DarthEbriate

Going home for a season. That's a good move for Edmonton to free up (unless retention in play) $5M for defense/goaltending. For Vancouver, they get muscle, and maybe a longer-term hometown discount extension to wind out his career as a 3/4W. There are worse grinders out there.

Given their most recent 1st round picks (Benson, Helenius in the AHL playoffs) and also Ziemer, and also the in-division dominance of tougher teams Florida/Tampa/Boston, I have slightly better feeling that they will prioritize the aggression in the player. So I think there's a better chance they do prioritize Martin, Bear, Aitcheson, Smith, or Eklund (though very lightweight) over the less-attacking O'Brien, Mrtka, etc.

Except the continued support and favor of his boss. All they are is a typical failson-type setup franchise so the owner has a toy. That's not new or different. At least with the Pittsburgh Pirates there's no confusion; they're just there to collect the revenue sharing. The Pegula-Adams dyad whines that winning is hard because Buffalo. It's pathetic in a game (sports ownership) where no one has sympathy for you; they're glad you stink. But, not too bad, because they do want you to bring in some ticket sales.

This is the follow-up to what would you want to do with #9 overall. Now, it's the easy poll. Knowing what you know, pre-pressers in the fold, with only days to go, will Adams make the pick at 9 or send it on the go?

This is the correct answer.

All futures all the time. Never win now. Peterka + nothing extra to Chicago for 2025 3OA, RHD Rinzel, and the unprotected 2026 CHI 1st. Be silly. If they want JJP, they can give him a four-1st offer sheet or they trade only three assets. Sheevyn has never intentionally tanked, but now is his chance. You only get... from 6 to 18 years to be an NHL GM your first time around. Have fun with it.

I'm not watching the video, not because I don't like torture, but because I don't like listening to Sheevyn talk anymore. What would've happened if the injury had been TNT, or Tuch, or Skinner during that season? More excuses? Let's Look at the Timeline! 6/29/23: Quinn has successful Achilles surgery. That means Sheevyn knew about the injury a few days up to a couple weeks (depending on swelling, etc.) beforehand. That gives you a week, maybe more, to plan for UFA on 7/1 and address the now gaping hole in your top 6 (because you established at the end of the previous season that it wasn't Olofsson per the coach's usage), because even after the recovery, Quinn is unlikely to be at full speed this season. So... go get a Zucker-type in UFA. 7/1: UFA opens. They get EJohnson and Clifton. They don't trade VO or retain his salary. Sheevyn has $10M remaining in cap space to address a critical need for a team trying to make the playoffs for the 1st time in 12 years and that finished 1 point (2 points with tiebreakers) out of the playoffs previously. Here are some available UFAs that signed on 7/1: Kerfoot, Compher, Eller, Miles Wood, Galchenyuk, Acciari, Killorn, Namestnikov, Glendening, Bonino, Zucker, Steel, Duchene, Sprong, Conor Sheary, Pacioretty (off Achilles injury), Craig Smith, Blueger, Lucic, Gustav Nyqvist (2-yr deal), Morgan Geekie, Blake Wheeler, JVR, ROR, Reaves. Some wouldn't be fits. But you only need 1, technically, if Benson makes the team or if you don't trade VO. Here are some available UFAs on 7/2/2023 and the term they signed for: Evan Rodrigues-(4 yr), Tyler Bertuzzi (1-yr), Max Domi (1-yr), Vinnie Hinostroza (1-yr), Filip Zadina (1-yr), Jesper Boqvist (1-yr), Oskar Sundqvist (1-yr), Tomas Nosek (1-yr), Vladimir Tarasenko (1-yr), Pius Suter (2-yr), Tyler Motte (1-yr), Tomas Tatar (1-yr). There are a few you could take a stopgap for Quinn. I've always thought Tarasenko would've been the right move. 12/19/23: Quinn returns to the lineup. Current record: 13-17-3. You're waiting on him to SAVE your season, you should've already made a move in the summer. Your desperation move should've taken place in November! (For the record, Sheevyn did trade for Eric Robinson on 12/6 -- too late and not really the right guy to replace Quinn's point production.) 1/27/2024: Quinn is injured the game before the All-Star Break. 22-23-4. Luukkonen has been playing out his mind, you're still under DeLuca.500 by 5 games. At season's end, 39-37-6 is 4 games under DeLuca.500 and 7 points clear of the final Wild Card. You needed Quinn's replacement all season long. ######.

Yes. He isn’t 100% dependent on speed and his primary RW competition is TNT on an excellent contract. If he gets to UFA, he’ll be in the 8.5 ballpark. If he has another season like the one he just did, and is the #2-3 UFA on the market next summer (excluding McDavid) he could be looking at 10+ with the cap as high as it will be.

