Curt

To play in Rochester.

They have Jones, Werenski, Dubois, Atkinson, Anderson, Bjorkstrand. They will reload around their young talent. I can't see them selling off those guys.

Yeah, like I said, you can do it, but you want to avoid it whenever you can. The Marleau contract is a good example. The day it was signed everyone was thinking it was a bad idea, and Toronto ended up paying a 1st to get rid of the last year of it. They would have been better off not signing him.

Right. People often get confused or misphrase this stuff with offer sheets. A team offers it to a player. The player has to accept and sign it or decide to not to. Then the other team has to match it or take the compensation picks.

I think it’s the Preds who would get it. They signed the contract with him.

In my opinion, this article holds no significance whatsoever.

It’s a balancing act. There are always ways to get under the cap when you need to, but that might mean trading away assets to ditch a bad contract or loosing legitimately good players because you can’t afford to pay them.

He is probably going to be very cheap. Probably chasing a cup. He is no where near what he was but he isn’t horrible. 3rd line PP specialist at this point.

This combined with the $13M number floated for Panarin and $10M for Bob, is just crazy town. Is Florida going to sign Those two for a combined $23M (give or take), then make above trade, creating the needed cap space in the process? Looks like it would be a good trade for Buffalo. Even if I do have some questions about Hoffman.

He is probably going to end up their 7th or 8th or 9th D. He may play more games in the AHL than in the NHL. It’s probably just organizational depth.

So, Connolly for $3.5M. Does that mean that FLA is out on Panarin?

I think the team defense will be improved from the addition of Miller because he helps to keep the puck out of the Dzone in the first place. That’s the best kind of defense. Both Miller and Pilut have done a very good job of preventing the opposition from getting many shots on goal. With regards to the team getting a true defensive defenseman, I would say that’s McCabe, with Borgen coming soon, then Samuelsson, then Johnson. They are in the system. I understand if you want to acquire a bonified top 4 defensive stud who can also transition the puck out of the Dzone and dominate on #1 PK. I think we all would. I would think that player would be quite expensive to acquire though.

Honestly, if you want to sign a player to an offer sheet and actually get the player, wouldn’t it make more sense to sign it after free agency was well under way? After a lot of teams have spent money on free agents, fewer teams will be able to take on salary from a team trying to create room to match an offer sheet. Making it harder for that team to match an offer sheet. The point of signing a player to an offer sheet is to actually get that player, not to make the other team make a couple bad trades then match the offer sheet.

I guess the question is, how much does usage affect a players shot share statistics, or their effectiveness? Peolple see that Miller has been excellent in his 3rd pair role, and think he probably would be at least decent in a 2nd pair role. People see that Risto is terrible in his #1 D role and think he might be decent in a 2nd pair role. Maybe the two players are not far off from each other in ability honestly. I would like to think that people would be excited if we got Risto for the same price.

It seems like the owner doesn’t want to pay anyone. Maybe he doesn’t think Aho is worth $10M? Ripe for an offer sheet or trade? Am I too optimistic after the Miller trade? Lol.

If he resigns? He is signed for 3 more seasons! It’s official! It’s Uuugge! Details: age 26, $3.875M AAV for 3 more years

This is so good. Getting a 2nd air or incredible 3rd pair RD for a 2nd two years from now and a 5th? I love these cap space value trades. So glad that Botterill got in on the action. I don’t know if this means that Risto is on the way out, but I do know that the D looks pretty stacked right now. Dahlin-Montour McCabe-Miller Scandella-Risto Nelson, Hunwick Then when Pilut and Bogo are healthy, plug them in as well! It’s looking like they could absorb the loss of Risto without it becoming a catastrophe, if a good trade is there to be made.

This isn’t even true. If his five full NHL seasons he has 19, 15, 26, 15, and 16 goals. Then last season scored 12 in only 48 games. @MODO Hockey Thanks for that on Zucc. He sounds like the type of person the Sabres would like to bring in. I would love to see him in Buffalo. I just wonder if he is interested in coming here or if he wants to go to a contender. Also I wonder about the contract term he would want. He will be 32 next season, so I don’t think it would be wise to sign him for more than 3 years max.

Glad to see all the optimism regarding Olofsson. I guess that’s what happens when a guy gets dropped in our laps at 23 years old and truly NHL ready. I also have a lot of hope for him this coming season. Just a reminder to everyone. Olofsson is about 2.5 years older than Nylander, Thompson, and Asplund. Two and three years ago in the SHL, Olofsson produced points at a rate similar to what Nylander and Asplund did in the AHL this past season. He “broke out” and scored a bunch of goals in his age 22 season. Just keep in mind that these guys are still developing until ages 23-24-25. 20-21 is still quite young. Remain patient.

I think one problem with this is that it wouldn’t be very good for development. I think the level of play in the ECHL is pretty low, below CHL or NCAA. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Toronto and Winnipeg also possibly

How would they opt in? Wouldn’t they all want to opt in? Also, don’t you think it benefits the development of drafted 18-21 year olds to have access to NHL coaching/facilities/guidance?

I honestly think that we can give up on the idea of acquiring Stastny. Vegas currently has Stastny, Karlsson, Eakin, and Glass at C. They have Stanley Cup aspersions. I don’t see how they can remove Stastny from that group and be ok at C. They moved Haula. They can get Clarkson on LTIR. They can move Miller maybe (seems to be what might happen). I think they would be under the cap then. Right?

Why not hold them back from being draft eligible until age 21? That would take even more guess work out of drafting, so that would be better, wouldn’t it? (Sarcasm) These are adults. If they are good enough to do a job, they should not be artificially prevented from it. I don’t think taking more guess work out of the draft or giving the fans more instant gratification makes the league any better.

Well what I heard as a cut off was 3 pro seasons in North America, not 3 previous development camps. I don’t think anyone else there has 3 or more such seasons.