Curt

Taking Dumba is almost solving a problem for Minnesota. They are probably going to have to expose him in the expansion draft. Rossi, Boldy, and Addison would need to be discussed.

Hadn’t heard that. Could be though.

Questions without answers if you ask me. Either could be top-6 wingers or 4th line JAGS.

Just curious, why does Karmanos=rebuild in your mind?

This is possible, but just a guess. All I know is that Adams/Karmanos are talking about youth and guys who want to be here, Eichel is talking about “wherever I am next season” “I’m here for now” and disconnects, he certainly wasn’t up there talking about how much he loves Buffalo and wants to build something there. To me, it looks like both sides are just about done with each other.

Yeah, that. Lol

I mean, yes, but Eichel seems miserable. So, while he may have not asked for a trade, you still have a miserable captain/face of the franchise with an upcoming NMC on your hands. Jacks language is also heavily hinting at wanting to move on “wherever I play next season” “I’m here for now”.

Maybe I wasn’t clear, I was getting tired of typing. It sounded like he was saying they need to keep looking all around for available goalies for next season, but they also have good prospects on the way. I inferred they would be looking for goalies in UFA and trades, but more as short term solutions because long term, they have internal options.

My Takeaways: Everything is me paraphrasing what I considered the important parts, except when I used quotation marks, it’s an exact quote. -No POHO. There will be Directors in charge of different departments. Going to be adding the right people over time. -Eichel situation: He didn’t actually answer the question, just repeated what Adams has said about wanting players who want to be Sabres and needing everyone pulling in the same direction. Then went further to praise the younger players for their ability, maturity and desire to be Sabres. -On Don Granato: has put himself in strong consideration, but they have a search process that they need to go through. Brought up that Granato has a lot of experience in roles working with young, developing player, and “that seems to be along the lines of where our team is headed”. -A second time brought up young players and how exciting their talent and maturity is. -How to build trust with fan base that has been disenfranchised by all the losing: Can’t change the past, focused on going forward. Stressed finding people who want to be Buffalo Sabres, people who want to be part of solution. -On Seth Appert: didn’t have a lot to say. Talked about his development background, but you would expect that for an AHL coach. -Karmanos spent 2-weeks in Texas at U-18s. -Amateur Scouting department was under him for 4 years in Pitt, although they were trading away many picks/prospects, he has also been in situations more similar to Buffalo’s current situation “which is needing to stockpile more young prospects and bring the right type of prospects into our system”. -Need to monitor goalie situation for next season but they have good goalie prospects on the way. In summary, I feel that it’s being heavily hinted at by Adams and Karmanos that the Sabres will be moving forward focused on youth, they don’t want players who are unhappy in Buffalo, they want players who are going to put the team first. It looks like it will be a rebuild around the youngest players to me. Also, Don Granato seems to maybe be a favorite to keep the HC job, or at least have a head start in the competition.

Hall didn’t have Covid. You are in the clear.

TOR vs MTL?

Tom Wilson with the 1st goal of the 2021 NHL Playoffs.

My Picks: TOR over MTL in 6 EDM over WPG in 5 PIT over NYI in 6 BOS over WSH in 7 COL over STL in 5 VGK over MIN in 6 CAR over NSH in 6 TB over FLA in 6

I certainly agree with the bolded, and I think that being notably mature is a very desirable quality. What can I saw about the lack of a 2C that hasn’t been said 1,000 times already. Being a 2C is also a very desirable quality! Basically, I think that the Sabres are in a particularly depressing situation, and player with an especially resilient and determined spirit would be a great help in turning this around. You can disagree and say just get talent, we’ll worry about whether they are aholes/lazy/immature/justlooking for a payday/or whatever else later on. But I think that the high standard of conduct needs to be established first.

All things considered? No, I would rather have Jack Eichel. He is too talented and I would never consider him a terrible person, or culture killer or anything. He is like a neutral for me, put into a position where he was expected to be a ++. Cozens is like a ++. I hope that makes sense. True that Eichel sounded more mature last season. I think I’ve said this before, but it shouldn’t be noteworthy when the team captain gives a mature sounding interview. That should be the default. I never said that you can’t win with Eichel or any nonsense like that. You are the one who brought up Eichel. I ardently disagree that the importance of players’ personalities is all BS, as you say.

