Broken Ankles

Appreciate the insight on the timing of the horn. Never thought this was an issue but makes sense. What are you suggesting as the replacement horn? And is the recommendation because it’s a new administration and clean slate? I would get rid of that song (clear my throat) and employ a rotation of songs based on the goal scorer, not one for the team.

Is that where GASabresiufan has been hiding?

Milbury is better as a color analyst than on set. He is not good at either, but better in the booth.

Incredibly astute historical analogy. Have you been to The Roosevelt inaugural site? Renovated a few years ago. Quite impressive. on topic - if there are hockey gods, then a team like Minnesota or Nash should win. But there aren’t and we need to reluctantly cheer for a Toronto victory so there can be zero percent chance for the Leaves to win.

If this philosophy (which I subscribe to) is truly the reason Taylor was fired, then Larsson and Grirgs will not be back. It's contradictory to any reason for bringing back either player. I liked the play of our 'GLO' line, but I think there is value in fresh starts. New dynamics can evolve inside the locker room.

I think you forgot Lenny Bruce, Bob Hope and Mark Twain. If I hadn't seen 4 of these 5 in person myself I say, "Christ are you Old!" Here are my top five: 1.) Jerry Seinfeld 2.) Chris Rock 3.) George Carlin 4.) Sarah Silverman 5.) Louis CK (I saw him at small club in NYC back in 1991 - met him after his set.) honorable mentions: a.) Sam Kinison - Died too early, but had some great HBO specials. b.) Sebastian Maniscalco - probably my favorite to watch today. c.) John Mulaney - too young to be considered great, but definitely rising fast.

How or why would the TB GM float Killorn (or Johnson) as a possible trade option when they both have NTC and you won’t know their temperature to accept a trade until after the season? On the other hand, of all the Centers mentioned, Cirelli and Strome seem to be the most likely candidates to increase in value during the playoffs. Going back to Calgary, does Monahan’s value actually increase if he plays well? I think he is a known-known. Same with The Phx options. What about Copp? He is getting a chance on FL#1 without Scheifle. Could his stock rise significantly? I think so. I llean toward the WPG option only because Ehlers has been rumored as a trade chip for over a year and their desire for RD seems to be greater than others. Lastly because that option would not require #8 overall. Which I would prefer we keep if at all possible.

I agree completely with the bold. Didn't trade as much capital as TM but outside Skinner they were mostly shite. And while Kane and O'Reilly were clearly the best players in those respective trades, and typically you judge the winner as who got the best player, time has shown us that had we held off the O'Reilly/Kane deals, perhaps Colorado trades him to another team in Feb at the deadline that year, and maybe he signs a long term contract to avoid UFA in July but the Sabres might have been rewarded with Matthews the next year instead of Nylander. And I'd like to believe that maybe one of the 4 picks between 21-43 was going to be Aho or Boeser or Carlo. Here is a little nugget from researching those draft picks from TM. An early trade by TM is moving Halak to the Caps immediately after getting him as part of the return in the Miller/Ott trade. He gives up Halak and the 2015 3rd for Neuvirth. Seemingly innocuous. And, he gets gets a 3rd in return from the Isles (+ Chad J) for Neuvirth a year later which on paper is kind of a wash. In retrospect keeping Halak would have been best. But only 9 picks after this 2015 3rd round selection (#62 overall was the pick we traded) one Anthony Cirelli is selected by Tampa Bay. Would our scouting staff had Cirelli in their sights if they had a pick here? They drafted Guhle and Borgen in the 2nd and 4th. We will never know but interesting to speculate what that pick would have been had it not been traded.

.....and then he missed two other glorious chances after the penalty shot.

Looking at this from a net draft count is not telling the whole story. The narrow scope of just draft picks, with no assigned value does show a net positive for TM. However when you add the draft value of what each pick is assigned based on the round and position within the round, as well as the value of the prospect given/received in the transaction of trade (which is not factored in your evaluation) the net loss under Murray is more substantial. Below is a breakdown of the trades and the estimated net value of the exact draft pick or prospect. If you look at the total number of outs (draft and prospects) they are the same at 16. Only the value of Murray's out's is 79% higher than that of JB's. My own personal feeling is that if you factor into the equation how much more valuable the draft picks were in 2015, it makes the 4 he gave up for Lehner, Kane, O'Reilly and Fasching even that more egregious. If we could only see the order of what his scouts had on the draft board through pick # 43......but alas. **also note this commentary is in no way, shape or form support for JB's trades and how he treated the currency of draft capital. It just looks at the individual draft pick for what it's worth, not as equal in value.

The trade for Raanta included Tony DeAngelo and #7 overall. Now that #7 pick has not played out well for NY but would you trade a prospect #21 overall - say Joki, and this years #8 overall for a back up goaltender (low AAV not withstanding), and a 50 point center who makes $7.1m (cap adjusted for Stepan)? Stephan has quickly declined to a 30 point center and is now part of the cap Hell I was referring to. They have $1.5m is space, $5.5m with Hossa on IR, to sign 5 players. That’s well below league average. Darcy K was a nice find. Watched him play for the Kings a number of times. But he got paid, so now they have $9m of their cap dedicated to the position for both players. Also the Pacific division was a consensus worst of all 4 divisions this year, and last. If your argument is he’s better than JB I concede. But that is such a low bar. IMO, he has done nothing to warrant consideration for a top position with the Sabres organization.

