jahnyc

If there are aliens that can travel to Earth, they are far more advanced by orders of magnitude than we are. Of course, the concern always will be whether they would be hostile and pose an existential threat. If yes, I doubt there would be anything we could do to prevent their plans for us given their likely overwhelming technological superiority (unlike the many SciFI movies where we prevail against all odds). Separately, there have been claims that many of the relatively recent technological advances were the result of recovered technologies from alien crash sites. Would be fascinating if this was true.

The title did not need to change because it does not appear that the Sabres will be active in free agency and I don't really understand KA's approach to free agency. The team, as constructed, will not compete for a playoff spot this upcoming season. Yes, we may seem some improvement with individual players and our overall team points, but we have significant deficiencies at key positions, both in terms of skill and depth. We should always be looking to upgrade the team through free agency and trades, and we need more defensemen and a starting NHL level goalie to even compete this season (without any consideration of injuries, which will happen). I get wanting to give our young players time to develop, but other young players with more potential or players with immediate impact can be available in trades and sometimes in free agency. We have all been patient, and no one is telling KA to trade our young players, but basically going into the season knowing and accepting that the chances of making the playoffs this season are really low after years of futility does not make sense to me.

I wouldn't worry about Pegula's SPAC not finding a target company and dissolving, or the economic consequences to the Pegula family if the SPAC does not find a target company. Most SPACs eventually find a target company to combine with prior to the drop dead date and SPACs also can extend the time to find a business combination target company if they contribute additional funds to the trust account. Pegula would only lose the at risk money put up in connection with the IPO (typically to purchase warrants) and have an obligation to pay certain expenses (such as legal fees) if the SPAC is unsuccessful in finding a target company. This would not be a material loss for the Pegula family.

Shouldn't the Sabres have negotiated a bump up in trade return if he signed a new contract with the Panthers?

In my mind, the question really boils down to whether ownership is committed and supportive of getting it right, even if it takes more years to get there. More years of rebuilding will potentially see declining attendance and interest, but both will come back in the future if the team wins. If the Pegulas do want to sell the team that can lead to significant uncertainty for the future of the rebuild and the team.

There is no way the Ducks are offering all of that for Eichel. I just don't see it.

I wonder if the original plan and vision was to build a downtown stadium as part of an overall sports oriented downtown area with their other assets but because of Covid and cost, the ownership settled on proceeding with a stadium in OP. Surprised that they opened with taxpayers footing the entire bill for the new stadium and renovation of the arena. I think we all would expect that the NFL will provide some contribution out of the league stadium fund and for ownership to contribute some amount as well. This is a bad look for the Pegulas given current circumstances and will only open them up to a fair amount of negative attention. Even offering a small initial contribution would have helped.

Every GM in the league knows that the Sabres need to trade Eichel, but the actions of Eichel's agents are not helping this process. This is a complete mess on top of the mess of a team that we already have. Clearly, the Sabres wanted to trade Eichel before the draft to get assets in the draft. After that did not happen, trading Eichel before free agency must have been the goal because they knew that some teams would be otherwise spending cap dollars that would affect their ability to add Eichel. The offers must be really poor (if there have been any real offers), and they are unlikely to get better at this point having given the current situation.

I don't think all of this had to happen. Some of it became expected. No way is KA smarter than all of the other GMs, particularly with no prior experience. A plan that will turn around the team quickly having as its primary attribute a focus on players that want to be here does not sound like a plan to me at all. I don't think our young core is that good, at least not good enough that we should expect that they will have success this year or next without adding significant pieces. Other than Cozens, Dahlin and Powers, what do we really have?

Some quick thoughts below: 1. It must be very demoralizing for the current players for the Sabres to see Ullmark sign with the Bruins and have Sam and Risto traded with no assets coming back that will contribute to the team in the near term. Layer on top of that the captain of the team (Jack) is desperate to get out (others as well) and the Sabres lack of any significant participation in free agency make for a situation that can only result in even young players questioning whether there is commitment to winning in Buffalo (or even a plan). This will have an impact in their desire to stay with the team over the longer term. 2. It will be a long time before the Sabres will be an attractive option to free agents. Winning will be the only thing that will help with this. A new arena wouldn't hurt either. 3. What kind of support will be there for the team after this kind of an offseason, which follows years of poor teams and records? At what point does attendance to games completely crater? Realistically, how do you ask for patience at this point, particularly with no current commitment to field a competitive team? 4. I am very surprised that we have traded two significant assets and not received a quality prospect in return ready to play or close to playing for the team. 5. I think it is gross mismanagement to leave this kind of a rebuild and this specific situation in the hands of a GM who has no prior experience. GMTM and JBot had more experience coming in a first time GMs, and they failed miserably. Lessons should have been learned. 6. I never thought that the Pegulas wanted to sell the team, but I am now having my doubts. I am not sure anything else can explain the hiring of a rookie GM, cost cutting with scouts, lack of meaningful participation in free agency, and trading away salary. 7. Our drafting has been awful. I still don't understand the Quinn pick when there were better players available. I hope we will have better luck with this draft class.

Jack plus a back injury that will need surgery and significant recovery time is not going to yield four significant assets. Added to the uncertainty around the neck surgery are a long term contract at a high salary and questions (whether deserved or not) around his character and leadership abilities. I agree that if there had been a real market, Jack would have been traded before the draft. Jack's agents did us no favors yesterday. At this point, I probably would be satisfied with a top prospect and a first round pick that is not protected in next year's draft. I was surprised with the return for Sam, even with the need for him to be extended. I expected a lot more, so I am prepared to be very disappointed with the return for Jack.

What a terrible trade. I believe Levi was a seventh round pick last year and the Panthers will be good next year, meaning the draft pick will be towards the end of the first round. No prospect or other player that will be slotted in now into the line-up. F- for this trade (and an A for the Risto trade). Adams is in over his head and I don't trust him to improve the team in free agency.

It definitely will be a new era if we trade Eichel, Sam and Riston in the near term. Unfortunately, this would be exactly the type of situation (selling significant assets) that you would want an experienced GM and team for. We don't have that, and we also have an understaffed scouting group, which is another concern. JB was an inexperienced GM, and we paid the price with a poor trade for Ryan O'Reilly. We can blame the Pegulas for putting constraints on JB, but maybe a more experienced GM would have been able to navigate ownership better and get a different result.

What if Ron Francis offered to take Skinner, assuming that the Sabres could get Skinner to waive his no trade?

I think the return for Eichel may be significantly less than what some are expecting given his injury, salary and remaining term on his contract. NHL GMs also know that he wants out of Buffalo, which will further negatively impact any expected return for him. It will be tough to get the package of players that this team needs for Eichel.