mjd1001

Agree on the first part. +/- though? By itself it may be useless to many, but in context with other stats or simply observations It has some value.

I agree it is really slow. We just got back from Boston. Not exactly a city known for getting things done quickly..but the Seaport District...Its basically a brand new small city that has been build in the past 10-or-so years. All glass office towers, luxury apartments. Probably 15-20 (at least) 20+ floor buildings. Luxury apartments. Artwork and fountains along the street. Movie theaters, all kinds of restaurants, rooftop bars, brand new hotels, even some brand new subway stations (although its more of an underground electric bus). Yeah, I know Boston is bigger, but again, its not a city people are rushing to move to. And they took basically a bunch of abandoned warehouses and parking lots and turned it into a shiny new city about the same time, or less, than Canalside has been developed.

So, I haven't looked into the numbers that much, and maybe someone brought this up...but the Rangers were supposedly interested in Peterka, right? Is trading Kreider the start of moves to fee up money to put a decent sized/bigger offer sheet for Peterka?

Emotional drivers. We were coming back home from Boston last week and at one point on the Thruway there was a line of vehicles in the right lane going really slow (maybe 10mph under the speed limit, it was led by a slow truck). It took me a while to change lanes to the passing lane, because a lot of people behind me got over there before I could. So I'm patient, wait for an opening, and then when no one is left behind me, I move to the right lane. There was a woman in a small SUV that was WAY behind us, but she had to be going 80-85+ mph. She came up behind me. Now, I'm back up to speed, passing the slow left lane vehicles at a pretty good rate, but this woman starts tailgating us as I'm certainly not going 85, waiving her hands, and eventually she got to the flashing the headlights. I'm not holding up the right lane, I did not come close to cutting her off. I'm passing pretty quickly the 5 or 6 cars and trucks going under the speed limit in the right lane. I just don't want to drive well over 80mph like her, so how does that cause her to act like she does? On a side note, the Mohawk valley visitors center....NY state get your stuff together. The new WNY visitors center on Grand Island has people working there selling food and drinks, a mini-market area called 'taste ny' filled with NY state food and products, a large area to sit in, and clean bathrooms. The Mohawk valley one? Its not that much older, its tiny, it has 3 ev chargers all out of order, bathrooms that haven't been cleaned in a while (when we got there), and their 'taste NY' area is a few vending machines.

I guess you take what you can get... But a late first is pretty bad. Look through the history of late first round picks, very few of them actually amount to much in the league. You'd be trading him for the proverbial lottery pick, but one without a high expected payout. And even if you win, you're not going to get that payout for years.

I hate to be the guy who says this but... It depends both on the return... And what you would have to pay him to keep him here. That's really the cop-out answer, but it's true for me.

I like listening to him, but it seems like his 'sources' get things right 10 or so times a year, but he puts out hundreds of 'possibilities'. What he says is entertaining and occasionally correct, but you could make a lot of money betting against him all the time (maybe more so than other sources out there).

Just glad he's not here anymore.

Its not about just Peterka...its about Peterka IF they also get Marner.

On one hand, this guy is almost a 30 goal scorer already, a couple years in a row. On the other hand, if there is significant interest, trade him and work a deal, or wait, for equal value back. I personally thought (and mentioned on here several times over the season) that his overall game slipped. He was apparent as one of the guys who was a liability in the back to zones (next to Quinn and Cozens, I thought the worst offender of this.) Is a bad 2-way player, or was his head and heart not into it? Not sure. But, if you get offered a great deal, take it. If he is given an offer sheet, take the compensation (if its a high offer sheet) or match it and then trade him for the best offer. Either way, the team has options here. I get the feeling Peterka wants to be a in big city/big market (just a feeling). I could imagine quite the buzz in Chicago if they offer sheet or trade for Peterka AND sign Marner.

Can't disagree more. Why would buffalo have golf cart parking? That is part of the issue, it really can't. Its not the fault of the area but its something that guys like..park their car outside, have golf cars to take around an entire complex. If you don't see that its not an issue that Buffalo can't have it...but that others DO have features like that and players WANT that, then I can't help you. And yes, more players would come here if the team was winning, but its more than a distraction. For you to say its only a distraction is wishful thinking. If Buffalo was 'winning' and a team like Florida is 'winning' at the same level year after year....and a bunch of player were considering where to sign....when its a close decision, the ammenities that other places have that Buffalo does not can sway that decision. He was ahead of his time, sure, but the necessary follow-through was not there. If he did what he did, and the team was a consistent winner for the next 5-10 years, the momentum would have continued. The fact that they squandered the next 10+ years after allowed other teams to catch-up (and pass) what he did in short order.

Watch the video, read the article. How 'nice' the practice facilities are, how much room, how many things (lounges, golf cart parking etc) are not NEEDED for a good hockey team, but it certainly can be something a 20-something year old millionaire might prefer when making a decision where to sign.

Maybe this was discussed already, the video is a year old, but I just saw it and found it interesting. Make the jokes about Palm trees, but when you consider Buffalo is Buffalo, the Sabres need to do BETTER than other teams to get players to want to come here/stay here. After watching this video...how much more do the Sabres have to pay someone vs a team like Florida (or the other teams that are doing stuff like this) just to be on even gound?

I don't think there's much of a chance of Shanahan wanting to come here, or the Sabres wanting him. But it would be interesting. I don't think he'd be the type of guy to come in and just keep things the same...there WOULD be changes. And as for his shortcomings or 'failings' in Toronto...sometimes when a guy is 'good' but not 'great' in their first chance in a role...they learn from that and get better the 2nd time around.

