JohnC
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Posts posted by JohnC
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3 hours ago, Pimlach said:
The potential issue we are discussing is not next year, it is the year after.
All teams have to manage the Cap but the Sabres are the only team I know that paid a then 20 year old defenseman $8M/year after 87 NHL games. How he develops in the next 2 years is going to continue to be a source of discussion. Not so much because people don't like Power, everyone knows that most defenseman take time. But more for the decision by Adams to lock him up so fast. Depending on how much of the cap Adams will allocate to defense, Adams may have created less room to maneuver, not more.
A few people on the board are talking about "Power hate". Nothing I say comes from hate. I am pointing out that things could get very interesting after next season with Byram, Peterka, UPL, and Quinn all looking for a payday. Players that we cannot afford to keep will be traded before they can walk away. We may be very surprised by who stays and who goes. Wayne Gretzky got traded, any player can get traded.
I don't put you in the category of hating Power. Where I have a nuanced disagreement with you is that I have a higher opinion of him as a player now and projecting his play in the future. I'll even go farther in projecting that from a talent/salary ratio: I believe that in locking him up sooner than he needed to the GM will in the end have gotten a better contract deal than if he waited to sign him to an extended deal. We shall see.
4 hours ago, DHawerchuk10 said:I'm curious as to why you think he is not soft. My expectations for Power are fairly low when it comes to physical play, but he almost looks like he is allergic to touching other players.
To be clear, I don't expect Power to run guys through the boards. But to be an even marginal defenseman in the NHL, you have to clear forwards from the front of the net, and use your body to position opponents off along the boards or in the slot (e.g. Tallinder or Smehlik). Power struggles mightily with this, and has been caught numerous times "reaching" and being solely focused on the puck, when he should be playing the body. What have you seen that would refute this? And I'm asking this respectfully, because maybe I'm just missing something. I admittedly come from a different age of hockey, where if you didn't play the body as a defenseman, it was heresy. But I would even think in this modern age, you would still have to make some attempt, no?
I understand that this could all change, and this part of his game could develop, but ignoring this aspect of his current play would be unwise and could indicate a shortcoming.
Go back and read @LGR4GM draft report on Power. His style of play now matches the style of play he exhibited in college. In other words, the franchise knew how he played in college and knew what to expect after he was drafted. He's playing well now and will get a lot better. He's not a rampaging bull and will never be a knock him out bull. He's a horse that can move. What you buy is what you get.
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6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:
Well that's fine, and maybe it'll work out but I'm just thinking ahead.
We will have a much clearer picture when we see what happens with UPL. That's the first cap/contract issue.
I said long ago I figured Mitts would get traded simply because they had an idea of how much they'd pay a 3C, they saw him as a 3C but he saw himself as a 2C and that was a great divide so he had to go.
Byram sees himself as a top pairing D. He is a top D guy for sure in terms of his offense. The issue for me is just Power and his contract. 30 million for 3 D is a LOT. I asked this earlier so for the capologists out there is there any team out there that has 30 million on their top 3 D? I don't think so. I could be wrong.
Every team is constructed differently. If our best players are on the blueline, they will consume a larger portion of the cap than many other teams. There is no question that in the future the front office will have to make tough decisions regarding who to keep and who to move on. That's true not only for hockey but also for pro football and basketball. I'm not worried about it.
I agree with you that Byram is a top D talent. I find the possibility of him paired with Dahlin to be an exciting prospect. Potentially one of the top pairs in the league.
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13 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:
You didn't read everything I said obviously.
I have no issue with the talent. Byram is very good. I'm just looking forward and wondering how we make that work? Obviously there was a contract issue with Mitts so we got another player with a contract issue a year from now. That is the definition of kicking the can down the road.
