DarthEbriate

The only infraction worth calling. They’ve had so many comebacks this postseason it’s absurd. You have to run up the score on them.

Skate save to keep it even. No trip or interference on Lundell? Because it’s too late in the game for that.

DeBoer has coached his teams (FLA, NJD, SJS, VEG [pre-Eichel], and DAL) to the following # of post-season games played: -, -, -, 24, -, -, -, 24, 6, 10, 20, -, 20, 19, -, 19, 19, 18 There are some playoff misses, especially early on with bad Florida. And SJS had a last-hurrah team, Vegas was very experienced rejects, and Dallas is stacked. But that's a surprising lack of first- and second-round exits. He gets good teams to the playoffs, and then he gets them to the Conference Final year-after-year-after-year. Ruff should be DeBoer's assistant coach.

Quick prospect aside in the draft thread: Osburn has a good opportunity with a very young Badgers squad the next two seasons -- he's their only incoming freshman defenseman this year and his offensive skills should earn him PP time this season, when compared against the returning members of the D-corps. As to NHL talent, their other NHL D prospects are Phelan and Schulz who are definitely not offensive studs.

Good call. 5 drafts? Sheesh, Ryan Johnson is old. Too old to begin the training. For everyone else keeping score on LSD: Osburn 4th, Geary 6th, Keohane 6th, Panocha 7th, Novikov 6th

Kreider plus 2025 4th (104) to ANH for C Carey Terrance (2023 59th [OA]), and 2025 3rd (89). No retention. Sabres 2023 draft equivalent version would have been either Strbak (no!) or McCarthy (no, I don't like that either). Terrance just wrapped up his age-20 in the OHL as a less-than-point per game player who missed a bunch of games the last two seasons. He is not a big return and projects as a tweener even in 3 years. He's Bryson (sure!) or maybe Kozak (no, Kozak has a definite role). From the Sabres' perspective, I would've made this move a month ago for the rights to Marjala. That's the equivalent prospect. But to make this move (another LW), I have to already have made a move so I don't try to move... Quinn?... at a diminished cost or as a throw-in to a RHD move because I've already taken away his spot in the lineup. TL;DR: I'm glad the Sabres didn't do this one.

After a little more research and watching some videos on defenders, I'm adding Smith and Aitcheson to my order. I wouldn't expect the Sabres to take another LHD, but just in case. Based on the combine, I'm also clearing McQueen to join my 1st round with the caveat that he could easily be a regrettable tale of injury bust that this team cannot afford. The chances that he never realizes his potential and retires after only 250 GP spread across 6+ seasons with 3 franchises is... Never tell me the odds! If the Sabres make the pick at 9, in order left-to-right, and grouped: Ecstatic Wookiee arm-waving with: Misa, Schaefer, Martone "Yippy!" with: McQueen (if you're a card player, gambler, scum), Desnoyers, Martin, Hagens, Bear, Aitcheson Here we go again with: Eklund, Smith, Carbonneau, O'Brien, Frondell Double-crossing no good smuggler with: Mrtka, Reschny, Cootes I still think O'Brien is my Sabres sleeper pick. They've seen him a bunch because of Leenders and they need a true distributing center within the pipeline (and on the roster, but the #9 pick is not for the roster, thankfully).

Not if the person after Ruff who is the primary influencer (Jarmo?) doesn't undo the core of Dahlin, TNT (and I'd add Tuch, Benson, and Muel... ha! kidding, just seeing if people are reading closely, though I still need him as the oft-injured Muel-PO to R2-D6) and push them all for new futures and a new direction. Keep Dahlin and TNT, and get that goalie, top-4 RHD, and exchange Quinn for a bottom-6 SOB, and you're at least on the path. Still need a top-6 C for whenever Norris is hurt, but... Adams has difficulty doing more than one thing per offseason, so... With regards to changing direction: for example, like going full toughness, instead of Florida's style of toughness (great players like Marchand, Ekblad, Bennett, Tkachuk who also happen to be tough). If someone comes in and ships out Tuch for a D-Lo type, we're ######, yes. But you can absolutely move Lafferty for a D-Lo type.

You mean, I couldn't get a #2 overall pick who's gotten better every single year and is going to be on a cost-controlled 3-year RFA contract for 3 years (Reinhart) in exchange for a late 1st round pick and a goalie prospect who is at least 3 years away and I have Bobrovsky and highly-touted Knight. So I gave up a late-1st and a 7th for an immediate top-6 forward who I had for 3 years at a very fair wage. I got the player I want, because Sheevyn's hand is always the one being forced.

Once upon a time, Florida sucked, and it was beginning to look dire for their new core. Like...when were they gonna get good? All they had was a lost bubble qualifying round (and one good blip season several years prior with Gallant). And they had, seemingly, a horrible contract in Bobrovsky getting $10M to be non-Vezina level. But when Zito came in, he didn't convince the owner and immediately trade away former 1st (Ekbald) and 2nd (Barkov) overall picks to reset the core. Instead, he built around them with fantastic acquisitions (Verhaege, Bennett for that 2020-21 season) culminating in the Tkachuk trade in 2022. And now players want to go there. By contrast, Adams unloaded Eichel and Reinhart for Tuch and futures.

