DarthEbriate

I look at Borgen as anywhere from McCabe to McKee/Warrener (all 2nd-rounders). He can skate well enough, he was starting to get more involved offensively in Rochester two seasons ago. He projects out to 3-6D, and can be the stabilizing force for a young puck-moving partner. The thing is... he's cheap now. And if we were to keep him and sign him, he'd be a) still cheap, b) getting better each season, and c) because of how he plays -- becoming a fan favorite. He'll give us 6 solid seasons, ala McCabe, before he becomes the really cagey veteran who gets $4M (like McKee or Gorges or Rivet) and then we have to let him go or trade him for a 2nd if we're missing the playoffs that season. If we lose The Concept of Borgen, we either get another Matt Irwin on the cheap, or we have to pay $4M for that grizzled vet that Borgen should become -- and still likely is on the 3rd pairing. At least, that's all my Concept of Borgen. We drafted and developed him... let's reap some of the benefits. Let he and Samuelsson become the next McKee/Warrener or McCabe/Risto (except better, because the team is hopefully better). All this novelization... and I'm still thinking we sweeten Seattle with a 5th-6th pick to take Miller who can be a PP2nd. JBot liked Miller a lot at one point and likely still does; Borgen was a GMTMer.

That's the key. Then Seattle needs to figure out what the Habs will give up to a) waive his NMC and b) keep Allen. Sure, he's not been great in the regular season recently, but neither had MA Fleury been before Pittsburgh let Vegas have him. Seattle needs to be on the pillaging path.

Re: Price. That's a gigantic cap it. 10M+ for years... but within 3 seasons the cap should start going up again. If I'm Seattle, I give MTL a call and ask for a 2022 or 2023 1st to relieve them of the burden of Price's cap hit. Or alternately, what kind of pick I can get for them to not lose the face of their franchise. See if I can make them sweat a little bit. If Seattle took Price and Driegder/Vanecek, their goaltending at the NHL level is set. And likely at $12M to bridge the backup... while super-high, isn't completely unreasonable. Montreal just did it.

Ah, yes. I'll edit to add. I like Ullmark a bunch, but this non-contact knee injuries scare the stuffing circuits out of me. In this day and age, unless the goalie is a Price, Roy, Brodeur, Hasek -- someone who has dragged and carried a team to a conference Final or further... no need to go to 7 or 8 years. Markstrom only got 6 last season, and it's unlikely any of the good-but-not-great goalies this 2021 UFA season get full-term contracts, either.

Absolutely, it did. We finished last in back-to-back seasons. Which netted us two 2nd overalls that we converted into the top-ranked centers (by general scout and TV talking head consensus) available at the time of our selection. And now... 4 times out of 7? seasons. We tanked and tanked and tanked most beautifully. We are a tank. A big, tall, walking tank. It's the next step after we've become the tank that looks like this:

Asleep... or just restin' his eyes. We could still protect Ullmark to prevent Seattle signing him during their exclusive FA window, then we can continue negotiating with him once the freeze lifts. Of course, there could be a handshake/knowledge between Seattle and Buffalo that they're signing Ullmark. In which case, protect Toker, who cares? But if I'm Seattle, I take Borgen, then sign Ullmark in regular UFA (despite possible competing bids) so I double-dip. Only being able to offer 7 years vs. Buffalo's 8 years is negligible. If I'm a GM, I'm not signing Ullmark to anything longer than 5 years anyway, given his [injury] history.

Red 10: We should be able to see it a trade by now. Red Leader: Keep your eyes open for those transactions. Red 10: There's too much interference!

Beyond the missed games, Eichel also has a notable number of games where he's played with noticeable injuries that impacted his game. All games this season (where he was essentially a shot decoy on the PP and had only the one EV goal all season, which was the beautiful drive to the net to redirect a perfect Reino pass and we thought "Jack is finally looking healthy again". He was also injured at the end of the 2019-20 season, with just 1 goal in the final 7 games of which we lost 6 in a row. Get a few more points in those 6 games and we'd have been in the bubble (with Ullmark back) vs. Pittsburgh instead of Montreal.

The danger is how much cap space will be available on playoff contender at that point. We'll only be able to retain half the salary. (And will we be out of it and selling, as we've been conditioned to be for the last decade, or on the cusp and buyers?)

