Porous Five Hole

Tomas Hertl, you are a Carolina Hertlcane https://xcancel.com/ettedguidavid/status/1937527084881936845 He is age 31 now, had 32G & 61 PTS last year for Vegas. Maybe the Marner rumors are more than rumors.

Not that anyone was worried, but the Rochester Amerks have locked themselves in for five more American Hockey League seasons at Blue Cross Arena. “Monday, the Amerks and the city are officially announcing a five-year lease agreement with a company called VenuWorks, and the 70-year-old hockey franchise will now simply be a tenant.” This is pertinent given the Pegula’s had given up their rights to run the arena and own the Knighthawks. https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/lacrosse/2025/06/23/rochester-knighthawks-looking-for-new-owners-after-pegula-divest/84319445007/

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/lacrosse/2025/06/23/rochester-knighthawks-looking-for-new-owners-after-pegula-divest/84319445007/ More info here, but soft paywall. This coincides with the Pegula’s giving up control of the arena, so it makes sense for them. I can confirm the Pegula’s made their intentions known with the NLL a long time before today. “I can confirm there are local entities that have interest in keeping the team in Rochester,” Guelli said. “That’s the goal…The league is basically taking over those conversations, with the goal of getting someone in place before next season starts. They’re pretty bullish that they can get somebody in here and take over.” Personally, I think this franchise is cooked, unfortunately. They may play in ROC for one more year, but the love for this team left when the Hawks relocated the first time. It was never the same after that.

And 6MM in cap space. I also would have passed on this. Zegras is a fun concept…but has been both injured and ineffective the last two years.

I thought Brännström signed in Switzerland?

https://www.tsn.ca/chl/rick-westhead-osic-urges-hockey-canada-to-push-ban-on-fighting-in-ohl-whl-1.2324440 “In a sweeping set of recommendations aimed at overhauling the culture of hockey, a team of researchers commissioned by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) is urging Hockey Canada to push for a ban on fighting across all junior leagues and implement a national sanctions registry to inform the public about people who have been banned or suspended for serious maltreatment.” The Q is not mentioned because they’ve already banned fighting. Guys who get in fights are automatically ejected & subject to suspensions. Hockey has to decide to either keep fighting as a deterrent for crappy on ice behavior or ban fighting and call infractions like they do in every other sport. There’s no in between. I don’t expect this to be popular with hockey fans. Especially fans reading this given that we are mostly older hockey fans on Sabrespace. But one thing is for certain: not having fighting in Juniors is what's better for kids' long term health. If this happens at the lower levels, it’ll eventually make its way to the pros. Guys in the pros are already trying to punch under a a hard visor and I bet we can agree that’s stupid. Is it time to ban dropping the gloves?

Anyone else surprised at the potential value of Toews contract?

You’re not kidding

Moving on from Mattias Samuelsson would give me hope that the Sabres are capable of correcting their mistakes. I still haven’t forgiven him for having no reaction to the Tage cheap shot against New Jersey. And he wears a letter. Your best player is face down and Muel wants to ask what happened? Pack your ***** bud.

I’ll take Cernak off their hands for JJP straight up. I doubt he’s waiving his NTC though.

Agree it is getting hard to ignore. But the best course of action is for the Sabres to sign JJP to a two year bridge deal and trade him as an RFA after that. This is because the team cannot get younger as a result of a trade right now and if the Sabres are trading for a veteran…you’re probably trading away the better player so it cannot happen. GMKA needs a new tagline because I don’t care if Peterka wants to be here or not. JJP has no leverage regardless of what Howdy Doody has said in the past.

Just reading about the Aeros AHL days on Wikipedia and boy did the team and fans get screwed by the Houston Rockets ownership group forcing their relocation.

Is that LaFontaine on the right? Assuming yes, this must be the 1983 draft. Brian Lawton went #1 to Minnesota and he’s in the middle. So I guess this is Barrasso in the Sabres jersey.

The blue line linesman was clearly pointing to the goalie not being ready prior to the drop of the puck. The linesman dropping the puck was not paying attention to his partner. This clip doesn’t show much before the drop of the puck and doesn’t really capture the scope of the moment.

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