PerreaultForever

I know some Flyers fans and every single one of them hates Fletcher (and Holmgren and to some extent Clarke) and they all believe it's a tank season. And for Sabres fans satisfaction Risto is constantly ridiculed and they all feel they were fleeced in that trade.

I don't know how you can conclude that Husso made a back door deal? For one, that's simply impossible within the rules, and two players don't make their own trades. MAYBE Husso wanted to be in Detroit but until he says that there's no way to draw this conclusion. He was simply given term and money that he wanted and I'm sure his agent advised him of his worth accordingly. We were "linked", which I know means nothing EXCEPT that there were definitely conversations and some form of interest from one if not both sides. Adams was simply outbid just like he was on Ullmark with Boston. He needed to outbid and overpay and he (and/or Terry) isn't willing to do that and so we get no goalie.

I would say they rely on team speed as their strength and any player is expendable. They simply were not going to pay Hamilton what he wanted (and he didn't give NJ their money's worth) and DeAngelo was a gamble they won on but DeAngelo has issues and perhaps they weighed it up and decided he was not worth the gamble of extending. I could see them going after Klingberg, but I could also see them going after nobody.

See, with all due respect, I think you're saying this to make yourself believe it and to feel better about things. There is no way I believe the bolded sentence. If it were true he wouldn't have been trying to trade for Murray, or Gibson, or we wouldn't have been linked to Husso, and they wouldn't have offered Ullmark money and so on. I think he's tried to get a goaltender because he knows he needs one, but he has failed miserably at it and he just spins the results as a "plan" so he doesn't look like a failure. I believe the sentence in the press was "Sabres exploring all options." He just isn't very good at it. Yzerman, for one, beat him to it.

Less than there were a few days ago. Just don't see this happening with the current goalies and the holes in the roster. I see us around where we finished this year, maybe slightly higher, but no chance at the playoffs. Which is the frustrating thing for me, as I think with the key additions we COULD have been a contender.

Fair enough and I don't know enough about the goalie to say but the general impression I have reading things is they took him too early. They obviously really love this goalie so let's hope he turns into another great Buffalo goalie and takes us to the promised land.

Forsberg re-signed by Predators. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/predators-sign-filip-forsberg-to-eight-year-70-million-contract-extension/

I'm sure that's true, as I'm sure his timeline is a long one. The problem is if you keep losing for another 2 to 3 years before your eventual winning plan comes to fruition you alienate the fans even more, you keep it a no trade clause place, you don't attract free agents, and you risk losing what you're trying to build in this locker room as some of the kids may decide maybe they'd rather go elsewhere as well. We need to start winning more now to turn all these things around, and we need a 3 to 4 year signed decent goalie to have any chance of doing that.

I suspect Ellis is going to LTIR. His career may be over. Other than that I have no idea. There's the money they used to pay Giroux maybe?

I give it a B. I wouldn't have taken Östlund. Given who was left I think I would have taken Ohgren or Gaucher. I don't hate the Östlund pick but how many small centers do we need??? I might have taken Firkus at 28 myself, but Kulich is fine. I would definitely have taken Warren in the 2nd round and not the goalie. If we'd done that I'd give the draft an A- If we'd landed the goalie with pick 3 after picking Warren I'd have given it an A+ I have no problem with the later picks. They all seem to have upside and potential. That's all you can ask for really with late rounds.

I agree, I just hope that the "in a couple years" part comes true. Remains to be seen. I think everything would shift in that regard if Patrick Kane did in fact sign here after his Chicago contract is done. Speak publicly about how great it is to be home and such. Might change all the perceptions around faster.

Philly will probably be hot garbage, but the big rumour there is Johnny Hockey signing there all but a done deal. No idea where it comes from but it's all over Philly chat.

I don't think his mindset regarding the position is not the same. What I think differs between him and me (us?) is his timeline for this team to be good.

Just a couple things, while trying to avoid too deep of an argument because those do not go well with us 🙂 So then you want to continue with Dahlin playing the right side? That is an option, but I personally prefer Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson as the starting LHD along with Joker and 2 players currently not on the roster as the starting RHD. Hence I'm signing some and drafting some to replace those signings in 3-4 years (maybe less). You hate Lamoureaux I get it, and although I said I would have drafted him at 28, I also said I get that some people think he's not a first rounder (you don't even think he's a second rounder) and I can accept passing on him BUT the player you aren't mentioning, the one that has me really annoyed is passing on Warren. He was right there second round, perfect spot to be picked and we reached back for the goalie afraid Seattle would take him before our 3rd round pick I guess and KA can't seem to sign a goalie so desperation ensued. Not picking Warren 2nd round was a huge mistake imo. He is exactly what we needed. That's it. What's done is done. I hope the goalie is great.

Well this is interesting. Kaprizov apparently can't get back into the U.S. because he has no work visa (and I would surmise is afraid to go through Russian government channels perhaps due to his possible fake military service). Crazy stuff. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-wild-star-kaprizov-twice-denied-entry-into-the-u-s-has-returned-to-russia/

He's been my dream signing since we first started talking about free agency but I'm not going to give any of these rumours credence as we were linked to Husso. Agents could just be "linking" us to get the bidding up.

My conclusion is based on the rumour of being "linked" to him. Detroit isn't exactly a top team right now either. Arguably better than us with this goaltending addition but not by a lot. Husso signed a 3 deal with them so he's not exactly signed up with a cup contender so I can't see how he'd feel we were any different/worse, especially if we offered him 5 or 6 rather than his 4.7

I want to believe he will still add a good goalie but the realistic pessimist in me thinks it'll be somebody like Rittich at best, and maybe even just Tokarski.

Exactly, I mean we were "linked" to him. That makes me think Yzerman simply made a better offer than KA OR that KA was just going to wait until free agency and Yzerman read about him being "linked" and swooped in with the 3rd rounder and quick offer. KA caught napping.

not dropping them. Maybe guys that can drop them if they need to, but that's not the league any more. I mean guys that hit people and seek out contact rather than avoiding it. Guys who are more likely to "accidentally" bump the goalie than get pushed out to the perimeter. I know some of these guys are not shy of contact and they keep coming , but it remains to be seen if that holds at a higher level where the opponents are bigger. These guys aren't Gauthier types. As always, depends what they do at the NHL level.

Pity he's not a Marchand or Barnaby type, he's got "rat" built right in there.

Don't get your point. You want him to switch sides and play RHD? I was really happy when they drafted Samuelsson. A number of people here said it was a bad choice. I think you wanted someone else too and said he was too slow or something. Not sure, but I gave that pick a big thumbs up and said just wait 3 years. I wanted basically the same thing this year with Warren (or Lamoureaux or both) but for the right side. That's 2nd rounders, not 5th. This pick is a maybe, but it's a guess. Warren was a sure thing.

Centers generally develop faster though. D men take 3, 4 even 5 years. The LHD we have now need better partners.

It was a typical Sabres draft. Speed, skill, not overly concerned with size or grit, clearly analytically based, lots of Euro, and numerous players with potential upsides . I'm just not happy that they passed on Warren and took the goalie. That was bad.

There's definite upside. Has potential. Good value pick as others have said.