DarthEbriate

And the other half, Adams has been lollygagging his way through an internal cap and a pleased-as-punch owner. EDM has been resilient and unkillable all…. Reinhart makes it 2 again.

Verhaege has been very good for a long time now. Long time. If you’re gonna run the goalie, do it proper like an Ekblad elbow.

From Fairburn in his Sabres' combine summary article, McQueen and his camp said that the secondary injury last season that took him out of the lineup after he'd returned from the back fracture was a muscle strain related to said fracture. There shouldn't be long-term effects from it, and he completed a full testing at the combine. He could be fine. His potential is among the highest of the forwards and he probably doesn't make it to 9. I'm not sure it's wise to let him get past 9 (even if Martin were still on the board). He's almost as big as Thompson but is a legit center, not a winger, and although he's not flying out of position to go hit people, he's plenty physical.

In 2010-11, Crosby played 41 of 82 games. In 2011-12, Crosby played 22 of 82 games. In 2012-13, Crosby played 36 of 48 games. HC DDB was able to get that Penguins team to finish 1st, 2nd, and 1st in their division because the roster wasn't just Crosby. The GM was doing a good job, too.

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.