PerreaultForever

Curtis Lazar.

I know you all hate Boston but this is how I will remember the Sedins forever.

You have to remember Calgary had no choice. Tkachuk was going to walk at the end of his contract. Calgary did what they thought was the best they could get (and in that they over valued Huberdeau) but in no way were they happy or did they actually want to trade Tkachuk. That was us with Eichel and probably with Reinhart but there's nobody on the roster now that wants out right now as far as we know. We have roster players teams would want, but we won't get better just rearranging deck chairs. We might be able to shed a D man, but really, we do not have depth at any position. If we want to make a move it'll have to include picks and prospects. The Eichel trade is the comparable for a top line player. It's roughly the equivalent of the 4 firsts idea. Those are low firsts and even 2nds, so if you offer up high firsts or potentially high firsts (if teams gamble that we will still suck anyway) you should be able to land a 3C for much less. You want Pierre Luc Dubois (I don't) you could probably get him cheap as L.A. would love to be free of him. There may be others like that but if you want someone worth having it'll cost and we won't get it for shopping fringe assets people here don't even want. A guy like Rosen isn't going to get you anything more than another guy like Rosen, maybe in a different position.

You actually agreed with me despite laying out a critique of it being sweeping. The reasons can be multiple hence the and/or but those are the reasons. Bigger role to advance career could be an added piece if you like and I'd say Johnson chose Buffalo because he felt he could crack the lineup. You might get some players like that, but most of them won't be that good or anything that will move the needle. Look how we had to overpay Clifton as an example. The tax issue matters in that you have to compete with these states like Florida. When you are talking millions of dollars that can shift the dollar value and the cap number and hence you, for example, have to offer Stamkos more to leave Florida than Tampa has to offer to keep him in money terms only. You can believe what you want, but there's no evidence to back it up. We won't be a free agent destination until we are a winning team. This is why Adams chose the path he did because he knows it. This is why getting someone like Kane would matter. It signals a shift. But without something like that, it'll be difficult to make the step needed. You can call this sweeping and generalized, but it's also a fact. We are on a lot of NTCs and we are not a high demand free agent destination. We may have trouble attracting anybody worth having.

So? What's your point? Nobody here knows much of anything. We're all just fans speculating, hoping, wishing. Some of us just have a better grip on reality and a little more objectivity. But carry on, just diminish and attack with no added value. If it makes you feel better to post that my post is no good have at it. The Bills aren't the Sabres. The Bills are a contender. Nobody wants to come here. If you believe otherwise, you are like a deer in the headlights, in whoever's back yard. and then you miss the playoffs forever. Consider just drafting. How many players do you get? How many years does that take? By the time you have enough, you are losing free agents. It won't work.

Crazy crazy rumours, Ottawa sends Tkachuk to Buffalo for Power (as the centerpieces) and Chychrun to Boston for Ullmark. Alternatively NJ and Boston talking about NJ's first for Ullmark.

This is hard to answer. Teams rarely give up top 10ish draft choices. Late first rounders get dropped at deadlines by teams going all in but not a lot of first rounders get swapped at or near drafts. Krebs was a 4th line center on a bad hockey team. He's not worth much. Jokiharju harder to value. I'd think a high 2nd rounder? Johnson might spark some interest. Not for a first though. Rosen, Kulich and Östlund won't get you first rounders back imo but they might get you an NHL vet that can still play and you could get even better value if there's a team that wants to shed cap. They all have value in terms of upside and rookie contracts but none of them are sure thing NHLers at this point. If we want a top player we will have to package something up with more than one player/pick going out.

Pure conjecture and wishful thinking on your part. Simply put yourself in the mind of an NHL free agent. You are motivated by big money, a prime location, cup winning possibilities, somewhere your wife wants to be, tax concerns (related to the money) and/or some sort of attachment to a franchise or a desire to be in a certain place maybe with other players you know personally. (Did I forget anything?) Now, for just about all of them, does Buffalo fit those criteria? No it does not. Right now it'll take big money. Maybe if we break the losing and make the playoffs it'll change, but try to see it objectively. It's simply not a desirable location at this point in time. It just isn't.

