DarthEbriate

I fear that'll quickly become the, "Wait, wait. Stop doing something.... Just stand against the wall."

Before they announce any fruitless gestures and re-orgs, I should note that my first retool would be: In a press conference, Pegula announces that the EEE era of the Buffalo Sabres is over and the mission is back to multiple Cups. The Pegula Boat is built; their quality of life is maintained. The Bills stadium is underway, a percentage of the Bills has been sold to raise cash for said stadium, and the new government doesn't give a ##### about the environment so he has the ability to drill as many wells wherever he wants again (slant-drilling-under-the-local-elementary-school-style). Then, he steeples his fingers and says, "Excellent." So now they can pay coaches, scouts, and even spend to the cap. But this must be a public announcement. And then Pegula can turn to GMKA and make him POHO/Wormtongue/General or whatever title they want. I would prefer they slap a Velcro A on his suit jacket. He's earned it.

I'm just an imprisoned Quake II marine, crying out "It hurts!", "Make it stop!", and occasionally falling to my knees and hitting the floor with my fists and doing some sort of garbled laugh, waiting for a passing me to frag me.

How low can we go? Lower!

From the highlights... For the end of game, Rosén's ENG was very good. The wheels to get there, then the nonchalant sharp-angle backhand to show off his first-round hands. The defender had to go into overdrive and still lost the angle and then had to think Rosén would carry on into the corner and circle to look for a trailer -- then the backhand, and the defender was left scratching his head that he should've dove. Rosén's hustle put the Crunch in an impossible spot. Helenius was awesome after the final whistle. He'll turn 19 in a couple weeks.

You and I, yes. GMKA and giving away multiple assets for a veteran RHD? Seconds are only good for Malenstyn... I had excluded Dahlin from my list because he makes everyone better, but also I was referring to the 22-23; 23-24 seasons when Power-Joker was very common, not this last season. Power-Dahlin should be a combo when trailing in the 3rd. The luxury of two first overalls is to have one of them on the ice for 50 minutes of the game, not necessarily have both on the ice for only 25 minutes, unless trailing (regular season usage).

He was better the previous two seasons when his frequent partner was Joker. This season he started with Byram and then upgraded to Bryson, Clifton, Muel, and finally JBD.

The series format also needs to be consistent across all teams. If you need to open the series on the road because your arena has had a convention booked for 9 months, but you still want weekend revenue, fine. But 1-1-1, alternating between Abbotsford and Coachella Valley would be horrible.

At least there's a chance since he was with Pittsburgh. But yeah... keep the coach who is under a lame duck contract and the assistant who is already slated to be the next head coach.

It's why I need Power to learn how to throw a basic body check. He doesn't need to be a heavy checker; he needs to learn how to give and take the extreme contact that is the first round of the playoffs, especially since he's viewed as an offensive/transition threat and will be playing top-4 minutes (which get heavy in the playoffs because you can't have Bryson out there). So, again, where is his veteran partner to give him the comfort to go to try stepping up on someone on occasion?

You have to be willing to give up assets and money to make a move like that. Florida got a solid defenseman in the trade... but they also gave up enough so that Chicago retained $2.5M per season for 6 more years.

Yup. Your lines truly matter when you can catch a team after an icing and get your rested top line out against a winded 3rd line and get immediate pressure, or, when Sundin comes over the boards in the playoffs and you get Rasmussen-Zinger-Primeau off the ice after a 10-second shift and get Ward-Peca-Varada back out there to neutralize the threat (and then score against it).

The Great Lakes are beautiful. Plus, you've got fun ports of call like Sheboygan and Manitowoc.

Botterill and puck-moving defensemen. Housley has done his learning and is ready to be a successful re-tread. The circle of life.

It's why Benson's Corsi% Relative to his teammates was 2nd on the team at 8.0% (Dahlin 8.7). The few players after Benson are all tiny sample sizes: Rosen 7.1 in 8 games, Norris 5.7 in 3 games, Östlund 4.4 in 8 games, who all benefitted from playing at the end of the season when many teams were shutting down or resting for the playoffs. The next full-timer on the list is TNT at 3.6%. Benson, like Dahlin, improves his teammates' play by getting the puck, creating chances, and playing defense. And he's doing this all with a 51.9% O-zone start percentage. It's not like he's being propped up with only offensive zone time. It's earned.

The Kraken finished 6th overall in draft order. They’ve hired JBott as their GM. They’ve also just reduced ticket prices for next year in some sections. I think they’re planning for a mini dip-pivot to go after McKenna. They get a top forward or 1D this draft, then get another next year. They’re looking at San Jose and getting worried.

I’m pretty sure I remember a graphic that Edmonton had the oldest roster in the league last season. And that was before losing Holloway, Broberg, and McLeod. There’s a balance. And goaltending.

Swap him with someone already signed... Jacob Bryson! 😇

Ach! Yes, the Capwages list is for this summer's draft/2024 offer window (July/December). Thanks for the catch and correction! I'd have to do a team-by-team look to identify who can make offers.

One random thought: If JBott is planning to Be a Sella for this McKenna Fella.... (It's what he learned in Buffalo, after all) Maybe you could get Adam Larsson to waive his NTC. Just enough tread left on the tires, leader, shot-blocker, and on a nice contract. If Seattle is on the McKenna timeline then Larsson is not part of it. And he'd help them win too many games in 2025-26 anyway. Byram the piece going back.

And add to it that the coach had benched Olofsson the previous season upon Greenway's arrival. So, in addition to temporarily losing Quinn, they had a lame duck scoring forward that they (the coach) didn't want and the fellow players needed to be a different style of player. That's all on GMKA. Now, if you could combine Olofsson and Benson into one Olof Ben Voltronsson, you'd have something.

Regardless of partner, Dahlin is only getting leaguewide recognition and becoming a Norris finalist if they make the playoffs. Until then, he's a great player on a garbage team. The garbagiest of garbage teams. For ROI, getting Power a legitimate partner is the way to go, particularly since the plan is skate him 22 minutes/night. And the partner needs to be able to kill penalties that you don't want Dahlin/Power doing as their primary special team role. Kill two mynocks with one Force-thrown stone.

With the correct center, yes, he could. But that pool of correct centers is about 8 players and none of them are on the Sabres or in their system.

7.5 is the floor, for sure. 8M is likely, and that means Tuch can ask 8 as well on his extension. If you're an opposing GM, $6.872M--$9.1M is a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the 2026 draft. If you're expecting to be a lottery team, then you probably don't offer up your 2026 1st. Edit: Disregard the list below for now, I was looking at the 2024 list.... Here are the teams who currently have their picks that could try to poach him (they can always trade to reacquire their 2026 pick[s]): BUF, CHI, DET, MTL, NSH, NYI, PHI, UTA Of those, Philly, Utah, Montreal are probably the teams that I anticipate not being in the top 10 of the draft next season. I include PHI because they have $26M in cap, plus seven picks in the 1st and 2nd round this year, they can easily move a couple of those to acquire players for next season so that Michkov and Konecny aren't alone. However, if Philly was to target a Sabre, I think McLeod would be a better fit for their roster.

The Capwages site's AFP Analytics estimates either 6 x $6.627M or 2 x $4.221M. I feel both of those are a touch low, without even including the palm trees and income taxes. Anything in the 7-or 8-year range has to be with a floor of $7.5M. Wyatt Johnson is the most recent forward signing of note with a 5 x $8.4M (coming off a 65-point season and in the midst of this year's 33-38-71). Edit: Bah. @LGR4GM beat me to the Capwages estimate.