PerreaultForever

Since they got Ullmark I do not believe Ottawa is looking to trade Tkachuk at all. But, for the sake of saying it, IF we could get him AND sign him to an extension, then they can have ALL of those little prospects in Rochester. ALL of them. Rosen, Rousek, Kulich, Östlund and even the new guy Helenius. Because I just don't care about prospects any more. Especially little ones.

The Hockey Guy (who I assume many of you have seen on youtube) just did a pretty accurate and objective assessment of the Sabres roster after the Savoie trade. I agree with most of what he says and that is probably how it shakes out unless we swap some of that R/L D around and move Byram up. Also if Benson doesn't fall back he might be up on 2 and Zucker on 3. Thing I hadn't thought about and really struck me is he lays out the age of everybody and we only have 1 guy 30+ on that starting lineup. I don't actually think that's a good thing but we shall see if speed and youth can come together and not need calm stability and leadership. I wish we would have added a guy like Bertuzzi instead of Zucker. I don't see the tenacious 6 man unit that comes out in the last minute with the goalie pulled to bang away and maybe get you that all important loser point. Bertuzzi might have given us some of that over Zucker and he would also bump down to what we want on line 3 easily if a prospect shines. Anyway, the roster is now structured better than it was and maybe you now have the makings of slots for future upgrades playing similar styles as it goes on. Makes more sense this way, just don't think it's enough. I think the video sums everything up well, even if it is a little overly diplomatic as this guy tends to be,

and to clarify I'm saying he addressed the needs but not with the caliber of player that I think was necessary. So we could be better, but so is most of the direct competition.

As I said in another thread, a lot depends on a return of Samuelson.

I'm not so strong with the praise. There is a recognition of the weaknesses in terms of the roster's construction and they have attempted to remold the bottom 6 in a way that I was saying should be done years ago but the additions are 2nd or 3rd or even 4th choices. I don't think we are there yet. A lot depends on two things. One, the goaltending which is less than certain, and two, Samuelson being healthy and playing at least as well as he did before the injuries.

We took a small step closer today but I still don't think it's good enough to compete with the big boys who were ahead of us, or New Jersey who imo will jump above Carolina who will take a step back.

It's good, and everybody knows it, but I'd suggest the greatest ever is actually this:

So ultimately it's Savoie and Skinner to Edmonton for McLeod and that other guy with Buffalo retaining salary 🙂

Yes and no. Not what we need. He's kind of Skinner-lite. Nope, but he will be playing for a new contract so the question is will he be good enough? Was it all Korpisalo or was it the Ottawa D?

No that's not what I'm saying. Not a guy who "can't play", that's the move on a rebuild where you take crap to get picks. NO, we should be past that. I meant a team that was cap tight but maybe wanted a free agent or signing one of their own free agents and so had to reluctantly move somebody from a position of depth and strength to make room. Not a bad player, just one they could afford to lose from their roster. I doubt that was the plan. I am glad however that they are not still stocking the cupboard, the cupboard is overflowing.

Swayman got 3.475 in arbitration on a 1 year deal. I can't see them giving UPL more than that unless the Sabres don't know how to argue an arbitration case properly. I also think Adams will be happy with a short term deal as UPL is not his guy, Levi is. UPL is just a stop gap. But now we also know why he picked up Reimer.

The money is the thing that's been annoying me so far. If we aren't spending to the cap we aren't competing. (We don't even have anybody on LTIR :)) Adams had more leverage to take on a contract for prospects before free agency than he does now. Now I'm not talking a complete garbage contract, but one that's maybe a little too high or too long or just hampers a cap squeezed team that waned to go another way. Like maybe the way the Pens unloaded Reilly or some team like Vegas before they decided they had to move on from Marchessault and so on. So he can still do it, but I'm not sure there's a trade partner for that out there any more.

Gerry Rafferty? Not the guy I thought we signed.

Fair enough. I think they are thinking Savoie is a maybe top 6 in the future and McLeod is nothing more than an easily replaced bottom 6er. But since we have the prospects to burn and we needed the bottom 6er, maybe it's good for both sides. Does make me think that Adams is on the clock though. His job likely depends on us making the playoffs.

I was looking at an Oilers site and while here people are happy, there they are mostly saying how sorry they feel for Buffalo fans and how their temporary GM is killing it. I don't know why as I don't know McLeod all that well but go figure.

Well I guess that's why Washington traded him. They were likely not close in their negotiations either. It doesn't really matter. See what the league decided and that maybe decides his future. UPL is more of an issue. Arbitration can get ugly and sour players and teams. Goalies are the players with the most mental/focus issues. I know in Boston after they went to arbitration with Swayman there was a lot of fence rebuilding after. It's ugly since the team basically argues you suck right in front of you. See what happens, but it's not good since plan B is Reimer.

Overpay but it's only for a year so he can either show he is worthy of that or get flipped at the deadline (with retention most likely) or if we are actually in it be replaced at the deadline and/or he doesn't really block Johnson IF Johnson earns the spot full time for the season after.

Well, I'm not crazy about McLeod as 3C but it's better than Krebs at 3C. The team got better without shedding roster players so that's good. I guess Adams has thoughts in line with mine that Savoie just isn't big enough to make an NHL impact (so why do we draft them???) but that's fine. Again, no roster player removed and better than Krebs so that's fine.

Oh for f's sake. It's not "misleading" it was just about a cap number for next year. If you think Monahan over 5 years is too long or a bad deal just say that. You don't have to make judgements on wording. imo signing Monahan would have been markedly better than what we did. That's all. No more no less.

Well the question about him isn't if he can score or not, the question about him, as a D man, is can he defend.

Reading all these posts, everybody so in love with Quinn. I'm clearly missing something. I just don't get it. I'm not saying he's bad, but I really haven't seen this huge potential either. He looks very average to me.

Zeimer is the pick I liked best from the draft for where we picked him. He has the character and potential to be a steal down the road.

Byram? Define "talent" then.

I don't think I have much more to say on free agency but I think my disappointment is best summed up by us signing Zucker for 5 million while Monahan goes to Columbus for a mere .5 more. Sure maybe he wants to play with Johnny Hockey or something but the money difference is small and what he'd have added in terms of filling a need is so huge it just drills home the failure.

Which is why we shouldn't toss that term around so easily. Perreault's 5th year career year wasn't a career year at all. Briere's would be a true "break out year" as you alluded to. Better term. Pominville's was definitely a career year. Part of these career years is also based on who your linemates are/were. Skinner, for example, doesn't have his career year without getting slotted up with Eichel and Reinhart. Perreault's numbers went up with the French Connection. In any event it doesn't matter. At the moment for our big contracts, Thompson is a little overpaid, Cozens is vastly overpaid, Dahlin has arguably earned it but I'd say slightly overpaid and Power, well that one is just dumb unless he does have a breakout season soon.