DarthEbriate

Good kill. Fairly boring. But if we were in the building we'd be hopping.

Aaaand this is where Eakin, Rieder, Lazar, and Sheahen can make their pay.

He just needs needs needs to learn how to play the man. He's so absurdly quick-handed that he thinks he can always play the puck. And sometimes you just need to stand the guy up and let the puck drift on by.

Hey. Solid response. It's 5 minutes later... a couple chances given up, but Ullmark was there. And we haven't gone into a shell. We get the puck and we're still heading up ice and attacking and creating our own chances. They aren't going full Alamo Death Star mode.

Now we need to respond, not fold like we've done the last month. This is an important stretch of the entire post-RaKru experience.

That blast came from The Montour! That guy's operational?!

Woooooooo!

Hey... we're in the lead. Outshooting them. We've got nearly a full PP to start the 2nd that we forced by being aggressive. Jokiharju got an easy wide-open shot because he wasn't already exiting the zone, and we got multiple people involved in a board battle... This looks like a concerted team effort. It looks like the RaKru is starting to wear off. And yes -- it's the Flyers and not Boston, Pitt, Washington, or the Isles. But they still look better.

Jokerrrrrr!

This is why we can't have nice things. Also RIP Jessica Walter.

Huh... I didn't know our defencemen were allowed to stickhandle and drive down the boards in the o-zone.

Help us, Linus-Ullmark, you're our only hope! If he wants to be here, then yes re-sign Ullmark to a mid-to-low starter salary for 3-4 years. In that $3.9-4.4M range. The hits on him on the lower side are the obvious: injury history and no playoff experience. But he's a solid 1B if not elite. And he's awesome in shootouts. We can do much, much worse. Heck, we've been doing much, much worse. And half the league's teams would probably be better with him in their crease. He may not be the leader Miller was, or the superstar Hasek was, but he's capable of being a .920 guy with a good defense and definitely capable of playing hot for a couple weeks needed to steal a playoff series.

What the hell. Tonight... General, count me in.

I’m good with any hockey operations consultant/president type as long as the line of demarcation with ownership is clear. The owners can have final say on any ethical/moral standings [edit: and yes, the total budget for the team - either to the cap or "I just want to make a little extra cash on the side"], but I don’t want them involved in any day-to-day personnel operations, player salary determinations, trade valuations, or any scouting/hiring practices. Leave that to the hockey people that you hate. For example, if a player drunkenly drives his vehicle into … I dunno, a Tim Hortons or something, and flees the scene: then yes, the owner is well within their rights to say: “Unacceptable actions detrimental to the team. Move this player immediately.” What the owner cannot be allowed to say is, two years later after a moral incident, after very solid statistical campaigns as arguably far-and-away the best overall player on the team, when due a roster bonus, “Move this person immediately before payment for utter garbage that will cripple our franchise for years.” Then no. The owner is not acting with any interest to the franchise. And that’s where a hockey person and trusted team take the lead. They wait another day and then make the trade, money be damned. Or even better, they say, “Hey --- everybody go enjoy the offseason. This season ended poorly. We get it. Go rest up, and come back ready to go.” Likewise, we can call this the “Ehrhoff Principle” – an owner is welcome to say, “Did you see Player X in the recent Stanley Cup/Olympics/World Juniors? We gotta sign/trade for/draft him and that’s an order! And if we sign, it’s gotta be the biggest money so that everyone know we mean business and Buffalo has cash available. Look, a squirrel!” To which the hockey people need to be able, willing, and incentivized to say: “Thank you. We’ll take that under advisement.” And then make a fair market valuation, do scouting diligence, and make a reasonable inquiry. And be well prepared to offer Ehrhoff $4M x 6, or say “Leino, wanna play wing for $3M x 5?”, or trade Skinner at the deadline, or get a goalie with functioning eyes and stick with Kahun and a grinder… heck, even Wayne Simmonds vs. signing Taylor Hall, or any of the poor personnel/contract decisions that’ve been made that had to have been approved/pushed for by the owners. tl;dr Let people do the job you hired them to do.

Always two there are. A GM... and an apprentice. Once you start rolling in the third... folks start getting their limbs lopped off. Or just cut in half and needing spider droid leg assemblies.

No. They disappear and rehab. When they start practicing again they'll resurface to talk. Just like we've not heard from Girgensons or McCabe or Ullmark while he was out, too. Maybe if Eichel were a constant presence on social media he might do something, but that would be discouraged. The team doesn't want him talking about rehab and how close or not close he is to returning. For a true big-name presence (Eichel doesn't compare) when Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone -- both times -- he basically disappeared into the depths of IR until right before coming back. The only notes were the "he's throwing again" and "he's practicing again", but it was otherwise silent.

I do need to point out that at least GM Kheevyn got 2 picks for Staal, as for some bizarre reason JBot had had a team that missed the playoffs every season yet also had an overall draft pick deficit (6 picks per draft).