What has Chayka done in 4 years? The team is worse for the wear under his 4 year tenure and they spend to the cap. Dare I say they are in 2020 cap jail? He has lost most of the trades they have made, including the Hall deal. He’s nothing better than JB, with the exception of his willingness, nay reliance on analytics in his decision making. Let’s review: Cap team, middling results, and loses trades - sounds like he has all the characteristics of a Pegula hire. p.s. A bit of schadenfreude, but considering how Buffalo has been the poster boy for dysfunction, I’m taking comfort in this debacle.

Why are you forgetting Little Nikita? He's the only one other than Point without a NMC. And his return would be bigger, would it not? Your valuation on Cernak is $5M? Or is it Serg with $5M and Cernak at $3M? If you offered 4 years at $4.2M for Cernak the Offer Sheet calculator suggests the comp is only 1 second round pick. A better bridge (outside State taxes) than Tampa could offer.

If that’s the case, you expect Vesey to take a haircut and Son of Lars penciled in for raise? Should make for an interesting experiment. Not that I want Vesey on our team, but I could see him get more and get signed faster than Larsson.

I don't usually like Chads suggestions but his logic is solid. Especially if they are not spending to the cap. Unlike Duda, I'm in the camp for trading both D. I think moderately priced Right handed D will yield a premium this off-season. Only disagreement is the Talbot signing. I prefer a buyout of Carter Hutton and allocate a little extra dinero to maybe Holtby. If no teams are offering long term deals, perhaps he takes a 1 year $5M offer.

For unto us, there is a lurker waiting to be born. And his name shall be ....Artyom "Fowl" Kryukov.

I think you will find that some of the holes will be filled over the Draft weekend in October, before street agents can be signed. There will probably be some RFA arbitration (maybe Linus, Reinhart or Kahun) that lingers or adds doubt, but there will be a general sense of what the 2021 roster will look like before UFA signings begin. I personally believe that Montour, Risto and Mitts are all traded before UFA opens, and at least two players under contract are added to the current Roster. As for free agency itself, it's unlikely the Sabres make a big splash and bid on one of these players who can spurn them if they had been interested. It's likely that these players are still going to get paid, and go to team that is either more competitive or one that overpays. And when they do, it will drive down the cost of the remaining pool of UFA's. Still operating under a Cap. And honestly, it might be a situation where playing the waiting game could pay even bigger dividends. Teams that don't free up the space on draft weekend to sign pending RFA's might be forced to accept a trade that otherwise would have been rejected. I think Cap space is paramount in negotiations this off-season. More so than any year in recent memory.

Turning your wife into a die hard Sabre’s fan as an answer is incredibly thoughtful. Speaks volumes about you and how you considered the question. Kudos to you both!

Apologies if this seemed antagonistic. There is an old rule in comedy that say you buy the premise, you buy the bit. I don’t buy the premise, hence my response. Meaning more propaganda. I am however open to changing the opinion and more posts like this could sway me. I don’t think Carter Hutton will help the Sabres in any way shape or form next year. I think the Sabres should commit short term on a pending UFA and really challenge Linus, whom you qualify. Carters AAV is not commensurate with his play since wearing a Sabres uniform. If you believe in Linus as the answer then ink him to a 4 or 5 year deal and bring in another backup under $2m.

How do you reconcile the abysmal post all star break performance in 2019? He was what 4-11 with a lackluster GA and poor SV%. He is the streakiest goalie I’ve seen for the Sabres probably ever. Like stealing games against the Kings to single handedly losing multiples for weeks on end. I would not dispute a good guy, but honestly why have the Sabres not commented on the story that was revealed by Huttons camp themselves? Could they look even worse if evidence suggests JB knew Hutton was seeking treatment and still played him? Or is it possible that there is a discrepancy in what Hutton leaked to Lance. Either way, he has a very friendly buyout this offseason and if he cannot be packaged they need to execute this option. The Sabres need to improve the position this offseason, not maintain status quo. Especially with a plethora of options in both RFA and UFA and an advantageous buyers market. There are no obligations to this guy, and unless Jack himself comes out and says he is a locker room guy we cannot live without, then Next.

Debrusk is less than Sam, so assume a two year deal of $3.3-$3.5M. Chara will take another team friendly $1.5-2M deal. Gryzlek and Bjork are also RFA and controlled. So their AAV may double. Nordstrom is a UFA and will walk. Leaving Krug. I calculate about $10.1M for the aforementioned. Is Krug going to get $8M? Not sure. I would not want to sign him to a long term deal for that. But to the original point, unless Krug is demanding more than $8M, I dont see a Debrusk sitution.

What could he be asking for? The Bruins have $18m and he is restricted. Why wouldn’t they bridge him? Krug is the only UFA they must pay.

This is F*cking Hilarious. I knew a Stosh or two when I lived in Buffalo.

Here are the top 11 Right handed D-men heading into free agency next season. Not all are necessarily "puck-moving", but the top available by AAV. The Sabres have two factors working in their favor for trading Montour: 1.) He is the only RFA in this list, which means cost controlled. In a year where every team is looking to shed Cap, Montour's contract over the next 2-3 years will be far less than those above him. If he files arbitration what could he make next season? $3.5m-$3.75m? 2.) It't likely that the UFA's sign long term deals and select a city they want to raise kids in and/or potentially retire from. What if Winnipeg or another city vying for one of these UFA's is a city where they have no interest in playing? The UFA's have the negotiating collateral. Montour has extremely little. I have a feeling he will be traded and his return will surprise some.