Porous Five Hole

In reflection, 11 consecutive series wins by Tampa in the salary cap era is incredible. The better team won this series, but the former champs didn’t make it easy on the Aves. Colorado’s rise gives me hope the Sabres can follow the blueprint of draft and develop from awful to champion.

And there’s the rub. Guy has been playing on a well below market contact. The team needs to buy out his RFA year and reward him as if he’s a UFA. I voted for 6X6, but that feels like a discount if you can pencil in 30 goals from the center position. My opinion is the Sabres know what they have and they will go long term with TT. But it might take 7M and a wing and a prayer (of a repeat performance each future year) on the Sabres part.

Think the Giroux deadline deal (also had a full no-move clause and only wanted to go to Florida): Phili got back an AHL/NHL tweener forward (33pts in 99 NHL games, 23 years old), a first round pick in two years (top ten protected), and third round pick next year. AND Phili retained 50% of salary in that deal. Assuming the Hawks don’t retain any salary, you could expect something less than the above.

Kane has a full no move clause, so it’s entirely up to him and not the team. And this is also why the cost to acquire Kane now or at the deadline would be a lot loss than most would presume.

The temp in Denver is currently 88. How much better can their ice possibly be than Tampa?

The loss of Cernak is huge. Tampa is down to five defenseman and they’re all slowing down/worn down.

This has been a fun series. Hard to trust Kuemper in this situation tho.

I agree with you. Losing two centers (Cirelli & Point) is going to be very hard to overcome.

Trade V O and regular shift JJP, and you’ve got yourself a deal.

I know you’re just spitballing on potential fits for Kane, but the Rangers have 16 players out of 23 under contract and have 11M in cap space. Yikes. The Oilers also have 16 players under contract and only have 6M in cap space. Double yikes. Even if the Hawks retain 50%, there’s not a lot of cap room around the league. This is another reason why Buffalo is logical and the price to acquire Kane will be not as expensive as many suggest.

I could chew on that. I just think Kane on the top line creates a lot more mismatches than Tuch. Tuch doesn’t make more space for his line mates like Kane would. Tage & Kane get pucks to the net differently, but they both drive offense and the front of the net is where Skinner lives. I would love to get into the details if a trade ever happened.

If the Kane acquisition cost is low, this would make VO expendable via trade to recoup any spent assets. And then some. This would also put Tuch on the second line, which is a perfect spot for him. I could certainly be talked into this deal. The time to step on the gas toward making the playoffs is now. The team’s salary structure is ripe for a move like this. If Kane came to Buffalo, it gets a whole lot easier to envision the best available goaltending options following him into town.

No one is arguing his usefulness as a player. But the guy has one year left on a team worse than Buffalo and a full no-trade clause. If Chicago wants to pay him 10.5M in cap hit (6.9M in salary) to chase 80 points as a team, the league’s GMs will let them. The Hawks have no bargaining power. I stated above that the Giroux trade deadline deal is a fair template and still think so.

Totally agree. Does this board realize the Blackhawks had 68 pts last year? Buffalo earned 75. If Kane gets traded to Buffalo (or anywhere), it’s a mercy trade and possibly a a cap dump scenario. Bear in mind Kane has a full no-move clause, so that’ll limit any trade return the Hawks could potentially get. He holds the cards. Think the Giroux deadline deal (also had a full no-move clause and only wanted to go to Florida): Phili got back an AHL/NHL tweener forward (33pts in 99 NHL games, 23 years old), a first round pick in two years (top ten protected), and third round pick next year. AND Phili retained 50% of salary in that deal.

Sorry to post in two threads, but my hot wife got me this for Father’s Day!

My hot wife got me this for Father’s Day!!

Due to injury, Andre Burakovsky did not take the Aves team flight to Tampa.

Since the news broke of the ICU stay, I wondering out loud if the family would deem a positive update (like leaving ICU) would be appropriate? I hope that’s the case. I also really hope she is not still there. She’s been there for a week or more.

After game one I commented that the Bolts took the Aves best shot. Turns out the Aves had another gear. So impressive.

In episode 120 of the After The Whistle podcast, Brian Gionta disagrees with you. Near the end. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xODY5ODAwLnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xMDgwNDk2Mg?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjiw5jKwLT4AhWGTd8KHdsxCboQjrkEegQICRAH&ep=6

I feel like Tampa took the Aves “A game” pretty well. Got knocked down and fought back. It’s all going to come down to Vasy and his ability to be the difference. The elevation aspect will be less impactful on Tampa for game two, and the warm temperatures slowing the ice will help them in this series. They’re the bigger team and they play better team defense. The Aves talent edge is pretty undeniable, especially with how their D skates. I don’t have a feel for who will win the series, but I love this matchup.

If any/all of your above was accurate, then GMTM wouldn’t have made the decision to trade for Lehner in the first place. The only way flipping Lehner and assets for Bishop was plausible is if GMTM realized he erred in the the original Lehner trade. There’s nothing to substantiate that. Also, Bishop was Vezina level at the time of your proposed scenario, and there just no way Tampa was moving on in your timeline of events.

If the Bolts win again in the cap era, it is going to put Yzerman in the hall of fame twice, and Brisebois in the hall of fame too. A three-peat in the Cap era exceeds a four-peat by the Isles in the non-Cap era. Simply incredible.

It was an interesting rabbit hole for me to dive into. The timing of the trade of Bishop at the 16-17 trade deadline to the Kings didn’t align all that well with the Sabres timeline. Buffalo traded for Lehner prior to the 15-16 season (traded for in June 2015). Bishop had a career year during the 13-14 season and an outstanding year during the 14-15 season. Tampa wasn’t going to move on. In the 15-16 season, Bishop was also outstanding. His 16-17 season was his worst in three years (2.55 GAA, .911 save percentage), and was battling injuries. The emergence of Vasy was undeniable (his baseline stats of 2.61 GAA, .917 save percentage that year) made Bishop expendable given Vasy’s future outlook. So the timeline didn’t mesh well. But I wish it did!

The headlines were a little misleading. The updated report was that he hit a car while bicycling to work, and not that he was hit by a car.