Porous Five Hole

Are you just in a bad mood tonight? Everyone knows where this team is. No one is making excuses. It was the most successful season in more than a decade. Happy Father’s Day 🍻 Are you just in a bad mood tonight? Everyone knows where this team is. No one is making excuses. It was the most successful season in more than a decade. Happy Father’s Day 🍻

The youngest team in the NHL was inconsistent while sporting nearly league-worst goaltending. And still found its way to 91 points (the most since 2010-11). But it’s because the coaching staff is to “buddy, buddy.” You really nailed it.

Just because Meatballs hasn’t had anything at the nhl level to work with other than a developing team doesn’t mean that’s all he knows. I’m willing to give him some latitude to see how he evolves as his team does. This team doesn’t have a problem scoring goals. Defending at the NHL level with a bunch of young D and young forwards will come with experience. It’s not like this team has a ton of experienced two-way forwards and they’re failing compared to previous results. Plus goaltending has been replacement level for his entire tenure. Im optimistic.

I know you say stuff like this just to say it, but the Sabres improved by 16 points with the youngest team in the league and missed the dance by a win. The staff here suits the team they have.

The trend with defensemen of Hanifin’s profile is seven or eight year contracts (Parayko, Pulock, Faulk, Brodin).

I have doubts that the arena would be ready by the start of the 2025 season. While it sounds far off, it’s only 16 months from today. The question is would a guy like Kroenke really build an arena to just hope a team would show up? It’s probably a good bet (eighth largest US city and no NFL competition). This guy owns an NHL & NBA team already. My guess is there is some level of assurance of a relocation or expansion.

Well the board got spammed by bots furiously making posts about airlines and their customer service information. It was pretty funny 😂

https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=11894 Their attendance has been consistently excellent. Does it help that they’re a perennial playoff team? Sure does.

I’m sorry if there’s a paywall, but here you go: https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/what-msg-networks-launch-of-streaming-service-means-for-cord-cutting-sabres-fans/article_494e8370-b908-11ed-8cd4-fff949e8bdd8.html

This is true. Individual Sabres (or Knicks) games for the 2023-24 season can be streamed through MSG for $9.99. Or, a monthly cost of $29.99.

This is a sidecar conversion, but probably not worthy of its own thread. I wondered why Michael Peca, who made $26MM during his playing career, was riding the buses in the AHL as an assistant coach. Turns out I didn’t like the answer. From a paywalled NY Daily News article: “Kristin Peca was at home one day late in the 2009 hockey season when a shocking piece of mail came from the bank. Seven big, bold letters froze her in her tracks: DEFAULT. Without a whisper of warning, a lifetime of savings were gone. "It felt like everything went black around me," Peca, a mother of two, recalled Thursday. "'Oh my gosh, that was our safety net.' I think I stood there holding that letter until Michael got home from practice. At the time her husband, former Islanders center Michael Peca, was with the Columbus Blue Jackets, his long career reaching its end. At 34, a scar ran along his left eye and his teeth had been rearranged. He also had an Olympic gold medal from 2002, and clear ownership of a portfolio of stocks and bonds that represented, Kristin Peca said, "enough money to retire comfortably." But it wasn’t. ”Prosecutors now say Kenner (Peca’s financial advisor) and his co-defendant, Tommy Constantine, steered their clients' money into accounts and entities that were aimless and fanciful — like a pre-paid debit card company, or a Hawaiian real estate project that went nowhere. The two men then looted to fund their own debts, lavish lifestyles and expensive pet projects such as a race-car team, a tequila company and a private jet.” the financial advisors acquired POA for Peca and spent everything. The Pecas lost millions with no recourse. This might be old news to folks, but it wasn’t for me. I am rooting for Michael to coach at the NHL level, specifically in Buffalo.

Jack Eichel won the Jack Eichel trade. Vegas won the trade based on the Cup win. Buffalo can still win the trade too. I like where the Sabres are headed. We may look back on this trade and cheers to it all.

I'm just looking at the raw stats from the playoff games last year and he had 10 and 9 targets. But I remember watching those games and feeling like he wasn't a priority in the game plan. As they say... there are 3 types of lies: lies...damn lies... and statistics. He had 100+ yds in 6/9 games to start the season and 2/9 to end the year. Does Diggs feel like he is being demoted by the new OC? Did he expect JA17 to do more for him? It’s reasonable to speculate about.