It was something they needed to do. Their defensive-minded 3rd line (by 5-on-5 ice time) of Girgs-Krebs-Okposo was disbanded and they absolutely needed to replace that with a 4th line (whether Krebs was going to be on 3rd or 4th). So... they did it. That was good. And then Kozak basically won the spot by season's end on an ELC anyway. What Adams also needed to do - and more importantly - was to get that veteran steady RHD for Power (knowing it was not going to Joker or Clifton), address a terrible PP, and to have a stable goaltending situation while the team adapted to a new system/style. Sounds familiar. And then they waived Reimer and forced the rookie to try to save their defensively lapsed bacon. Toss in a regression from UPL, Quinn and Cozens being defensive black holes and... here we go again.

As long as EEE is the mandate, winning doesn't matter. We are at 5 years + 4 days since Pegula's statement that the Sabres would be EEE (no such limitations on the Bills, naturally). He has not made a public Sabres statement that they're attempting to win since. Well... except that the Taylor Hall signing wasn't just playoff, but Stanley Cup contenders (which wasn't a public statement, simply released video).

Benson has two major areas to grow: 1) Cut down on the stick penalties. Eventually, the refs will let him get away with more garbage. But he has to keep his stick clear of skates because the slightest tap on a veteran scorer is going to lead to a tripping call (in the regular season). 2) Work on the shot. Reinhart did it. Dahlin did it. Heck, even Krebs has a better shot how. I have full confidence that Benson will also be able to put some mustard on it as his frame fills out. To your point, his baseline as defensively-responsible tenacious playmaker is something that be used on any line on any team in the NHL.

And of course, in Seattle there are no income taxes and we can grow palm trees.

I hope NJD goes for the whole Hughes clan. Nemec, Mercer, a couple 1sts for Quinn Hughes. Get him now before he goes UFA in 2 years and adds another $5M to his contract.

They think he's a Marcus Foligno type. And he's had some glimpses of good production on a 3rd line. With some of their older contracts off the books this summer (Perry, Kapanen, Brown) he will have a solid spot in the middle 6. Statistically, he could make it a good deal for at least 5 of the next 8 seasons. They're following the Tampa way with the oddly long-term Nicholas Paul and Yanni Gourde deals. (Or the Muel...)

Not if you're a rudderless franchise whose reason for existence is to win a Stanley Cup be EEE and the coaches are all already under contract.

And JBott before him with only a 2-year deal (which is OK, fine, bridge to see what you've got. And you had a perennial top-6 forward on any team in the league). I like it. I feel the good in him. The conflict.

You just go into the Settings and turn off Line Changes. It's easy.

You know what Edmonton needs to do for the deadline? Trade some picks for Levi. That's their missing ticket. A Sabre with future potential.

Yup -- I think that is the toppermost priority (with goalie variance from year-to-year). I voted to make the pick because I believe if they're dead set on moving Byram then he can attain the RHD without also adding in #9. (If you were to package Byram+9 you'd better be getting... McAvoy/equivalent + a pick in return, and that'd be silly from an opposition perspective.)

Maybe even inconsistently a playoff team at this point (their division is stacked), but still at least a threat. A competent GM and owner who aren't anxious to dole out 1-year or 2-year deals to their best futures (Reinhart, Ullmark) while dishing out big term/salary to unproven (Samuelsson) and nice, but not core pieces (Skinner) could easily have walked into the 2022-2023 season (missed the playoffs by 1 point) with Granato as head coach and Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, and Ullmark on the roster. Toss in a trade (let's say a 1st + prospect + something for then-third-liner Alex Tuch so he could blossom in the top 6 on your team), and you'd still be cap compliant and ready to go. You might not be able to pay Skinner 9... but he'd probably have taken a lot less to stick around with a real GM. Now... when you get to the playoffs, your run-and-gun is going to get destroyed, but you can start tweaking from there because you have your core and they know they're on the ascent. UFAs join those teams. NMCs get waived for, and NTCs don't list, those teams.

Not to be confused with the Draft thread and discussions. This is simply: What would you do with the 9th overall selection?

McDavid had 33 points in 22 games, tying Draisaitl for the playoffs lead -- both of them 10 clear of Reinhart/Tkachuk/Verhaege. McDavid was hardly a playoff bust. He was a stud in every game and series. He and Draisaitl simply ran into a better team, particularly when Florida had the last change. If EDM had the depth (and goaltending!) to run McDavid and Draisaitl on separate lines, maybe they could manage it. But when they're paired together, Florida just drops on Verghaege-Barkov-Reinhart or ERod-Bennett-Tkachuk. And they still have Marchand-Lundell-Luostarinen as a "3rd line". That's 3 centers that can limit the damage and Marchand is on the flippin' 3rd line as a scoring threat. We have to dial it back on this belief that a star player can do everything in team sports (even in basketball. Those '90s Bulls were the better team in each and every series; heck, they finished 2nd/3rd in their division when Jordan wasn't even on the team for the season.)

Always fun to watch them skate it. Despite the frustration and envy.

It’s a nice way to do it this second year. Samoskevich is going to be good, too. They won’t fade soon.

I saw Samoskevich, Megna, Boqvist. But not Asplund. I feel saddened. One more Sabre was needed.