HoosierDaddy

I think it’s more just me coming to grips with the fact that Jacks value is probably lower than I thought. I thought the surgery demands were posturing.

People with gambling problems bet on spring training baseball games and preseason NFL games where you don’t even know who is actually going to play.

That’s exactly it, and Marge Schott and Mike Brown of all people used the threat of a franchise move to coerce the citizens of Hamilton County into the worst stadium financing deal in the history of North American professional sports. And we only have ourselves to blame, because that tax hike was passed by a public referendum.

I agree that the psychological blow to WNY of losing the Bills and Sabres would be catastrophic. But the county and state have to get a better deal than Hamilton county got in 1996. And this might be tough because I would imagine that the Pegulas are better negotiators than Mike Brown and Marge Schott.

That passive threat was related to the Bills. I don’t think threatening to move the Sabres would move the needle too much right now.

I’ve always wondered why they don’t. I mean, Cincinnati is a small market but we have two major corporations headquartered here in Kroger and P&G that could be interested.

We’re still paying .5% more in sales tax 21 years later for Paul Brown Stadium. And the proposed property tax rebates never happened because of decreases in sales tax revenue due to recessions and online shopping. Also, because the county owns and operates the stadium maintenance and any needed upgrades come from the general fund. Same goes for Great American Ballpark. I just hope that Erie County makes a better deal than Hamilton county did in 1996.

Yes. I was just thinking that if I was in Bill Guerin’s shoes that I’m not sure that I would trade Rossi for Eichel straight up. Rossi, AFAIK, doesn’t need back surgery. That PR blitz from team Eichel on Friday that made it clear that surgery is necessary really screwed the Sabres over.

I agree. I immediately regretted posting it, especially as the bad back and bad attitude is enough to make my point.

There have been rumours of that on other boards. I mean, it would be understandable if he had a problem with pain killers given his back/neck issues. But it has been rumoured that he picked up other bad habits from Kane and Bogo. It’s all just rumours, but if I’m hearing it in message boards then other GMs are hearing it too.

I would have agreed with you last week, but this became impossible when Jack’s agent went in that PR blitz on Friday. In order for Jack to play for the Buffalo Sabres, after all that has been said in the past few days, either TP has to fire GMKA in the middle of a rebuild or Jack has to fire his agent. Neither of those things are going to happen. I really don’t see any other outcome than trading him for a pick, a b prospect and a bad contract.

What team is going to trade a roster player, it’s top prospect(s), and multiple first-round picks for a guy who needs back surgery, is rumoured to be kind of a d-bag and may have a drug problem?

Skinner would demand a trade if he thought there was a team willing to take on that contract. Instead, he sits back counting his fat stacks of cash.

I’m starting to regret bringing up Housley as a player amongst fellow fans. There really is a huge gulf between “one of the best players ever to pull on the Sabres sweater” and “hit em with your purse Phyllis.” But I think that we can all agree that he sucked as a coach.

And we also hate any D that don’t hit. Housley’s in the HOF, but he was HATED as a player here.

I would think that paying a player that is not on your roster would be an ownership-level decision.

I’m not looking to argue here. I think we agree. On the front page of this website, there is an article that states that Ullmark’s ask from the Sabres was 6x6. If that’s true, and the other info that the hang up was term, then KA offered him 2x6. That’s reasonable. 6x6 would be a huge overpay that would become an unmovable contract in 2 years.

Then we agree. He got 4x5 from Boston. If he came to the sabres and said “gimme 6x5 and I’ll stay,” KA has to say no. In a league with guaranteed contracts and a hard cap, the contracts are as important as the players. We already have the Skinner and Okposo untradable contracts hanging around our necks like lead weights. We cannot afford to add another bad contract to our books when, if this all works out, we’ll have a lot of young players to pay in a few years. We all know this, but we just can’t stand the losing anymore. I know I can’t. But I’m lucky in that I can just tune it all out because the NHL might as well not exist here in Cincinnati.

I actually think that it was a good move. It’s not like we’re talking about Vasilevsky here. Ullmark is an average NHL goalie with an injury history. He probably wanted 6x5.5. That’s an overpay and a contract that’s hard to move. We’ll have to overpay players to play here when we are trying to win again, but not now. Their plan has to be UPL winning the job out of camp and Anderson mentoring him.

I got this theory that a team like Minnesota is reluctant to give up major assets for Jack because they fear that he'll pull this same thing in a few months, but this time with a full NMC so he can force his way to Boston.

I think that the whole reason that KA had that press conference was to make that statement about Jack being under contract.

Or at least we thought we did...

Risto played 78 games in 14/15, as well as Grigorenko and Zadorov.

I think that I would have given him the contract that Boston did, but I think that Buffalo would have had to extended it for more than four years or paid more money. That I would not have done.