pi2000

Eichel and Reinhart have 2 years remaining.... Bogo is on the books at $5mil for 4 more years. Moulson and Ennis both around $5mil for 3 more years. UFAs coming off the books in 3 years or less... Kane (5.2), Gionta (4.2), Kulikov (4.3), Gorges (3.9), Franson (3.3). Some of those guys will be resigned, others won't, but they're all be replaced by another contract in some way shape or form. I'd go 4-years for Risto, but that doesn't buy any UFA years. 5-years seems like the sweet-spot, gives BUF time to evaluate his progress, keeps him motivated, gives them a likely solid piece moving forward they don't need to worry about resigning while taking care of guys like Eichel, Reinhart, Lehner, McCabe, Nylander when his ELC expires within 5 years, etc.. Also gives Risto some financial security, but not too much pressure of being the future franchise defenseman as BUF will have flexibility to be active on the free agent market... and when that deal is up, or after year 4 if Risto has taken his game to the next level he can get paid accordingly, if he sputters out, then move him or let him walk, but atleast you're not on the hook for another 3-4 years hoping to send the contract to Vegas or wherever. Again, it's not just numbers and wether or not it makes sense from a salary cap persepective, it's how an 8-year deal will affect his development vs a shorter deal that gives him plenty of motivation to continue developing his game. He's 21, not even he probably knows how he would react to a $50mil guaranteed payday. Money does strange things to people, let's not take the chance of ruining this young man's career.

You lost me at "year 5 ends and you have all these players tied up..... Rasumus needs a new deal". If he's all that and a bag of chips, you don't let it get that point (unless you're Darcy). You either re-sign him to extension after year 4, try to sign him throughout year 5, or move him at the deadline for a nice return. There is ZERO chance GMTM would let it get to the point where he walks away for nothing. That said, let's say you offer a 3 year bridge. Rasmus is like "WTF Tim? Don't you believe in me?". 3 years go by, he gets moderately better then tells his agent he doesn't want to play in Buffalo for fear of another low-ball RFA deal. I don't see Rasmus accepting a 3 year bridge deal in any scenario. Also, the scenario about comfy cozy financial security and too much pressure are not mutually exclusive. He'll feel pressure to perform, to live up to expectations, feel like he has to do too much on the ice, but at the same time when he should be training in the offseason he might just decide he'd rather spend time enjoying his money. When you were 21, what decisions would you have made knowing you had financial security for life, with nearly $50mil coming your way over the next 8 years or so... GUARANTEED, no matter what you did with your life. But who knows, maybe he really is a hard-working type of person who doesn't value money... but are you willing to bet $50mil on it, when you could wager half that amount to find out?

First, just because you sign him to a 5-year deal doesn't mean he will undoubtedly hit free agency. If he continues his upward projection in years 1 to 3 and 4 of the 5-year contract, then you have more than enough time to start negotiating an extension. If he regresses in years 1-3, you're not locked in for 5 more years, you can either sign him for market value after year 5, or move him if some other team makes an acceptable offer. To your points (in bold).... Myers scored 37 points his second year, only 4 points fewer than Risto's 3rd year, and 10 points better than his second year. Risto's hasn't yet reached Myers rookie mark of 48 points in a season. Myers also won the Calder, I don't think anybody saw his decline coming. What is it about Risto's character that make you less concerned about him if he's granted life-long financial security at the age 21? I agree you can likely trade that deal to some team that needs to hit the floor. There's also the concern about how a long term deal will affect his mindset. I wonder what Myers could've become if he wasn't given that large deal at a young age. I'm a strong believer in dangling that carrot in front of these guys at a young age until they reach their full potential. You see it happen in every sport, young guy comes in lights the world on fire or everybody tells him how great he's gonna be. He gains financial security at a young age and suddenly stops developing and everybody wonders what's wrong with him. If you give him an 8-year deal you increase the chance that he regresses (comfy cozy financial security for life, additional burden as presumed future franchise defenseman). IMO if you offer only a 3-year bridge, it will likely rub him the wrong way and would be a bad message to the rest of the league on how Buffalo treats their star prospects. A 5 year deal is a nice compromise. You buy 1 year of UFA status, you keep him motivated for his next deal, and you don't put the burden of "future all-star defenseman" on his shoulders. All money aside, if Risto continues to work like he has, the sky is the limit for him, I truly believe that. But saddling him with a monster contract could backfire in a big way, not just for his development, but for the Sabres as a franchise.

Let's compare Risto's first 3 season to Tyler Myers: Risto: 194gp 19g 46a 65pts -68 Myers: 217gp 29g 69a 98pts +18 That's a +/- differential of 86 goals....Myers got a 7-year deal and got run out of town. You want to give Risto 8-years? What makes you think Risto is any different than Myers? If anything, he's shown much less his first 3 years than Myers did, and you're willing to bet the farm on him? So you give him an 8-year deal, and he regresses, what do you do? You're stuck with an untradeable contract. He's taking money away from guys like Eichel, Reinhart, Nylander, McCabe, maybe even guys like Lehner and O'Reilly. It could be a franchise alerting mistake unless you are 1000% sure that he'll be a top-10 defenseman in the league for years to come. And at 21 with < 200 NHL games played, you don't know the answer to that question unless he's Bobby Orr.

