Broken Ankles

one for one? This is Sooooooo un-Sweet Lou like.

He has had moments of "goodness" but overall an oft injured player who has been more of a pylon than a defenseman during his tenure with the Sabres. he cannot be classified as Good. Below replacement.

Not my debate here, but happy to offer my opinion on this topic. While to O'Reilly trade proved the ROR deserved the contract he signed, it was still not a good trade for the Sabres. The inherent value of a trade-able asset who is about to become a UFA is to provide immediate help to a team vying for a playoff run. No team up to that point, nor since then, ranking in the bottom 5 of the league (let alone an all-time tank bad) has traded a first round pick or the equivalent for a UFA. The Sabres gave up three times this. The Sabres then had to over-pay to get ROR to sign the extension. They could have easily waited through the 2015 season and made the same offer and kept all those assets. Zadorov & Compher have become valuable assets for COL, and while the Av's traded the 31st overall, the 2015 was stocked with amazing talent that could have yielded many names bantered about in many other posts. This unit, with Kane, Lehner, ROR and Jack over-achieved in 2015, dropping their selection in 2016 to #8. Had they allowed an organic growth to occur ,the 2016 draft might have resulted Matthews instead of Nylander. Worst case, Matthew Tkachuk. Now could ROR have been traded at the deadline in 2015 and signed an extension with another team? Maybe. Only a few times had cap space to make that offer, so it was limited. Hindsight is over course 20/20, but the fact no GM of a last place team would ever consider trading 3 solid assets to then overpay for an extension is foresight. Similarly we were told on how TM was a draft Svengali, and he should have known how strong the 2015 draft was, so to trade not one, but three picks in the top 31 overall is just unforgivable.

Don't you think he thought Terry/JB were going to pay the remainder of his salary (a la David Backes) and not have to report?

Funny, but NOT true.

Montreal is effectively out of the race, and will soon sell off all their assets including Scandella. Question is, do you believe he will garner more than a 4th round pick? Nothing has change to impact his value for the stretch run. If he does yield more than we know JB cannot properly evaluate value.

Is this the correct decision? He wasn’t atrocious in his last start. Does Johansson deserve a “big game”? To see how he responds.

If we were playing Card Sharks I’d say this a high number. My guess is this not like Moulson where there was over 1.5 years at $5m AAV and he needed to be a good little soldier. I’m sure he has to get with agent and look at all options but the situation is toxic. I heard second hand from someone with knowledge that it was a retirement. But if the agent gets no feelers, Bogo might not want to lose the 1/3 of this years salary and report.

In concept, great idea. But the player still has to sign. Worst case is we make a ridiculous offer and he chooses to forgo and accept a bridge to stay. Then it’s leaked only exacerbating the perception of anti-hockey heaven.

Hearing Bogo will not be going to Roch and announcing a retirement.

That’s what she said.

But yet VO is such a better defensive option rather than Skinner. In Ralph’s world.

Binge watched season 2 when it released. Great series.

It makes no sense whatsoever. Tim Murray reported in to PLT and it was assumed that PLT would be involved in all aspects of what a GM does (UFA signings, trades, etc). PLT was not close to what was happening in the amateur leagues and TM was seen as a scouting guru. PLT hired TM because he was lacking and felt TM could improve this shortcoming in the scouting department. I can see where you hope your supervisor fails at something, so you can move up one rung, but not the other way around. Patty was a defacto GM at the time he left. Whatever disagreements he had were at a level higher than him, not lower.

Meaning if Sam was not playing with Jack, but was playing with O'Reilly (2015-2018), the results would have been similar to those with Jack. Taro was concerned about the results if Sam was playing alongside ROR. By using 2018/2019 data that removes ROR from the equation, I'm suggesting that using his replacements were less than replacement level 2C, so that should be considered in the result/numbers you provided of Sam without Jack.

Nice effort on pulling this, especially considering the O'Reilly factor. I think the assumptions are fair that if you included a top rated center with his numbers in 2016/17 they might be show better. But this also mean the inverse is true. You take into account that the 2018-19 lines where Jack has a slightly better Goals for, High danger, etc and assume that when not paired with Sam, Jack was playing with Jeff most of this time. (I believe 20% of his TOI was with Jeff, and not Sam). While Sam was playing with Casey, Evan, Conor, Vlad and Tage when not with Jack. (Shown below as a % of total on ice for 2018/19). The results displayed for a positive Corsi and only a slightly worse than scoring for are not bad considering the caliber of center and wingers he played with. I would love to try to see how this manifested in this years numbers, but unfortunately a stubborn RK refuses to pair Jack with Jeff, and split Sam from Jack so who knows. Either way, the numbers to me show that if paired with a competent center (2C) and a better than average LW (Johansson) Sam has a positive upside to the analysis provided.

Agree with all this, plus add in an extremely poor PK unit. Dovetailing on your point about Scoring chances (raw), the SCA the Sabres rank #11 in the league. Now these chances are not qualified as A/B/C but comparatively they are in the company of the Caps, Panthers and Avs, and better than the Preds and Columbus. They are #18 in total shots against. And lastly they are #12 in High Danger Chances against. Not bad. These positions do not reflect them being a bottom seven points team. Being third worst in PK% (and really close to the absolute worse), coupled with a below average save percentage (#21) point to goaltending in general. Consider this: Winnipeg is in the bottom 5 in all these categories (Shots against, High danger against, Corsi 5v5 against, Scoring chances against) yet somehow in a playoff position. Losing your top four defense-man will do that to a team. But their offensive prowess keeps them in games. And having Helleybuyck doesn't suck.

I know. Agitation. Kinda like Marchand.

If Eichel is in his prime now, and Sams one year older than Jack, how is Sam not in his prime yet? ????

Could not agree more. I am extremely concerned about the current managements bond or ties to draft picks or players brought in via trade. Specifically Carter Hutton. A new GM would look at this situation, the flexibility of a buyout and this guy would be gone in the off-season. Especially with talent like Holtby or other UFA goalies this summer. I would doubt the current regime makes any changes at the position and stays with the status quo until his contract expires next year. The experiment has failed. Same to a lesser degree with Montour and Casey. A new GM with no ties to these players can be much more objective in evaluating these assets as collateral in a trade.

Shero? Do Better (or so I have heard)....

Burokovsky and Kadri were trades. Nichushkin was a UFA and a nice reclamation project. He’s a good example of a player surrounded with great talent and asked to play a 4th or 3rd line role can play without pressure and get elevated to the second. Whether it’s a trade or UFA the point remains that they made moves and have improved their standing.

If you feel strong about this you need to bet it pronto. The Sabres are -240 on the money line. DET is +205. Vegas sees this as an easy win tonight. The Isles for example are only -210 against the Kings, and they are HOME.

#1 please.