PerreaultForever

I'd say that's fair, but what if you could get him for picks or prospects? If you could do that, he would make us a better team than we are. I'd certainly pick up the phone and ask the price.

Anderson getting injured at some point is a more than likely scenario.

I'm hoping it's the third one. Not because of his poor play, but rather because the youngsters are just better. That's the hope I'm sure many of you share.

I have zero issues with this. He's still young and can still become much better than he's been. Never forget, goalies are weird.

Overpaid for a 4th liner but he is what he is and will stay what he is. Until the trade deadline.

I'm thinking the league looked at the time they had the break and figured out it works. I think the players love it. If you're not in the tournament you get a nice little mid season vacation. The league probably also sees it as a time for injured players to heal and then after the tournament is that more intense run towards the playoffs. They get more people interested in hockey with the tournament and can keep marketing during the break. and obviously, it's just more revenue.

Wonder if they'll have Russians back in it by then?

I'm not saying like Dahlin on a day to day basis, just in that way rookies can have bad stretches. Power plays a completely different style.

I'm not saying he will be awful all the time, but as a kid I expect him to have ups and downs and there will be games where he completely comes apart, much like Dahlin did. The question will be does he learn and bounce back quickly or does he lose confidence and fall into long ruts.

I think he will get quite a few points because I think they will do that learn on the go thing and give him lots of ice time. He will however, also make a lot of defensive mistakes and be a minus player.

I didn't think he was any good before. I doubt he's gotten any better and the competition is stiffer this time around. He's below Fitzgerald imo.

I'm good with this. I just wish the comb over/slug would be burned, buried, and never spoken of again.

I think, in time, Power will be better than Dahlin. How good he will actually be is hard to say. We may need a lot of money for those 2 to both stay Sabres, but that might be a nice thing to happen all the same. The price for big minute D men is definitely rising. Look at Tampa. They get slight discounts for tax reasons but Sergachev now makes more than Hedman. Hedman's a total bargain at 8 million by today's signings. 16 million for the two of them though. At this moment Power and Dahlin are not as good as those two obviously so paying them more than that would be ridiculous. Boston has total faith in McAvoy and locked him up at 9.5 which might be a bargain by the tail end of it. With Lindholm at 6.5 that's another top pairing at 16 million for the two of them. Colorado gave Makar 9 million. If Power is as good as Makar (wouldn't that be great!!!!) Maybe that's the true measuring point. Less or more than that depending on how he compares. I doubt they jump the gun though. They will play this out and only reward players after they are sure they have the real deal.

So it still depends on how well he plays. If he develops as fast as some of those above he too will get his 10 million and term in a few years. If he doesn't and has ups and downs there might be a bridge deal or shorter term lesser dollar contract. We just don't know.

Do you guys really think Sheahan doesn't realize he wasn't anybody's first choice? Guy is just happy he gets to make (close to) a million dollars for another year of skating around a hockey rink rather than going to Europe or Russia himself. Sabres were just bargain basement hunting and Larsson's price wasn't that low.

Valid, but let's wait and see how good he actually is before we toss him a pile of cash. I remember when this board was discussing how the Sabres would afford 8 million plus for Mittlestadt with Eichel, Skinner and Reinhart on the books as well. So wait and see for a few years of that entry contract before we worry about how much we need. Having too many good young players in need of cash will be an actually refreshing dilemma for this team if it happens.

I don't know how you and others can still do that at this point. After all these inept and dismal years I just can't go on faith and hope so I know I come off pessimistic and negative to some people, but my stance at this point is firmly in the show me stage. Cautiously optimistic is about as far as I can go at this point. You know the bar is so incredibly low on Comrie it's kind of ridiculous. I know when Boston Signed Ullmark the majority of their fans were screaming "he's not good enough" and maybe they were right, but I can only imagine the revolt that would have taken place if they'd signed Comrie say instead. They'd have been screaming for Sweeney's head on a platter. I mean if you look around the league and list off starting goalie tandems is their any way we're not at or near the bottom? So we pray for a surprise break out from Comrie, but realistically it's a longshot at best.

Well that's an interesting point. Will they be a "something to prove" team or not? Will they fall into old patterns? Will losing be acceptable as they over praise the effort of kids play? Will they be fragile and fall into losing ways easily? idk. I guess a lot of that is on Granato. I have thoughts and hopes on many of these youngers players but I honestly don't know what kind of character they have when push fully comes to shove. I can only hope a solid new leadership core emerges. One that truly hates to lose and will dig down deep to try to prevent it.

There is some truth to this idea, I agree. It used to be tougher for this to happen, but with the less physical hockey in the league now and the emphasis on speed and skill over contact, it is possible for shall we say not fully grown boys to play with the men. You can list off players that came in too early and struggled as well though. From what I saw of Quinn last year, he looked immature and definitely fit into that boy playing with men idea but every year is different. We shall see what he looks like this year.

Where we differ, is that I also think we will be better, and we will be in games longer and games will be more competitive and closer, I think we will be on the wrong side of many of those close ones as the goaltending will let us down late in games or in key moments and that 1 or 2 goals will make the difference in a win or loss. We won't see as many back up goalies and teams taking us lightly late in the year either. It'll make a difference.

I'm not underestimating what he did in the AHL, I just think he will have some trouble adjusting and will likely lose his confidence (temporarily) as he finds it's not as easy up in the big leagues. Learning a proper 2 way game will also hamper him. It's not a big deal though. Most players take several years to develop. Look at Thompson. I'd say don't expect Quinn's path to be a whole lot faster just because he was good in the AHL.

Honestly (you won't like it)? I expect the season not to go overly well and with limited ice time they will decide to send him down. It's possible they will just keep playing him (sort of like they did with Cozens) even if he struggles but imo that would be a mistake.

I guess I could say how he's going to be rookie of the year and score 60 points and get a bunch of thumbs up and cup emojis but that expectation is like hoping you win the lottery. Just ain't going to happen. I expect him to play about 40 games in the NHL and score less than 10 goals, and less than 30 points. 2023 he will be better and play the full year. 2024 he will break out and come into his own (assuming he adjusts to the NHL game and bulks up a little).

I believe "hope they don't draft Lambert" was one of the few things we agreed on.

Looking at opening night is kind of a straw man argument since the Eichel trade hadn't happened yet. Or at least you have to list Eichel - Tuch rather than Hayden - Tuch since injured or not, he was still on the roster. Looking at closing night is more meaningful imo. You've added Lyubushkin and Comrie. Presumably Power plays the season but Quinn and Peterka are inferences and we have no idea if they will play and be good or not. We can just think they might and hope, but they are unproven commodities. The defense is slightly better, but imo this team is basically the same as it was end of last year and any improvement rests on young players like Cozens and Mitts being better and coming into their own. If they don't, we won't be any good at all.