Curt

Don’t know what you are referring to.

I’m hopeful that contracts are agreed to before the hearings. I think this is because if a player and team are unable to come to terms and are forced to go to an arbitration hearing it indicates that the two parties have a fundamental disagreement about the value of the player. That’s not likely to resolve itself at the end of the 1-2 year arbitration awarded contract, so it’s best to move on before it’s time to negotiate another contract.

Coincidence that the trade was made hours before the bonus was due to be paid?

92, 78, 104, 67? covid shortened or full season? good team, bad team, or great team nature or nurture? I don’t know man. This wasn’t really the point.

Ok, fair enough. From your original post, it sounded like you questioned whether Stevens would even be able to play today. I already acknowledged that he most likely wouldn’t be as impactful. Glad we agree that Scott Stevens would still be a good player in 2020.

Probably a little worse because some of the ways he was able to impact the game with hits and physicality has been taken out of the game. I’m confident he would still be a really good player though. I think you are discounting the type of all around player he was, on offense as well as defense.

You think Stevens couldn’t skate? He could. Maybe you are just remembering him from his late 30’s? He would still be a great hockey player, so I don’t care if he would be able to deliver the same open ice hits.

Cool. That’s fine. I think when the specific word toughness is used, a lot of people think of big slow guys and big checks. I also think that small players can be tough. To me “Toughness” just doesn’t convey the type of skills that I’m describing. Also, yes. Any team could use a Scott Stevens. Scott Stevens was a fantastically talented player and would probably be a All-Star level guy if he played today. He would certainly need to alter his open ice hits to avoid being perpetually suspended though.

Dahlin up top, Eichel on the left wall, Olofsson on the right wall, Hall in the middle, Staal/Reinhart down low. And run that elite unit out there for 1:30 of a 2:00 PP, or even more. Players generally don’t expend as much energy on the PP as ES, so I’m a believer that you should run your elite guys out there as much as possible on the PP. Plus that still leaves Risto, Skinner, one of Reinhart/Staal, and two of Okposo/Thompson/Cozens for the 2nd unit.

I think Montour or Miller. I’m not sure what they think of Miller.

Trade a RD. It should happen.

Isn’t $3M basically what was expected? Or at least $2.5-3M?

My 2 cents. Things I want my defensemen to be able to do: -In the D zone, get the puck back. However they need to do that, stick checking, strength in the corners, however, just get it. -Be good in defensive transitions, generally requires good skating and often some size/strength -Skate well and ability to use that in offensive transitions -Make good breakout passes -Control the net front area, which generally requires strength -PP QB/offensive zone skills On a roster, you kinda need a mix of players who can do all of these things. Very few players are good at all of them. As you can see, some of these things benefit from good strength/size, but if a player doesn’t have other qualities to go with it, they don’t fulfill many of my desired skills. Note that my list does not include “toughness” because that can mean a lot of different things to different people.

UPL is exempt, so no need to protect. The Sabres don’t have a shmoe who is expansion draft eligible. That’s why they need to bring someone in.

Yeah, that makes no GD sense.

Just a note: McCabe and Reinhart were not on the tank teams. They played a few games each but combined for only 18 games played during the 2013-14 and 14-15 seasons. I doubt that was enough to break them. Girgensons and Risto are the only Sabres who were actually members of the tank teams.

I don’t get this distinction between “puck moving D“ and “shutdown D”. A guy can be both. The best shutdown D are definitely great puck movers. Every D should be a puck moving D. If a D is a poor puck mover, it’s a serious limitation on his ability to play defense.

Where are the people who said there was definitely going to be a $70-72M internal cap? Hehe

I would think Skinner would be disappointed about how last year went and excited about the coming season. He is going to play with legitimate top 6 line mates even if he isn’t with Jack. That didn’t happen last season. He has done the put up big #s and cash in thing, I would think he wants to be an important part of a winning team. He is going to have a great opportunity to do that. I know that none of us knows Skinner’s thoughts, but I don’t like to assume the worst of someone, that he would prefer to score more goals on a worse team.

No reason we can’t. Not that I’m particularly against trading him.

Maybe. I hope so. I just dream about the team with a 65+ point Dahlin, 95+ point Eichel, 75+ point Hall, 60+ point Reinhart, 30 goal Olofsson, 35 goal Skinner, and 50+ point Staal. Then a couple exciting youngsters in Cozens and Thompson. SMH

You may be kidding a bit, but.......I doubt he is anywhere near 230. He was listed at 193 last season. Eliteprospects has him listed at 205 right now. I doubt he ever gets up past 220Lbs.

The Log line played a 2 way game, they just started in their own end. They spent a lot of time in the oppositions end of the ice. Okposo has already been around a 15-goal, 30-point pace the past couple years.

Pilut is in the KHL until further notice. Borgen is ready for a look I would think, but he has 4 NHL RD ahead of him. Fitzgerald, IDK, but I doubt he is ready.

Not to poop on him, because I like him fine, but I think people really overestimate how much of a factor Olofsson was at ES last season. He wasn’t that impactful. On the line with Eichel-Reinhart, he scored 9 goals in 54 games. Girgensons had 11 in 69. Skinner, 14 in 59. Reinhart 17, Jack 26. Johansson, Sheary, Vesey and Okposo all had 8. On the PP? Total weapon. At ES? Just kinda ok.