DarthEbriate

This is the key to remember. Player excitement isn't going to happen anytime soon. The bulk of the NHL still has some form of season robin/playoff to finish. Adams can wheel and deal with the other ousted teams, and he can start up with our RFAs and prepare for the draft. He does have 3 months to get all of the staff in place, etc., except of course, many teams aren't in the offseason yet, so getting people associated with other franchises might be slow/tricky.

The owner's vote of confidence is rarely a good thing. It could have as easily have been "JBot is our GM. We wanted to wait for the NHL's decision on handling the season and playoffs for this year, and then we'll do a full end-of-year review with GM JBot and other members of our staff, just like we always do." It didn't need to include anything about unpopularity with fans or we know some inner information... It's ok to say "We're taking our time" especially this year where everything was in flux and still is, season/playoff/draft-wise.

Well. Obviously it's much too early to say whether Adams will be good or bad. He certainly doesn't have the picks/assets to play with (like GMTM had). But he does have a lot of RFAs that he can move about or let walk. I've defended JBot more than my fair share, but that's mainly because he wanted to ice a fast team and he wanted to make ROC a stable place to play for incoming youth (and let's face it, I picture him as GM Lobot and how cool is that?). And for vision to become reality takes some time. Some time has passed and his execution wasn't there. Now, GM Kevyn gets his 3 years to mold the roster to his liking and his approach. So now we're truly off the Eichel-prime timeline and into the Dahlin-timeline in terms of one-ice talent. Adams does get the opportunity to represent the Sabres for the Lottery drawing, and I hope for his and our sakes the balls bounce favorably and we're at 1-2-3, rather than 8th again.

Is the viewscreen ready for a remote teleconference? Yes. Ok, good.... You have failed me for the last time, General (M JBot). Captain Kevyn? Make ready to draft new players from beyond our current nets, and hire new staff and free agents, so that we're ready to deploy the RaKru system. You are in command now, General M Kevyn! Also, RaKru's not a system, he's a man.

Good morning, everyone! Well, let's just take a quick look at the news... Whhaaaaat? <spinning off into space>

Every year a team loses a player or two they might want to keep -- whether via free agency or health-related. Or even trade. That's perfectly normal and fine. Tons of attrition and all. And you're absolutely right -- in a vacuum it's fine. But it's losing all that D stockpile and garnering nothing back of value. In fact, it could easily be argued that trading the Scandella-pick for Frolik was a negative value because of the impact on the cap and next year's cap for bonuses. We must release our anger. Only our hatred can dest... It's more that accentuating the positive within this stockpile of defensemen is getting harder and harder to do.

Good to see he's ready to make the pond-hop. There's room for lots of minutes in Rochester since our Pilut defected to the Rebellion Bodhi Rook style and Redmond also took an opportunity on the DEL. Let's go, Laaksonen! Get on the attack. I was unfamiliar with Farrance at draft time (of course, I'd never even heard of Laaksonen), but Farrance is putting up excellent numbers in the NCAA. I hope for our sake that Laaksonen is the better long-term pick. Edit: grammar fix

Defensive surplus: LHD Scandella + Pilut (AHL All-Star) + Hunwick / RHD Bogosian + Redmond (AHL All-Star) = Carry the one.... 19 games of Frolik.

Paraphrasing @dudacek from over on Reinhart thread, it isn't. The 8.7 from Yerdon's article just doesn't make sense. And as Dudacek has been reminding me, Reino's leverage will be the bridge deal to save the Sabres money... (aside: while we had to pay ROR and extend Kane/signSkinner...eek) while he bet on himself. While he's been good, he's not been great. That 8+ is reserved for point-per-game or elite goal-scorers which Reino has shown each season he is not. He's a solid 1W/2W, savvy guy. And his major drawback is a team drawback in that we don't know how he'll respond to playoff hockey and being finished on each check and harassed and held. I'm of the mind that 6.5 should be his cap based on comparables. @dudacek , at risk of putting any words to his mouth, is in the 7 range because of the bridge. And you're right -- there is no breakout. Yet. We have to hope that he signs low-ish, and then has that breakout and sustains it for several playoff-filled years.