Disagree to be honest. Not that there is something particularly wrong with Eichel, but he has never come across as an especially mature, mentally resilient guy. From his first year he was prone to frustration and publicly venting it. Compared to Cozens, for example, their personas are night and day. I don’t really want to get too deep into this because it quickly gets judgy and we can’t know everything about these guys. My goal is not to trash anyone.

I think you get rid of a losing culture by assembling the correct mix of players who have a resilient mentality as well as the talent. That and good coaching. If that group of players acquired includes prospects who aren’t quite there yet, and that results in the team being not quite playoff ready, then so be it. If they are the right guys then they are the right guys. I’m trying to put high value on the type of person brought into the organization right now.

Imaging you are Kevyn Adams, how would you handle this? We don’t know for sure if Eichel has actually asked to be traded, but it’s fair to say that he seems upset and just willfully aired dirty laundry in the media. How would deal with this if he has said he wants to stay, even though he kind of threw a fit just now and seems pretty upset? How would you deal with this if he has told you that he is so frustrated that he would rather be traded to another team?

If the forum was a person, they would get sent home from work, not to return for 72 hours and not without a negative Covid test.

You did say that some here were projecting an 80 point season. Hey, I would prefer they be a good team (nay, great team!) too. And I think that playoff contention is a possibility. However, I disagree with the course of action being decided by fan sentiment. That’s not a good compass for decision making. Also, I think if they were to acquire lots of high quality futures (prospects/players who aren’t quite baked yet) in trades, an 80 point season would not be the end of the world. Honestly, this team could go in so many different directions right now, and I’m not one to say there is only one single pathway to success. They can get there different ways. The important thing is to get the right players, be they veterans, young pups, or prospects.

I’m saying that I don’t know what it would take to outbid other teams because I don’t have a very firm grasp on what NHL teams will actually be offering. We don’t have a great understanding of Eichel’s value. Are teams scared off by his attitude? By his neck? By his Sabre stink? But the Rangers have a lot of good pieces and could probably outbid most any if they really wanted to. You want me to just make up a potential offer? Here are a couple. They could trade Lafreniere, Miller, Georgiev/Shesterkin, and two 1sts. They could trade Strome, Buchnevich, Chytil, Georgiev, and a 1st. You want a list of Rangers assets? Here is a rundown. They have a lot of good very young NHL players (Lafreniere, Kakko, Chytil, Kravtsov, Miller, Lindgren) They have a couple good veteran NHLers who aren’t too old (Strome, Buchnevich) They have young goalies (Shesterkin, Georgiev) They have some decent prospects who are a year or two away. They have a full supply of draft picks. A lot of it would depend on what type of assets Sabres want. Do they want NHL players? Do they want all youth/futures?

Yup, that was written. Then the owner fired the GM and the Team President. So who knows now?

I don’t buy this either exactly. You don’t need a true 1C, which I’m assuming you mean a point per game+ top-10 type of C. Cozens, Mitts, Turcotte, Beniers could each develop into 60+ point players, 3/4 with excellent defense.

Outbidding? That means offering more than anyone else. Seriously, how could I answer that without knowing roughly what other offers are out there? It probably would need to include Lafreniere. They have lots of high quality assets. I would not believe that players like Lafreniere or Kakko are “off the table” just because some Rangers fan sites wrote it. Dolan and Drury, and maybe Sather, will decide who is available. (Fox I think is truly untouchable. Their best NHL player and soon to be captain.)

I’m getting this vibe too. I hope that Dolan thinks he finally “fixed” the Knicks, so now it’s time for him move on to “fixing” the Rangers. He hasn’t been super involved in Rangers stuff, until just now it seems, so I’m not sure how many hockey fans realized that this guy is kind off his rocker. It’s absolutely possible that he almost mandates his neophyte GM to outbid everyone else and acquire Eichel. He is that kind of cray cray.