Curt

Yup, been that way all season. Levi carries them.

We are talking about a very small percentage chance here. Teams in draft positions 12-16 have something like from a 5% to 2% chance of moving up. It’s pretty slim, and definitely not something that you can angle to try for.

That will be trade deadline next season probably. He has one more year on his deal.

And Edmonton leading Detroit 4-1 after the 1st

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/canucks-hockey/ncaa-free-agents-5-right-handed-defencemen-the-canucks-could-target-5160194 Its a story about 5 NCAA free agent RHD that the Canucks should target but I think applies to Sabres as well.

Probably. Traded the day after his birthday! Surprise! Happy Birthday!

I don’t think that will happen. Money and contract reasons and all that. Wouldn’t be shocked if he gets traded though.

Interesting option. Pretty old though. Signed for 3 more years, age 35-37 seasons. He also has a NTC (15 team no trade list), so I don’t know if that’s a real option.

No. The GM owns the coaching hire, full stop, unless there is serious reason to believe that the owner was making the call over his head. In this case we have a family connection between Botterill and Krueger, as well as rumors that Krueger was a very serious candidate before Housley was hired. I think it’s safe to give Botterill full credit. Of course it’s totally reasonable that the owner has an interview, as he was the one who would be writing $20M+ in checks, but I would think that in most cases, the owner would just be looking for any reason why this might be a big mistake. I’m sure that Krueger interviews spectacularly, so no surprise that no alarm bells rang. Bottom line, I don’t see how Botterill could be absolved of the Krueger hire.

I thought it might have cost more. Is Helleson supposed to be very good. I see that he is big and putting up plenty of points in NCAA, but that’s all I know.

Oh wow. When the return comes out, I bet it won’t be cheap. Also probably means that they aren’t getting Giroux, no?

Yep, pretty bad.

I also will add another thought. If these leader veterans are really jiving with the young guys and the whole group is tight, it’s probably because these young guys have their heads on right in the first place and maybe they will be ok regardless? Not sure.

I forgot about Eakin. I do think that there is a balance to be met there. Is it worth it to keep Pysyk around if you think he is a good guy to place with Power as he adjusts to the NHL. Is it worth it to keep Anderson because all the kids love him and he helps solidify the goaltending for the rest of the season. Eakin? Hinestroza? I think there is a point where not upsetting the room is worth more than a 5th round pick or whatever. I kind of trust Adams to make these personality based decisions. It seems that he has so far constructed a locker room that is capable of staying positive through adversity, so I’m hopeful that he can keep that going.

I would be surprised. If the Russian economy goes in the tank, players will find their way out. I feel like it’s much different now than in the old iron curtain days. Russians are too connected to the west. People will figure out out how to get out. I could be wrong. I don’t have memories of the old days.

With the exception of Anderson, and maybe Hinostroza and Pysyk, I don’t get the impression that team culture is being impacted by the guys who may be moved. I feel like the culture is more so being set by the younger guys. Difficult thing to judge from the outside though.

Bryson seemed to work. I’d go with that for a while and see what happens.

Yeah because all the highlights would have had voiceovers about what team Gretzky played on when he was 14 or about stick curves from the 80’s instead of a play by play call.

Gretzky is fine behind a microphone. And I bet if you asked him to, he would do a decent job in the booth as a color/analyst guy. That is not what they did today though. They spent at least 80% of the game talking about Gretzky instead of the hockey game that was being played. It was a production decision. They don’t just send guys to the booth and say “just talk about whatever”. There is a plan for how they will call the game. They obviously thought it was a good idea to spend tons of time talking about Gretzky. As someone else in here said, it’s a missed opportunity to market the game. A 9 year old who happened to be watching isn’t going to be interested in what Gretzky did 40 or 50 or 60 years ago. They would have been much better served to talk about how awesome it is that these guys are playing outside, and highlight interesting/fun things about players in the game.

Yeah, I think he is also trying to mold Cozens into a player who can be used in energy/shutdown/matchup type roles. Cozens has the skating, hands and shot to do more in the offensive zone. I think he will with more experience, muscle gain, and better wingers.

Nice win. It was a back and forth game. Sabres got the bounces and calls in the 3rd. Hinistroza should buy a lotto ticket on the way home. They also didn’t back down when Leafs started pressing late. Dahlin has developed an attitude where he doesn’t take crap from anyone anymore, I love it. The clean payback hit that Cozens laid on Matthews was a thing of beauty, I loved that too. Cozens is probably my favorite player right now. He has exactly the correct amount of DGAF, crazy SOB in his game. I love it. He is going figure out how to give a little more on offense too. This team has really been exercising their heart lately. I love that.

They drafted 4 Russian players last draft. Poltapov, Kisakov, Sardarian (playing in NA) and Novikov.

@Porous Five Hole This isn’t quite accurate. Buffalo had Lehner and Ullmark ahead of Petersen. Lehner as a youngish established NHL starter, and Ullmark as a young established AHL starter who was already getting a few NHL games. So it wasn’t just unproven question mark guys ahead of Petersen when he made that decision. UPL was drafted in June 2017 and Petersen signed with LA on July 1st, but I would think that he had already made up his mind prior to that. Either way, Petersen would have been well ahead of UPL, who wouldn’t even come over to North America for a couple years afterward.

That makes sense on one hand, but seems like it’s opening the door for Portillo to strongly consider staying that last season and going UFA. Maybe the Sabres feel very confident that he wants to sign with them though. Either way, I think Levi is a must sign, ASAP. All decisions after that are secondary.

No doubt Calgary would like to keep Gaudreau, but he has long been rumored to want a move back to the northeast. He is a NJ/Philadelphia native and went to Boston College.