Good question. For me, it’s more that I don’t want to spend 5MM on a guy whose anticipated production is replaceable for the back-half of his next contact (I believe in Krebs, I believe in Kulich, and I have high hopes for Savoie). If the Sabres extended Casey for four years after this upcoming season, I would be disappointed. To answer your question, I have zero feel for what to expect from him next year. Real talk: He is better than any internal option at this time. But that’s not always how GM’s evaluate a player. There’s a longer timeline in mind. This thread was about an extension for Casey, and I’m not ready to assume his 2023 is the baseline of what to expect. So no extension please.

It’ll be interesting to see the @dudacek preseason poll on what Sabres fans expect of Casey—and what his production will turn out to be. Since he is an RFA after this upcoming season, I hope the Sabres slow play this one. And with that, I’m off to my poker app 😀

This is totally reasonable. Maybe I’ve deviated from my point in conversations and what I perceived to be the point of the thread…which is an extension for Casey. That is what I am against at this time. But happy to have him in the lineup next year if he doesn’t need to be used to get a good D on this squad.

If we are going to base every future contract offer based on the comparison of the meteoric rise that is the unicorn of Tage…then I think you’re gonna have a bad time. I did count his last three seasons. He was a 40 pt player for two of the three. I think I’m good here. 🍻

Totally agree with this. My resistance to everything upthread is I would prefer to not sign him to an extension at this time. I think other players in the pipeline can rival this production in time. And if he is a piece that can land a top four D, then sign me up. To me, Casey’s PPG and attributes are more easily replaceable than a top four D…which this team sorely needs. And if Casey doesn’t help acquire defensive help this off-season, then I hope he can repeat 2022-23 production. If he does, then pay the man his money.

I think you should be Casey’s agent lol I guess we won’t meet in the middle on this one. I believe this year was an outlier (especially 17 points in his last 11 games of 2023). You’ve made the case he’s been consistent and I don’t buy your averaging. But that’s alright…I’ll still enjoy your goal memes and you can tolerate my lack of buy in on this.

Ok but why average the three seasons as the last season was an outlier from his previous career to date? He was never more than a 40 pt producer until last season…

You’ll notice my post history includes that very fact I highlighted about 2021. I said that he must look at Tage and say to himself, “that should have been me.” Yes, Buffalo locked up Tage and Cozens early, but each were a different situation and I hope most see that without explanation. But I will pass along that I am not seeing the stats you’re seeing for Casey’s two previous seasons…The year ending 22: 19 pts in 40 games (and a -14!). That isn’t a 50 pt pace. The year ending in 21: 22pts in 41 games. That isn’t a 50 pt pace. And spare me the “he was hurt.” Maybe he was, but he was a 40 pt guy for his age 23 and age 24 seasons (he turns 25 in November). I’m not going to go back to Mitts threads and find all the folks who pooped on the guy and seem to love him now. I’m glad he had a great last 50 games. I see recency bias and a heck of a half a season. If I were the GM and at this point, I’m not investing 5.5MM on this player.

Hopefully a top 4 D on the open market! A lot of people are putting a lot of faith in Casey’s last 50 games like it is his new baseline. I’m not ready to do that.

So I’m on board with your line of thought…but what is the cost of a player like that? The Sabres aren’t near the cap ceiling today, but is it worth it to commit (say 5.5MM for four years) for that role? It seems like an overpay based on his body of work. Casey performed as the fifth best forward in 22-23 and maybe that role is a 5MM salary (and we can assume he can bank 60 pts a year), but I’m not convinced he’s that guy as a baseline for the next 4-5 years. It’s why I think he should be moved to strengthen the D corps. You good with 25MM over the next five years? I’m not. To me, Casey is not the same as Tage/Cozens in terms of investing early for the him long-term. He’s only been the fifth best forward on the team for approx 50 games. I guess I’m in the minority, but I’m moving him before I’m committing to him for the next 4+years. Not everyone is Tage in their ascension. I want to save money at 3C given the pipeline and invest elsewhere.

I think you ask an intelligent question out loud, which is can the current talent in the pipe cover for his attributes? To me, the answer is no, not today. But I think the horses are coming, and I don’t want to invest 5MM+ into 3C right now (acknowledging Casey’s versatility). I think Krebs has an equal ceiling (ducks), and I’ll take the trade value/cap savings of Mitts & bank on one of Krebs/Savoie/Kulich will effectively play the role of 3C soon.

I respect Casey’s growth. I am in the trade him boat. His value is as high as it has ever been (and still an RFA year after next season). I don’t know what the average salary for 3C league-wide, but 5.5MM (a speculated number to sign him for a few years) might not be the best use of funds from a cap management perspective (for a 3C). I could be wrong. But with the depth the Sabres have in the pipeline at the center position…I think he is a prime candidate to be moved to help acquire a top four D.