mjd1001

After seeing the small sample size the last year or two, I feel more confident with Houser in a Sabres uniform rather than Subban.

Comrie is not the prototype of the modern NHL goalie who is 6'3 or more and 200+ lbs. He comes in listed at 6'1 and 175.....More of a Ryan Miller/Devon Levi type frame.

So Anderson, Subban, Comrie, UPL, MAYBE Tokarski or one nother guy...bring them to camp and let them battle it out in camp and in preseason. It might be UPL, it might be Comrie..whoever comes out on top is with the big club. I'm fine with that.

Don't know much about him. Read a little in the past couple minutes. Fine with the signing as a bottom 2 guy or 7th-8th guy.

I think you are only looking to move him at the deadline IF Mitts takes that long-awaited big step AND Quinn and/or Peterka look like they are legit NHL scorers. And if those things happen you might want to move Olofsson in that case.

I don't think any of the moves they made lately make them much better or much worse than they were last year. I think in Toronto, they think the team is good enough to 'compete' for a cup if they can past the first round....but their moves so far are not much more than replacing non-core pieces from last year with different non-core pieces.

Low cost training camp competition.

Trochek, 7 years is way too much I agree. BUT, if they think the team is a cup contender for the next couple years and he will be a piece to help them stay in that contender status, I guess you do the move now and deal with the back half of that contract later.

I see a reason for them not doing that....who is the goalie upgrade that is available now?

Good deal for Toronto. SOME NHL experience, young, still some potential. Hes not going to carry them this year, but a good guy for a backup.

6.5 per year? WAY too much for what he will bring at this point in his career.

I think people expect a bit too much from Samsonov, but that deal and how it fits under Toronto's cap...it is a good deal for them.

I think he is done. Not DONE done, but he certainly is done being an impact player. 34 years old, 1000+ games played. Lots of wear and tear and several injuries. He had that one 100 point season, but for his career he is a 20-25 goal, 65-70 point guy. He's had a great career, but I'm interested in the terms because I just don't think he has much left.

Also, I like him as a player, I am not looking to unload him in any way, but this is a lower cost deal. If Peterka AND Quinn make the team and emerge as good scorers, that Olofsson deal might be easy to trade at the deadline (this year or next) for something else of good value.

I would have rather seen 3 years, but that is nitpicking. Glad its done. The deal is fair to him and will not impact the Sabres long term spending at all.

You always want more options than the Sabres have now, but honestly I'd much rather have UPL with the Sabres than Martin Jones. OK, if stuff like this is true, this is where the fun starts. Signing Free agents? mild interest from me because they will almost always be overpaid for what you get, but if we get some big trades..that is another story.

Samsonov hasn't been great in net, but he had some NHL experience with most thinking he still has potential. Not broken up by it but it would have been nice to have someone like him in the mix for this year. Will be interested in the terms he agreed to.

Some people are patient. Some are not. Some people are so tired of seeing losing that they want to see winning now, even if that means you are taking something away from the long term to make things better now. Others, like myself, are more than willing to sit back and take time to 'get things right' no matter how long that takes. We all have preferences, that is what makes the fanbase diverse. Related to that there are some fans that only care about the product on the ice now. Win every game. Do what you need to do to win every game. There is nothing wrong with that, those are the majority of the fans in the building rooting on the team each night. I'm not like that though. As a fan of the Sabres and the NHL, I get as much enjoyment following the 'team building', the 'roster development' and 'player development'...anticipating what players might be like in the future....as I do about watching the the actual game on a nightly basis.

Agree. Going forward, he has the potential to be one of the better 3rd/4th liners in the league. And of course I don't simply mean he'd be one of the better 'bottom 8 forwards' but rather his role. He as the chance (not for sure but hes part of the way there) to be an elite Defender from the forward ranks while also contributing some offense AND making his linemates better.

I agree. Philly I just don't see as a threat for anything significant for years and years. Its like that franchise is Run by a group of fans with a random one picked each day to make that days decision. If Philly did sign Gaudreau it would make them better now, but virtually assure they will not be a legit cup threat for the future.

I think we are finding out on this forum again that there are no move(s) that are going to please everyone, and honestly no matter the move some people will be very upset: -Sign Vinny, no good because he's not good enough and is taking a spot from someone else. Don't sign him when you can, and you are letting a good bottom 6 guy go and it doesn't matter because you don't want Quinn/JJ playing the role he would. -Sign guys like Vinny, Subban, and other marginal guys and you are wasting money on 'the same team as last year'. To others, you HAVE to sign guys like that as competition for the young guys, to keep them pushing. -Don't go after Debrincat, Giroux, Kane, etc...and what is Adams doing?! Other teams are getting better and the Sabres aren't. Yet if you DO go after those guys, we have people upset because they want to make sure you have all the money in the world available to resign the current guys when their next deal is good and they (hopefully) are a lot better. The Sabres/Adams have a plan and they are sticking to it. Currently I like some of the moves and the 'stated' direction Adams has, so I'm going to trust the moves they make and the pace they have because they have access to a lot more info on these players than any of us do.

3rd on the team last year in ES goals per 60, behind only Tage and Skinner. He makes the most with of the ice time he gets.

For Toronto to repeat as good of a year next year as they had this year, you would think they will need similar goaltending. Campbell last year gave the Leafs a 2.64 GAA and a .914 GAA. His career numbers (including time with Tor, Kings and 1 game with DAL) are 2.53 and 9.16 Murray the last 2 years has a 3.05 and a 3.38 GAA and .906 and .893 Save %. Career he is at 2.77 and .911 (with time behind a VERY discipline Pitt team) Murray is essentially replacing Campbell, the question is, can he step up his career numbers and his recent numbers behind the Leafs D and replicate what Campbell gave them last year? To me, Murray's ceiling, the most you can expect out of him would be to maybe, MAYBE match what campbell did last year. I don't think they are getting an improvement and they are likely going to get a lesser performance.

I like Subban for some reason, but I kinda agree. He was drafted pretty high, and early in his career he looked on pace to be a good NHL goaltender, but over the last few years, he just got worse and worse for whatever reason. His career Save percentage is below .900 and his worst years were the most recent years. If you wanted to give him a tryout deal with thinking he may end up in Rochester OK, but I wouldn't expect much more than that right now. I'm not saying that Houser is an NHL goalie at all, but he has played 6 games for the Sabres in the past 2 year and in that very, VERY small sample size he played actually really well. He also has a history of being decent in the ECHL and AHL. I'd just as soon sign Houser as a guy for the ECHL or Roch, and you know you can use him in an emergency in the NHL and hes not going to let in 8 goals. Same thing with Tokarski. Honestly, you can flip a coin and choose weather you want Tokarski or Subban in that role also, but I don't see anything that would tell me that at this point, Subban would be better.

I'm not a huge fan of this pick, but I'll openly admit I know very little about these guys. Physical tools are something I can get too focused on, I like it when I hear speed, speed, speed. Hopefully he'll work out well, he might. Now on to the rest of the draft and offseason.