DarthEbriate

Agreed - we don't need a team of DLo/Kaletas, but we do need the willingness to finish a check throughout the lineup. Really, the only routine hitters (and none of them known for it) are Girgs, Larry, and Okposo (and we wince for him when Okposo hits the boards). The question is, of the top 9, who is hard to play against? Eichel can be maddening for opponents; Reino and Eichel make a very good forechecking duo with their positioning and explosiveness, respectively; and Skinner has a good bit of pest in him, with the bad penalties to support it. It's back to our middle six being just... blase.

Agreed on the former. As to the latter, everybody gets knocked down. Larry did. Girgs did. Sam definitely did. They've all improved a ton at maintaining balance in all the varied battles and situations as the years progress. Even Crosby is knocked down a ton. Just get up quickly and get back in the play.

I think in a normal continually rising cap scenario he'd be foolish not to go to arbitration and UFA. But if the cap is lower in 3 years, even after expansion, then getting term and stability now, then taking a percentage of that high salary might be better for him. It's all unknown with a recession and loss of gate revenue.

The other bullet we need to consider with Adams with which we've only heard buzz-terms like "blue collar" is the style of player he wants. Just like we saw with GMTM and JBot, it's about your style of player, too. Reinhart is a good player, Kahun has shown flashes in the NHL. Tage and Mitts and Asplund have potential. None of them are physical that I've seen. Reino forechecks fairly well working the angles and plays the boards well positionally -- but no defenseman handling the puck at his goal line is worried about Reinhart finishing him into the glass. So --- in addition to 2C --- it's about how he stacks his roster to work together. And are all of these players trade chips rather than the kind of player GM Kheevyn wants. Adams may be satisfied with a Brian Boyle for all we know. Or he might want Malone as the 4C out of Rochester instead of Asplund.

Dahlin could bridge... but do we risk it? The really ugly thing is that NMC, because otherwise we could give Seattle a couple picks to take his contract (and a potential 30-goal guy). They might not bite, but they might. Or Okposo. If Terry and Kim want Hall --- then they're going to sign off on his cost, just like they did Leino and Ehrhoff and Moulson and Okposo. When they want the shiny thing they shell out for it. Besides, Hodgson will come off the books in a few seasons. ?

Signing Hall would be fun, but it would break the ability to create a realistic roster unless we can magically move Skinner. Or lose one of Reino or Olofsson. I mean --- it'd be fun in that you'd have tandems like Olofsson-Eichel, Hall-Mittelstadt, and Skinner-Cozens (mix-and-match as you see fit) --- but center depth is our biggest team need and all the cash would be with the left wingers (and Eichel and Dahlin). We'd be forced to play our young centers and risk the same consequences we've seen before.

How about naming rights? THE Ohio State Capital Town sponsored by Nationwide

Simmonds and Frolik! JBot had it all figured out last year. ?

I think Boston Sportswriter is still thinking that JBot is here and in "must-trade" mode like with ROR. So, what's an appropriately horrid JBot ROR-level deal with Eichel? Gotta balance the salaries, gotta ensure that Buffalo has centers to "help" burden the load for Cozens and Mitts. Krejci would be the perfect short-term bridge we need! --- but he's not going to waive that pesky NTC to come here. The problem is Boston just doesn't have bad contracts. And we're off! BOS gets: Eichel BUF gets: Coyle, Wagner, Beecher, 2021 BOS 1st, 2022 BOS 2nd Yuck! Good job, BS+JBot.

(Mods - please move us to the Reinhart thread if we're going too far into minutiae). If Reinhart isn't part of the core, and some team offer sheets him to $7.5M (which... maybe some GM does to test/strain that wacky Sabres organization? Doesn't seem likely any GM will use an offer sheet given the cap concerns). But, do you take a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for Reinhart knowing you've then got yet another top-6 hole to fill? Edit note: And what's the price/cost at which you match an offer vs. let him go? Adams needs to know that number if Reinhart isn't his "type" or part of the core.

The besten way toosa good team is through en da Newww Core. A new GM (Kheevyn) means 2 seasons to get his players in. I'm saying 2 instead of 3 years because there are so few folks on contract this season. He really can flip 1/3 of the roster if he wants. Kheevyn needs to determine which RFAs to keep, or trade, or hope to receive an overpayment offer on (doubtful, because of looming cap reduction). He doesn't dare let Reinhart or Olofsson get to arbitration though if he believes they're a part of the core. The question is: what kind of team does he want? Blue collar? So... grittier and heavier checking and fewer undersized defensemen who are labelled "puck movers"? The new core is probably Eichel, Dahlin, Cozens, and UPL. And Skinner by default. But 2 seasons for a new team to take shape because of the churn of yet another GM's players.