Yes. We will have to "overpay" for anybody we want in free agency that's actually worth getting. Absolutely nobody will make Buffalo their first choice (with a small aside for Kane IF he cares about the Buffalo thing which I doubt but maybe).

Certainly he'd be a good add and if I'm Adams I make him an offer, but I suspect the Canucks will try hard to re-sign him. He's quite popular out here.

Well, on the other hand, it will be kind of great if he does make the NHL one day because then we can watch every media outlet say he was a late Bloomer.

Let me see if I'm understanding you. You think Quinn will be a better player than Brady Tkachuk? Is that right?

No Skinner demanded it but as I understood it Skinner's greed went too far and JBot was going to walk. It was Pegula who insisted he sign the deal. That's how I remember it anyway but some of it may have been unsubstantiated.

as to how he should be used this year........

This was Pegula's insistence was it not?

Of course he'd be selfishly abandoning ship but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be a leader on whatever team it is he goes to assuming he wants to be there. There's 2 factors at play here. One, from the Senators perspective, this is the last window they have to get maximum value. Once the NTC kicks in teams will leverage that price down and their hands will be tied. The second, is that he is simply looking at what happened with his brother and seeing the parallels. So of course he wants out. Would he be happy going to Buffalo though? I highly doubt it. He'd want a team that spends to the cap and has a winning culture that he can slot into. I'd give Ottawa our next 4 first rounders for him. I'd give them Tage plus. I'd give them Cozens plus. I'd give them Byram and 3 first rounders. I'd give them whatever it takes, BUT only if I knew for sure he actually wanted to be here, which I doubt very very much.

I'm not sure anybody cares about Josh Bloom. I certainly don't. Shame Pavelski couldn't get the cup, he was a playoff warrior but it was clear this time he had lost several steps.

I don't want Oilers to win because 1, I generally hate "star" worship and prefer "team" and 2. it'll just propel the bs narrative of "if only we'd won the lottery and got McDavid in Buffalo". I like the way Florida plays and in a copy cat league I'd be pretty happy if that was the model going forward But I won't lose sleep if it somehow happened that Edmonton managed to win.

Skinner has a NTC. I don't know why people keep thinking we can trade him for even a bag of pucks. It's just not happening. I'd just buy him out and I couldn't care less where he goes or for how much.

Or we could have drafted Draisaitl instead of Reinhart. You seem to forget that Eichel beats McDavid head to head and he already won a cup. I think this went out the window when Vegas won. That short span of time from inception pretty much makes all the rest irrelevant. I just want us to make the playoffs and break the streak so that we can all start talking about the team in normal terms and expectations like most everybody else does. Tanks and lotteries, and various other mistakes can just get buried forever.

Not exactly. You can TRY for a better return but you have to do whatever it takes this year imo. If the "better trade" isn't there make the one you can make. Overpay. Lose the trade. It doesn't matter. Just get it done!

But somebody is injured just about every year, every team. Remember when everybody at the beginning of the year said Tampa was done because Vasilevsky was injured? Every team has injuries to overcome every year unless they have freakish luck. This year it was Quinn and Muel, next year it's how knows? If UPL and Dahlin had been injured we'd have been totally screwed. We need depth and balance and then these things don't matter.

Florida has the best defensive 2 way center in Barkov. Several other good 2 way forwards. They aren't deep on D but since they are healthy and rested it doesn't matter. They do not have any weaknesses. Means nothing really, but unless something really weird happens I think Kyle will be a very happy man.

Well, I still don't think the better team won, but there you go. Canada (sort of) and Corey Perry get to a cup final, Pavelski does not. I guess Dallas didn't get enough skates in the paint. I just can't see Florida losing the final. They are seasoned, they have the goaltending, they have the speed and they should dominate physically. They are healthy and will be rested as well. Tkachuk is not banged up like last year. Draisitl might outscore Reinhart (haha) but I honestly think this is the weakest team Florida has had to face in this playoffs.