IKnowPhysics

Meruelo is a delusional narcissist that won't admit defeat despite his ineptitude and toxicity. He'll pretend he still owns a franchise with zero hockey being played. He still thinks he's the lone savior despite everyone and everything in Arizona refusing to work with him. The NHL is simpler: it's always money. They can get Meruelo an expansion team or a moved team for him. Or they can plug in a expansion team into Arizona with a different owner and then either buy the IP rights back from Meruelo or just plug in a non-Coyotes franchise without the rights. They don't give a *****. Money over everything.

100%. If anyone is interested in understanding how hockey in the desert really fell apart, read these, especially the first one. ***** ownership from minute one. If you had any shred of thinking that the municipalities or the arenas or the fans or the sponsors were to blame for the final death knell, get corrected. Meruelo's squad ran a toxic and inept organization that ruined employee, partnering company, sponsorship, hockey management, player, media, and government relationships. https://theathletic.com/2390146/2021/02/16/arizona-coyotes-investigation-toxic/ https://theathletic.com/5439189/2024/04/24/arizona-coyotes-alex-meruelo-utah-nhl/ 12ft.io

Pegula:

Hard to disagree with anything Ruff said today.

Who the ***** is Alice?

I'll further add that in 5v5, the Sabres score more with Skinner on the ice than any other player (outside of JQ's 17 games) and Skinner's GA/60 is middle-off-the-team, better than Jordan Greenway's. There's not going to be a buyout, Sabres can't afford the cap hit and it doesn't make any sense with a productive player. Soonest exit would be to a playoff team in trade, maybe with salary retention, but good luck doing a one-for-one shipping Skinner out in order to land what the Sabres need... a scoring forward? Sabres aren't desiring to take a package in return unless they're desperate to get him out. I assume the usual asset management techniques apply and if the Sabres don't want Skinner, they move him the summer before his last contract year, which would be 2026, presuming he waives his NMC. He may decline to move, and then it's the same situation as a rental at the trade deadline in 2027.

I'll also add that Skinner scored 40, 33, and 35 in non-Krueger years and is scoring at a 30 goal pace this year.

This flawed logic implies that Jordan Greenway deserves top line money for playing on the top line. He doesn't. Jeff Skinner leads the team in goals. This also assumes that 3rd line is "defensive." It's not. Player usage charts show that ___-Thompson-Tuch play against the hardest opponents and that Krebs plays against significantly weaker opponents. Maybe Granato wants Skinner-Krebs-Benson to light up the other team's scrubs.

Donald Audette

STRK W3

Initial estimate at time of surgery on 1/29 was out eight weeks, which would be 3/25. NHL.com reported a recovery time on 2/4 at 6-8 weeks, which could be as early as 3/17. We've got two games before 3/17 and six games before 3/25. Ten games follow 3/25. Seeing as it's estimated we need at least 24 points on 16 games, even if we get as little as four points in the next six games, we could theoretically bring Quinn back to win out the remaining ten games. I think you see Quinn again this season unless there's a medical setback that pushes his return way past 3/25.

Sabres playoff chances: Bowen Byram showing up at the deadline:

It should be noted that Byram's D partner during his dominant 2022 cup-winning playoffs was Erik Johnson.