DarthEbriate

I love hypotheticals like these. For consistency, lets undo ALL GM Sheevyn's trades, instead RFAing folks he had under team control. Draft standing/season outcomes remain the same. Granato is the coach and we're still operating under EEE principles from up top. Adams never traded MoJo for Staal (MoJo leaves in UFA) = no Josh Bloom, Riley Stillman, or Viljami Marjala. Jonas Johansson never traded for the pick that became Novikov. Brandon Montour re-signed but UFA this summer (no Sardarian). Hall and Lazar leave in UFA (no Kisakov, Bjork, or Gicewicz acquired). Rasmus Ristolainen re-signed (no Hagg, Rosen, Wahlberg, or Gustav Karlsson). Sam Reinhart extended but UFA this season (no Levi, Kulich). No Future Considerations for Will Butcher (leaves in UFA) (no Vsevolod Komarov). Jack Eichel still captain (no Tuch, Krebs, Östlund, or Greenway). Erik Portillo signs 3-year ELC (no McCarthy). Rasmus Asplund extended (no pick that became Eric Robinson). Lyubsushkin is a UFA this summer. Cederqvist is in Rochester. Casey Mittelstadt, Kyle Okposo, and Erik Johnson are UFA* this summer (no Byram). The Sabres still have the potential for Rastricks if Asplund stays in the NHL. Stronger center spine, but still operating Sheevyn-level goalie batteries. The Amerks... have... nothing. The trades have completely re-stocked the farm: Novikov, Rosen, Wahlberg, Levi, Kulich, Östlund, Komarov... The lines going into 2023-24 would have been: Buffalo Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart* Peterka - Thompson - Quinn Benson - Mittelstadt* - Cozens Girgensons* - Jost - Okposo* (Olofsson*) Dahlin - Montour* Power - Jokiharju Samuelsson - Clifton/Ristolainen (Lyubushkin*, E. Johnson*) Can only sign one of Clifton/E.Johnson last summer Luukkonen Comrie* Rochester Murray - Biro - Rousek Weissbach - Asplund - Mersch Neuchev - Jobst - Cederqvist Warren - Kozak - Giroux (Nadeau, Richards) Bryson - R.Johnson Clague - Prow Cecconi - Metsa (Davies, Jandric) Portillo Johansson Tokarski

I made it back to my real computer where I track this sort of silliness. A better Ruffian example of line construction is at the end of the 2011-12 season (yes, I know it's not a playoff team, it's a heroic run to 9th lineup with hot-baby-Foligno). PP time is what got the offensive players the extra minutes -- Tropp was on Vanek's line but not getting PP time. Girgensons could move around a Ruff team. (I'm still not advocating re-signing Z, but with the new old coach I can easily see a spot for him.) Leino - Roy - Pominville Vanek - Hodgson - Tropp Foligno - Ennis - Stafford Gerbe - McCormick - Kaleta (scr: Boyes)

The Wild are not trading Eriksson Ek. They're only in cap hell for one more season; his contract is perfect for a 2C who can float to 1C like he's done the past two years for them and it's got plenty of term through his prime for when their next wave of kids is ready. He also has a M-NTC/NMC. The contracts they would look to shed first would be Fleury, Hartman, and Foligno.

Bow wow wow yippy oh yippy ay; bow wow wow yippy Benson.

Clock: killed.

I thought it was funny. But... joking about a team 35 years ago in another sport in another country... it was a pretty deep pull.

Wow. Timeout? Goalie pull? Barkov is still underrated. But he loves Reinhart on his wing because Reino makes life easier.

Florida getting their legs under them now. So vicious on the forecheck.

You know who would've been a good veteran overpay single-season rental for the middle 6 while Quinn was out? Tarasenko.

Florida respects McDavid and his speed. But they simply aren't afraid of him.

It needs an accent color. And a dull (temporary) name. Dull, Utah.

And naturally, if you’re paying a 4th liner what Z has made, it’s because they’re elite at something. Physicality. Selke votes. Former 1st liner with a Cup. Face off expert. Good player, but Girgensons is not elite at anything. Now… veteran minimum salary? Sure.

I always maintain that a good team (i.e., playoff veteran team) can handle one rookie at each position at a time. And you can do two in a season if they’re spaced out— one from camp, new add at the trade deadline. The Sabres should not consider themselves a good team, but one rookie forward is possible to start the season if the rest are NHL-caliber vets.

