GASabresIUFAN

Sorry, that doesn't work. You don't experiment with a kid to his non-natural position unless you have no choice. Been saying that for years.

What do you think he could have done differently?

I'm shocked, shocked I say. I wonder if there is an opportunity here for KA to throw Jack an olive branch of sorts by not removing the C. Instead he'll have 3 assistant C's, like KO, Dahlin and whomever as the Jack situation resolves itself. This would help leave open a chance for Jack to return.

6% or 7% is meaningless. All it means is that KA can't sign another 750K veteran replacement player.

It's a fair question, but hopefully the team has made some real progress by then. At least it's a 3 years instead of one or 2.

In defense of Adams what exactly was he supposed to do here? He is between a rock and a hard place. He has a valuable injured player with a potential career threatening injury. He owes that player $50 mill in guaranteed money and has an insurance policy protecting 75% of the liability. This can only play out in so many ways 1) He trades Jack for nothing to a team willing take on the contract liability and the injury. My guess is there will be a buyer or two here, but KA isn't trading him for nothing. 2) He tries to get value for Jack in trade, but no team wants the contract liability until Jack's proven healthy. Therefore he hasn't been traded 3) KA approves the surgery Jack wants, but that potentially voids the insurance and if it fails, KA has no insurance, no player and a $50 mill liability. No one would go down this road 4) Jack has the surgery the team wants. From Jack's point of view, this is a non-starter, because the more traditional ACDF surgery can limit his motion and I believe it has a longer recovery time according to what I've read. 5) Jack has the surgery without permission from the club. This voids his contract costing him $50 mill and if it fails, his career is probably over. Not a risk worth taking 6) Stalemate continues - Jack reports, goes on IR and the Sabres make a claim on their policy. This is where this gets interesting. Assuming they don't try to deny the claim, the insurance company will probably be more open to alternative treatments in order to get Jack back on the ice and playing in order to limit their own obligations on the contract. My guess is to get them to change their opinion, there has to be more medical evidence that ADR is the way to go and additional premium $ need to be paid. Other then the PR battle, I'm not exactly sure what KA was supposed to do differently. I have no affection for KA the GM, but I'm not really sure what else he could do here if Jack won't have the team prescribed surgery? His only other option was to trade Jack for pennies on the dollar. I wonder if Fish got fired for not giving Jack control of his health care in the contract.

And two great safeties in Poyer and Hyde. Now if we can just get a corner to upgrade Wallace.

I believe this team will have more Sabres developed prospects then any team during the rebuild. There are vets here. Anderson, KO, Skinner, Eakin, Miller even Girgensons, but most of the key roles will be kids. There are no Kanes, RORs and Bogosians in key roles.

Maybe - Power is his guy and we know that KA is cleaning house. Maybe - Dahlin likely thinks that this could be his team given the clean out, but does he and his agents think that there is any future here given the current inept management? We have seen both the positives and negatives of bridge deals. We saved cap and we certainly received good value for the money on Reinhart and Ullmark. However now 2 key players are gone because we failed to commit to them long term when we had the chance. We have also seen the problem with long and medium extension. The Jack fiasco, KO, Skinner and even Risto who didn’t play to his $5.4 mill cap hit. I’d offer 6 for 6 and go from there.

Why is this a surprise?

If playing in the olympics was so important, maybe he and his agents should have worked to get this done earlier.

Photoshopped

What does that change? Had they drafted a center or two, they wouldn't have had to experiment this season with Quinn as a center. With Cozens and R2 in the NHL, who is our top center prospect(s)? The only centers in the pipeline are 5th rd Costantini, 6th rd Von Barnekow, and 7th rounders Konecny and Kozak. Odds against any of these four ever playing a minute in the NHL are significant. It's even more unlikely that any of the 4 even become NHL regulars.

FYI - FROM USC Spine center https://www.uscspine.com/treatement-options/back-treatment/artificial-disc-replacement-adr/ If ADR isn't FDA approved for neck surgery, why has this even been an issue?

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/tapping-into-offensive-talent-may-have-sabres-prospect-ryan-johnson-on-cusp-of-pro-career/article_a2a06b4c-123c-11ec-be65-5f1b5018e74c.html @LGR4GM I thought you'd find this interesting. We could see a much more O oriented Johnson this college campaign. Some final thoughts on the prospect challenge. Maybe had we drafted a center or 2 we wouldn't have to move a winger (Quinn) to center. However, I think JJP justified my high ranking for him and I obviously ranked Murray to low. I'm really interested to se how JJP, Quinn. Murray and Weissbach develop this fall/winter in Rochester.

Honestly I looks like Josh is trying to do to much. The receivers have dropped passes they usually catch and I don’t think Josh is getting the ball out quickly enough with our not great Oline so far. That said two games aren’t a regression. If he is still at 55% six games in then we should worry. It was nice to see a better running game.

Sadly I think he’ll be our 4th line center to start the year. He should be waived and given the Matt Moulson treatment. We need an option of 4th C but inadequate in that role.

I agree I don’t think this “change” has anything to do with Jack’s agent or a softening of the Sabres position. It has to do with insurance money and their willingness to explore the best options to get Jack on the ice to avoid a huge claim.

ACDF, which is the upgrade from standard fusion surgery. I know Jack wants ADR, but I don’t think it’s FD approved here for use in neck surgery.

He had ACDF, which is the removal of the bad disk, replacing it with a bone graft which then fuses over time.

The Sabres took out insurance on Jack’s contract so that if Jack is unable to play, the insurance pays 75% of his deal. (A friend industry told me this is how most of these deals work.) That’s a 37.5 mill potential liability if Jack can’t pass a physical. I would think the insurance company would want to take a conservative approach at first to minimize the potential negative outcome from the ‘experimental” surgery and probably told the Sabres that the “experimental” surgery would void the contract. Now that rest didn’t work and he won’t pass a physical, they had to re-access their position. Getting Jack back on the ice has suddenly become everyone’s priority. Funny how that happened with camp on the immediate horizon.

Not ready to go there. I'll reserve judgement until I see him play in NA. JJP looked pretty good at the prospect challenge.

Marty has an accent?

If I had to guess the Sabres insurance company agreed to the change in procedure when the rest and heel didn't produce the hoped for results. If this is the case, they'd be on the hook for Jack's contract (likely about 75% of it at least) when Jack failed his physical. With the surgery there is a improved chance Jack can return this season. It's also not like the requested surgery is brand new. The procedure has been around for at least 20 years and has been successfully performed on other pro athletes like Peyton Manning. Also the consultation with a new set of doctors, not his and not the Sabres, seems like something the insurance company would have requested in order to change their opinion. Whether additional premium $ were paid is anyone's guess.

The shows new name will be the "Sabres Positive Spin Hour."