PerreaultForever

So? What's your point? Nobody here knows much of anything. We're all just fans speculating, hoping, wishing. Some of us just have a better grip on reality and a little more objectivity. But carry on, just diminish and attack with no added value. If it makes you feel better to post that my post is no good have at it. The Bills aren't the Sabres. The Bills are a contender. Nobody wants to come here. If you believe otherwise, you are like a deer in the headlights, in whoever's back yard. and then you miss the playoffs forever. Consider just drafting. How many players do you get? How many years does that take? By the time you have enough, you are losing free agents. It won't work.

Crazy crazy rumours, Ottawa sends Tkachuk to Buffalo for Power (as the centerpieces) and Chychrun to Boston for Ullmark. Alternatively NJ and Boston talking about NJ's first for Ullmark.

This is hard to answer. Teams rarely give up top 10ish draft choices. Late first rounders get dropped at deadlines by teams going all in but not a lot of first rounders get swapped at or near drafts. Krebs was a 4th line center on a bad hockey team. He's not worth much. Jokiharju harder to value. I'd think a high 2nd rounder? Johnson might spark some interest. Not for a first though. Rosen, Kulich and Östlund won't get you first rounders back imo but they might get you an NHL vet that can still play and you could get even better value if there's a team that wants to shed cap. They all have value in terms of upside and rookie contracts but none of them are sure thing NHLers at this point. If we want a top player we will have to package something up with more than one player/pick going out.

Pure conjecture and wishful thinking on your part. Simply put yourself in the mind of an NHL free agent. You are motivated by big money, a prime location, cup winning possibilities, somewhere your wife wants to be, tax concerns (related to the money) and/or some sort of attachment to a franchise or a desire to be in a certain place maybe with other players you know personally. (Did I forget anything?) Now, for just about all of them, does Buffalo fit those criteria? No it does not. Right now it'll take big money. Maybe if we break the losing and make the playoffs it'll change, but try to see it objectively. It's simply not a desirable location at this point in time. It just isn't.

Yes. We will have to "overpay" for anybody we want in free agency that's actually worth getting. Absolutely nobody will make Buffalo their first choice (with a small aside for Kane IF he cares about the Buffalo thing which I doubt but maybe).

Certainly he'd be a good add and if I'm Adams I make him an offer, but I suspect the Canucks will try hard to re-sign him. He's quite popular out here.

Well, on the other hand, it will be kind of great if he does make the NHL one day because then we can watch every media outlet say he was a late Bloomer.

Let me see if I'm understanding you. You think Quinn will be a better player than Brady Tkachuk? Is that right?

No Skinner demanded it but as I understood it Skinner's greed went too far and JBot was going to walk. It was Pegula who insisted he sign the deal. That's how I remember it anyway but some of it may have been unsubstantiated.

as to how he should be used this year........

This was Pegula's insistence was it not?

Of course he'd be selfishly abandoning ship but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be a leader on whatever team it is he goes to assuming he wants to be there. There's 2 factors at play here. One, from the Senators perspective, this is the last window they have to get maximum value. Once the NTC kicks in teams will leverage that price down and their hands will be tied. The second, is that he is simply looking at what happened with his brother and seeing the parallels. So of course he wants out. Would he be happy going to Buffalo though? I highly doubt it. He'd want a team that spends to the cap and has a winning culture that he can slot into. I'd give Ottawa our next 4 first rounders for him. I'd give them Tage plus. I'd give them Cozens plus. I'd give them Byram and 3 first rounders. I'd give them whatever it takes, BUT only if I knew for sure he actually wanted to be here, which I doubt very very much.

I'm not sure anybody cares about Josh Bloom. I certainly don't. Shame Pavelski couldn't get the cup, he was a playoff warrior but it was clear this time he had lost several steps.

