Jorcus

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.

Any thoughts on Matt Dumba? He finished the year hurt certainly obtainable. Other cheaper older guy might be Jan Rutta 34 year old UFA.

Toronto is going to match any offer so it would be a waste of time for an offer sheet even if we could do it. Tavares is going to go unless he wants to come back for 2 million or something. Marner may walk. They won't let go of Knies.

Well at least we found out that Justin Bieber is in fact still alive, and Drake gambled away another million bucks.

He got hit with a high stick and was bleeding badly.

You really need three things when you are planning to do an offer sheet. Draft Picks, money and the ability to make an offer the other team can not match. When you make an offer sheet you are most likely burning a bridge to any trades with that team in the near future. If you do it you better make it a good one. In general trades are a better way to go.

It's interesting how the Leafs have changed this year. They have gone from trying to be the Oilers to trying to be the Panthers. They are D first and trying to play close games then waiting for you to give them a power play or a breakaway. The trouble is they are not as experienced in that style as Florida is. They also probably need some different players to do it a little better. They still have a chance to get by Florida. It might be one of those 1 bounce games.

I know before the playoffs Leone stated that he was going to roll 4 lines. I would assume in an effort to wear Laval down. It would also seem that Kulich would be affected by playing less 5 on 5 time. I can't find time on ice numbers so just a guess about Kulich. Nice to see Rosen have a really good game when it matters.