There isn't a team in the league that doesn't have to deal with the cap. It's part of the business landscape that can't be avoided by an franchise. Different teams are at different stages of competing. So, the timetable to seriously address it is different for all organizations. Will the team at some point have to deal with that challenging issue? Of course they will, just like every other team in the league. So, what are you actually saying about the cap that is illuminating? Next season, Okposo, Olofsson and with the trade Mitts won't be on the roster. So some cap space will be available. I'm not concerned with the issue, especially recognizing that the GM, by locking up his top players sooner rather than later, has created my room to maneuver. If you want to fret about the future cap situation, then go ahead and do so. It's not an issue I'm really concerned about.
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1 hour ago, Marvin said:
By cracky, where's yer spittoon?
Don't worry about his spittoon---worry about the shotgun he's got racked by the door to deal with the punks who get too close to his manicured front lawn. 🤡
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2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
I have defended Power all season.
But he is softer than charmin and that had a to change when your gets piled on.
I never said trade him. I said he could be traded. He could be traded if Bryam proves to be better and worthy of a big contract.
This is a good problem.
I respectfully but strenuously disagree with your assessment of Power. There is no question that he is not a banger but that doesn't mean (to me) that he is a soft player. As far as "could" be traded that description can be applied to every player on the team and in the league. People have different perspectives and evaluations on players. That's OK.
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2 hours ago, Hank said:
Every time you say something like this I feel a twinge. Back in July I explained why 6K was a good goalie and that he would have a good year. Noone wanted to hear it, most wanted him waived. When most were bitching about the Byram trade I said no, this is a good trade for us, and this is why. People just kept bitching. Same thing happened with Mitts. Same thing happened with Tage. Same thing happened with Ollafson years ago when everyone loved him and I said he needed to go. Noone wants to listen to the meathead.
The accumulated frustration has spilled over to the point that even when something has gone right, it can't be acknowledged. It has gotten to the point there is a reflective negative response to everything. The source of this negativity is understandable. Long-term losing and not participating in the playoffs for such a pro-longed period of time is exasperating, especially when you see so many other teams pass you by. What has made this year's level of frustration even more intense is that the expectations were high after coming so close to making the playoffs last year.
Will the Sabres make the playoffs this year? It's a very daunting task where the odds are against it. However, it the team plays well, I will celebrate it. And when they don't it is fair to criticize. But it has gotten to the point where the successes can't even be acknowledged by some of the inveterate critics. Not only is that a sad state of affairs but it also spoils the atmosphere in the room for others.
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32 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
I thought Power looked good after he returned from injury, until last night. However, I thought he played afraid last night. He has no physical aspect to his game. None. Not only does he not hit, but he avoids being hit and he plays with his stick way too much. Two goals were on him.
He was right there when Fisher purposely jumped on UPL and he did nothing. So what happens, they jump UPL again The Wings were begging for it last night
Yeah, Power is only 21. Byram is only 22. Dahlin is only 23.
If Bryam has a huge year next season is Adams going to pay him or trade him? Mitts was moved in part because of salary planning. All Adams did was kick that can down the road for one year.
I have a different view on Power and his style of play. You are absolutely right that he is not a banger. However, too many people get caught up with his humongous size and make the assumption that it should translate into a more physical style of play. That's not his game and will never be his game. He is a smart player (for his experience level) who is for the most part good at positioning. He's not the type of player who is going to knock a lot of players out of position. This big guy can skate and he is steadily widening his game on offense. I politely recommend that you wait a little longer before making a judgment on him. In my opinion, he is going to be a gem.
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17 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
He was, and he was likely not going to fit into their cap projections/decisions but getting rid of one problem with another problem isn't really a good plan. We are just kicking the can down the road.
What can are we kicking down the road? There is an irony that you complain that we are not talented enough, and then complain that when you do get more talent that it is too burdensome to keep. You seem to be the type of guy who complains when getting up and then complains when going to bed. Sheeeeeesh!
9 hours ago, Pimlach said:Or he trades Power.
Why in the world would the GM trade Power? What he has done over the past few years is assemble enough talent (still young) to put together a top tier blueline. On top of that, that unit now has sufficient depth to absorb injuries. Our young goalie is playing at a surprisingly high-end level. He is currently supported by a young group of blueliners who are playing in front of him. Why would he trade a goalie like Power who is steadily getting better and will become one of the better defenders in the league.