I don't want Oilers to win because 1, I generally hate "star" worship and prefer "team" and 2. it'll just propel the bs narrative of "if only we'd won the lottery and got McDavid in Buffalo". I like the way Florida plays and in a copy cat league I'd be pretty happy if that was the model going forward But I won't lose sleep if it somehow happened that Edmonton managed to win.

Skinner has a NTC. I don't know why people keep thinking we can trade him for even a bag of pucks. It's just not happening. I'd just buy him out and I couldn't care less where he goes or for how much.

Or we could have drafted Draisaitl instead of Reinhart. You seem to forget that Eichel beats McDavid head to head and he already won a cup. I think this went out the window when Vegas won. That short span of time from inception pretty much makes all the rest irrelevant. I just want us to make the playoffs and break the streak so that we can all start talking about the team in normal terms and expectations like most everybody else does. Tanks and lotteries, and various other mistakes can just get buried forever.

Not exactly. You can TRY for a better return but you have to do whatever it takes this year imo. If the "better trade" isn't there make the one you can make. Overpay. Lose the trade. It doesn't matter. Just get it done!

But somebody is injured just about every year, every team. Remember when everybody at the beginning of the year said Tampa was done because Vasilevsky was injured? Every team has injuries to overcome every year unless they have freakish luck. This year it was Quinn and Muel, next year it's how knows? If UPL and Dahlin had been injured we'd have been totally screwed. We need depth and balance and then these things don't matter.

Florida has the best defensive 2 way center in Barkov. Several other good 2 way forwards. They aren't deep on D but since they are healthy and rested it doesn't matter. They do not have any weaknesses. Means nothing really, but unless something really weird happens I think Kyle will be a very happy man.

Well, I still don't think the better team won, but there you go. Canada (sort of) and Corey Perry get to a cup final, Pavelski does not. I guess Dallas didn't get enough skates in the paint. I just can't see Florida losing the final. They are seasoned, they have the goaltending, they have the speed and they should dominate physically. They are healthy and will be rested as well. Tkachuk is not banged up like last year. Draisitl might outscore Reinhart (haha) but I honestly think this is the weakest team Florida has had to face in this playoffs.

You say it's a "myth" but the evidence would seem to say otherwise. You break the cycle by WINNING. You get to that with bold aggressive moves. Your stance has merit for some teams in general, but it's not how you break 13 years of losing. The window for progress (this time) will close faster than you think.

Buffalo is NOT a desirable location for players to come at this time. That's just a fact due to the ineptitude. If you want that to change you have to make a splash and send a strong message that things are changing. A move like this signals that earth shaking change. Once you make that move maybe other people start to give Buffalo a second look, like Tanev's brother. Maybe Kane. Others. If you continue to evaluate everything in "value" and try to win trades and over rate what you have it's going to take years and years and years still and during those years so many things can still go wrong. It's time for this team to change the narrative, and to make sure that happens they are going to have to "lose" some trades to get what they need and/or make some overpays in free agency. If they don't, Cozens will be back in the Worlds and we will be looking at the draft lottery again and again and again.

Did you catch the shot of Kyle jumping up and down on the bench at the horn? Just about the happiest looking dude I've ever seen. A lot of ex Sabres in this cup final. Florida playing a damn near perfect defensive game with blocked shots, sticks in lanes, it was textbook. I don't see them losing the final unless something crazy happens.

Trade for one Tanev and then try to entice another Tanev in free agency? Not quite my Foligno dream but pretty good if they were interested. If we made this trade and I was Adams I'd slap a letter on Gourde's jersey and offer him a long term extension with a promised leadership role. I know a number of you will think he's too old for that but I think a 5 year deal would entice him and 3-4 of those years will be good ones if not more. Overpay? Yes. Invaluable? Also yes. If Larsson worked out with Dahlin and he signed you'd also then have the luxury of being able to flip another D man at some point. Byram if his next number is too high for your liking or the oft injured Samuelsson. Consider Larsson-Dahlin, Power-Tanev, Samuelsson-Clifton (Byram traded for a power forward) Off season dreams are nice 🙂