PerreaultForever

Let's not forget they put Semenko on his wing for the first few years................ The little guys can score, but only when the bigger and/or tougher guys are clearing spaces for them to work their magic. We, as a team, desperately lack almost any grit and would be run out of the rink by all the teams that made it near or into the final. Its a team game and its a balanced approach to building that I am advocating. Analytics are a useful tool, but not at the total expense of good old fashioned things like toughness, size, heart, and desire.

Personally, I do not see a lot of potential added value (for the money) in the crop of UFA D men unless you're talking Karlsson, who I'd grab in a heartbeat but no way that happens. Stralman is probably the best value now assuming its not a contract that overpays him but if he is healthy I'd consider signing McQuaid for cheap for his toughness, grit and leadership. Also Kevan Miller for similar reasons. I suspect most of those 2020 big names will re-sign with their current teams but Gudas would be an interesting guy for a bottom pairing if he came cost effective. We have some speed and skill on D now but lack grit. I like Ristos nasty game when he brings it, but I don't want him to be our toughest D man. He needs to (re)develop a more disciplined balanced game and Dahlin needs to be protected while he grows like Boston did with MacAvoy. I think this year the better value in FAs is for 2nd and 3rd line forwards which we are in desperate need of. The current rumblings however are that we might not do much now after paying Skinner and that is troubling to say the least.

Sure, cause the D was so good last year right? Face it, we need upgrades top to bottom. D might not be #1 priority but if anyone thinks Montour coming in fixes the D you are dreaming. I'm hoping the new coach can fix Risto, but aside from Dahlin there is nothing to rave about on D. or in goal, or..........etc etc etc.

If he scores 40 goals consistently it's ok but I think he's more likely only a 30 goal scorer and because of his size I have my doubts he'd be a good playoff performer (if we ever get there). I dunno, I mean its good he is signed I guess but him and Eichel are both overpaid at this point for what they've done. Caps go up so who knows down the road but at this point I see a lot of better players around the league making less. I'm also not convinced he will give the same level of effort when he's shall we say comfortably secure, as he did in a contract year. If he does, I'll feel much better about it, but at this point for me, it's a question mark.

Ultimately, I think it was too much money and so in the long run I think we're screwed. Hope I'm wrong.

Fair enough, I am old and old school and I hear that argument a lot, but then I look at the Stanley Cup final and I think maybe I'm not as out of it as all these young analytic people claim.

Absolutely, but it is what seperates the best from the rest. Suppose it's a question of degree. I still see Sam as a good 2nd liner but barely adequate as a 1st liner. I think we'd be a much better team if we could get a big body to play with Eichel and Skinner and let Sam make a 2nd line truly dangerous by combining him with a good 2C, perhaps on a slightly slower paced but bigger more physical line.

So the narrative was Sabres dug in at 8x8, Skinner dug in at 9x8 so JBot caved and Skinner won. Surprised they didn't meet at 8.5 but it is what it is. JBot will have to draft well so we can have some future rookie contracts to make up for the extra million in cap space. Bottom line, we now have 2 allstars locked up, one future star entering his second year on D, and a few so far inconsistent but skilled and maybe with the right coaching good players. Is it enough? No. At this point we shouldn't be any worse, but we still need a couple FAs added to the mix to truly compete.

This is close enough to what I meant to say yes, pretty much right. I would just add it's not that I don't value the things he does well, it's just that I think what he does well requires linemates to be doing the things he doesn't do well for him to be effective. We lack those players.

yes it is.

Sam has a habit of positioning himself and waiting for a pass. He has not been, to this point in time, a player who drives the play, carries the puck or forces his opponent into a turnover. When Eichel has the puck and controls it, moves up the ice, this can work and Sam can be in the right place or in front but when the puck is in our end all too often I have seen Sam move out to the perimeter or blue line and wait for someone to send the puck his way. I have not to this point in time seen great backchecking skills from him or tenacity in a defensive role. All that being said, the team as a whole sucks at defense so maybe with a different system it'll be completely different, Sam included.

