DarthEbriate

I concur. The knock on Pettersson is he's not going to pay the price and outwork people, but he will dangle and shoot from the perimeter. He'd fit in with the current Sabres roster. You could argue that having TNT and Pettersson, who are both capable of being 1st line centers, would be excellent. The issue becomes, if you have one of those guys as your 1C, your 2C really must be an all-around stud to get the hard and defensive minutes. Cozens hasn't become that guy. McLeod would likely be a bit overextended in that role, but then you're playing TNT on Pettersson's wing.

This is where the fun begins! And by fun, I mean I'm busy tonight and won't be able to watch the game. It's really too bad.

It really would be the sithiest thing to do for Sheevyn to convince Darth Pegulas the Wise to start another rebuild. "The core of Eichel/Reinhart/Risto/Ullmark was rotten. Now, the core of TNT, Tuch, Dahlin, and UPL are rotten. I'm sure that if we combine our strengths, we will unlock the Power of the Concept. And we shall have Playoffs.... "Just give me 5 more years."

A 12-game losing streak for a team that was claiming to be ready to go to the playoffs win-or-consequences in the preseason is a fireable offense. But who in this fourth-rate franchise is capable of firing someone based on performance and not based on money owed?

I hope the Sabres win tonight, win out, and then go 16-0 in the playoffs. Hopium is way beyond a gateway drug.

Granlund has never been known for defense, but he is capable of putting up 2C points. I just don't think San Jose would move him for a lowball offer until the deadline -- he provides a solid veteran scoring buffer for their kids. This probably effectively ends Greenway's time with the Sabres, which is too bad because his skill set is something any NHL team can use in its 3rd (honestly, 4th line going into the future) line. Along with Zucker he has certainly been the most consistent forward this season.

Do the graduates go to Sabres University?

Even an unprofessional no-hockey ops background GM would want to spend to the cap and have control. Except Adams, of course.

The game versus Chicago will be for last place in the league. I like the Sabres' chances. It's been way too long since a Pegula-era Sabres squad was last in the league.

Like Eichel, Reinhart, ROR, hell, even older kids like Okposo, etc. The fun thing is that if you like them as players, they can be unruined in short order by other franchises.

Maybe I was selling the Habs short?

You can't stop Cozens, you can only hope to contain him.

So... Dahlin is just accumulating Hart votes at this point, right?

Can’t blow a 2-goal lead if you’re playing from behind. That’s smart thinking, right there.

Is Pegula going to stay and watch the game in person? Or did he just mosey through Montreal for his Sabres appearance of the regular season? Montreal smells all the blood. Youppi revels in blood. Habs 6, Sabres 1

This looks right. It's easy to give up 3 goals in 3 minutes when you've got all those pucks in play.

After the riot, sitting on the curb with hands zip-tied, bleary-eyed from the waves of tear gas, @Weave waits to be put on the bus to somewhere for processing and is heard to utter, "I've lost my love for the riot. I don't want to be here anymore." The Sabres cop cuts the zips and cheerily replies, "Well, off you go then. Don't forget to come to Fan Appreciation Night in April!"

You don't trade away a top 5 pick (draft #6 after another team moves up in the lottery). That's a player you can immediately plug into your starting lineup. He's on an ELC which provides economical advantages compared to other teams. And he's effectively learning on the job. It's the efficient way to go.

Vegas is about 6 weeks away from being in good enough shape record-wise to LTIR someone with a recovery time that aligns with the start of the playoffs. Then, they've got that convenient month of prep time before the trade deadline.

Yes. Yes. Not yet. The loser of Habres-Sabres tomorrow will be in last place in the Atlantic.

Ah, my bad. I listed instead of quantifying. The top-15 picks are the ones you expect to contribute in the NHL and any lower picks being just gravy. The Lightning have had to have some of those amazing picks (Kucherov, Point) because they've only had 4 top-15 picks since they bottomed out for Stamkos/Hedman. Those other four are Connolly, Koekoek, Drouin, and Foote. Drouin and... nothing. All told, the Lightning have had 6. The Sabres have had 11. It should be enough high-end talent to build a solid core as the Lightning did. And then you can hit on a couple mid-round home runs to boot (Hagel). The issue, as always with the Pegula-era Sabres, are the players aren't necessarily a good fit, there's a bad culture, poor leadership, and GMs changing up the team to match their visions and therefor jettisoning the not-my-guys of previous regimes, and so on. And palm trees. Edit: Had to do some more research for this one. Reinhart was on the 2nd with Krueger, but finished the season under Granato on the top line between Skinner and Olofsson. Asplund-Mittelstadt-Thompson rounded out the top 6.

Heck, I could be GM for the Sabres. There's no reason to suspect it would take me longer than Adams to make the playoffs. Future internet posters could all say "yeah, they made the playoffs, but it was with Adams' roster." As if that mattered. I wouldn't even need to be the owner's toady!

Hagel is a tier below, but he's certainly been a good pick (for someone else). The problem is, unlike Tampa, the Sabres didn't need to hit lower round home runs because the following top-15 picks are still active in the league: Myers, Ristolainen, Nylander (sorta occasionally), Reinhart, Eichel, Mittelstadt, Dahlin, Cozens, Quinn, Power, and maybe Savoie someday.

They really are on the Power timeline. When Power is 27 years old, that's when the GM and owner expect this team to be competing for championships. Don't worry, because Dahlin and Samuelsson will still be under contract in 2029-30.