Curt

I wouldn’t. That would be the equivalent of trading picks #8 and probably #3-4-5 in this years Draft. Is Cirelli worth that? I get the appeal but it’s just so much to give up, especially with so many teams lacking cap room and probably looking to acquire high end, cheap, young assets right now.

Are we really sure that Risto and Montour have more trade value than Jokiharju? I’m honestly not sure of that.

Not necessarily. He is 31, signed for 7 more years at $8M AAV. He doesn’t fit well with the Sabres timeline. It’s an absolutely moot question anyway. He has a modified NTC where he submits a list of just 3 teams that he would accept a trade to. Not happening.

Perhaps I should have been more clear. I did not say that the stay at home defenseman was dead. I said that players in the league today generally need to have a higher baseline competence as skaters than they did 15 years ago. That’s why I question Samuelson and, by extension, McKee. Not devalued the role, no. I never said that. But even stay at home D need to be better skaters than they were 15 years ago. That’s the only thing I’m saying.

If I remember correctly, Bennet had an injury (shoulder?) that he was recovering from at combine time.

It’s a different league from back when McKee was a Sabre. That was 15 years ago. I would question whether he could play in today’s NHL. I think it would certainly be harder for him.

Fair enough. Personally, it doesn’t bother me.

I hope so. I have been worried about Samuelson’s skating from the start, but I’ve been slightly encouraged by recent reports of his play from this past season. I hope he can be a real shutdown type guy.

Just what I was going to say. Very strange and a little troubling.

Does a business need an excuse to try to make money? I seriously am surprised that some people feel like Buffalo got screwed out of the playoffs. They were in 25th place in a 31 team league. They sure didn’t earn it.

That’s fun. I didn’t know that something illegal could be in support of LAW and order.

Jarvis played mostly RW, but I think has played a little C. He may be listed as a C some places, but is most likely a W going forward.

Part of my problem, is that it’s not binary. A guy is not either puck mover or not puck mover. Physical or not physical. Defensive or not defensive. All players are on a spectrum in all their skills. I don’t think that the Sabres blue line was/is particularly soft/unphysical. Risto, McCabe, Miller, Scandella are all pretty physical. Borgen, the top D prospect, is very physical. At the same time, I think none of Risto, McCabe, Miller are great in their own zone. I think that “good at defense“, is a much greater need than “physical”. And I think that center help is far and away a greater need than anything on defense.

I mean, I’m not advocating for slow, big, defensive defensemen. Not ever. That’s not Scandella. Scandella is a good skater And he does/can move the puck pretty well. People use the term puck moving defenseman so much now, that I think it doesn’t mean much. If a defenseman isn’t a puck moving defenseman, if he can’t move the puck out of the zone, then get him off my team. What’s he good for?

Scandella: In 2017-18 he was fine. In 2018-19 he was hot garbage. In 2019-20 he was fine. He deserved the criticism for 2018-19.

I’m thinking that Sabres should be looking to add a “boring”, and cheap LD, regardless of size. Someone who can be solid on D, help the PK, and make smart, but unspectacular contributions to offense, thus not racking up many points. Basically a Scandella type, hopefully a little better though.

I don’t think that is a reasonable expectation.

RNH is under contract one more season, then is a UFA. I wouldn’t. Monahan is tougher, for sure.

I don’t think I would do those deals. Definitely not for #8 and Jokiharju for one of those first group.

Yeah, I’m not challenging your position regarding Jokiharju. I do think that he is overall very solid though, especially for his age. I feel he might be on a trajectory to be a top pair defenseman.

The recorded Giveaways/Takeaways stats are weird and I’m extremely skeptical of their accuracy

I wouldn’t trade Cozens, full stop. However, I would not let Cozen’s existence discourage me from adding a 2C quality player. I would say that a 2nd pair LD would be very helpful. Someone to replace Scandella. Then trade one of Risto/Montour for forward help. Leaves us with........ Dahlin-Jokiharju XLDX-Risto/Montour McCabe-Miller I think that would be a very solid group.

Agree, and probably they could add a D who is a great PKer and that would help, but I think a lot of it was system and goaltending. If the D is such trash, why were they good at ES? It’s a combination of things on both the PK and ES. Overall, I think this is the best D group they’ve had, post-tank.

I can agree that maybe Botterill could have done more. He certainly should have tried. We don’t know to what extent he did. However, I can’t put more blame on Botterill for not managing up better than blame I give Terry for making horrible, emotion based, illogical, dumb decisions.

I think it would be unwise to move forward under the assumption that Cozens WILL be a good 2C at age 21. The ES defense was not bad. It was pretty good. The PK though was horrible. I think the total failure of the PK may be coloring your perception of the defense as a whole.