I just don't understand the logic of assembling a roster with the desire to then disassemble it. All teams have to wrestle with the cap. It's a challenge to do. The advantage that our GM has is that he has locked up his top talent sooner to get a discount rate. (For some, not you, he is criticized for it.) Because of these early signings he will have a little more room to maneuver when forced to decide who he can keep, and who he will be forced to move.
I agree with you that at some point the will have to decide who to move out and who to bring in. But that's the cap conundrum that all teams have to wrestle with. I'm confident that Power won't be one of the players who will be moved because he will be one of our anchor/essential players that we will keep for a long time.
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Within this link from the NHL.com you can get a game recap, scoring clips and player interviews.
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Some quick thoughts on this game: I thought Greenway had a good game. Nothing fancy about how he plays. He's a big strong dude who plays like a big guy. Our GM has received a lot of harsh commentary this season. His additions of Greenway and Clifton were solid. He needs to make a few more similar transactions this offseason.
I thought Power played a solid game. Nothing fancy about his play but efficient and smart.
The Sabres were out-skating Detroit. We were faster and stronger.
UPL played another good game. What's so impressive about his extended play is his consistency. Just think, it wasn't too long ago that there was a loud chorus for us to jettison him for any retread goalie on the market. The moral of the story is to show some patience when dealing with a young player
Bryson and Olofsson were also players that a lot of people were screaming to get rid of. We are at the minimum getting some utility out of them now.
I like how Benson plays. Even as a youngster his instincts are exceptional. He's also a tough little bugger.
The HC has mixed up the lines quite a bit. So far it is working.
Byram is good. The GM made a good and impactful deal for us. I thought he over passed on the power plays.
What was impressive about the Sabres in this game was how hard and fast they were skating. When the play went the other way that quickly got back and swarmed. Our team defense has been superb over the last dozen games or so.
A good win at home. Fantastic.
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1 minute ago, SabreFinn said:
I usually trust my gut and this is the feeling I get. Hard to explain it in any other way.
And. If we got Byram, Dahlin and Power and we, for an exampel, get an offer on Byram in exchange for Clayton Keller or a sign and trade for Pesce, I do think we will more than just listen. And if mr Bo continues like this, we will get offers.
And if Byram continues like this (small sample size) it would be even more of a reason to keep him. We just acquired him. I'm baffled by the comments about moving him.
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3 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:
Money. Last year, the highest paid blue line in the NHL was $34m. If you assume he is a top pair, then with an elevated cap he would slot in between $10.5m-$11.5m. If that holds, then with Power, Dahlin, Mule, Joki, and Clifton the 2025/26 AAV of this six would be $42-43M. This does not include Johnson would be also be coming off his ELC that would increase to around $2-3 on a bridge deal. Half your cap cannot be spent on 6 defenders.
I would add that I’m not sold Adams wouldn’t extend him either. Not saying he would keep all three massive salaries. It gives him options next year. Rasmus for example is not an Adams draft pick, and he has until June 30th next year before his NMC kicks in. Kev likes to it young around here. Or, if Byram has a breakout year, he could garner much more than you mentioned next offseason if KA decides to keep Dahlin and Power. Think close to the return that Calgary got for Tkachuk. A defensive D (Weegar), a top line player and a 1st. Obviously health and performance are assumed.
You gave a well stated and reasoned response to my post. However, I respectfully but strenuously disagree with it. Your position would have greater resonance with me if the GM acquired Byram without the trading of Mitts. I'm not saying the future contracts would be comparable and match one another, but for the most part not having to sign Mitts to a deal would have a significant offset for the future contract of Byram. In addition, Okposo and very likely Olofsson's contract will be off the books next year. Will one of the other defenders, such as Joki, be dealt? Maybe. Also, you have to consider the cap going up to a degree in the near future.
As far as the Sabres spending a disproportionate amount of money $$ for the blueline, I wouldn't be bothered by it. Not all teams are built and capped in the same manner. If players such as Dahlin, Power and Byram are our best players, then so be it. They will be paid according to their talent level. My general point is that the trade of Mitts for Byram benefited each team. And it's very likely that each respective team will work out a contract worthy of each player's talent level.
