PerreaultForever

You like to twist words and make unfounded claims don't you. Show me where I "disliked" Levi? Show me. Matter of fact, if you go right back to the Reinhart trade, you will see I was one of the first (if not the first) to say it was a great trade and Levi would be a star. Go look.

I don't see any similarity to Mitts at all. Granato made VO a healthy scratch. He has no future here.

Oh yes I know, he "found god" like so many others. But did he really change or was that all necessary PR? Look, most, if not all, of the hockey players who have been involved in less than upstanding behavior in their younger days eventually mature into men and I'm sure some of them regret things from their youth, but that doesn't change the things they did. My point is simply that when it comes to star players, fans are very forgiving and very quick to make excuses or believe the party line. I will be surprised if anything comes of this in the end. It'll get brushed under and whitewashed as always.

Okay, so change my comment from "not a single person" to "almost no one"

That delayed deal with the Canes is dead. DeAngelo bought out and waived by the Flyers.

Yup, (and I know you were being a bit of a smartass but that's okay) and athleticism is something a smaller goalie is going to need to succeed. Levi has that. Whether or not the size will be a factor (or how big of a factor) remains to be seen. I do remember a few shots going in up and over the shoulder but the sample size isn't large enough yet. Ullmark's size definitely helps him, and it was an inability to move fast enough that made him look pretty meh in the playoffs when the speed of the game was at it's maximum. It's still a point of contention as to whether that was due to nagging injury or if he's just not that good at that level. Hill, on the other hand, wasn't a particularly athletic guy but his size making the first save, and Vegas' D eliminating the 2nd shot made him more than adequate for winning the cup. Point being, if our D was really good (or gets really good) maybe you can even get away with UPL and he looks adequate with his size but until that time, he's going to look good and then bad at different moments. Levi? Too soon to know. I have hope for him, but would I rather have a good big goalie? Absolutely.

Interesting you bypassed the fact that Levi (at 6') is smaller than all of them. Can a small goalie be good? Sure. Does a big goalie have an advantage? Absolutely.

Then why doesn't a single person here want him in the starting line up?

Calgary is motivated to move Markstrom as they could use the cap space and they really want to make a spot for Wolf. Markstrom is really the perfect guy for us. Older but not too old, not so great he blocks Levi, but 2-3 years is perfect for developing Levi. I would be very happy if we found a way to add Markstrom. The idea of giving them our garbage (VO) to make it happen is just too silly to comment on in depth. People seem to think opposing GMs want to lose their jobs.

I didn't think of this. It's true, Karlsson discussions probably holding up a number of possible moves for D.

The entire Peca situation. Also Gare, Foligno(s) and I agree about Dudley.

I'm surprised Dumba's still there. He must want too much and/or too much term. Probably turned down an early offer and his agent blew it as a result as teams ran out of money. There is still the Kane scenario. Otherwise there's nothing really there that helps us.

Would it be "huge"? Seems to me Doug Gilmour never paid the price. Neither did Pronger and others in the past. Maybe times have changed, but I can't remember Ben Roethlisberger losing his stature in Pittsburgh can you? Big stars never pay the price. Sad, but true.

Perreault was the man, and that was when I first became a fan so that's the name I came up with off the top of my head. My favourite Sabre of the time was actually Rick Dudley and I really liked Danny Gare. As a (bad) D man playing hockey I wanted to be Schoenfeld. As for Lafreniere, I simply see him as a guy with elements we could use in our line up so if he's available why not? I'm not weakening our roster with that trade, I'm improving it.

When you are discussing size you also have to differentiate by position. In today's NHL you don't necessarily need huge tough guys (although balancing an arms race can come in handy at times) but big D really helps. You need guys with REACH more than big heaviness. It's all about shot blocking and cutting off passing lanes. You don't get to cross check forwards into oblivion Larry Playfair style any more. You need guys strong enough to lift sticks and be immobile objects, but most of all it's about REACH, and that's why eventually Power will be a D stud. With the cap you can't have 12 stars, it's impossible, so you have to decide how to build the bottom end and imo that's where you need more size because Florida also showed us once again that heavy and tenacious forecheck can defeat higher skill in the playoffs and I want to be that team, and not the one that gets defeated (like the Leafs). Also helps to have a big goalie, but we will see if Levi can disprove that.

Rosen and a 2nd OR a conditional 1st and a 3rd would be the highest I'd go, but I would go that high.

If he wants to bet on himself he might. His agents might also advise him on a 3 year bridge. I think the 5-6 year deal after the bridge is unlikely though. Usually that's the 8 year point but anything's possible. You also have to consider the average salary over the time period. If you take the bridge for less you've left money on the table for 3 years that you have to get back in the next chunk of years. eg. 3 years now at 5, then 5 years at 9 = 60, 8 years at 7.5 =60. In those scenarios if you are Power wouldn't you rather have the money now so you can buy your house/condo/etc and invest (along with the security in case you have a setback or slower development)? Remember, agents also like to get guaranteed money now, upfront, so they get paid too. Players can change agents down the road. If I'm Power (and we assume he is happy being a Sabre) I want to put myself into that locked up core of the team with Thompson, Cozens and Dahlin.

If you bridge Power, cap's going up, he'll want a lot more in 2 years so if they are confident in him and can get him at a reduced price for signing term now like they've already done with others you do it and then the team's window is pretty much defined.

Well I think that's just silly talk anyway. Rangers aren't going to ditch him to take on VO's salary, they'll want picks/prospects, not junk veterans or their salaries. I would look to bring him in as I see more upside with him than Greenway if you want to consider reclamation projects. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I remember him having good chemistry with Cozens at the Worlds and he has enough snarl and toughness in him to compliment well. I think he could contribute to our overall team and fit in well with the lowered expectation (from being a first pick). Fairly low risk big reward gamble imo.

I'm not giving up Peterka, but I would be interested in getting Lafreniere.

I'm not arguing that it's changed, and maybe improved, but I'm not measuring them against what they were, but rather relative to the opposition. We will see this year if there's enough of a change or not.

I guess my expectations of podcast audio quality are lower. As long as I can tell what they are saying I'm fine.

Two reasons. One, their skill sets overlap a little, but the line lacks a sniper imo. Ultimately without Quinn you have 5 top line players in Thompson, Cozens, Tuch, Skinner, Mitts (in that order of value) and it's the 6th guy that is really in question. The rest is a chemistry thing that Granato is best suited to figure out.

This is all apples and oranges. If your argument is simply that some of the Sabres star players are big in size we agree. And yes, some of them are hard to play against or hard to defend, that's partly why they are star players. We don't disagree there at all. But if your argument is that the Sabres, as a team, are hard to play against, it is completely wrong. No opposing team has ever said that in recent times.

Oh yes, Florida got to the final because of their high skill and finesse, and Vegas won it because they were small.