Digger

I'm not sure it will be a true Tank. I remember GM Tim Murray kept moving out assets that were performing well throughout the season when we were hoping to get McDavid in the draft. I hope that we don't do that this time around because I think it's really hard on the overall team culture. I understand your points above but one thing that I will point out is that GM Adams has specifically asked and insisted on getting "all futures" in the trades he was making. I suppose it could be argued that "futures" might provide the best value long term but I still wonder if we could have had more success in trading for young established roster players under contract. Removing Reinhart from the roster without getting a player back that can play in his spot and role doesn't indicate to me that they want to win right away. Ristolainen, okay is was a good deal but still removing an established D (like him or not) and replacing him with a 6D in Hagg. Ullmark is unfortunate and I would have thought (still do) that they could find a better option in goal than (Anderson / Dell / Tokarski / UPL). Eichel, we will see when it happens. I think in general most of us felt (I think you did too from the posts I read) that if we had to trade Reinhart, Ristolainen, and Eichel that we would be able to get back roster players that could play for the Sabres this season. So is the "all futures" the right move?

agreed.

Even if he ends up playing on the 3rd pair, he's still in a top 6 spot in the NHL. I find it ridiculous to suggest that he's looking at the Sabres on paper and worried about Dahlin and Power ahead of him. He needs to focus on having a great year and getting the opportunity to sign with the Sabres and then work on trying to make the NHL. It's short sighted. Good players will always find a place on the team one way or another. There are issues breaking into the NHL on any team. When we drafted Mittelstadt, we had Eichel and O'Reilly ahead of him and looked to be strong at center. Roll ahead a few years and Mittelstadt is now at the front of the line.

I like what I've seen from Ryan Johnson in the games I watched. I think that he'll be a steady defenceman for the Sabres. I do believe that he will sign after this season. He needs to prove he can play and transition into the NHL and may need some time in Rochester. The Sabres can be criticized on many fronts but if if were a young D that had confidence in my abilities I would look at the Sabres D as being easier to break into the top 6 than many other NHL teams. It's all about opportunity to become a pro hockey player. I heard that he's been playing the right side. Besides if he becomes a UFA and signs elsewhere he will have to play for the Sabres someday anyway in the future. Vesey came back, Butcher came back, expect Cal Peterson eventually to have to come back and play for us. We always get our man. 😏

Someone should start a thread on Eichel rumors so that we don't mix it up with this other stuff. 😏

Miscast? Maybe so but how much did Eichel bring to the scenario himself? We see that both he and his agents are pretty active in trying to control his career (yes I know that's their jobs but still seems to be out of line with other players). He was drafted behind McDavid. He got his big contract and was named captain after McDavid got his contract and captaincy in Edmonton. He hadn't earned the contract but it was expected that he would grow into it. He hadn't shown that he was ready to be a captain or even an assistant captain. What would he have done if they asked him to sign a bridge deal and earn the big contract? What would he have done if he hadn't been named captain? I think many of the moves the Sabres made were around trying to keep Eichel happy just to avoid a situation like we are in now. Following McDavid and Eichel, Austin Mathews did get the big contract (although shorter term) and was not named captain. That was the right move to give the C to another player. I agree the management is to blame but there are now so many GM's to spread the blame.

Okay I guess that you're right with the Rangers. They should be ready to win soon or now given the roster ages. I guess that I just saw Lafreniere, Kakko and K'Andre Miller meshing in pretty well with their current team and switching Zibanejad for Eichel (to manage the salary cap) doesn't seem to me to be the best way to upgrade their team. Would you make the trade if you were the Rangers GM and if so what would you offer up to get it done?

I still really like the potential for a Minnesota trade with Boldy and Rossi. I think the picture may become clearer if and when Kaprizov signs with them. That will determine how much salary comes back to the Sabres or is retained in an Eichel deal. I just see Minnesota getting a real benefit from adding Eichel. Vegas too (they could really use him this season). Rangers and Anaheim - great if they are in it to keep the price high but I don't understand their desire to sell off future star assets for Eichel. Maybe that's one of the reasons that the Rangers rumored trade pieces have been underwhelming. It's definitely been quiet lately though.

