Curt

Mitts was seen as an option to go a little earlier than he did, but it wasn’t a surprise at all. He went about where projected. His WJC buzz and hyped up prospect status was the year AFTER he was drafted. It’s still an example of how too much importance can be given to a short tournament.

If Reinhart scored 40 goals, he might get $9M too. Plus he is an RFA vs Skinner being a UFA. Plus, if you look at comparable players to Reinhart, I don’t think many got the equivalent of $7M+. Plus Plus, the NHL’s revenue is in the tank and no one even knows what next season is going to look like. The cap might actually decrease next season and might stay flat for 3 years. When Skinner signed, everything financial looked super great, now it looks like *****. That’s not Sam’s fault, but it’s going to make a real, tangible difference for all FAs. I see your comment about Sam perhaps wanting to push off signing a long term deal. That could be true. I’m just commenting on what I think would get on a long term deal.

Bump him away from Eichel. He isn’t really that good 5 on 5 anyway. I think he should be moved away from Eichel regardless of Hall.

Thornton, Seguin, Kessel Boston has a habit of running good players out of town if they are not deemed Bruins kinda guys.

I want them to win any of the top 3 picks and draft a player that turns into a star.

Yeah, I still think it’s high when compared to other RFA’s coming off of a bridge deal. It’s been heavily discussed in the Reinhart thread. Especially considering that the cap will most likely stay flat for 2-3 years, maybe even going down a little, it’s especially doubtful that Reinhart is going to get over 7. I think that’s about the max he will cost on a long term deal.

Honestly, I think there are about 8 really high end prospects, then it kind of drops off. Then there’s a big group of good prospects. And at the very top, there isn’t a “generational” talent. I think it’s ok, but not really even an above average top-10.

I think that’s what his best comparables point towards. Something in the 6.5-7 range on a long term (5+ years) deal. What bargaining power does he have above that of any other RFA? Why do you think it will be so much? $7-8M?

Two scouts had Byfield at 6 and two scouts had Jake Sanderson at 3. Why do I feel like two scouts were just screwing with Bob?

I don’t think that he will. What about $6.5M?

I don’t know what they would have offered him, and I don’t know what he got in the KHL. I think if they had played him in the NHL more he would have stuck around. He was only making 70K in the AHL and he probably wasn’t up for a 3rd year of that.

They didn’t let him walk. He walked out on them.

I don’t think you need to be an insider to figure out that that bonus payment might make a difference in the return. That kind of seems like a no brainer. It may or may not have been a leak from Botterill.

Yeah, I don’t know for sure when the deadline was imposed. Was the bonus deadline something that was established far in advance, or was in sprung on Botterill somewhat on short notice? I can’t say. I have confidence in neither Botterill’s trade negotion process, nor confidence that the Pegulas did not impose a last minute surprise deadline. Carolina’s offer included Elias Lindholm +, I’ve heard. That would would have been nice.

I can not think of any other reason that the trade happened on the day before the bonus was due. There are rumors, I believe from multiple teams that were willing to give a better deal after the bonus was paid. I can’t know with certainty, but the evidence seems pretty transparent that Pegula wanted the deal done before the bonus was due, at the expense of getting a better hockey trade.

I agree that Adams doesn’t have the usual GM experience, but I think it’s a little strange that so many assume he is going to be lost when it comes to making hockey decisions. The guy was an NHL player for 10+ years, has done some coaching, has done a little work for an agency, in addition to high level business/management experience. I’m sure that he knows hockey. Krueger should be able help, but he hasn’t really proven anything at the NHL level either. This is not to say that I think Adams does not need to surround himself with some more experienced people. I think that he should.

And Tim Murray has been under contract with Buffalo all this time still. I believe that his contract is up at the end of this month. I don’t think that would prevent him from taking a scout or AGM job, but he would probably be taking a pay cut.

The players aren’t getting paid if there are no games. I would think that very few people get paid if there are no games. Not a lot of people will have work to do without any games happening.

This sounds plausible. There certainly are other (successful even) owners who regularly impose themselves into the hockey decisions. Since Adams has already risen through the organization as a Pegula favorite, he should do a good enough job of managing up. Now we just need him to competently manage the hockey departments.............

In the US, even during a state of emergency, Interstate travel restrictions are not possible?

In an interview Adams mentioned possibly looking for people who could fill roles as part of both scouting and analytics. I think that in order to bridge that gap between analytics and traditional scouting, integrating the two together in player evaluations, getting people who can understand both at a high level is key. I would like to see the Sabres really lean into that organizational philosophy moving forward and I actually think there are a lot of people who could help with this who are not employed by NHL teams. Go get em Kevy!

Lol, I know right. It’s not like they called on Friday afternoon and said “Hey Jason, just a heads up, but we plan of letting you go on Tuesday morning. Its just not working out. So you can come in on Monday/Tuesday, but don’t bother doing any real work. Have a good weekend.” No, you don’t get notice before hand. You just keep working until they tell you that you are fired. I can’t see how it’s surprising that Jason was working right before he was fired.

No. It’s a test for the virus. If you test positive for it, it means the virus is in your body, you have it. An antibody test checks for antibodies that your body would have created if you had it in the past. So that would tell you if you used to have it.

I’m not saying that Taylor is a bad coach. I was just responding to someone who said we won’t get another coach as good as Taylor in Rochester anytime soon. He came to Rochester a young, inexperienced coach. He had never been a HC before. He wasn’t some hot shot rising star that “OMG, I can’t believe that we got him in Roch!” Botterill gave him his first shot as a HC and Taylor did a decent job. That’s all. Nothing special. And don’t get me wrong, I like the guy.

Absolutely. They are consistently tone deaf in how they come across with the media and fans. A PR nightmare.