Porous Five Hole

Some Amerks depth signings from today: “Rochester Americans General Manager Jason Karmanos announced today that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Peter Tischke and forward Trevor Kuntar on one-year American Hockey League contracts for the 2025-26 season.” Tischke exclusively played in the east coast league last year. I don’t expect him to make the Amerks roster. Kuntar is a former Jr Sabre and son of former Amerks goalie Les Kuntar. Brings grit and is not afraid of PIMs.

It’s because the bank doesn’t design or engineer ATMs. We buy them from a company like Diebold. Your beef would be the same with another bank or credit union. 😀 This made me chuckle out loud because I forgot about that slogan. M&T has been “understanding what’s important” for a very long time now. Source: Me, I work there.

Also, specific to this, what trades are you jealous of that have happened during the offseason? Zegras? It’s easy to say trade prospects for forwards, but that’s not actually real life. 🤷‍♂️

I believe your Peterka projection is way too high. Signing Bo is best case scenario cuz our GM sucks. You get a competent partner for Dahlin for two years & his worst case scenario is his cap hit is low enough that it's very tradeable. Given the current blue line structure, this makes a ton of sense. Ok to disagree with roster construction, but it is what it is.

I cannot refute anything you said. A lateral move is not an obvious improvement to the team. Osmosis is a ***** strategy, but that’s the best I can hope for with our awful GM. He did not improve us overall.

Yes, Kess’s trajectory can be elite. This team is going to have to be better than everyone else by being better at the blue line than everyone else. It’s just the way that it is when you draft #1 overall at the blue line twice. Hope is a ***** strategy, but I hope the blue line takes a huge step forward. It’s the most logical path toward this team being elite. And no credit to KA if and when that happens.

Honestly, that’s ok. Defense Dahlin-Byram Power-Kesselring Timmons-Samuelsson To me, that trims the goals against by 30ish compared to last year to cover for Peterka and his poor D and not much PP production. Plus Bo & OP should continue to ascend in ability. Bo & Dahls were elite together last year. No argument there. Kess and Power should be better because it is OP’s best partner to date. Sammy at third pair minutes is a better fit than his previous top four role. Protected minutes could keep him healthier and more productive. I still want a top six forward, but the D core is better with Bo here. Our GM still sucks, but I think this is best case with Bo here at this point and if we blow next year…he can be traded with a year to go for the new team. Cost controlled next year is OK.

Or…

I cannot decide which part is my favorite. The “off to a good start buddy” was classic, the warning of “you’re not scaring anybody” after the primal drunk screams, yelling BANG! every time he landed a punch, “I got it all on ree-cord,” crawling out of the water like Gollum, or the air time during the second time the dude gets flung down the hill. ESPN instant classic

Dang you for giving me a reason to drink some hopium. I’m excited about Kess and equally excited to push Muel to the third pair. Dahlin/Byram Power/Kess Mix and match the rest for 14 min a night with protected zone starts. The blue line is a legit improvement.

Only thing is are you jealous of any other team who flipped futures for immediate on ice improvement? I don’t see that this type of trade is available. Not absolving GMKA in any way, but I’m not sure that type of trade is correctly available. Maybe a washed Tarasanko?

Better be the sweetest sweetener in world history. Kadri will be 35 this season and is signed for three more years (and will have to waive his no trade clause—unlikely). I love the concept of Kadri, but not for three more years at 7MM to pay him until 38.

Assuming the Sabres don’t move Byram prior to the arbitration hearing, can anyone confirm that when a player who goes through arbitration, he is ineligible to be traded for twelve months? I read that, but don’t know that it is true. If true, is it the new league year (July 1) date or arbitration date? If the Sabres electing for arbitration impacts their ability to trade Byram, I don’t get why they elected for it. I’m good with Byram being on the team next year, but I don’t like how they potentially limited their options with him. But I could be wrong and would happily learn that.

Finger Lakes for the win

Everything you said is true. For the concept of a Peterka regression, here are the numbers. Just for clarity, the ‘on ice’ means it’s not just him but all of his linemates when he’s on the ice. Normal on-ice shooting percentage is around 9%. Great player makers like McDavid can get it up to 14% range over a full season (he had 13.24% last year, 9.25% at 5v5). Peterka had almost 15% last season and 14.23% at 5v5. So either 5v5 Peterka is a better playmaker than McDavid, Tage Thompson is a better finisher than Draisaitl/Hyman or it was unsustainable.

Expected Peterka regression (not unfair) and ascending Kess as a player isn’t exactly a hot take. The Baker Fairburn Hockry Show is a decent listen either way. Kess is a high character guy and a major position of need.

I am also signing off on the concept of Kess. In his latest pod, Fairburn said the best player in the trade may be Kesselring. I’m optimistic. Losing an unhappy JJP seems to suck right now, but we could be laughing all the way to the bank on this one. Here’s to hoping (which I recognize is a ***** strategy).

I disagree. Kevy has been backed into a corner with this RFA and I can absolutely see him on the roster this year.

Why are you taking that out on a fellow Sabres fan? Telling someone to piss off? The people here are your brothers and sisters. Our community is better than this.

RyJo’s deal is two way in 2025-26 and one way in 2026-27 and beyond. This is a realistic timeline for him. There’s truly no rush to bring him to Buffalo this season. He’s not better than Dahlin, Power, Byram, or Kess. What’s the rush? Let him continue to cook in all situations in the AHL for another year. Getting to the NHL at age 25 is a very fair development path for a late first round guy. No need to push him to the Sabres today.

It might not be popular right now, but I have long term high hopes for Noah Östlund. His rookie year second half in the AHL was great as a 21 year old. He’s silky out there. He’s not close to being an NHL player, but he has the makings of a true top six forward down the line.

He’s just not mature enough yet. He was the youngest player in the AHL last year. And he had a nice second half. He was also decent in the playoffs. But he needs to build off of that. He’s not better than anyone in Buffalo yet. And to me, making the Sabres better is not making them younger with untested Amerks prospects.

They would have been required to pay him and could not walk away. That’s why he wasn’t given a QO. “The decision of the arbitrator is binding, although teams can walk away from an award in excess of $3.5 million if the salary arbitration hearing was player-elected (note: that $3.5 million figure is adjusted annually by the same percentage as the increase in average league salary, so the walk away limit is probably several $100,000 higher than $3.5 million this time around).”

He’s been in the pros for two years. Let him continue to cook in Rochester. He was good in the playoffs.