Porous Five Hole

And Friedman has repeatedly said he has heard nothing of the sort. I understand Peters connecting dots with the Sabres absolute minimum budget, but there hasn’t been one smell of actual smoke from any reliable source on this. It also doesn’t make any sense. We all know Terry loves the Sabres and they’re finally starting to rebuild properly. Could he get sick of the losses year after year?? Maybe. But his wealth has probably increased over the pandemic as most other billionaires. Selling the team has nothing to do with cash flow. The only thing that makes sense is if Kim says she is done with hockey and the negative press/fan backlash. Other than that, I don’t see Terry selling.

I wonder how seriously the arena will take the vax requirement for the TOOL show tonight seeing that the policy changes tomorrow?

I agree with his stance that Ovechkin is a chicken *****, but wanting to suspend all Russians is insane. HOWEVER, the Sabres don’t have any Russians in their lineup, so NHL go ahead…might make a few Sabres games watchable the rest of the way.

My eye test says he is faster and more agile on his feet this season (versus the past two). Perhaps a “normal” off-season after injury plagued back to back years did him a lot of good.

It depends on how you assign worth. I agree he is worth his value in terms of being paid as a top five player on this team. His points are in the top five on the team despite averaging the least minutes per game. He oozes effort. But it is tough to quantify leadership into six million dollars annually. It certainly doesn’t appear contagious. He’s got 130 NHL players ahead of him in points this season. That doesn’t scream six mil to me, but this team has to spend it somewhere…so why not KO, I guess.

Well if Chuck E Goods says it, then you know it’s true 🤦🏻‍♂️

The sooner, the better!

We started a thing. It was fun! I hope I didn’t offend you. I was just overreacting to the Eichel interest. I’m focused on what’s next, not the tank fruit that soured.

I wish there was a rationale for not locking up Briere at the same time.

And their situation also relates directly to Eichel: They both would’ve stayed for the same deal apparently. Both would’ve been in the neighborhood of 5yr/$25M but Briere got a boatload offer from Philly and Drury left them hanging when Rangers called. Had the Sabres had any foresight, they would’ve had deals done during the season and the franchise’s last decade looks totally different. No tank, no Eichel, no decade of no playoffs. Who knows how long Lindy stays. But the point still stands…let Eichel go.

I’m joking in reference to the “no mention of Eichel” thread. They’re gone. He’s gone. Let. It. Go.

Back already and managing for NYR & Phili. I don’t hate them but it was time for them to go.

I haven’t put the work in either, but I’m looking for top six forwards as the Sabres progress from this teardown. VO isn’t in the plans for that. I would give him his qualifying offer this offseason, and then move him at next year’s deadline for whatever value he can fetch. Then I’ll earmark his money for when I have to re-up Tage at the same time. TT is easily trending toward a five million dollar AAV player in 18 months.

Well that sucked

I tuned into the U.S. quarterfinal hockey game against Slovakia just now, and the Slovak’s are coached by the Sabres very own Craig Ramsay. I had no idea. Also, Miro is the GM.

It doesn’t bother me one bit. You cannot initially just stash guys on LTIR because it is convenient. If the return date is manipulated (which, BTW, is pure message board speculation), it still doesn’t upset me. Teams should push. While it is hypocritical to the Sabres Connolly situation a generation ago, things change. It would have been more fun to watch Vegas squirm their way into cap compliance on the fly mid-season, but those days are coming.

I agree. Further reading from 2016: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/10/02/rob-manfred-david-ortiz-drug-test-hall-of-fame/91442256/

Video: #startjumping

I’m a little surprised Anderson isn’t starting.

Totally agree.

Is that Janik, Jillson, & Fitzpatrick bad???

I agree it isn’t dire. But it is very inflexible. Point’s extension hasn’t kicked in yet and the Lightning have zero cap space today (and have dipped into LTIR).

Can we pry Erik Cernak from Tampa for Tampa cap space? Big, experienced, defense first, reasonable contract, age 24.

This is the very first thing I thought of when Eichel (and to a lesser extent Rhino) was dealt. All sins may now be forgiven.