Agreed.... Its not about getting a better player than Marner. 1) is what you can get with that cap space better than Marner in the playoffs (Marner has been good in the playoffs, but not $10m+ good, let alone $13m good). 2) Its also how are you improving yourself and to what degree. Suppose the player who takes Marner's minutes gives you 30% less production....but the 2nd player you get by splitting his cap hit among 2 players is 50% better than the bottom 6 guy or the 3rd pair D-man? You aren't getting the 'better player', but you are getting a better fit for your team. Now...Marner has been really productive in the regular season so you may have a net drop off in the regular season...but it isn't inconceivable that you can get a better fit in the playoffs with 2 less paid guys fitting in with the team well than you can with a "single" Marner that has not performed well recently in the post season. For example...suppose instead of paying Marner $13m per year, they can get Sam Bennett for $9m. Is Bennett as good as Marner overall? No, but in the playoffs he has peformed and played a lot better. That alone may or may not be an improvement. But what do you do with those extra $4m you are saving? Its not just signing a $4m player. It can be more than that. Lets say right now Toronto plans on paying a 2nd pair D-man $3 per year if they keep Marner. Now, you can take that $3m and ADD to $4m to it and have up to $7 free to trade or sign someone. In this theoretical example, come playoff time Toronto may be a LOT better with Bennett and a $7m D-man than they would be in the playoffs with Marner and a $3m D-man. However they do it, they have more options without Marner than they would with him and tying up all that cap space.

Its not really "for nothing". What would it take to re-sign him? $13m per year? maybe a bit less or more. If you let him 'walk away', you aren't getting nothing, you are getting that $13m per year to work with that you didn't have before. As good as he has been in the regular season, they may think they don't need him in the regular season to get to the playoffs, and for that $13m, either via free agency or trade, they can get maybe 2 good-to-very-good pieces (think a $6m guy and a $7m guy)....that they think will be better suited to help the team than Marner has been.

Matthews is not a bad player dragging the team down, but I think he is their biggest issue. You simply cannot have one of the highest paid guys (Is he THE highest paid right now) in the league that doesn't do much in the playoffs. A guy who scored at close to (or over) a 50 goal rate/pace for most of his career, scores at barely a 30 goal rate in the playoffs, and just doesn't seem to have any 'extra gear' in the playoffs like other superstars do, or if he has it he doesn't care enough to use it. Great player, but not so in the playoffs. For what he is getting paid, he needs to be more than a regular season wonder-kid.

With most of the Star wars stuff, Marvel stuff too, I watch almost all the movies and I give every single series/show 2-3 episodes to decide whether I want to watch the whole thing or not. Andor just wasn't for me. I watched the very first episode, It really did nothing for me. We gave it 2 more, after 3 episodes I gave up. Nothing, just didn't draw me in at all. I guess it just shows why people have different tastes in entertainment.

With Byram.... I'm still in somewhat of a purgatory with him. He's young, he's skilled, he has the potential to be very good I think. But I don't think he's been all that special with the Sabres. He looks the part with his skating and raw talent, I just don't see them as being a better team when he's on the ice though yet.

The Defense has not been great, but all year I have been saying in terms of goals allowed, the 6 guys on the blueline are the 3rd problem. Problems #1 and #2 were the goaltending and the support the Forwards give the D-men. Cozens singlehandedly put the D-men in situations where they looked bad on the replays of goals allowed. He's gone, but Quinn wasn't that far behind Cozens and Peterka had his moments also. Watch replays of any game, good teams included. They all allow goals and guess what? Usually about half the goals they allow on the replay has a D-man that looks like he his lost or has no idea what he is doing. Thats the NHL, a lot goes on and it happens fast? So what is the difference between good teams and bad teams? What is under-rated is the support that the forwards give the D-men. To repeat myself, D-men look bad on goals allowed, for almost every team. Good teams have forwards that help out in the D-zone or Neutral zone so the D-men are simply put in that position less often than with Buffalo. Yeah, and goaltending. The good teams have their D-men get turned around by elite forwards all the time, or they might 'choose the wrong guy' and let a good scoring chance against happen. So why do we think the Sabres D are so much worse? When those things happen, our Goalie allowed a lot more of those chances to go in. We see the replay of the D-men "not doing anything" where on many other teams the D-men play the puck the same way but if the goalie makes the save more often we don't see the replay and dwell on it as much. This D-unit isn't great, probably not even good...but I think many on this forum put more blame on them when often it should be directed other places.

I don't mind Rob Ray all that much, but if he is retiring, I'd look forward to someone new. Just something new, ANYTHING new to keep my interest for a few games.

Agreed. Someone decided a decade or two ago that a PP HAD to have 4 forwards on it, and now its just standard thinking.

I'm good with most of those...maybe not on the Quinn and Byram numbers though.

Why is Kevin Adams still GM...to answer the original question? Terry Pegula likes him. Adams lets Pegula 'feel involved and heard' when Pegula wants to be. Adams likely never tells Terry he's wrong. When things go wrong Terry can go hide in Florida and Adams is there to take all questions and defend Terry and tell the media how great Terry is as an owner. Adams is still GM for no other reason than Pegula wants it that way.

If everyone is so sure Byram is better than Power (he might be), then the league should know that and they should get a better return, especially considering he's not locked into a big deal like power.