Abysmal, really? I don't know because I haven't watched many Anaheim games. I do remember that their beat reporter was on WGR and said that he thought that Drysdale was already better than Cam Fowler (which caught my attention) so I thought he was transitioning pretty well to the NHL. I'm not sure that I would be happy with that package (Drysdale + McTavish). Most of us wanted Zegras + Comtois + 3OA for Eichel prior to the draft. They drafted McTavish 3OA but I doubt that the Sabres would have taken him there if we had got Zegras in the trade. All hypothetical I guess anyway. I think Drysdale would be a nice pickup but really would rather have an A+ center prospect as the best piece coming back to us.

Well thought out post. I agree. I think Mittelstadt got back on track last season. I still hope that we get another center back into the roster to help with the load (someone better than Berglund 😒). Let's hope he continues to progress this season and gets the support needed.

That goes without say for many Sabres fans. Let's Go Buffalo. 😏

The Calgary Flames inked a pair of defencemen on Friday with new deals for Nikita Zadorov and Juuso Valimaki. Zadorov agreed to a one-year, $3.75 million contract, while Valimaki re-upped for two years and $3.1 million.

My comment was more about the state of the team rather than living there. I don't know exactly where Columbus is going next season. They need to try and resurrect Laine and I'm not sure Eichel would match well with him but you never know. Better question was do they have a decent package to put forward for Eichel and I'm not sure that many were convinced they could (so not important to debate).

or Columbus

Case closed. Now the next question, how many goalies do we have that will reach 20 wins? 😏

Yeah, I hate that negative stuff. I suppose the media outlets really love the Sabre organizational issues. NHL news is pretty slow in August. Manufacturing a fictional rift with Owen Power will give them something else other than Eichel to talk about with regards to the Sabres. To quote @New Scotland (NS) he'll be fine. 😏

News as expected. It would have been breaking news if he had signed with the Sabres for this season considering it's August 19th. I wish him all the best. The Michigan team is really strong this season with some future NHL stars. It will be interesting to watch that team play. I'm also hopeful that he plays in the WJC and plays very well at that tournament. A good year of development and let's see how he looks next season.

Yes but at the end of the day, Darcy was right and the Sabres made the right move in walking away. The salary awarded was too high and he had to take a big cut elsewhere and never really had much success anywhere else. It's too bad because he was a likable player. So was Kahun.

They still have Dan Girardi as a Development Coach too but your point is valid.

Just listening to the Instigators radio talk from this morning. Marty Biron's "if Jack was a house analogy" really made me laugh. "Jack is like a really nice house with a couple of structural issues that could be handled before the sale or after the sale, but a very special house and really unique market for this house." Rivet jumps in with "you and your wife love the house and everything about it but then you discover a foundation issue with water coming in. You found a major issue. Who needs to fix the problem, the buyer or the seller?"

medical reassessment time?

Tim Kennedy wanted to be here..................just not at the right salary at the time.

Okay but that's tough to see right now. I said in my proposed 2021-22 lineup that I didn't see any one line being the #1 line this season. I would think Girgensons could help with the defensive side of things against the top lines but I don't see the coach putting him out when down a goal or two. Can you put forward your suggestion with Girgensons as 1C in the "Lineup 2021-22" thread?

I know at one point Casey Mittelstadt was training with Erik Rasmussen in the off seasons. It's kind of funny, but hopefully the student is much better than the teacher. I'm sure he will be much better overall.

I agree that Mittelstadt is a very talented player and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays and develops in the NHL this season. I'm hoping for the best and that he gets as much support as he needs from Granato and the full player roster. I'm hoping that he can help fill some of the void of Reinhart's smarts around the goal crease. My concern remains with his overall confidence. He was given the 2C position when he started with the Sabres after we unwisely traded O'Reilly away. It was a bad decision on paper and it was bad for Mittelstadt's development. He was not ready for 2C minutes and it really hurt. Last season we saw signs of him putting it all together and getting his confidence and belief that he can score and compete in the NHL. This season it appears he's going to be out in the 1C position because of lack of options. Again it seems like a tough position to be putting him into. It will be an interesting year.