Agreed, but I must also point out that when we were down 4 goalies to injury, late in the season and needing a 2nd intermission shakeup to earn a victory over the Islanders: the line shakeup moved Skinner away from #1 Reino, down past AMT, down past Sheahen-R2-Cozens... to the 4th line. Needing goals, Skinner was skating with Eakin-Caggiula. Reinhart collected an assist on the game-tying goal by Asplund, the GWG, and the insurance goal.

G Rasmus Korhonen. Definitely should be available later in the draft. Everything is proceeding as you have foreseen!

It was McKee, wasn't it? Just hated the way he played the game. 😇🍺

Matt Ellis wins the Jack Adams award within the next 5 years... as coach of the Sabres. He's the Matt Ellis of Jack Adams winners, as it were.

The villains are too numerous to count. Somehow.... _____ returned!

Ha! It appears Pronman forgot that JBot is now in Seattle and we can draft from the CHL again.

Precisely. Either move him now (maybe too close to the freeze for max value), move him on entry draft day, or move him at the trade deadline. The only other future is we make the playoffs and skate him into the ground as he becomes a UFA. And then watch somebody madly throw $7M x 7 years at him. Right now the buyouts, the trades... I don't want us to be the only team left standing when the music stops and we still have no goalie of value to protect and lose Borgen for nothing.

64 gazillion. Is that still played on a pyramid? Or are we up to hexagons? And now I'm going to listen to the $25,000 pyramid theme song in my head all day to drown out the desire to check Sabres news. For sanity's sake.

This will be a couple days long remembered. It has seen the end of Ullmark, and it will see the end of the Eichwalker (as Sabres). Potentially.

I don't think the locker room is all that bad. HCRK was the cancer as far as I could tell. Once he was gone, and Hall sat down, that team looked interested and engaged. The only disappointing thing is we didn't get to see Eichel in that rejuvenated environment. Eichel could return in Granato's attacking offense and thrive. Yes, the kids would all need to learn how to play defense/playoff-style hockey when the time comes. But simply getting a real hockey coach and, and-and-and two NHL-caliber goalies might be enough to see Eichel reach new levels. And drive up his trade value before the NMC next season. Or not trade at all. It's all still possible.

GM Sheevyn's order 66 coup to take over as emperor GM of the team is later looked upon as the best move we've made, and the trade of Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, and Rasmus Ristolainen are mentioned as a beneficial turning point in the franchise history. The team sees tremendous franchise success (multiple playoff series wins and a couple deep runs) in the next 20 years. GM Sheevyn is beloved, but never hoists a Stanley Cup as a member of the Sabres organization. In 2040 we still have no Cup.

With Dumba off the board, Risto is definitely one of the better purely-RHD that could be available in expansion (Tanev, Rutta/Cernak/Foote). We know Seattle is planning to be analytics-driven and JBot was never able to trade Risto at a value JBot thought worthy. I can them easily taking him as a top-4 rental for a season and moving Ristolainen at the deadline (for a 2nd). For this season, I'd rather see Jokiharju-Risto-Borgen down the right side than Joker-Borgen-Miller. We need to sign a top-4 UFA RHD for the latter scenario. I still offer Seattle a 6th + Miller. a 6th + Pilut's rights, or a 5th + Eakin. And I'd really lean into protecting Borgen over Risto if we're gung-ho on a future-driven team of players who want to be here. If the plan is to trade Eichel and possibly Reinhart, then let's move Ristolainen now, too. Purge the remnants of the tank taint and start clean.

--Whoa! That got him. ++I see you, Wedge Jeff. Good work. Asplund, Thompson, and Bjork are all safe. (Alternately, this frees up a spot for protecting an acquired piece via trade.)

Love the Bride of the Monster explosion. They're standing 30 feet away!!!! And of course, MST3K does that episode (and it's tied to Manos with the lovely car-selling short "Hired!"). In a similar vein of explosion... great movies also end a "big meaning" monologue. Our owners/GMs could learn a lot from Peter Graves.... as could we all.

Eichel. And Reinhart? Be careful not to go too wild on your aspirations, GM Guerin. The Wild freed up $10M, but lose that space in two seasons. Kaprizov has leverage as an RFA because he can easily go play in the KHL if Minnesota doesn't give him a competitive salary. They should have to pay Fiala about $5.25 or so. They need to sign at minimum one UFA defenseman. The GM says he doesn't have to win a trade. They have a goalie who is .919/.915 the last couple years which is playoff-caliber/starter level on a very team-friendly deal. This is where the fun begins.

Ullmark's market value increases by the day.