The cap space could be helpful in moving Hall. I still don't see how STL could do trade for him without a player waiving their NTC to come here... which is ridiculous unless they just want the early offseason. But even 1.6 could allow us to get a better player in return for Hall. If Hall were having a great season, a 1st + prospect + maybe some throw-in (like a 4th) would be the expectation. But he's not the same since his knee injury and especially not the same since joining our marooned-in-space star cruiser. He was always foremost a playmaker, but now that's all he is. Honestly, my expectation for him is the same as Staal. He's a UFA veteran rental in the top 6 who should at least get us a 2nd. His salary and everyone else being up against the cap means we almost have to take back player/salary for him with lower pick(s) to supplement.

MTL is holding TBL's 2nd round pick (#56-64) and that's what we should have gotten for him as soon as we agreed to retain 1/2 his salary. After quarantine, they're getting him for 1/3 of the season (much more than a typical 1/7 of a season at a standard trade deadline), plus playoffs. They're not guaranteed to make it yet, but they're in 4th position with 5+ games in hand on the teams trailing them in the standings, so their odds are really good. Standard established top-6 vet rental = 2nd round pick. If Bergevin were trading Staal to a contender, he'd net a 2nd (just like Scandella last season). And all this said, I'm glad we got something for him. Check. All the positive experience/leadership things we said about getting him this offseason will be said about him again when he gets to Montreal. It's another little detail they should've paid for. Even at the end here on the Team of Discontent the players liked him off the ice, he's good in the room, etc. He'll go to Montreal, get re-motivated by the chance at winning and playing in the playoffs and be fine. (And I don't mean great, I mean fine. He'll be asked to play bottom 6 center, benefit from better coaching and motivated coworkers, and look more like a real hockey player again.)

GM Kheevyn's phone had better be ringing off the hook after he traded a veteran Cup-winning veteran center and retained salary for a 3rd and 5th. A 3rd is expected to get to the AHL. A 5th is a complete crapshoot, but basically isn't going to amount to anything. And yes, Staal was unfocused, borderline-negligent garbage this season and we're better off without him. But once you sell an asset well below value, you'll have to fight to get anything close to market value for the rest of the garbage. Into the garbage chute, GM. MTL Bergevin is happy to trade with us. Now STL is happy to trade with us. Cap-wise I don't see how STL can manages it unless it's absurd (Hall plus 50% retention for Sundqvist, Dunn, and Kyrou). All their contracts are on NTCs.

The standard rate on a veteran rental with Staal’s prior pedigree is a 2. So it had better be Tampa’s late 2nd. And out of sheer decency MTL should add the 4th they swindled from JBot last season. Accept nothing less.

Ready, are you? What know you of ready? For 14 straight games have we suffered Sabres losses. Our own counsel will we keep on when to start a Game Day Thread. A 'Spacer must have the deepest commitment, the most serious take. <talking to The Concept Of> This 'Space long have I watched. Never their minds on where they were. Hmmm? Who they were playing tonight! Hmph. Trading Eichel for 4 picks? Heh! Fixing the defense? JJ's first shootout 0-fer for another team. Heh! The Concept Of the 'Space craves these things. <turning to us all> You are reckless! And watch, we will. Yes, yes. Bad hockey. Come. We must drink.

<Arttu dragging us across the floor in a net, torso and limbs all a-jumble > Of course I feel better! I'm still taking more of a hiatus, but seriously... all I had to do was step away from the Sabres for like... 2 losses in a couple days... and the solution presents itself? I should have taken a break earlier. I can't believe he's gone. (I just lost a whole planet of people to that ball, and you're moping about one old guy who self-sacrificed so he could talk to you in your brain??? Selfish! I'm totally going to fall for the a-hole pilot now.) Hey, we're not out of the this yet. GM Sheevyn still needs to firesale the rentals for the playoffs, get what he can, and the players need to start looking like they've played competitive hockey before again. And... hopefully the owners will get an NHL coach, and NHL AGM, heck, even a President of Hockey just to provide the vision. Here they come! cue the music <Tie Fighter Attack or Here They Come> depending on your source material.

Side note: I also have come to the realization I'm paying way too much attention to a horribly run and ineffective franchise that really isn't giving me back enough joy for the investment. So --- I'll be back. Just like the Emperor, somehow I'll return. But I'm planning to get away until the trade deadline. Keep the spirits up, 'Spacers. GM Sheevyn will hopefully throw Chancellor RaKru over some railing-less pit soon and we'll get a real coach. And then get a goalie. And get going on a brighter future. Stanley Cups are built on hope! I'll miss y'all in the meantime. True. Heck, maybe Terry even was the driver. Either way.

I like them, too. I'm not sure if they'll do 2 games against other conferences or whether I'll buy two sets of tickets when the Sabres make it to Seattle or Vancouver next -- probably still just the one game -- but it is a cool idea all around. Big, fun weekends. And some animosity to build up from one game to the next.