DarthEbriate

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

In one season he can sign with Florida for a few million a year.

Decided he didn’t need to be part of the handshake line.

How many empty netters can they get in 5 minutes? Reinahrt’s shooting percentage is unsustainable!!!!

Reinhart will be fine. Thanks for blowing up the core, Sheev.

Opening shift, I think it was Reinhart with the back check to disrupt a Draisaitl slot shot.

When they do get “flustered” or abrasive or go goon, it’s with purpose and they don’t lose their cool. They find the line for the penalties and then ride it.

Lundqvist is right. Florida doesn’t make mistakes. They’re all smart players and they don’t panic.

If Kulich and Levi lead the Sabres to three Finals and two Cups… we can call it a draw. But in the meantime… watch Adams trade Levi before he gets good.

It’s very frustrating. Put every game: pre-, regular, and post-season on ESPN+ and show the playoff games on ESPN/ABC and they can do TNT but they have to share the streaming with ESPN+.

Skinner out with McDavid and Draisaitl for a shift. Gets a chance and then complains about no call. In the 2nd period of game 6. The whistles are mostly lost by now (except for pucks over the glass).

One of these days he’ll turn out fine.

If folks are watching the game tonight, don't drink a shot every time they show or mention the Stanley Cup in the building. Your loved ones need you alive tomorrow.

Vancouver is awesome. And early summer is the best of times. Or August 1st until October 15th-ish.

Tampa is not trading Cirelli. He's a Selke-candidate center in a division with Matthews and Barkov who they have to beat to get out of the second round every year. And Yanni Gourde, despite being signed forever at a low cost, is no Cirelli. If Tampa were the target, the Adams Special Deal of the Day would be centered around JJP for Moser +, who has 1 year left before becoming RFA again. No, thank you.

They're all older and a goalie arrives to save their skins. I've got a bad feeling about this...

Happy "the Cup is in the building" camera shots day to you and yours!

I just don't think Pettersson is the best player they could add, by trade or by free agency. I think he'll have good seasons but his career best is already past and his solid value production days are another contract into the future. In between he'll be a Matt Duchene or a Ryan Johanson. Good players... but overpaid, and if you really overpaid them, then you'll be sorely disappointed.

So... move Power or Samuelsson (or buy him out while he's so cheap). The finances will work. In 2 years, at the halfway point of Dahlin's contract, his percentage of the cap will be 9.69%, which is very close to what Hedman's cap percentage was when Tampa won their back-to-back Cups (9.66% with a $7.875M salary to 81.5 cap ceiling. After that there will be 4 more seasons where the cap could be even higher with expansion. The resources will be there. Now, whether Adams/Pegula can effectively put that cap to reasonable use for the rest of the roster, I'll agree with you there. But Dahlin making money isn't really a negative. The no one wins the Cup with a $10M/year salary days are long over; Eichel busted that. Then Bob did. And this year someone will do it again.

Whoops, I didn't expand on that enough. My bad. By full potential I meant -- when they drafted him if he had achieved his maximum homerun swing potential, maybe even grew another inch or two, and basically was a diamond in the rough. I agree: now his ceiling is a responsible 3W with an above-average shot, which can be a good player -- like an Evan Rodrigues (who floats up the lineup without any problems) and should never cost you that much in salary unless you sign him UFA the season after he wins a Cup and has several clutch moments and your team needs "winners" and "leadership".

Pettersson is a damaged 1C (being shopped???) before the NMC kicks in on a ton of money and term. He is very much like Eichel pre-surgery in Buffalo. The difference is that Vegas was a bona fide Cup contender and was missing a 1C. The Sabres are a draft lottery that was a strong-run-down-the-stretch away from picking #4 overall instead of #9. Pettersson doesn't solve all their problems and his repaired knee means he'll likely never have the burst he once did. This guy is not "Taylor Hall makes us contenders!" level. For $11.6M and 7 more years, I need the player to be the best player on the team and set the tone night-in and night-out. I don't think EP is that guy. I'd rather use pick #9 on McQueen, Martin, Bear than use it + Norris to acquire Pettersson.

Kyrou consistently puts up powerplay points, which JJP hasn't really managed yet (limited sample size). However, Kyrou is another soft-checking winger. Is he a full-potential Rosen? I think Peterka has a higher upside than Kyrou and would meet it on a team with structure and expectations (even if misguided, given their division), like St. Louis. Like, Kyrou doesn't fit them and is a 70-point player. JJP would be an 80-point player with them through his prime. And then it's a question of how long does it take him to play defense well enough to win a playoff series -- the same question the Sabres would need to find the answer to (if they ever made it).

There is one critical different between Vegas' use of LTIR and the Sabres. Vegas has a roster good enough to make the playoffs without Mark Stone in it.

Dahlin and TNT would've been traded long ago and Pegula would be icing an AHL team at the cap floor, with a coach he didn't have a personal connection to, to do that. This is worse. They're just this inept and haven't really learned anything about roster construction after 14 years of ownership. They've made a couple strides in the last couple years: they're trying to slowly build around a couple very good players (Dahlin, TNT), they found a good middle six player (McLeod) and haven't lost him yet, and I think Ruff's input last year finally showed that roster roles are more important than friendships and potential (keeping Zucker/Greenway, but moving Cozens). Still no clue with goaltending, defensive defensemen, or center strength -- you had ROR and Eichel (and Reinhart, who's proven to be a wing) and were like... nah, let's go with TNT (a winger) and Mittelstadt, who the coaches didn't like enough to start the season on the active roster over an 18 year-old Cozens, and Cozens himself who will also probably prove to be a wing in the long run.

No one is going to build a team around him or mistake him for an offensive dynamo, but Rodrigues is defensively sound and an excellent complementary piece to a line. This season, he spent the bulk of his time with Barkov-Reinhart. Then, last night, he was in the opening lineup with Tkachuk-Bennett, knowing that McDavid-Draisaitl was going to play together from the first shift.