Porous Five Hole

Much like Cozens, I think teams think he has the Sabres stink on him and he can thrive with said new team. $4MM isn’t expensive for a second pair D when the cap is $100MM the season after next. It’s been said a bunch, but the Sabres can also buy him out this summer for 700k a season due to his age. They’ll do that over taking a bad contact on in a trade. But I think he’s tradable for the reason I suggested to JohnC.

::gestures wildly at everything except our two or three best players::

I think you’re misplacing blame for the team’s failures.

You were suggesting to trade Tage and called him garbage. Apologies if you were being funny or sarcastic, but Tage is the first guy to have two 40+ goal seasons for this franchise in almost 20 years. Tage was also third in the league in goal scoring. To me, that’s the extra gear and you wanted it traded. So you’re suggesting to trade a bunch of “non extra gear” guys for the “extra gear” guys? Seems likely.

Rakell would make the Sabres top six better next year. He’s 32 and has three years left at $5MM. But the wheels start to fall off around this age and he has an 8 team no move.

So the prophesy says. It would be exactly 21 years after they got Crosby. And exactly 21 before that, they got Super Mario.

And yet…

This is a STRONG hot take. My initial reaction is that we know guys who the Sabres have moved on from when they were young (Eichel, Reino, Montour, etc) prior to their full maturity has been premature. I would qualify moving on from Peterka right now to be in the same vein. I’m not in the room so I don’t know what Peterka’s mindset is…but I’m not moving on from a projected 30G 70+PT guy at 23. This may be his baseline. That’s valuable. If it was a foregone conclusion that JJ’s production is easily replaceable then perhaps I could hop on board. But I am assuming JJ’s age 27 season could be elite RW1 results. He has work to do to be a complete player, but this is a prime opportunity to lock in a player who will blossom into that. First line players are not a gimme. Perhaps it is time to invest into a young guy we know (Tage contract as an example) versus creating space for guys you referenced as an opportunity to develop (Östlund, Rosen, perhaps Kulich). To me, JJP is player you invest in versus a player with talent that you move on from based on current value. But that’s just me.

Agree one million percent. GMKA should have been fired that night. With all the wonderful things about WNY for players (incredibly cheap high-end housing, the way players love it here once they’re here, the small size and low pressure of media relative to big markets, the quality of education for the children of the players in WNY, the proximity to Ontario, etc etc). BTW, the taxes thing isn’t relevant here. Buffalo is the 13th highest tax town in the NHL…so about the middle of the road. Palm trees and taxes was Kevyn waiving the white flag of his capability. Say what you want about the rationale of him holding the position (it was always weak), but that should have sealed his fate. From here, I’m stuck in the feels of the Succession quote of “I love you but you’re not serious people.” I know Buffalo is the youngest team in the league (again), but I truly believe any success with the team performance from here is by accident and GMKA is a hindrance to success. ::sigh::

Anybody want to be the Bills mascot?? The job is available. https://www.teamworkonline.com/football-jobs/buffalo-bills/buffalo-bills-29559/mascot-billy-buffalo-2124369?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwK1iRhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmV-eeOH3tImtuCSAVlXlDG8m8Ce4oU5yELf-P-2eebqdqBEmPmGBGatJc8h_aem_UyIA1a2A5VptGVW9KkKPiQ

This sounds familiar

Agree to disagree 🤝

He was slowwwww before that lol

Actually, Denis Hamel is an AHL hall of famer. He ranks 11th in AHL history with 338 goals, topping the 20-goal mark in each of his last 10 seasons in the league, and totaled 651 points in 850 games. Add in 192 NHL games to that to boot. He excelled at everything except speed. He was like Murray out there, but had NHL everything else. https://ahlhalloffame.com/denis-hamel

Showing your true colors here

Presale Code: KBCRIV

Said from a player’s perspective, “Whose happy about the situation in Buffalo? “…” ”Jacob Bryson is happy.” I died inside with this team. Again.

How many Amerks games did you attend or watch to come to this conclusion?

You make a fair point. However I do think it’s important to consider Jarmo’s decisions separately. I’m sure he was under different overlays than Buffalo decision makers, but his hires aged poorly.

Not what you asked, but I think it is interesting who he hired as head coach. John Tortorella (after his brutal one season in Vancouver—his tenure was fine in Columbus), Brad Larsen (meh), Mike Babcock (this hire turned the tide against him as a GM), & Pascal Vincent (lasted one season after Jarmo was fired). Perhaps his role as advisor suits him better than being the organizational decision maker.

Jarmo Kekalainen on pending UFAs six years ago: “Moving forward we want guys who are proud to be Blue Jackets, proud to be living in Columbus & loving it here. It’s really important that they bleed blue ... Guys that don’t want to be here — good luck.” He’s been drinking the ‘want to be here’ koolaid longer than GMKA. 🙃

Laval is 5 hrs 9 min away from ROC. Talk me out of making the drive for game five.

Brendan Shanahan was let go. Incoming???

I also don’t bet on sports, but that is a good long shot. Aside from the cap space, the Columbus media and fan pressure would also be a welcome break from Toronto.