Marions Piazza

Ekblad had no interest in fighting, they were tied up because Domi wouldn't let go, then he quickly drops his glove off and punches Ekblad. Totally a sucker punch

True, but good thing GMJB is a cap whizz. in the next fewyears Blow-U, Moulson, Girgensons, Larsson, P-ville will be off the books

so with Sam taking a 2 year $3.65M/yr deal, where does that leave Willy Nylander? Nylander is asking for $8M/yr. Nylander has been about ~10 points better per year than Sam, is that worth almost $4.5M/yr more? I don't think so. I think Nylander is going to have to be more willing to negotiate.

some good money coming off the books after this year, Moulson for example. I think you're right

yep, i was just reading the same thing. he will still be RFA status after the deal.

Excellent question, I tweeted back Bob Mack, waiting for a reply. I hope that's the case.

hahaha that i can stand behind

my fear of offering Nylander $8M is that he didn't improve from 2nd year to 3rd year, 61 points both seasons (nothing to scoff at, but, is that maybe his ceiling? low to mid 60's) $8M/yr seems a tad too high for that.

my friend and i discussed this a bit. Skinner-Eichel-Thompson could be awesome. Thompson could be Andreychuk-esque cleaning up the dirt and pounding in rebounds for years.

from memory, i remember reading that CoR was mad he was in Roc in the 1st place, hazed Nylander, made him do stuff like cleanup the bus, locker room etc, while not providing any mentorship whatsoever. If the hazing was funny and light hearted while being a mentor, then no big deal, but some of the stuff i read was that he was just a d!ck.

Offer sheeting is a rabbit hole that i wouldn't want to go down. We'd have to offer Nylander a sheet that would make Toronto say no, but then you are handing them a bunch of draft capital AND likely overpaying the player vs. production. If the Sabres offered him anything in the $6,088,981 to $8,118,641 the compensation is a 1st 2nd 3rd, but, Toronto would absolutely match anything in that range. $8,118,642 to $10,148,302 range and the comp is Two firsts, a second and third-round picks, that's pretty steep, we'd be handing our mortal enemy some really good draft capital there and overpaying the RFA. just my opinion, but anything over $8M is overpaying for Nylander

Funny how a joke about giving crap to Toronto for Nylander has spurred some real thoughts about as though it could actually happen

I took a look at the lineup for tonight, Bailey and Baptiste playing. What do they need to do tonight to stay relevant in the Sabres org? IMO, they'll need to be studs throughout TC and preseason. They have little room for error with how their fellow prospects have been doing.

Is it as bad as Garth from Hockeybuzz?

Fair point, but, I still think Nylander should start in Roc. He's just now getting his confidence, but he still hasn't faced solid NHL defenseman or good backchecking forwards. If we toss Nylander in too early, it could possibly hurt his budding confidence. On the other side of it, if he continues to play well all TC and preseason, and he still gets sent to Roc, will that hurt his confidence thinking he's still not good enough?

Things are going to get interesting for the Leafs salray cap wise very soon. With JT's salary, AM probably getting close to McDavid cap hit, Nylander this year and then Marner. I think the pick needs a condition on it, if Nylander scores over 30, then it needs to be a 4th

that's a cool story, I figured you were US military stationed there, I was way off! I will be in your neck of the woods in late October. 3 days in Kaiserslautern, DE and 3 days near Amsterdam. Hopefully the Sabres have a hot start and it will force me to stay awake all night to watch them with my NHL app.

I watched a good protion of the game since i live close to Columbus and was able to stream it. I wouldn't say your takes are hot or too early. I was most impressed with Nylander, he was going into corners and fighting for the puck, he created a goal that way. He played with confidence last night. I totally agree with you, have him start in Roc and be one of the first few call ups as needed, but overall, a dominating season in Roc will go a long way for him. You're also right about Thompson, he will probably be a Sabre opening night, fighting Okposo and Reinhart for top 6 minutes.

I heard that the biggest issue is that Reinhart always wanted Jack to play Battlefront, but, Jack is a Call of Duty kinda guy.

Hopefully they'll be the duo that brings lots of very fun years to the Sabres and city

This is the second year that i have been really following college football, i really enjoy the close games. This weekend's OSU-TCU game was incredible. i am sure the atmosphere will be pretty awesome, we are getting to Columbus about 2.5 hours before the game starts, lunch and drinks, maybe find a tailgate to hangout in.

I married into a Buckeye famliy, and since I never cared about college football, they have become 'my team'. Going to my first college game next Saturday with my father in law whose never been to one either. Probably going to be a blowout as they play Tulane. It'll be fun to be there, but, the result will likely be one of the reasons I never really watched much NCAA, the 50-60 point blowouts that happen regularly.

I wasn't knocking Columbus at all, I really like the city. I go there anytime the Sabres are playing and we eat and drink in the arena district which is amazing. I am always surprsied when people say Columbus is a sh!thole, probably because they have never been there. I was just going along with the joke that a lot of restaurants are in fact littered with pictures, nothing more.

I live near Columbus, it's like that here too. I have been to a few places where the meal looks as good as the picture!