DarthEbriate

Ninety-four.

I'd argue McCabe and Zadorov reached their potential. They're both top-4 guys, and can be especially effective with the correct partner. In a best-case scenario, Zadorov could be a top pair guy, but the offense was never touted as amazing, so top-4 is solid. Girgensons has been a 4th liner for over a dozen years in the NHL. He was miscast by the Sabres because they drafted him when they found themselves with no center spine, but for a mid-1st he has panned out. Grigorenko was a bust. He was also rushed, and maybe could have been more with a longer development curve and a bunch of time in Rochester. They need him to be much more and he was not that. Ristolainen is a disappointment. Another rushed prospect because he was blocked by the likes of Benoit and Meszaros. With proper coaching and a slower timeline, maybe he could have been the top-pair guy. He looked like Ivan Drago, but a boxer also needs to be a technician when they're facing well-schooled boxes of similar athletic prowess. He's always been overpaid since his second contract because he was gifted PP1 time... but he's not a bust: he's still in the league all these years later.

Buffalo is active right now because it is hosting the Combine. Show me, Darth Pegulas. Show me.

The important thing to remember, from one of the Sabres promo season videos or interviews, I think…. Is that Ruff initially declined the job. But he got convinced by Pegula. Adams was all set to promote Appert, also sans interviews, apparently. If the owner, allegedly your buddy off the ice, says he’s got a 2-year gig for you so you can evaluate the team, it’s pretty easy for you to take the assistant coaches under contract and evaluate them as well. Because you got hired and told what to do directly by the owner. Ruff is 100% complicit in last year’s opening roster, staff, and the resultant garbage. He could have put his foot down upon hiring and brought in a real staff. He did not.

And it should be noted that the self-proclaimed largest walleye in the world is in Rush, MN. It’s supposedly 2,000 pounds and was caught by Paul Bunyan. And is made of fiberglass. For some… delicious… reason, walleye got stocked in the Columbia River, so you can get tasty walleye in Eastern Washington, west of the Rockies. It doesn’t make it to the Seattle restaurants, but it’s there, just a few hours east. Was Leino the original plan? Or the locker room and HarborCenter?

We’ve been paying for our lack of vision for at least 8 of the last 14 years.

Directly into the lineup for game 3. Three assists in the win, feeding Draisaitl, Kane, and Skinner for the game-winner. That’s how it’s done.

If into the security press conference recordings you go, only pain will you find.

5-19.5 is... what... 6'8"... he skates really well for his height. Yes, I already read the end of the thread and he's a lock for top 8 because anyone will just list him at 5-11 on their roster anyway.

It looks like right now he's signed with Kärpät for Liiga next season, but he could probably opt over to the AHL if Bakersfield has an opening. He's grown his game as a distributor with TPS (probably too much as he plummeted to only 8 goals). I hope he gets to the AHL to show what he can do on the NA ice.

The Sabres could've attempted to hire Montgomery when the Bruins let him go. Nah. They aren't going to hire DeBoer. If GMKA is still in power next year, it's the Appert show. Only Pegula could overrule him, and the only coaches Pegula knows are ex-Sabres coaches.

I’m constantly amazed Biron hasn’t signed a full-time gig with TSN or gotten snapped up by a larger market. He’s a good analyst. Sharp and light-hearted. He’s too good for this franchise (at the moment). I’m glad he’s they have him, but he can do better and make more money.

No surprise there. You don’t throw your goalie under the bus when he’s still entering his prime and has several years left on his contract just because he’s had poor games against McDavid and Draisaitl.

True, 71-65-15 is over NHL .500. But his wins/loss record is 71-80, below in DeLuca .500.

Is he a good defensive guy? Meaning, would he ultimately be an Anton Lundell? I think of Lundell as a 3, but he probably becomes Florida's 2C this summer if Bennett's contract demands outstretch their means. Like a Charlie Coyle. And if we're talking Lundell/Coyle, then it's a good pick but not a top-10 pick.

Just please not Merzlikins or Korpisalo via the Jarmo connection. For the record, I don't think GMKA moves on from UPL this offseason. One more year of UPL/Levi/cheap vet is the way they'll roll.