Who would you replace with Reinhart? Trochek maybe?

Disagree. An 8 year deal for a 21 year old defensemen who is a career -68 in 3 NHL seasons could turn out to be a huge mistake. Sure he's eating big minutes on Team Finland, but there are still areas of his game he needs to improve. Giving him a 6-8 year deal and you put yourself at risk should he regress due to a comfortable contract. 5-years seems fair, 3 would be even better IMO, but Bogo's $5mil doesn't come off the books for 4 more years, and you'll have guys like Eichel and Reinhart with new deals in 2 years... the money simply might not be there in 3-4 years... 5 years, definitely.

I don't think any of the players listed make the final roster. I do think Evan Rodrigues makes the team. GMTM spoke very very highly of him, he had a goal and assist in 2 games to close out the season.

You have to assume they're covering not only immediate health needs, but future earning potential should they suffer a career ending injury. How much of those future earnings they would actually receive in a payout is something that would likely be decided in the courts. It's not an ideal situation, but certainly a better proposition than not providing any coverage whatsoever. I'll predict Risto gets 5 years at $5.5m/yr.

neither did Tyler Myers. You simply don't give a 20 year old defenseman a 6-8 year deal unlesd he's a top 5 player at his position. Risto still has a ways to go to get there, keep him motivated.

I got you covered.

I used to live across street from the Audette's in Clarence when I was in my early 20's. Nice guy, but I was surprised at how pudgy he was... he had a belly on him. He had a young wife and just had a kid.. who turned out to be a pretty good hockey player aparently... http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=160328 Anyway, I once tried to convince him to fund a roller hockey facility my friend and I were trying to build out there not far from the airport. He balked. Smart man!

Yeah Orlov shown some offensive flash, he skates well, he's a nice young defenseman who can create. Still many grade A players unsigned.... http://www.generalfanager.com/freeagents?expiryyear=2016&position=All&shoots=Both&team=all&RFA=1 Something has to give. I don't remember there ever being so many top notch RFA's unsigned this close to the season.

Guess who led the Penguins in goals both Cup years (90/91, 91/92). Yep, you guessed it.... Kevin Stevens. Jagr was 6th on the team in scoring in 91/92. SIXTH! Anyway, I think Ovechkin will win a Cup like Brett Hull late in his career when he starts moving around the league chasing the opportunity.

Have you considered who you're asking? I think a better question to ask would be... Has anybody here not dabbled in these drugs?

Ovechkin will always play second fiddle to these guys unless he wins a Cup or two.

Right, there's only circumstantial evidence at best. I do secretly hope that his problem is the occasional coke binge when hanging out with certain folks as I wouldn't consider semi-casual cocaine use to be addictive in the same sense as opiates (heroin) or smoking the rock version of cocaine (crack). If he's a habitual coke user (multiple 8-balls/wk), then that's another story and would likely need rehab.

Tyler Myers made a few similar plays as well. Still want to see more out of him on a consistent basis before I give him a long-term deal.... continue to improve his agility, speed and quickness, assert himself offensively.

IIRC, this esilver guy supplied the tickets and who knows what else (as per Kane's instagram at the time). I was looking through Kanes instagram history yesterday and it turns out Kane (or his PR advisor) deleted all the pics he had with this esilver character. If you look through esilvers instagram you can still find some pics with Kane.... they were tight. I know a few guys like him (trust fund kids, do the same stuff and dress the same) and they're all coke users, it's part of the lifestyle down here in southern California. I'm not saying he's a bad kid, but if in fact Kane has a problem with cocaine and it's what's making him aggressive with women, then he should be more careful about who he chooses to hang out with. I'll be honest, when I first moved down here to southern california I started hanging out with guys like this because they were genuinely nice, fun and partied and whatnot. But it wasn't a lifestyle I could sustain with a family and kids and a job, so I choose to separate myself from that scene and it was the right choice. That said, when you consider Kane has no prior history of being abusive to women, getting thrown out of bars, etc... I'd like to think he's just hanging out with the wrong crowd and that it's not simply a personality trait that he can't overcome. I agree, in general pro atheles don't need the confidence boost cocaine provides, but I've seen it turn some (not all) guys irrationally aggressive, especially in situations where women are not interested to the point of getting tossed out of places, damaging property, etc. These are not you typical drunk , these are genuinely nice guys whose personality takes a complete 180 when high on coke... it's bizarre because you have hard time picturing the guy acting the way he does, but it happens.

Great effort by Risto on that goal, wow. Hope we get to see some of that this season.

O'Reilly joins teams Canada as Seguin goes down with injury.