Discourse is a point of view, Anakin. The ‘Spacers and the Media are similar in almost every way. Including their quest for greater power knowledge and understanding of the Ehrhoff/Moulson (and by extension the Sabres). In the few years here at the bottommost of the standings, I’ve found the discussions here to be almost the opposite of toxic. Yes, folks get excited and derailed and offended sometimes, but the mods are usually quick to settle us down (great job by all y’all, by the way). Compared to most online forums on almost every topic this ‘Space is quite enlightening. You can blame me for that as well. I usually just quote a certain set of films... um... I am NOT a committee!

Figrin D'an and the Modal Noses (Because they don't appear to have noses. Nostrils sure, but no protruding nasal structure. Am I doing this right?)

My step-up/leveling is admittedly #FancyEbriateStats based solely on Sam's .63 Pts/G vs. Nylander's .72 Pts/G. ;-] But when I look a Nylander in a little more detail, I think I'd argue he should have even better production numbers, and is probably a touch overpaid for his play (which would mean Sam should also not get up that high in salary). Nylander's RFA-unsigned/holdout year resulted in a 7/20/27 season in 57 games played, which is way off his averages. He also played a full minute less per game and had dismal PP numbers compared to his normal production. His Pts/G and overall points should really be higher. Reinhart might "disappear" for games at a time, but at the end of the year his numbers are close year-in and year-out. Nylander has a definite low season. I'm starting to really think 6.5M has to be the ceiling, and like you say, hopefully we get a Teravainen-style deal. That would allow more flexibility for a 2C. And Dahlin.

I'm not so good at crunching the numbers, so I admit better researchers will have better results. As I'm looking at pts/game (Reino is at 0.63) and consistent 20 goals, but not a ton of points and "big/skewing years". The comparable guys I'm finding are Konecny, Teravainen, Keller, and Ehlers. Keller is the outlier -- he got 8x$7.1M! It kicks in next year. That's how Reino wants to get paid. But, Keller is also up at .68 pts/game. And Arizona had to pay him. More realistically, Reino is like Konecny, Teravainen, and Ehlers. Super-solid top 6 players going into their prime, but not the next level up W. Nylander, K. Connor. Those other three are: Konecny 6x$5.5M. Teravainen 5x$5.4M. Ehlers 7x$6M. I've got to think somewhere near 6x$6M would be a good target. 5x5.5 up to 7x6.5, or go short-term and renegotiate if/when we come out of a COVID recession.

Per CapFriendly, it's Zetterberg at 6.083M cap hit. In the area are Larkin, Marchand, Turris, and Taylor Hall. All slightly older contracts. Hall will net a significant raise this offseason, depending on the cap implications of the recession. And then Filip Forsberg and William Karlsson, right at 6M and 5.9M respectively, at similar Pt/Gm. https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active/2020/caphit/all/forwards&p=2

Perhaps Pilut was only ever going to be an AHL All-Star caliber D. I think he could've been the 6/7 and play PP2 just fine, with the right 3rd pairing partner. Bogosian, Pilut, and Hunwick were all injured to start last season (known all summer), with Hunwick likely already known as LTIR. And Montour got hurt in preseason. So it's good on JBOT to go get defensive depth in Jokiharju. But then you have to have a plan to get back to regular numbers. Into December and January we had 2 defensemen routinely playing forward in Rochester, plus routinely dressing 7 defensemen in Buffalo (of which Bogo was one). That is mismanagement of assets. Now, it's taken care of itself. Scandella was traded for peanuts. Bogo was let go. Redmond (AHL All-Star caliber) walked. Pilut (AHL All-Star caliber) walked. I think Hunwick has retired. Maybe McCabe or Pilut should have been traded with more value earlier. The team that really suffers from this depletion is Rochester, who lost two top-end offensive D that the team really relied on. The hope is that Bryson and others step up and learn quickly.

What!? <hit by adjacent TIE Fighter> Did someone suggest hiring Milbury as Sabres GM? The guy who visibly seethes when he has to talk about Buffalo on NBCSN? He'd trade Eichel to Boston for a 4th and retain salary, then abandon ship back to the broadcast booth. Plus, his history as a GM taking over a rebuild and jettisoning all good young D-men, leading to 6 more years of missing the playoffs doesn't bode well. Eventually, his team's did make the playoffs (trading for Peca helped a bunch), but they never made it past the first round. <end rant as my ship has spun out into the reaches of space>

Johansson played a few during that final streak and he just wasn't ready to support a team that was floundering (the really solid Colorado game notwithstanding). It's cliche but your best PKer has to be the goalie and Hutton and Johansson were not doing the team any favors. Take away Hutton's hot start (why we were in 1st place for a bit) and he was awful last year. Thankfully, goalies can wildly vary from season-to-season so maybe this next season he'll be solid. Bring back an even slightly-improved Ullmark and we'll likely be within the regular league-wide range. If Asplund is an above-average NHL PKer then he'll earn a 4th line role on the team.

