French Collection

I don’t like this idea at all. He could be there at 39. I had one live viewing of this guy last November, he didn’t stand out.

TSN reporting that the cap will be $83.5M, good news for teams with room, like Buffalo. KA hasn’t weaponized it in the past but this could be an opportunity to get a good Dman and/or goalie. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/nhl-salary-cap-set-to-rise-1m-for-2023-24-season-1.1975838

This guy is a second rounder on most lists, with occasional forays into the first. Point a game Dman in the Q. Didn’t look impressive in his stint at the U18s.

Here it is. I took the under.

You and I, going back to late April. Gentleman’s bet. I re-posted it in the Lay out your off season plan thread. It was April 12th.

I believe we have one on Ryan Graves next contract. No $ though. The threshold was $5.5M, I think.

Just outside of London. Tiny arena needing upgrades, probably why they won the contest. Won’t be hard to fill that rink, even if they went with mainly AHL rosters. They’ll probably both put out decent lineups because it is a contest with a big sponsor.

I hope so. KA is too smart to have fallen in love with his players, but until we see a big move or two, he is giving off that vibe. GMs don’t want to tip their hands and show much emotion, especially as the silly season is firing up. I can’t believe that he feels that the three headed goalie is the way to go.

It will be interesting to see line combinations in the fall. Mitts needs a sniper in order to maximize his passing ability. I wonder if he and Quinn could work.

I had a feeling there wasn’t going to be much change. I think the team can make the playoffs by rolling it back. However, there are improvements to be made, and there is still time. I liked Jost but I know there are better 4Cs out there. Haula is one that comes to mind in the UFA market. Right now it looks like Vinnie, maybe VO and Jost are the only forwards to be changed. I think we all agree D and G are where the bigger gaps are and I hope there are a few changes to come there.

My favourite part is when the bull is sharpening his horns on the grinding wheel, you know he means business.

The guys I named are all upgrades to half of the Sabres D. There are more out there that are capable 4-5 Dmen. With the assets available, cap space and the knowledge that the D is a weakness, he needs to land someone better than Joki, Boosh, Stillman, Bryson and Clague. He’s pretty much brought back the entire forward group, which I can live with. He needs to get a 4-5 Dman. I will lose faith in his ability to address weaknesses if he rolls back the same group.

KA should be in on every Dman, that is a weakness that we all agree on, he sees it first hand. By being in on a bunch of them he’s got to land a good one from somewhere. I would love to know what his pecking order is. Pesce, Hanifin, Graves, Dumba, Mayfield, Gudas, Clifton……

I meant one year at a time for Z. I was OK with letting him walk, but not upset he’s back. They need to make the playoffs and see how guys perform. If Z is a playoff beast he may get another contract.

This is the least amount of roster turnover I can remember. OK for one year and take it from there.

I have had thoughts of breaking up the kid line as well. My reasoning is that a 3rd line with Mitts and Krebs together may not work at all as they are both pass first guys.

There are options out there for Dmen. Dumba’s not my top choice but he is on my radar.

Would have never thought he was a good PKer.

Michkov to meet with teams. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/matvei-michkov-scheduled-for-multiple-interviews-with-nhl-teams-ahead-of-nhl-draft-1.1975049

Beautiful skater, and he can handle the puck. 6’4” and 200lbs, what a foundation. He can’t finish very well in the clips I’ve watched and he doesn’t have a good shot from what I’ve read. All weaknesses can be worked on, are his strengths enough? He is a guy I would still like. I’ve said it before, the Sabres don’t need PP QBs or another Bryson/Pilut type, they need another Mule. He skates way better than Mule, more like a combination of Dahlin and Peterka. Is he BPA or very close to it at #13? If the Sabres want him and think he could be around later, they could drop a few spots in a trade. The clips I’ve seen show some good defense, great deception and elusiveness on retrievals and an ability to transition to offense in a hurry. It’s too bad Russia hasn’t been playing internationally, so we could see this guy vs his peers.

Does he do this to everyone?

I know, this isn’t even the slow news season. August will be worse. At least the draft and potential trades are getting close, with FA season right after. Post development camp will be quiet.

Well, that’s one opinion against Simashev. He has been rising up lists, probably more due to his size and skating. 13 may be too early for him but I’ll trust KA and his team to make the right call. Maybe it’s Reinbacher or Willander instead. There will be good forwards available too. I’m not looking for a 1D with this pick, we already have two of those, I want another Mule type. Maybe Novikov is that guy.

Interesting topic. I don’t think he will get any sniffs of the top 6, ever. He can be the replacement for Hinestroza and rotate in and out of the lineup. He played hard when he got in Buffalo and didn’t look like a liability. He even chipped in some offense. KA may bring in a vet or two, maybe even Girgs, but Rousek is at the age where this camp is critical for him to have a good showing. He won’t learn much in Rochester, the only value would be mentoring young guys. That becomes harder to do if your dream is dead or there are roadblocks too large to jump over. If he can contribute at the NHL level, keep him around. If there are better guys at camp then he goes to Rochester.

I think he is nearly done. He was a good player but his confidence is gone and he is at the age where you expect him to start a downhill slide. He turns 32 in July. Not enough of an upgrade, he would be depth only.