I don't get some of the over reactions to the use of analytics. Nowhere does he say he will rely on them solely, but why not use every tool possible and examine things in every possible way. As for it being an evaluation year I don't see that either. Sounds more like evaluation will be an ongoing thing for all the time he is here. The first thing I would assume would be looking at analytics from the past year(s) and then comparing them to analytics gathered while playing in a new system. See how players change and adapt, or don't adapt and possibly need to be replaced. All seems good to me. imo he comes across as a stereotypical no nonsense German. Calm and confident with an icy stare that means its all business. He will likely pull long hours and work extremely hard. Will the players we have respond? No f'n idea.

I think we have to wait and see how everyone performs in what sounds like it will be a more structured and defensively responsible system. Some players will fit better and some won't. I have absolutely no idea if it'll work or not, but if it's similar to what Dallas did it could be interesting. At this point I'm not fully sold on Sam's ability to play good D.

lol - I guess everybody bitching earlier that the refs were favoring Boston has to eat a little crow now. Brutal refereeing all playoffs. Starting to think the league would like a St. Louis victory.

I'll be blunt. Sam at wing or Sam at center doesn't make any difference unless we add more talent in free agency. If they make him the 2C we're weaker on the wing and if he stays on the wing we need a 2C. Makes no difference at all. I still think a 3rd line of Mitts Olofsson Nylander might be intriguing but at this point any of those guys in the top 6 means a weakness. We need Skinner plus 2 top 6 forwards added to this team to be any good at all.

My only thought would be if Skinner is asking for the kind of money that puts him in the same realm as Duchene, why not make the offer to Duchene (or Karlson) instead? JBot will do it, but over paying Skinner will destroy our future, and Skinner motivated to impress and having his best ever season didn't get us into the playoff race so a comfortable over paid guy won't either. I want warriors not mercenaries, and right now I don't know what Skinner is, maybe just greedy.

I'm not sure how you think you can start a new era and change the attitude and start moving forward with the arrival of a new #1 overall pick if the second best guy in your locker room doesn't want to be there and just goes through the motions to be paid or worse sits out (unlikely, but possible)? It's all about timing, and in this case I really don't see what JBot could have done if ROR demanded a trade. The house had to be cleaned of anyone who didn't want to be here. As for the return, I think there was no better offer and ya, the owner wanted to save the bonus money, so the GM does what the owner wants obviously. As for the cap, the bonus money goes against the cap does it not? It's just divided over the time period. I don't waste my life trying to figure out cap math much but I'm pretty sure there was a lot of money saved and even more with Berglund gone so it MUST be spent to get better for sure.

Flyers just gave away a 5th round pick to negotiate exclusively with Hayes' agent.

No one's going to disagree that the return didn't measure up and ROR was a subtraction. No question about that. The issue that can never be resolved cause we just get rumors and no concrete facts is 1) did he demand a trade out behind closed doors and 2) were there cancerous locker room issues in or around him (perhaps related to his desire to get out). So in other words rock and a hard place no win situation for the Sabres. Best to end it and move on if you want to rebuild. I personally think ROR is a self centered egotist who took the money here but quit on us. Not the kind of guy you can build a team around but at the same time the kind of guy who demands you treat him like the star. When motivated he can be great, and in this game he was, but he has not been great in the playoffs as a whole, he fits better into a veteran team with other leaders. I don't want him to win, but he just might. If so he can take his winnings and buy himself a Tim Horton's to crash into any time he wants. There is one missing piece to the trade though besides the pick. A lot of money and cap space saved so if JBot spends that wisely this FA season that has to be added to the final analysis. If not, ya, trade was a bust, but then I wish we still had Compher and Zadorov.

Never saw him play with that much intensity in a single game here - ever.

Sure he has an ax to grind, BUT he's not wrong. $9 million + for Skinner will hurt this team down the road.

I don't know what names to suggest but I know what we need. 1) somebody to teach back checking and defense 2) somebody to fix the power play 3) a better goaltending coach. Who knows who Kreuger will work with? For all I know he'll bring in Uwe Krupp.

I dunno, aren't we small and soft enough already? We need some size. Glad to hear they interviewed Ellis. Some will say it's too high, but if he's there I'd take him with the late 1st rounder. I think he will be a really good goalie in the future and we also need many more prospects in that area imo.

I dunno, but this looks like a 7 game series to me. War of attrition. Not sure either side can swing 2 in a row.

Biggest load of Buffalo droppings I've ever seen on this site, and I've been called negative and cynical.