Curt

Thank goodness. You were making thread impossible to read.

I agree. Arizona will probably be a little better. More likely to be an 85 point team than a 65 point team.

It’s reasonable, but remember that this isn’t a contract covering his prime years. This is covering the back 9 of his career, ages 30-36, it’s not the same as these younger guys signing long term deals that run through the heart of their career prime.

If we are a playoff team now, nothing is guaranteed about next year. Nothing is ever guaranteed about next year, this year, or any year.

Who is Vachon?

He won a Vezina to go along with the 2010 Olympics. I don’t know man. I’m still skeptical. Who do you have as goalies who were better than him but didn’t make the hall?

He is 14th in NHL career wins, 30th in sv%. He was an objectively great goalie. I think he gets in with ease.

Interesting, honestly. What do these same guys say about how Vancouver has handled their young players? They have bridged most everyone and tried to use the short term savings to improve the roster. Results have been very mixed there.

Ok, maybe you are right. My main point was the stuff you said about it being hypocritical.

Not that I care much about this, but it’s a mistake to judge the events of the past based on today’s social norms. If there was a policy against romantic relationships between people who are supervisors/reports of eachother, which basically every organization has nowadays, then these two were in the wrong, and their termination was justified, full stop. Do you know if Terry Pegula’s company had such a policy in 1990ish? I sure don’t.

It’s a risk. Just like the Thompson, Cozens, and Samuelsson contracts were. Could end up a slight overpay, or could end up a bargain. It is quick, but it’s what you have to do if you want to try for those bargain contracts.

Next trade a package for Elias Pettersson and sign him to a $11M x 8 extension.

Miller is definitely going to be a hall of gamer, so this who conversation is kind of moot.

Top two C’s and top three D locked up for next 7 years at a combined $38M AAV. That’s pretty darn good! I think it’s also significant that each of these guys was signed a year early, before their contracts were up. I think it’s a good sign that both sides are happy with eachother, negotiating in good faith, and really want to continue the project long term. It’s heartening. Now go make the playoffs!

Awesome. This is fair for both sides. So glad that this got done and all these guys want to be Sabres long term. Sabres are going to be in good cap shape for a long time.

I think it’s a fair criticism. It’s great that he is near the top of league in penalties drawn, but he should be able to cut down on minor penalties taken too. It’s an area that could use improvement.

He doesn’t wear a turtleneck….

They had put themselves in a bad spot. They managed their cap poorly, spent too much on UFAs. They couldn’t afford to give him the $10M type of deal that he deserved on a long term contract. They needed the $2.5-3M they saved by bridging him. They are going to pay for it now because he is about to have all the leverage and either force his way out or bend them over on this next deal.

One situation I’ll be keeping an eye on this season is the Elias Pettersson contract situation. His situation is a parallel of Dahlin’s. Both Swedes drafted the same year, both signed a 3 year bridge that they are about to play the last season of, and both had big star breakouts last season. However, unlike the Sabres and Dahlin, the Canucks and Pettersson have publicly put contract talks on hold. Seems like they are having trouble seeing eye to eye and Pettersson may be unsure if he wants to commit to that organization long term. If they ever entertain the idea of trading him, I wouldn’t mind the Sabres taking a run at adding him. He can play either C or W, he is a good defensive forward, and a very dynamic offensive player. If the Sabres are going to make a trade packaging several assets to acquire a sure thing upgrade, he is a good candidate. I’d consider including anyone except Skinner, Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Levi, and maybe Benson.

Haha. This is like a survivor bias kind of thing. Is it really that all teams with good players figure out how to successfully navigate the cap and be good teams? Or is it that only the teams that successfully manage their cap actually end up being good teams? I think that it’s the 2nd one. There are plenty of examples of teams with a group of very good players who bungled their cap and struggled to be good as a result.

You can hope that Savoie takes his spot.

I would say close to the AHL, but since a lot of the non Russians left in the past couple years it’s probably a step below now. Still with top end talent better than the AHL, but the worst players are worse than AHL level. Better than the ECHL for sure though.

Benson most definitely did NOT outscore Bedard in the WHL. Nowhere near close. Benson 36 goals 98 points Bedard 71 goals 143 points

Looks like he will be part of a pretty balanced middle 6. JJP-Cozens-VO Greenway-Mitts-Benson I think those lines look pretty equal.

Can we see Schiefle’s for comparison?