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2 hours ago, SabreFinn said:
I still do not for a second believe that Adams has plans on extending Byram. He gives him first pair minutes and a possibility to show what he really is capabel of and trade him when his price is high, probably for a cheaper solid RHD and 2 nd.
At least I would do so.
What makes you believe that Adams has no plans to extend Byram? Your agitated gut? It's likely that Byram is going to get an extension because if he doesn't then the Mitts deal makes no sense.
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5 hours ago, Weave said:
The expectation was that he’d return around the holidays, definitely not relatively early in the season. December-January was always the discussed timeframe.
5 hours ago, Archie Lee said:As Weave pointed out, it was known Quinn would miss a lot of time. Also, Adams knew that:
- Granato had lost faith in Olofsson; and
- It would be highly unlikely that Quinn's off-season injury would be the only longer-term injury the forward group would sustain.
We had the cap space and the draft/prospect capital to add a forward in the off-season and we chose not to.
I would have liked to have added an additional two experienced players similar to Greenway and Clifton who played a grittier game prior to the season. Quinn came back in mid-December, as noted. But what has mostly hindered this team was that their best scorers (Tage, Tuch, Skinner, Cozens and even Olofsson) collectively underperformed below expectation. And what was a potent PP at the end of last year had taken a significant drop down this year. The point I'm making here is that although there could/should have been more additions made in the last offseason, the source of this team's disappointment was internal i.e. decreased production.
I'm with the crowd here that this offseason the GM has to be judiciously aggressive in using his assets to bring in at least two to three or more players to improve the roster and better balance it out.
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8 minutes ago, Mango said:
@Pimlach is talking about Quinn's achilles injury, which happened in June. 3-4 months before the season started. No replacement was attempted to be brought in. No different than "the kid line" (which looks to be a Cozens issue at this point) No different than not allowing Ryan Johnson to QB the power play in Rochester because of Owen Power.
I was referring to the in-season injury. The expectation for the achilles injury that he was going to return relatively earl in the season.
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10 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:
That describes me. I live 500 miles away but I give tix to family and I go to a bunch of games but sell the rest. In fact I'm going to be at the three Sabres games in four days Mar 27-30. I already renewed and got no such message.
When not giving tickets to your family, how do you sell your tickets? Through resell vendors? It's unsightly when bowl seats that are bought are empty because they don't get used.
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14 hours ago, Pimlach said:
Adams created “the narrative”. He said those words
What about Quinn getting hurt, and no proven player brought in? Instead he conducted an in-season round robin tryout for Rousek, Biro, Rosen, and Kulich. Meanwhile the team fell out of contention.
The forward group was so weak that Benson made the team, and at 18 he was clearly better than the group Adams brought up.
oh yeah, he brought in Robinson. Great.
Talk about willful ignorance and being dishonest.
I will judge him on his record Year 5 is coming.
Quinn got hurt in-season so I'm not going to excoriate the GM over not putting together a trade to compensate for the loss of Quinn. (His season-ending injury was a big loss.) However, if this offseason the GM doesn't make enough significant moves to upgrade the roster with the amount of assets he has in his pocket, then I'm going to be very upset and join your posse in chasing him out of town. I'm not expecting a blockbuster deal. What I expect is at least a couple to few acquisitions that will make this team better. It's time to exhibit a greater degree of urgency.
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10 hours ago, Hank said:
I think it's a great trade for both teams. Mitts is a really good player. Colorado had a hole at 2C since Kadri left, Mitts may be the final piece they needed for a cup run. If Colorado signs him in the summer I think they'll be very happy with him going forward.
As I said up thread, Byram not only upgrades the top pair, he'll make Dahlin a better player. His arrival also moves Mule to a more appropriate pairing making that pair better.
I'm sure most people would consider Draisaitl a top five center in the league, even though he's not the top line center on his own team. I'm not comparing Byram to draisaitl, but he was in a similar situation in so far as both of them were behind generational players.