Happy Father's Day to all of you out there! And remember, don't be like my absentee father (later in life he hired me to help run his family business, but it didn't end nicely for either of us), and certainly don't be like me with my own kids... lots of regrets there.

Always draft the coolest sounding name. Bonus points if it sounds Star Warsy or if I can easily manipulate it into a character name.

GMKheevyn Help Guide, we will watch your career with great interest. (I'll chow on popcorn while reading this thread, and no disintegrations, well, limited quotations.)

I'd take the gig! And the salary. Not so much loving the hours it would likely take. Or the interviews and people writing garbage about me and my family. And... I'd be horrible at it. I'd set this franchise back years and never get another NHL job again. Based on that one thread that's floating around here somewhere, I'm using the name GM Sheevyn in my head. It's a lovely head canon to believe he's started his new Empire after being a phantom menace within the organization the last 10 years. Slowly breaking down the structure, gaining power, and executing a coup. "Execute Order E-E-E," he said, and lo! he was behind it all all along. Next, he's going to unveil himself on the Zoom Draft Lottery call with a hideously disfigured face and long dark robes and cackle through all his interviews.

While they do need to do/redo their draft board, they have a few months to do it. With 7 remaining scouts they should be able to get that done without worry. In the meantime, he needs to get busy on GM conversations (which he has said he's doing), finding a cap guru and start to get the RFAs prioritized, their salary offers estimated for different cap estimates, or be ready to move them. This is especially important because we don't know the cap yet, he has to have mitigation plans ready to roll in the event a) the cap stays even, b) the cap drops, and things like c) Reino pushes for arbitration and an early UFA vs. seeking something long-term.

That (especially Byfield!) would be amazing for the long-term. But for next year, 2020 1st C or Cozens would have to play wing for a year. I couldn't imagine we'd be very competitive with 2 rookie centers in the lineup. And likely, Byfield starts in the NHL, but Rossi or other 7-10 pick likely needs additional seasoning in the minors.

This comes down to JBot/Sexton/Greeley, though. Taylor doesn't pick his players. So if you want want to develop prospects, then get them to Rochester --- don't have them all on Ilves or in the NHL already (Jokiharju, Mittelstadt). Joker earned his way to the big squad, but he didn't need to be there to start the season -- they had adequately filled the roster to account for the injuries at the start of the season. If you just want to save money while we don't have AHL hockey, then yeah, I guess gut it. But then you have to rebuild everything again, and might have lost a decent coach. (And it looks bad to the next people you try to hire.) GM Sheevyn could have easily axed them next week after the candid conversations, or just let the contracts expire in 2 weeks. There was no need to slash the AHL staff.

I almost added a "/ Lazar" for the fourth, but figured to just promote Asplund vs. the RFA. Kahun is a also an unknown --- he may have higher upside than either of them although he's played mostly wing last season (because Malkin).

The question would be, are you comfortable going into next season with playing time among centers as: Eichel (pp, final pk shift) Larsson (pk) Cozens (O-zone, pp) Asplund (D-zone/pk) / Kahun

It's always the same two songs! C'mon, it's time to expand the set list.... What's he going to do, record a 45 single and... that's it?

Now is not the time for billionaires to make light of job loss. The ownership has often seemed out of touch with the regular populace -- "lifestyle" comments, etc. The optics of this would not help them. Things that are not the problem with the Sabres operation: 1. Eichel. 2. Sabretooth.

Well... sure. If Cozens can average just under a point-per-game (albeit a huge percentage of O-zone faceoffs), skate 18 minutes, and be a plus player (so, overall somewhat defensively responsible) as a rookie and win the Calder hands-down. Sign me up. But as a GM, I'm not trusting him to do that any more than Mittlestadt should have been trusted to do the 2nd line role in his first year.

I guess this is the best catch-all thread for this speculation: one philosophical difference that stems from running Rochester as a place to develop more prospects simultaneously will be fewer European and collegiate draft picks. Yes, they're good for letting develop on their own timeline and then bringing them to ROC, but you'll need more CHL-ers if you want to have ROC stocked with more prospects. They can still have the veterans, and still grab the collegiate undrafted guys at the end of the season (or in spring, because seasons change). But -- you won't have their rights for up to 5 years while they develop.

And we need draft picks to make those picks. We have 6 picks this year and 5 in 2021 because of trades. We have fewer darts to throw at the wall, we can't give away all the ammunition (and in fact, should be reversing that trend to get additional picks for our vets). Like getting a 4th for Scandella instead of a 2nd... that's bad. But even worse is turning that 4th around for a once-solid but now washed-up rental.