Curt

Lol, short arms and light weight make pull-ups a breeze.

I’m fine with the bridge deal. I wanted them to lock him up long term because I like him and believed he would continue to improve, but acknowledged that there were risks. For all we know, it was more Reinhart’s decision than Botterill’s to go with the bridge. He bet on himself.

I simply do not understand how anyone can look at this draft and say that there isn’t anyone interesting who will be available at #7. How do you define interesting? What type of prospect would need to be there for you to want to draft them?

I agree, although I would be interested to see what type of NTC/NMC is attached to those later years. That’s as important as an extra $0.5M one way or the other.

Interesting. Guess they aren’t trading up, or back, with him as a target. Question. Did they interview anyone projected to go in the 15-25 range? I know that’s vague, but just trying to see if they are considering trading up, or back.

Why is it that Arthur Kaliyev is not getting as much helium as Cole Caulfield? Caufield- 5’6-7” 165 RW, 72-28-100 in 64 games on the best USPD team ever, playing beside the #1 pick in the draft, an elite playmaking C. Top goal scorer in history of the USDP. Kaliyev- 6’2” 190 RW, 51-51-102 in 67 games on a mediocre OHL team that traded away some top players during the season. 23pts and 23 goals more than his closest teammate. In the past 20 years, only 3 players have scored more goals in the OHL during their draft season. Tavares, Stamkos, Debrincat. I wouldn’t take either at #7, but I think Kaliyev should be getting more hype as a possible top-10 pick. He has sort a Phil Kessel feel to him, where some question his work ethic in some areas of the game. I think if he has good combine interviews, and some teams like his personality, he could really shoot up some teams’ draft boards and maybe go top-10.

To me this is a close no. I think its pretty close to even if you remove Callahan from the deal. They would need to add something to account for taking on the Callahan contact. This would do it for me. I love Cirelli.

It’s not the only way, but it’s one way to do it without giving up as much long term assets. That’s something that I think would appeal to a young team that is still trying to build its roster. Ok, if you want to resign Skinner, trade for someone like Miller using draft picks/prospects, and sign multiple UFA’s then yes, you would need that cap space. I don’t think that is the path Buffalo is going down though.

I do understand what you are saying. However, looking at the way the team is set up, I don’t think this is a contending team next season, even if they do go out and add a top 6 C and top 6 W. Although they could possibly sneak into the playoffs I suppose. I think the team needs to, and plans on, keep slow building for another season. And the flip side of that: What if taking on Callahan makes it possible to add a player like Miller? Wouldn’t that help the team next season as well as in the future?

We have cap space to offer. Could take on Callahan. One year only. Then after that one year, all of Callahan, Sheary, Sobotka, Bogo, Scandella, Hunwick come off the books, a combined roughly $26M. That money can then be used to add a couple finishing touches type pieces to what will be a playoff team.

I hope this happens. Buffalo can use some cap space and turn it into a valuable asset. Would love to get Cirelli from them, but one of Miller, Johnson, Palat, Killorn is probably a lot more likely.

That was a brutal trade. We should never expect anything like that to happen. When it does happen every X years, we should be shocked.

Maybe. I don't know what WIN plans. I feel like they would have had to really soured on Ehlers to move him in a deal like that. I don't think it should be that hard to find a team willing to take on Callahan. Its only $5M for 1yr. Buffalo could easily do that if it would net them an extra 2nd rounder or something. Only issue would be if Callahan is willing to wave his NTC.

I don't think that would get the deal done. That's selling Ehlers pretty low. I would say something like Risto and Nylander for Trouba, Copp, and a 20/21 2nd/3rd round pick could be more likely. Especially if they think Copp is going to cost them something like $3.5M+. I sort of balked at this too, but after thinking about it a little more, maybe. If they made this trade then found a not too painful way to move Callahan, that would basically take care of their cap issues.

I think a trade based around Trouba and Risto could make sense. Buffalo would maybe have to take on another player with some salary to make it more benefitial to WIN. Perhaps one or even two of Copp, Lowry, and Perrault.

Is Trouba actually poor defensively? WIN plays him on the PK quite a lot. I've seen his defensive play spoken of very highly.

Yes, I could see that too. Not spending big to bring in a legitimate #2C FA or making a trade for one. Letting Casey grow into the role while the team continues the slow build path they have been on the past couple seasons. Especially if the Sabres take a C with that #7 pick. If that is the route they take, I would at least like to see a good #3C be brought in to make the middle 6 somewhat respectable (in addition to the W's that are needed of course). Maybe someone like Copp from WIN. He is a RFA and they need to make some cap room. With improved wingers, I could see Casey taking a nice leap forward this coming season and performing like a low end #2C. After all his most common linemates were Sheary and Okposo. What can he do if he gets Reino and Olofsson for most of next season, or Skinner and ERod?

I tend to agree. I feel like he has the talent to get to that level of 50+ point 2nd line C. Not sure how long it will take to come. With better linemates I think maybe he could put up 40 points next season, he may not get those better linemates next season though.

No. It’s actually about Casey Mittelstadt. What role can he play next season? What role can he play eventually? I read through a page and a half with seeing only a couple mentions of Mittelstadt, but ROR mentioned over and over again. I’m not saying you can’t talk about Ryan O’Reilly if you want, but there must be a more relevant thread for it.

There has to be a Ryan O’Reilly Trade thread somewhere that you guys can head over to if you want to discuss it for the 101st time.

Yeah, there are different definitions out there. For example, Dach uses his size/length well to protect the puck and create time/space for himself. That could be the type of stuff that Pronman is rolling into that Physicality grade. Also, I love that he is using the baseball 20-80 grading system. Much more informative than reading that 20 different prospects are “good” skaters, 10 skate “well for their size”, and 5 are “elite” skaters.

Could you guys start are 2020 NHL Lockout thread, instead of discussing a possible lockout in the Ralph Krueger thread?

I would get rid of Sobotka and Wilson first. Although Wilson is cheaper, so maybe not him if that small amount of savings is an issue. I don’t think the cap will be an issue for Buffalo in 2019-20 though.

Go look at Boston’s 7-13 forwards: 12, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5 then 3 guys combined for 13 goals. Boston’s bottom 6 did not score very much, but played good defense while the top-6 did the heavy lifting. Teams can win that way. Now, I want guys on every line to score, who doesn’t? But the truth is that only the very deepest teams in the league have guys on their 4th line hitting the 10 goal mark. If the 4th line is made up of guys scoring 5, 7, and 8 goals, that’s not much different than a 4th line scoring 8, 9, and 11goals. To me, it doesn’t really matter if Buffalo gets rid of Larsson, Girgensons, Wilson, Sobotka if they don’t bring in guys who can play a 2nd/3rd line role. It will have little impact if the team replaces these 4th liners/13th forwards with slightly better 4th liners. So don’t worry about those 4th liners. They will get pushed out if/when better players come in. The focus should be on those better players who need to come in.

This is my hope as well. With increased use, he can justify a need for increased investment. He can put pressure on the President to make a larger investment into the Analytics Department by insisting that it is needed in order to run the team as well as possible.