Jorcus

I just can't see the Rangers being able to do this. They would need to take the following steps. 1) give up this years number 12 draft pick so they can get next years first round draft pick back. 2) Convince Utah to take the 3rd round pick they have this year instead of the second round pick they have rights to next year. 3) Give us an unprotected 1st round pick plus a second and a third next year. (do they think they are going to be better next year after dealing away all those players) ? 4) Find enough money to pay JJ around 9 million a year to prevent us from matching it. As a counter measure we could deal with Utah to steal the rangers pick and prevent them from even trying to do this. This could be fun!

A late first for Byram makes no sense in isolation. They might as well wait for an offer sheet and if that does not come you just pay him for another year or 2. Once an offer comes in above 4.7 you get a first and a third. It won't be this years but chances are it will be a mid to late round 1st. I really can't see Adams not getting a player back in a deal. He has been saying that all along.

My first quibble is that this stat is looking back all the way to his rookie season. It probably looks better in his time with the Panthers. It also shades the fact he has been a good playoff performer by eliminating those stats from this chart. I can't deny Bennett is a low percentage shooter but he makes up for that by being one of the leaders in shots on goal. He probably will get overpaid for his overall output but that's what happens when you are a clutch performer.

If the Oilers go on to lose this series I have wonder what they were thinking when they traded McCloud for a prospect. Every other team that is as close as they are to a cup chance trades future assets for players that can play now. The bottom half of the Oilers lineup is killing them. They just can not clear the zone. I know salary cap was a concern with the Evander Kane injury but If they had to move on form McCloud they could have traded for someone who might actually play games for them this year and into the playoffs. Not matching the Broberg offer for a draft pick falls into the same category. They could have traded him for a player but took a draft pick instead. You just can not waste your superstar years for assets that do not help you now.

I can agree with Bennett but as much as Tkachuk plays hard and is an agitator I don't view him as a cheap shot artist. He will push you, punch you and chop you but most of the time it is when you are looking at him. I don't see him railing people from behind like some guys do. I am sure it happens but Tkachuck is willing to stand up for what he does. No one needs to fight his battles for him.

I honestly don't know how to tell a good coach from a bad coach. By most peoples standards 90% of the coaches in the NHL are bad. A lot of the time all it takes is a goaltender to make a coach look good or bad. There are few good coaches without good players. I did dive into our coaches vs the points over/under predictions for the season as given by Hockey-reference.com. The over unders are published back to 2010-2011 season. Only 4 times have Sabres coaches beat the target since then. 2010-2011 Ruff O/U 91.5 finished with 96 2015-2016 Bylsma O/U 75.5 finished with 81 2021-2022 Granato O/U 68.5 finished with 75 2022-2023 Granato O/U 77.5 Finished with 91 Not sure if that is a true indication of coaching ability but thought it was interesting.

Looking at the Belmont at Saratoga entries today and noticed a horse named Malarchuck is entered in 5th race. 4/1 morning line. Being sired by Nyquist one would assume he is named for Clint. Salty race but he is pretty good horse.

I like the 60 second power play for delay infractions. I think I would include a failed review in that as well, but could go either way as less reviews the better. The fact that the power play starts in the offensive zone is enough for me. There was a clear high stick penalty committed by Florida about half way though the overtime. That should not have been let go. I was not going to stay up for OT number 2 if it got there. There is point where not calling penalties backfires.

Deep in Ex Sabres. Asplund, Criscuolo, and CJ Smith. 🙂. There is not a lot of young talent on that team. Just a bunch of AHL vets backed by a goaltender who has played 140 NHL games.

The problem with the look back of the players at that time is that the 2017-2018 season was such a train wreck that keeping everyone was almost out of the question. 62 points when not tanking lead to compounding errors. The end of that season was a mess. I don't think the Sabres could take the heat at the time. Now were so used to not meeting expectations that they can get away with not making big changes.

I do think Rochester would have had a hard time with Charlotte. While Laval was similar to the Amerks with many developing players on the squad and a similar age distribution Charlotte is a spare parts team for the defending Stanley cup champs. In the playoffs the Amerks had 8 players younger than 23 years of age. Charlotte had 3. The 2 goalies they have are 29 and 30 years old. Levi is 23. I am disappointed Rochester could not get by Laval. I think we had a better over all roster. We had 5 first round draft picks playing. I do wish one of the younger players would have been so good that the other team could not handle them. I wish Levi played better in the last game. 2 years in a row when the game counted the most he really was not all that good. It does not mean the young guys or Levi are bad. I think most of them will make it to the NHL. Are any of them all stars? It's tough to make that case right now. At least when this group gets to the NHL they will have better fundamentals as opposed to the players rushed up to the Sabres over the last decade. I remember Housley saying when he came to coach here he did not think he was going to have to teach players how to pick a puck off the wall. At least they are getting that stuff out of the way.