And that’s just it. That’s the on-ice game. There’s also the off-ice game of the league that cap friendly and other sites provide. Roster construction, identifying the players who match your video and strategy research, determining their cost of acquisition (or time costs to train to proficiency), and keeping all the information on that of all players around the league. They’re all different facets of fandom, none subjectively better than the other.

On the plus side, he does have an awesome name and nickname. With Ruff as coach, don’t be surprised to see Zemgus (if re-signed) higher in the lineup than expected. Or rather, with linemates you might qualify as 2nd liners. Ruff sometimes rolls an all-4th line, but he also mixes and matches based on role, not scoring. Think back to Gaustad on Drury’s line.

So... is leaving your feet to make a check no longer a penalty? Good on Rodrigues to make them pay. But gnarly for Florida if they lose Barkov to a leaping elbow to the jaw.

Capfriendly is an incredibly useful tool (accurate and quickly updated, too) and I will miss it. If I wanted to know if X was still an RFA at the end of this contract, or if Y had a NMC, or what Z's cap hit vs. this season's salary was... I could find the information myself in a few clicks, rather than waiting for some "hockey insider" or a reporter to tell me, particularly since they're just going to capfriendly anyway. But I really just wanted to post that the Washington "Capfriendlies" doesn't have the same ring.

Ask a Bears fan about Claypool. Timestamped to the fun part. 2024 season home opener after a summer of "Bears on the up and up and 'No Rodgers, no problem'" and... this was the effort. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8gSQa0xjl0&t=178s

Per the thread title, it’s not prospects only. Dahlin and Power could get 4 first equivalents. Dahlin is arguably better at his position than Eichel was. Cozens is beloved around the league front offices and is locked up with 30-goal potential. He’d fetch quite a nice little haul.

It does, but it's been like this since the 1992 strike and the 82-game schedule. Once that happened, the Cup Final slipped at least two weeks to very late May at the earliest (5/31/1994) and often well into June. Sabres-Stars Game 1 was 6/8/1999 with a full week off after closing out Toronto on 5/31.

The Oilers have also been on pace for 100+ points each of the past 4 seasons and have made the playoffs 5 in a row, so... the Sabres are missing something. Florida is so tenacious and fun to watch. I hope it's an entertaining series. Good playoff hockey is a beautiful bit of sport.

You get the low-remaining tread, leadership, guys on short deals to bolster what you’ve got. You don’t throw term at them. EJ this past season was a fail, but it’s fine because it was one year. Now, find a with-tread playoff machine (Pavelski when the Stars got him)… and we’re talking.

Yeah, Elder Foligno was before my time and I have an admittedly hard time placing him. On a “franchise” team he’s a bottom 6 grinder, though, so if we need more grit I dress him. If we lose some silk in the top 6, I dress Mogilny. Pommer is a great complementary piece. He’s a 2W through and through and he makes his line better. But again, on a franchise team I’ve got 1st-liners across their eras. (Or at least 1st line minutes [Peca]). My argument for Eichel is that final season. We rag him and I call him Jackikin Eichwalker and such, but he that year he *was* the offense. Dragging Krueger and that lineup into the playoff picture and putting himself into the Hart conversation. Plus, on my theoretical franchise team he’s a prove-it 4th line kid, and not a captain.

Lots of folks forget that Skinner got cold down the stretch and Eichel played hurt and has no points the final 10 games of that COVID season. History and the franchise are on a different trajectory if they make that 24-team field (especially if they do what Montreal did and knock off a beaten-up Penguins team). Remember, Ullmark was back to close that season and it was a different team with him in the net. As to Eichel/Thompson, Eichel has the benefit of his burst and playmaking that Tage simply doesn’t have. And TNT has the benefit of playing with Granato’s open attack (one season) and a career-coming-out-season from Tuch that Eichel never had. There’s an alternate universe where Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart play under Granato. Probably not as good as Tuch. But it creates a world where Eichel and Reinhart remain in the top six entering their primes (probably on separate lines). TNT with Reino on the 2nd line with Reino in the crease on the PP and we have a “veteran” team last season.

Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Slovakia (needed for scorers), and Czechia (not yet represented). Here's what I came up with a more standard approach: Martin - Perrault - Robert Andreychuk - LaFontaine - Gare Ramsay - Peca - Hawerchuk Vanek - Eichel - Briere (Foligno, Mogilny) Ramsey - Dahlin Schoenfeld - Housley Korab - Zhitnik (Hajt, McKee) Hasek Miller (Crozier) Lots of folks won't like my 4th line, but they'll win puck battles and imagine a breakout from their own zone. (Besides, they're only playing 10 minutes a night, so they're all angry.)