Curt

There won’t be a lot of extra cap space, but there will probably be a few $M. Enough to upgrade a bottom 6 type salary to a top 6 type salary for one player. This of course is impossible to speak on with any certainty because we don’t have a very good idea what the cap will be. Also, having cap flexibility can be useful. It creates the ability to take on salary in a trade because you aren’t locked in to many contracts and can shift things around more easily. Botterill will have a little bit of cap space and a ton of flexibility to work with this offseason.

Yes, hence the first of my two sentences. The one that you didn’t highlight. Botterill doesn’t have excuses.

Botterill is completely responsible for the current state of the team. With that being said, the Buffalo Sabres do not have cap troubles.

I agree with everything you said except for this. It is definitely possible to add ~10 lbs of muscle in 4+ months if you are on the lean side (Tage has been) and have easy access to the highest level training and nutrition (Tage does). Especially if the starting point for this is the end of a pro hockey season, during which guys get worn down and sometimes actually lose weight.

Huh, wonder why. Perhaps because he didn’t get much of an NHL look in 19-20 and Botterill keeps 8 other NHL D on the roster???

Because they are probably going to do the lottery before the playoffs are complete.

You are an anonymous person who doesn’t need to say where you heard it from. Don’t tease us like this!!!

Maybe he works well under pressure??? Lol

This is mostly where I’m at. Apathy.

Hey man, it wasn’t my idea. I don’t think Botterill has done a good job. Also, who the heck is Nathan Peterman?

Don’t love it, but not surprised. He really needs to retool the middle 6 F’s. If Sabres crash and burn again next season, fire Botterill, fire Krueger, pay an experienced PoH level guy however much it takes and leave him alone to hire everyone else.

This is the most definitive information in this thread.

Of course it’s a money grab. The entire NHL is a money grab. They put on hockey games in exchange for money. They lost a lot of money. They are trying to minimize their loses this season so they can continue to put on hockey games of the highest level for the foreseeable future.

I get what you are saying, but can’t entirely agree. Ultimatley, a player is responsible for their performance. It’s not the organizations “fault” if they don’t play well. However, playing hockey at an NHL level is really difficult and anything an organization can do to help players out/make it easier for them to succeed is going to give that organization a competitive advantage. Even if it just helps 10% of players perform at a higher level, it helps the team. So, I can’t remove all agency from the organization either. They certainly play a role.

Not even possible. Can’t be done more than a year from the date of expiration. He has over two years remaining currently.

Embrace it.

He should be able to. I see reason why not. There is the issue of sending a 19 yr old halfway around the world to a country where they don’t even understand the language, which is probably why no one does it. Other than that, seems like a good option.

You mean 3, 5, and 10? There’s no news on 2, 4, and 7. Kidding! I actually wasn’t thinking about the local news channels. I was thinking about the national organizations. It’s true, in my experience, many local news organizations do a fine job of presenting the news fairly even handedly.

Spot on.

Then there are almost zero MSM organizations by your definition. Regardless, the standard definition of MSM is established, traditional, generally larger news publication outlets. The term is not dependent upon them being even handed. Whatever definition you are using is not the commonly used one.

All numbers that I used were ES p/60

I don’t believe that they are attempting to influence a population. They are targeting an audience and trying to attract that audience. Fox and MSNBC are targeting different segments of the population, that’s why they highlight/showcase different types of stories and mostly ignore others.

League ES scoring increased about 14% from the 2017 to 2018 season, from about 2.1 to about 2.4 ES goals per game. Risto actually didn’t see an increase in production at that time, but did the following season. His ES production increased by over 30% in the 2019 season, and more in 2020. So, even accounting for increased league scoring, Risto still has had a healthy jump.

Media are businesses. Their goal is to make a profit by getting viewers. They will put out whatever they think will keep viewers tuning in. They sensationalize everything because it’s more interesting that way. They don’t have an over arching political agenda, they just want to make money.