The Stars definitely didn't run away with it, and I'll bet Hatcher was taking the Sabres seriously midway through game 1, let alone in game 4. ;-] Agreed, that 1999 squad and Rollie the goalie were still very solid. In hindsight, the Stars were probably the worst matchup for the Sabres that year because they were sooo good defensively playing in '99 rules with Hitchcock's system and that roster. At least with the Avalanche or Red Wings it would've opened up more and possibly benefited the Sabres to an extent -- though Sakic/Forsberg and Yzerman/Fedorov... you know, pick your poison. Of course, losing Grosek (20 G) on the first shift of the Final, and having Satan on one ankle all series didn't help either. Still these games are fun to watch. Anecdotally, you're absolutely right. I'm not bothering with research either, but I can't think of "transcendent/Hall of Fall" players who then became great coaches or managers, rather they were helpless/feckless/reckless as coaches. But a guy who was a player who never quite made it or was a career backup, or the outlier is maybe anybody who was a catcher in baseball... those guys can hack it.

The presser or the proof of a heartbeat?

Note: One superstar in Hasek. Those posted '99 games are amazing fun. They're all tense because they're generally low-scoring, but in each of the Eastern match-ups it's apparent the Sabres are the better "team". A nasty, forechecking, speed wagon of 2Cs and shot blocking. No matter which team came out of the West, that Sabres squad would have been underdogs. (Just go and look at the who's who of Dallas, Detroit, and Colorado of the late '90s.) But that was a really good team. And yes, they'd punish today's Sabres roster into submission whether playing by '99 rules or 2020 rules and officiating. (Although Eichel would still be the most talented skater on the ice and would get his points ala Mats Sundin, but it wouldn't matter in a playoff series.)

Eichel has to make what he deserves. He was drafted to a bad team, but he's not entitled to anything and he chose to re-sign here long-term. As to approving trading him, sure they would. They care about their reputation and they're generally empathetic as well. If Eichel lashes out and starts going AWOL or just starts collecting his paychecks, or if he demands a trade, they'll clear it. Remember, if Gretzky can be traded, anyone can be traded. I always go back to the simple (and agreeably soooo over-the-top trade it's not really viable except that it happened) Herschel Walker trade. Buffalo stinks (like the Cowboys did) so they have they own high draft capital. If some team offers a Herschel Walker deal for Eichel I would take it, because I trust in my own GM-capability that I can ice half a team in what I get in exchange. It's riskier in the NHL than the NFL because the draft picks are younger, but still the overall the assets could net half a roster. Note: I wouldn't accept a Herschel trade until after I see what I have in Dahlin and Cozens (ala Aikman and Irvin/Norton, who were already on the Cowboys at the time of the trade. If I trust them, then it's a done deal).

You may fire (JBot) when ready....

Rebellions Stanley Cups are built on hope. I also believe in Eichel and I'm tossing in Dahlin. They can make this happen, but they can't do it alone. I think JBot is capable enough to give them a chance if the breaks go their way and he learns/improves on the job with experience. Nothing JBot has done thus has shown me he will make it easy for them, or will build the team into a top-notch franchise that competes year-in and year-out (e.g. formerly Detroit, currently TB and Boston). Thankfully, you don't need to be an annual top-notch team to get the breaks in the playoffs and earn a Cup. There's always hope in sports.

A-ha! But there are 31 teams in the league... oh... excluding Vegas. Errrm... <cape-loosening neck tug plus the cartoon sound, you know the sound... you're making it now>

This is all too true. We aren't in a cap hell. And we won't be threatened by it until we extend Dahlin. Once we have Eichel and Dahlin both at 10+ or so (wrench caveat: salary cap TBD once the COVID economy settles) then JBot will have the opportunity to put us into cap troubles. That's when we'll need a cap-savvy GM (be it JBot or his successor). JBot has "kicked the can down the road" to refer to the article, or been treading water, when really we needed to take advantage of having 2 excellent young players who aren't yet breaking the bank.