I wouldn’t offer anything of fair value to Adams if I were an opposing GM. I know that Adams always has a deadline to meet and an owner to appease.

Right, but where did that link come from? Rolston was the US U18 head coach, but the folks on the Sabres staff were Regier, Numminen, Patrick, and our good friend Adams. None of them had a USNTDP connection to sell Regier/Pegula on Sabres University. Clarification: The interim promotion was from two years in Rochester... but who was the key instigator in getting him from USNTDP into Rochester?

Who promoted Rolston? Who was the ringleader in the USNTDP-only hiring process?

Think about the futures! Just ship out the old core for the new McKenna tank.

He had more points than Hedman or Morrissey. If the Sabres had somehow made the playoffs after 13 seasons, with the team going something like 0-11 with Dahlin out of the lineup, he'd at least have been 4th. And he'd have gotten Hart votes as well.

Just make the playoffs and he's 4th last season. Hughes, Werenski, and Makar had fantastic statistical years.

There's a Star Wars meme... someone else who does memes can generate it. Padme: That's a 1st round pick. Plus. --- Padme: That's a 1st round pick plus, right? Sheevyn? --- Edit: Yup. Someone replace Anakin's smirk with Adams' smarmy press conference smirk and we're on to something.

It’s so gross. What are they all doing now? They’ve all forgotten the cross checks and cheap shots days later. The regular season should start on 10/1 and end on 4/15. Four playoff series get completed by the end of the first week of June (ideally by 6/1 itself). Second week of June is the combine. Draft the final week. UFA July 1.

If you're the Sabres, you only trade JJP to get a better player in return. He's the Tuch, someone else is the Eichel. At the moment, that "available" player is Roberston. If you're Dallas, you can't pay Robertson and Rantanen both 10+, even with the cap going up. But you could pay JJP 8, and he will learn to play a better all-around game or his teammates will break him -- it's a conference final contender every year.

To the bold: And Buffalo is (or at least was) a favored American market, just like Detroit. I imagine the league was ecstatic when Pegula purchased the team, because finally the team that refused to pay Peca, had been in league control, and lost Hasek, was finally going to spend, build an arena/facility/hotel to host tournaments, etc. This was a market that had high ratings on NBC regardless of who was playing. And then... they spent their money on Leino, Ehrhoff, Moulson, and broke LaFontaine, and announced they were tanking 2 years before McDavid and... they've gotten what they deserved. --- For LTIR, it's been obvious every season. Just schedule those surgeries and announce the timeline to return as springtime and you're good. Landeskog could've played in the regular season (and I'm glad he's back -- three seasons was too long without him), but the timing was garbage. Evander Kane, too. I don't want LTIR to be tied to on-ice only. You'd get stacked teams take on two guys who would gladly rotate. It's fine because only one can play --- but you're removing the talent from elsewhere in the league. Give me a cap floor that is close to the cap ceiling -- you want to have an NHL team, you need to spend a lot, but not too much. Flatten it so there are not any Pittsburgh Pirates teams spending way less than anyone else and just collecting the revenue sharing. If you don't want to play, then you don't get a team. I go back to: have LTIR last until 7/1 every year. Once you apply that tag, they're out until next year and you can replace them via trade or UFA, but you must be cap compliant on every pre-, regular-, and post-season day. You can go over the cap during the 7/1-August signing period. Once practice starts, you're under the cap.

His respectability, and that of his boss, are well-earned leaguewide.

I'd bet you could get NYI's 1st (Schaefer) easily enough with that, plus some current pieces to stay at the cap floor and help the Isles stay compliant. Then move those. Then, re-sign Byram long-term and roll out a top-4 LHD machine: Byram-Dahlin Power-Schaefer It's just what JBott and Housley always wanted!

Waylon Smithers is one of the most competent characters in the entire Simpsons character catalog. And although it's rare because he loves his boss, he does routinely go against Burns' wishes or confront him when he's too evil. We haven't seen a sliver of the backbone in Adams that Smithers has shown.

You could try to do a Parise-Suter double deal for the both of them, but I think other teams will be more enticing. 4x$10M for Bennett and 4x$9M for Ekblad -- gives them both a "window" to turn the team into winners and another shot at UFA when they're still in their early 30s and the cap is theoretically even higher. Would need to trade Byram and buyout Muel, and have that pipeline provide at least 2 forwards (Helenius/Wahlberg) and a 3rd pair of Novikov-Strbak by year 2.

Edmonton thinks they’re getting under Florida’s skin. It’s just not happening. Florida thrives on this. You gotta be careful because at some point Marchand is just gonna slew foot McDavid when you don’t have any more tough guys left on the ice.