I have an extremely positive view for Quinn long-term (if he remains healthy). I was one of the folks who was on the Quinn Train Spacecruiser last year and I still think he can be top 6. https://www.sabrespace.com/community/topic/37296-sabrespace-season-predictions-2024-25/ My reasoning for Quinn as the offer is that the right wings on the roster this year are TNT-Tuch-Quinn-Greenway. Quinn doesn't fit there. Now, if Tuch is set on moving out next summer, then keeping Quinn is a fair solution because he becomes RW2. But, personally, I'd rather have an early-30s Tuch than mid-20s Quinn in the top 6 because of all the other things Tuch does defensively.

The reason I give up Quinn is that I don't see his future role on the team (if Ruff is coach/involved in the hockey ops side) -- if Tuch is also in the future. And the only way for Quinn to prove he could step into the top-6 this year is through amazing production caused by injuries to TNT/Tuch. Going into this season, Quinn's role is a bottom 6 RW and shootout specialist. The shootout specialist has a bunch of value. But Marchment has outproduced Quinn over the last 3 years and is a much better fit as a 3/4 W. As @inkman noted above, I've only got the one year of Marchment, so I'm not making this deal unless I can get him to waive/extend. That's the rub. Or, I really pray he helps the Sabres make the playoffs and the fit is amazing and he signs an extension before the trade deadline. (And yes, all this thread is about Robertson, and nothing stated here changes the fact they need a top-4 RHD for Power and a goalie.)

Per capwages he has a 10-team no trade list. That's 1/3 of the league which means Buffalo is likely on it. If you can convince him to waive the NTC... RFA Quinn with 2 years of control for 1 year of Marchment? Who says no? And if no, what pick(s) balance it out. Dallas gets a kid who can score and has untapped potential and might just pop with another year clear from his injuries and the "no longer in Buffalo" issues; Buffalo gets a another Zucker/Greenway experienced guy. Overpaid, but fully capable of 20 goals and being a punk. He also plays on the edge of safe and will likely get suspended for a couple games, which frankly, this team could use one guy like that.

And he can make that choice. Because then he can decide how he wants to be remembered. Does he want to be Jeff Skinner or Pavel Bure? Both are going to have more than 700 career points (Skinner at 699, and I figure he plays next season regardless of this year's outcome). One of them might even end up with his name on the Stanley Cup. The other is in the Hall of Fame and has 34 career SHG. Neither played much defense. We could throw Satan in as well. Won a Cup, 700 points, 16 career SHG. There are multiple ways to not play defense and still provide value to a roster.

For the Selke, you have to: Play center (unless you're Jere Lehtinen). Be listed as a center on NHL.com (see Reinhart) Make the playoffs For myself, I just sort the forwards by +/-: Protas +40, Lehkonen +36, Foegele +36. I like being lazy.

Absolutely. And much more potential than Norris. JJP can learn defense. Norris 239 GP in 6 seasons. (158 points) Peterka 238 GP and he's only 23 and... no major injuries, his minimum GP in a full season is 77. (150 points).

Their GM wants to be fired? They can go get Sam Bennett (or Tavares) to pair with Logan Coolley, with Tij Iginla on the way. And #4 overall: Hagens, Martone, McQueen? And instead they would choose a 2C who has played more than 56 games once in his career -- and pay him 7M?

The most poignant Terry-DarthPegulas-like thing about this entire quote is that to him this one player is going to make them contenders (as Leino was after a good playoff series, or Ehrhoff was because he was a good PP1 guy with the Sedins*). And then, what do they do? Sign Hall to 1-year deal. That's it! Because there's no need to build around the future of Eichel/Reinhart because you're not keeping either of them anyway. Teams don't ever build or grow over multiple years together! Skate Hall on the same line as Eichel. Rather than having Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart be line 1 with Eichel as the carrier, and Hall-Staal-TNT as line 2 with Hall as the line driver. Allllll the other things that would make this list all the other threads on this board. Note: The dark side is the quick and easy path ("look how much smarter we are than those hockey people"). *And Ehrhoff was far-and-away the Sabres best offensive d-man and their best corsi guy all-around, it just shouldn't have the 1st-year $10M part of the contract.

Why not? The Jarmo Rebuild. Everybody gets a chance to redo the Sabres with some high-level draft choices.