Curt

I’ll argue that a 2020-21 Sabres playoff team could be iced with a cap hit in the low 70’s. It certainly does make it more difficult though. It’s a handcuff rather than an assurance of failure.

Just tell the Pegulas that it’s going to take 3 years to implement the new organizational philosophy and get this thing turned around. That seems to have worked in the past.

Yeah man, it’s been bad. I challenge anyone to disagree! Lol

Two years after. Not that quickly. They were in win now mode during those years.

Yeah, they probably didn’t weight the crappy performance enough. It probably was enough to warrant a firing. I’m not actually arguing against that. They publicly said they were going to keep him on. I was just saying that these things don’t happen in a complete vacuum. I suspect that if Botterill was achieving great success, the Pegulas would have been more willing to compromise with him, or more likely would not have been reviewing the organization and subsequently asking him to make many changes in the first place. In the end, the two are connected, because if the team was successful, they would probably be making more money too.

I’m not making that up. They did perform an internal audit of which Adams was a part. This is known, innit? I agree with you that they would have kept Botterill if he had instituted the changes that they wanted. That’s pretty clear. I also agree that Botterill wasn’t doing a good enough job.

When firing an employee, it’s rarely just one thing. Would Botterill have still been fired if the Sabres had just won back to back Cups? Or more realistically back to back deep playoff runs? Somehow I doubt it. They probably would have come to some agreement. From my perspective, it was the very fact that what Botterill was doing obviously was not working which prompted, first an internal audit (performed by Adams no less) and then an ultimatum for changes. If Botterill had been successful, I doubt they would have asked him to make the changes that they did.

They would need to trade out salary, but that’s doable. They aren’t hampered by excessive NTC’s, like TB for example.

Montreal hasn't spent to the cap for the past several seasons. I doubt they will start now.

That guy may have been right though. Depending on if the Penguins are willing to take on a salary like that. Im not sure what an internal cap looks like or what the FA agent market is going to look like. Someone like Borowiecki could be signing for $950,000 instead of $1.6M. All of my RFA #s could be $500K to $1M too high. I’m really not sure, but the impact is probably going to be more than we expect. Values of draft picks and ELC players is going to be inflated, values of guys due salary deflated. We may all need to recalibrate our TradeValue-O-Meters.

I did one of those Capfriendly GM’s. Made a few, what I consider to be, reasonable trades and signings. Nothing earth shattering, but just enough to shore up the middle 6. Feel free to tear it to shreds. 😁 https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1917678

True. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. I doubt he would be able to get anything too high in arbitration though.

I agree. I think everyone does.

No, but Buffalo owns his rights. He can’t walk away.

Right. An “Internal Cap” could just be (1) keep enough cap room to pay all of the possible bonuses and (2) keep a couple Mil open for a possible deadline acquisition. A directive to be able to pay all bonuses out of this years cap makes total sense too. I wouldn’t want to roll over extra deductions into next year when Dahlin and Jokiharju will both be due for possibly very big extensions.

Moving down from #8 to #16 hurts, but would probably be worth it if Danault signs a 3+ year extension immediately. I think the chances of that are slim to none though.

I’m actually not too worried about these reports of a possible internal cap. There are also reports that they will be in on Pietrangelo and McCann, so...............

That’s cheap. He hasn’t been able to get healthy the past couple years, but could be a decent bottom-6 C. Or He could be out of the league.

Better 2-way player, more versatile, better contract, great contract actually. Over the past 2 years, he has equaled Monahans production and led the Flames forwards in ice time.

More I think. He probably has more value than Monahan

I’d add McCann to those two as probable useful middle 6 C’s who seem to be on the outs with their organizations.

Could be wrong, but I don’t think Dahlin always played RD pre-NHL. He was playing RD for his SHL team, but LD for international play, I believe. I don’t know about him at age 16 and under.

How this makes me feel inside. Terry: Go drill another well, you arrogant, lying disappointment. I know that leaves out a lot of nuance, but’s how I feel.

There are good Botterill moves, and depending on how some guys turn out, there could be quite a few. IF: -Cozens becomes a 60+ point 2-way C -Lukkonen becomes an above average starting goalie -Jokiharju becomes a stalwart, steady top-4 RD -Kahun is decent, versatile top-6 RW/LW

Yes, contract situation definitely would factor into the trade price. I doubt Danault would sign an extension before next season plays out. With Cozens, who knows. He looks good, but has never played a minute of pro hockey. Two years ago, we could have said the same about Mitts. I think an NHL player would understand that you need to actually prove it in the league.