DarthEbriate

Never forget Dalpe! 21 gp in the Eichel tank season. He won 60% of his faceoffs and had linemates like D'amigo, Ellis, Hodgson, and Varone.

Your Johnson thread is 20 pages long, but the watch is over.

Kulich no goals. Slacker.

There will be no escape for the princess Hershey giving up 2 or fewer this time.

They were going full Alamo Death Star mode way too early. The thing is... the Death Star only needs one shot. Two shots. Nice.

Ah, yes... this one. This was JBot trading the 2018 BUF 6th (156 overall, 1st pick in the 6th round because the Sabres had finished dead last) during the draft to Toronto (Dubas) who had just finished with 105 points (3rd in the Atlantic and seemingly on an upward trajectory) for the 2019 TOR 6th. So... he was banking on the Sabres beating the Leafs in the standings in 2018-19? I guess? The 2019 TOR 6th was 177th overall (21 spots later). The Sabres didn't use it. Instead, they packaged it and the 2019 BUF 7th to move back up into the 5th round for Cederqvist. Hey! A good selection for a 5th as he's helping the Amerks. However, the reason they didn't have their own 5th is because it was traded to PIT for tweener F Scott Wilson to help bring that Pittsburgh know-how. The player Toronto selected with 156 was Pontus Holmberg who has 37 NHL gp and just had a nice series (in a losing effort) for the Marlies. So you could read this as Dubas wanted this guy, moved up, and didn't have to give up anything to make the trade and selection.

I don't know what that is. 😇 But their wingspan is only a bit shy of an Eta-2 Actis class interceptor....

Hope he gets in in game 3 with the Amerks up 2-0 and no pressure so he can play a little looser.

Like... UPL bad? Canada is giving everyone a chance... something they didn't do during the Olympics. Maybe they're just saving Levi for the knockout rounds? Right, Canada?

Option 1: If you must retain the lottery, make it a true lottery. All non-playoff teams get equal odds. The downside is the lack of 1st round picks traded and you'll always have the possibility of whining about "Bettman's favorite" or "big market" winning the lottery... which happened this year anyway. Option 2: Do away with the lottery entirely. Worst team picks first. It takes a minimum of 2 seasons to break a competitive team down to the studs to get to Bedard/McDavid level, so if you want to go for it, go for it. It might be 4 years before you're even competitive again (McDavid/Draisaitl), and it may be 10 or more (Sabres). If you're an owner, that's a long time. If you're a GM, you probably won't be around then anyway.

As long as Milic isn't on the Hershey, Savoie will be alright. That said, I at least let him get a couple practices in before allowing him to dress for a playoff game. I also just watched 3 games vs. the T-birds, and while he looked dynamic at times, he also disappeared for long stretches and was overpowered a whole bunch. I'm tempering my expectations for when Savoie starts playing against adults who can take away time and space from him even better than the T-birds did.

Only 2 of them are even defensible. Disco Dan had the Cup-pedigree with Pitt, and also had played for Anaheim under Babcock and would work the heavier style team GMTM was wanting. Housley was one of the hot assistants (based on NSH's D) leaguewide looking to make the jump that offseason and what better place than a team you played for? They even went out and added Montour for him -- Dahlin/Montour, Risto was still young then and maybe even salvageable, the D-pipeline looked good for that setup. Then, they went and Kruegered it. I guess Nolan was defensible, too, as long as knew understood he was bantha fodder for the McEichel tank.

Following Krueger's defensive orders and playing fewer minutes than Ristolainen. Same as Dahlin.

This is the way. If a franchise is going to have something like 5 ownership switches/reconfigurations in 20 years, leave one city for a grass-is-greener situation, not pay rent for that greener grass, have a couple scandals in the front office, forfeit a 1st round pick for rules violations, constantly tank, constantly siphon revenue sharing, and get turned down by a 3rd city who would rather have a landfill than their garbage... maybe they just don't deserve to be there. They're besmirching the good names of Khabibulin, Teppo, and... I dunno... Jason Doig. (Doig is an OK name.) I applaud Cooley for seeing to his best interests and hope that other players do the same. Maybe when no one wants to be there (including Auston Matthews), then Bettman will allow the franchise to move. I do hope Cooley is able to get some NIL and cash on the side while he Gophers it for a couple seasons and then hits the UFA market.

Savoie (and Benson too) seemed hell-bent on getting in one-on-one and deking him for something ice level and Milic wasn't having any of it. I don't know if Savoie got a single shot elevated in the final 3 games. The Ice's final power play was clinic in T-bird defensive positioning and waiting for the perfect shot. It resulted in 0 shots on goal when trailing by one.

The T-birds are beasts. Milic with the deserved tourney MVP. Savoie had 27 points coming into the series. His stats vs. Seattle in the final: 5 games, 0-2-2, 23 shots, and -4

That's a nice penalty shot. Hauser's leg just wasn't extended quick enough. A two-goal cushion for the T-birds and with the way they play defense and how hot Milic is, that's going to be tough to overcome.

There goes that. 1-0 Seattle on a deflection, which feels like the only way someone scores tonight.

Yup -- he or Suchanek as a 5th/6th to take an Amerks backup role next season and... maybe someday something more. But that way you have someone ready to play if Subban or Houser wants to test UFA.

The Sabres need to draft Milic with a mid/late-round pick so that Savoie doesn't ever have to face him in a game situation and can work on his shot in practice. Milic owns him.

This is excellent news. I'm excited to see what he can do. He was getting decent minutes for his age in the KHL and did just fine. And the Amerks really needed this. Glotov does show up in their system on Eliteprospects, but it seems unlikely.

I'd reassign him to join the team, but like Nadeau I wouldn't put him in the lineup. The team is in fire and just got Cederqvist back. Jobst is red hot and also has a full-grown body, if short. I dig Savoie's game, but having watched the past 2 vs. Seattle, he's on the ice a lot. Reino was given a bunch of gruff in his D+1 (and D+2 full rookie) seasons because he was off his skates a bunch. That was in the NHL. Savoie is a still a very slight guy. He was on the ice a bunch against a big (relatively) Seattle team. Including Korchinski straight up tackling him (no call) on a rush along the boards. Savoie doesn't need to get run over by adult AHLers this season. Based on what I saw, he's a 13F next season in Buffalo. I really can see him getting 8 games and going back to the WHL to fill out. The game is good; the body is not ready. When it is his ceiling is Briere. Maybe Point.

I think for the same reason Boussh was helpful in discussions with Kisakov, and the team needs a defensive d-man (to work with Dahlin/Power and play Muel's role), perhaps Gavrikov needs to the UFA target this summer. Orlov is the better player, but he's also going to demand more cash because of the offensive skills and the Sabres aren't going to get him enough PP minutes with Dahlin and Power ahead of him. Boushh is only signed for 1 more year, whereas Gavrikov would get the shiny new 4-year deal. Would he provide the Muel backup, Power-partner, and then help Komarov/Novikov in a couple seasons in the event they make it to the NHL? Is Gavrikov the better play for the Sabres at $4.5 vs Orlov making $6M -- even when the cap goes up?

2-2 after two. And where Savoie was mostly invisible in game 3, he's been very good tonight. Attacking, good passes, and a couple high quality scoring chances so far.

K > Q > T