Curt

They don’t. But if Anaheim isn’t offering up Zegras anyway, then perhaps Columbus could offer a package on par with Anaheim.

Yeah, whatever the UFA date is, would be when he would be eligible for an extension.

If it’s Reinhart for Tkachuk then both teams are kind of in the same boat. I don’t think Tkachuk is eligible for an extension yet anyway.

No. If Lance wanted to convey that, he probably would have said it. In fact it seems that he was implying just the opposite. That Pegula actually was NOT involved in hockey operations. If feels like you are trying too hard to twist a mildly good think into a negative.

Fair enough. Carry on!

The exact phrasing you scoffed at was “I think could be the best piece of the 4 (better than Comtois and #3)” It’s far from a definitive declaration. I think that Perrault could be better than both Comtois and the guy at #3 (Guenther? Eklund?). Not that it’s for sure but he is good enough that it’s a possibility. To dismiss it as out of the question, I think underestimates Perrault.

I feel like this is the realistic mindset.

Perrault is good, was drafted too low and just produced in the AHL at 18 similarly to guys like Byfield and Turcotte (year older).

If the Ducks are acquiring Eichel, presumably to compete soon, why are they trading Gibson? Who is going to play goal for them?

You said it yourself, but his #s correlate pretty well with the quality of team around him.

Who are the previously mentioned Chicago guys? I’d say Anaheim unless those Chicago guys are better than Comtois.

Gibson would be a bit of a surprise for me, because if they make a trade for Eichel, you would think that they would be trying to win now, and Gibson would kind of need to be a part of that.

None? The guys in this draft class were like 12 the last time Granato worked in the USA development program.

Botterill could have stayed and been GM if he agreed to their restructuring of the hockey ops. The restructuring was/is the vision.

I think it’s mostly this. Pegulas were probably thinking “we’ve been spending more than any other team on scouting for 10 years. Do we have one of the leagues best prospect groups? Do we make great player acquisitions to find under appreciated gems? Why not? Why are we doing this then?” Then the pandemic happened and they decided for sure, yeah, we are going to cut this back. It’s not working the way it’s supposed to and it’s costing us money for no return. If this is the line of thinking, it makes some sense, and if it leads them to pursue a course that incorporates more data analysis then I think that could definitely lead to better results.

Yeah, I’m sure Sabres would. Does Reinhart want to sign a long term deal though? He doesn’t need to. He could just ride out a year in Buffalo, or new team, see how that goes, then go to UFA in a year, when the economic situation might be looking even better, and have all teams bidding for his services.

As of right now, Reinhart is basically a 1 year rental. Is one year of Reinhart worth more than the #9 pick? If a team is able to negotiate a long term extension beforehand then that changes things.

Honestly, the last 14 years of the franchise feel like a big bucket of wasted potential.

If Anaheim refuses to move Zegras or Drysdale and no other team is offering up a prospect of that level, could Buffalo get a package of Comtois, Perrault, #3 overall in 2021, and another piece (2022 or 2023 1st, Lukas Dostal, Benoit-Olivier Groulx)? That would probably be seen as a disappointing return by most Sabres fans, but KA would be able to say that he got his 4 1st round pick (value wise) type pieces that he was reportedly asking for.

A couple LW/C power forward type possibilities in Mason McTavish and Cole Sillinger. 2-way C Aatu Raty, who was a favorite to go 1OA a year ago, but had a disappointing season. Speedster RW Fabian Lysell who has shown elite flashes but not the consistency to go with it. Goal scoring C Chaz Lucious Wallstadt if he is there. A D, but LD Carson Lambos was highly ranked to start the year but had a bit of a rough season. If any of Eklund, Guenther, Johnson, Clarke, or Hughes is still available I would say they must be the pick.

Dach, #11, and another piece could be a nice return

Maybe they met and had an interview on Tuesday? I know it sounds dumb, but as someone who has had to interview for a job that I was already doing for months on an interim basis, it happens.

Obviously

Too funny and weird to not be true.

I don’t think that “anything positive” about Power was called hype. Liger himself has said many positive things about Power. I think it was several people saying, paraphrasing, that he was the no doubt #1 guy after the world championships. That’s what was called hype