believed things would be this bleak. That said...our outlook going forward is far more flexible. We don't have to worry about paying 30+ year old O'Reilly 7.5 per.

It's not like St. Louis is a wrecking crew. They are in the playoffs by a 5 point margin. Watching 90 last year, this wasn't a guy to build around going forward. Good player, but not a cornerstone.

What's odd about this - his decision to walk away was viewed by most as a positive if you are only looking at dollars and cents. I wish him the best going forward, and admire someone who can walk away from more money than almost all of us would earn in a lifetime.

I'd argue this isn't close to "a few fans" anymore. McDermott's idiocy turned this poor guy into both a national punchline and a sympathetic figure at the same time. Of local media, only cappacio seems to be really classy about this. As for the J Peterman clip....shame on that guy. Imagine taking that call. So you want me to mock a dude who just lost his dream job? When I'm personally a professional success? Sign me up, let's do this. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but finding joy in mocking someone who appeared to give full effort but was woefully short on talent seems wrong.

The thing is.....if we traded Risto for Hall we wouldn't have Dahlin.

I'd agree with you if it wasn't priced at the level it was. Give me a beer and a dog for five bucks and I'm okay with dive bar bathroom conditions. But they are charging premium levels, and the product, at least this night was awful. It makes you wonder where your money is going. I think the Atlanta falcons lowered prices on all concessions and actually profited more. You don't even need to do this to be good to fans. You can help the bottom line. Win win for all parties. Just seems like a tone deaf start. Sleep walking wasn't limited to the guys on the ice it seems. And if you have hung on as a STH through this, it seems as though your devotion is taken for granted.

$11 per beer, crowded hallways, bathrooms with standing "water" by urinals, a boring product on the ice leading to an arena as quiet as I've ever heard it. Yeah....that was no fun. I've long held that Terry and Kim are great for the area. They have put money into our region leading to others (cough, paladino) finally rehabbing their vacant real estate holdings. Buffalonians are better off because of them. All that said, multiple people were asleep at the wheel to lead to last night. Not raising season ticket prices but bumping concessions 20ish % is not a good look. I'm hearing arena renovations are coming before next year....but they may have waited one too long.

Here is the bigger problem. Did the coach really want to give Peterman another shot? If so, he should have walking papers. And that reflects on the owners who gave him the job as well. Here is to hoping we get to see growth and Hope from Allen. It is the only logical call, but also may result in another 3 years in purgatory.

I guess the question then is why? If it's the right answer, and is the best possible result....does it matter who did it? I'd argue this is what leadership is all about. I guess I think of it as.....coach can be enamored with a player because he does absolutely everything right. Except in the game. Doesn't hurt to have outside counsel.

If the coach's decision was to play Nate Peterman again, I'm cool with veto power.

The timing of this trade seems odd from the Carolina perspective. Are they having money issues?

Isn't O'Reilly responsible for a lot of this? If you are brought in to lead a team, effort and will don't need talent. I saw a soft, apathetic team at home going through the motions time and time again. Then we would get to hear him talk about the need to be better, tougher, etc. Go out and do it!?!? Like Lindy used to preach, do things out of character. Try to hit someone, go in strong on a forecheck. If they tried to sell me on the same team as last year plus dahlin, I'm not buying. I wanted movement, and people feeling uncomfortable. Because I don't want to be in the situation next February where I can't give tickets to a game away for free.

For a really young leader, if he made mistakes in the past a clean slate (though maybe not deserved) might be best for all parties. I could absolutely see a locker room dynamic significantly altered by a move like this.

I view it as a leadership team. If O'Reilly didn't get along with jack then you need to choose one. And I'm picking the guy who actually produces 5 on 5.

Contract and term matter. Moving a guy like 90 should help let others know more is expected.

The 05-06 sabres took pride in getting rid of Miro. So it might matter a bit, but yes, you still need talent to win.

How many great nhl centers have there been who played on three teams? Before the age of 30? I understand the underlying stats may have said he was impressive, but the eye test was so far off. To me, his legacy is being completely invisible except on the score sheet. You wouldn't see him driving play, but he would have a sneaky tip for a goal and a power play assist. Berglund with 19+13 EV goals the past 2 years. O'Reilly with 11+9. In more games. And while logging huge minutes. Let's see how this shakes out.

Will the offense really be impacted? O'Reilly did his damage with an extra man. And was pedestrian at 5 on 5. Plug in 37 for his pp minutes, and we might be more dynamic. (that includes dahlin)

I think botterill is looking ahead 3 years in salary structure. If you view this through that lens, pominville, moulson, sobotka and bogosian are gone. I truly think he saw O'Reilly as a problem in the room, and on the payroll. 7.5M on the cap for 5 (I think) more years is more of an issue than sobotka and Berglund. We got deeper as a lineup and more flexible to hopefully supplement the lineup in 2-3 years.

Today, this is correct. Fast forward 2 and 3 years and it's a different story. We got draft capital and cap flexibility, which is a theme with this new management