You make a terrific point that by acquiring Byram to become a top pair or even second pair defender that it has a beneficial cascading effect of putting other defenders in a more appropriate role. His addition upgrades the lower pairings and allows the HC to play the top pair fewer heavy minutes every game.
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6 minutes ago, Doohickie said:
I went over to the Avs forum on HFBoards and told them Casey can play any top 9 position. Versatile as hell.
Last year, when Tage was playing hurt at the end of the season, Mitts took over at center while Tage played the wing on a lower line. The top line continued to be super productive. It's still too early to assess the trade of Mitts for Byram. It won't be surprising that this was a good hockey trade that benefited each team. We shall see.
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58 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:
You lost me at superior to another team. They are not superior to anyone. The Oilers showed yesterday they are not superior to the Sabres... Because they couldn't be bothered.
Fans can feel this way. God help us if the Sabres ever look past anyone.
You misread what I wrote. The Sabres certainly were the superior team when compared to Anaheim and Columbus, teams that they lost to. The losses to these inferior teams set us back in the standings. In general, the Sabres have a tendency to play to a higher level against superior teams. If you disagree with that, so be it.
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38 minutes ago, tom webster said:
It’s really kind of simple, if both players play their perceived potential, the Sabres got a top pairing defenseman for a second line center.
The added value that Mitts gave to the Sabres was that when needed he could be moved to the top line without it being diminished. Also, he had the versatility to play both the center and wing positions. Don't discount his versatility value. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying here because from the little I have seen of Byram, I am impressed. This was a good hockey trade for each team.
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8 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
The whole promote Krebs thing was all part of the trading of Casey. DG spews out 5hat Krebs’ play is driving him getting a look with better scorers. Did Krebs do much as a 4C to get a look at 3C? No, not on the scoresheet anyways. Krebs is young, still growing and developing, was expected to have playmaking skills, but this all looks like a promote from within.
The trading of Casey had a number of facets to it that went beyond the talents of a particular player. It dealt with the cap configuration and the length of his prospective contract. Casey was having a good year that increased his market value. It's a business. His cost for us was going to be high. Another facet to the Mitts deal had to do with altering the mix/balance of the roster. We got a legitimate first or second pair defenseman who had offensive skills. This was simply a good hockey trade for each of the trading teams.
I've heard Granato talk about Krebs on a number of occasions. It appears to me that he has a higher opinion of him and his potential than many here have. Is he going to be better than Mitts? I'm more inclined to say no. That's not to say that he won't become a credible third center with better wingers. That's an open question for me.
With respect to your postulation that the Krebs issue falls within the GM's philosophy of promoting within: Absolutely so. There's no question about it. The GM's often stated view is that it is better to build from within when you can without giving up assets. There's no hidden agenda here. For the most part, what he says he is going to do is exactly what he is doing.
Coming from a Mitts afficionado (me), from the little I have seen of Byram, I like this deal. You give up value to get value.
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11 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
So you think they are playing good defense? Is that correct?
Yes.
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9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
My biggest fear is they give Casey’s slot to Krebs. I think that is a drop off that negates the gain of Bryam.
Second biggest fear is they don’t sign any other forwards and backfill with unready prospects.
I really hope I’m wrong
The blueline unit is getting full. Dahlin, Power, Joki, Byram, Ryan Johnson, Samuelsson, Bryson, Clifton are in the mix. Will there be a trade in the offseason to add to forward group? It shouldn't be forgotten that Quinn who has played center should be back to health next season. This is going to be an interesting offseason. The GM has prospect, draft, and player chips to parlay. He needs to judiciously utilize them to improve the roster.
With respect to Krebs replacing Casey, I think that Granato has a higher regard for Krebs than you have. We haven't seen Krebs play with wingers who can score. Don't write him off just yet as the possible third line center.
When does Pressure return?
in The Aud Club
Posted
Do you tell your patients to do it again, and again, and again until I'm sure of what my finger is telling me? 😁