Curt

Yeah, why not? Lol

Yeah, maybe you have a point. However, the player contract situation was only one part of my breakdown. The rest of the organization has maximum flexibility. And besides, every contract is moveable except for Skinner at this point. Even Okposo this summer will be at the point where a buyout is a feasible possibility. Im not saying that flexibility is the guarantee of success, but the flexibility is clearly there. And if the team is terrible, it’s a lot better to have flexibility than not.

Girgensons and Thompson are not ideal, but also are not too expensive and not too long, 2 more years. Okposo is expensive, but not too long, 2 more years. Skinner is awful. Eichel is Eichel. I would say that not having lots of players locked up long term is a good thing if your team is awful and you need to turnover a lot of the roster.

I think it stands the same place that it did 2 days ago.

McDavid with a BS elbow in the Oilers 0-4 lose to Canadians.

I’m going to give a strangely optimistic take here. The Sabres look like they are well set up to drastically change their team culture. The front office is beyond bare bones (just let go of another scout a few days ago). There is no HC. Only five players (non ELC)are under contract for longer than one more season. The slate is about as clean as it gets for an NHL team. If a couple smart, experienced, well connected FO guys (like Karmanos and Rutherford) are brought in now, they can form a FO nucleus with Adams that can identify exactly what type of team they are going to build, what they are going to value in players and people. Then they can target coaches, scouts/analytics people, development staff, and players who all fit that mold. It’s honestly an opportunity to quickly build a group where everyone is pointed in the same direction. I don’t know where things are going from here. However, when I look at the mess the team has become and think about how they could get back on the right track, this is the potential path forward I see that leads to a way out.

At least they didn’t lose tonight.

Cut it out with this smarty pants talk. Someone said it and I agree, that’s all the proof I need to see. 😉

Unbelievable that no one thought of this.

No. Cap hit is not recalculated when changing teams. Whatever team he is on is responsible for the full, normal cap hit.

Yup, I know what goalie contracts there are. I’m asking what would you pay to keep him? And what do you think he can get on the open market?

Yeah, he is a pretty good goalie. I agreed with that. What kind of big $$$ is he going to get? What salary and term do you think Buffalo should offer him?

My dude Linus has been a pretty good goalie. However, he has never even started more than 34 games in a season. Would you like to make him one of the top 10 paid goalies in the league? What kind of contract do you think he can get?

I think it’s much more statistically likely that Buffalo drafts Beniers 1-3, than it is that they trade the pick.

I’ll stand firm on my “draft Beniers” view.

Matt Beniers is the only C that I would draft in the top 3.

The Sabres had the largest scouting department in the league for about 10 years.

Definitely not his brain? That’s good news. I didn’t see it, and I got a little worried when I saw UBI. He just came back from a brain UBI.

For me, it’s as much a mental thing as anything else. This team needs to change. It literally needs to be something different. Taylor Hall isn’t it.

What injury did Cozens sustain?

Resigning Hall would be like buying GameStop at $400, holding it, then buying more at $250, then just holding it as it sinks back to $50, and being happy to do it. This guy simply can not be signed. This team needs to change drastically.

Oh I don’t know about that. Hall is pretty offensive to me. Zing!

Is it bad when Mittelstadt is defending a 2-on-1?

Well, he has experience coaching young guys in a developmental situation where winning is also the expectation. Also, he has experience coaching Americans! 😉 “Daaad! Stooop it!” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Yeah, perhaps, though, as you say, they didn’t trade him. In that case there was certainly a lot more at play than hockey in those decisions. I definitely see it as a special set of circumstances and not part of a larger trend.