I think the perception vs reality is true. It gets amplified when making trades. Bringing in Stahl and Jarmo at least gives some personal insight to some of the existing players in the NHL. Personal contact with players leads to understanding of what they are and what they can do. Keep in mind these players come from many different cultures and express themselves in different ways. Peterka on the ice comes across as aloof. Some may read that as disgruntled but it could just be who he is and have no bearing on how hard he is playing or how determined he is.

This is what Dallas gets for benching Lybushkin. The ex Sabre bump is gone.

Watching Jeff Skinner drift around the D zone while his team was under assault looked familiar.

The way I remember it at the time was Adams was asking everyone if they wanted to be here. According to Paul Hamilton Reinhart said he was willing to go either way. So they could have thrown a big salary at him to stay but if they were stripping down the team what good would it have done in the short run. His production was no better than Peterkas and that was after 5+ years of NHL experience. I don't think this team would have been in a different place if he stayed playing with a bunch of kids. Florida picked off a guy at the right time and it worked out well for them.

He wasn't getting another NHL contract. This year which was the second of his deal was 1 way so he was getting 775 K to play in Rochester. I think they had intentions of bringing him up but he may have been hurt or playing hurt in the early part of the season. Kozak came up instead and they were happy enough with him to make Rousek expendable. He was a very good passer and Sabres could have used that. I am not sure how his skating meterics are but Kozak does have NHL speed so it may have been a matter of just a guy climbing over him on the depth chart.

And every other 7th D man in the NHL.

You would have to catch them first. Most depth guys can't do it and if they get close enough it will be 2 in the box because they are behind them.

I was looking at the AFP Projections on Cap Wages. McLeod 3x4.8M Quinn 1x1.6M Peterka 7x7.8M or 2x4.6M Byram 5x7.2M or 1 x5.2M Docker 3x2.5M I rounded the numbers off.

Here is the yardbarker senstional headline. Trolling us a bit which is something they like to do. https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/young_buffalo_sabres_star_officially_requests_trade/s1_17636_42231579 What I really get from the Hamilton quote is Byram is not planning to sign here long term. At this point I don't see why anyone would. Byram could still be back on a shorter term deal if nothing else materializes in terms of solid trade or offer sheet.

Hell he has to climb over Ryan Johnson first according to KA and about everyone else in the Org.

Also every line needs a leader who tells the other two what to do on faceoffs or on the bench. Who would be the leader of that line? JJ is not the type, Kulich is too young and no one should be listening to Quinn.

I agree that the NHL is not a parity league and NMC clauses have something to do with it. I would also add that because players are drafted at age 18 there is a much greater risk that the pick you make in the front of the draft will not turn out to be a very good player. You also have to wait 3 to 5 years to find out what they are. Another issue is that high end players can last a long time in the NHL. Most very good players can remain effective in their 30's. It takes awhile for father time to catch up to these teams for the next group to cycle though and take over. I wanted to discuss Washington. Things went well in the regular season for them but once again they flamed out in the playoffs. They seem to exist in this place of high mediocrity. It was mentioned on the radio the other day that only once since Ovi has been on the team that they have made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs. Of course they Won the cup 2018 but that was the only time they made it to the conference finals. Had they not gotten over that hump in 2018 what would have happened to Ovi? I would guess a free agency walk to another contender. It's interesting to look back at that when Toronto parts ways with Marner. Washington had a lot of things go well this year. The had one of the best second lines in hockey with the McMichael and Protas who came through for them in the draft. Dylan Strom finally is living up to his high draft pick status after the Blackhawks let him go for nothing and Chychrun is healthy enough to show what he can do. I just wonder if Washington goes back to being a Pumpkin. Ovi can still shoot but he is getting very slow. Will the goaltending hold up like it did last year. A lot of players had a career years but I think they would have to regress. On the plus side they have been good at managing the cap space so they won't lose anyone. I think they are too good regress out of the playoffs but I would not be surprised to see them fall back in the standings.

Typically a 1 year deal at that point would be the result of an arbitration hearing or a contract to avoid arbitration.

Funeral lunch will be held at the Hungry Heifer.