IKnowPhysics

Oduya would be a nice pickup. His offensive output is low, but his player usage charts reveal him as one of the top shutdown Dmen on a championship team. Steady over the years.

Aaron Ward ‏@TSNAaronWard 1m1 minute ago Hearing #Oilers and Andrej Sekera is a 6 year deal at $5.5M per #TSN

...so a car ride counts as a gift or endorsement, making him NCAA ineligible!

Doesn't cite the source, but I'll take it. He arrived at BNIA this morning around the time that one would to sign paperwork downtown around noon.

Flood gates open with lots of re-signings. Last minute deals or keeping the market guessing?

Lulz.

It was a sympathy card for Connor McSorrows.

Per twitter: Jack Eichel arrived in Buffalo today around 8:50am. ...to sign his ELC?

I don't remember... we only hear about signed offer sheets and the matches to those, right? The unsigned offer sheets are never disclosed?

Pierre LeBrun: Tarasenko got married in Russia today, maybe won't sign today.

PHamPierre LeBrun: Sabres are very close to signing ROR, likely a seven year deal.

Yeah, I don't want to move four firsts for anyone. But I'd move a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pretty handily, even recognizing the risk in moving a decent Mathews lottery ticket. However, if we acquire the good chess pieces, that lottery chance could be small, reducing the risk.

The league salary cap balloons to $150M and the 8 year, $7.300M AAV deal for Tarasenko will look like a steal. :beer:

True, but if there's one thing we've learned in the salary cap era, it is when you're talking about top-level talent, you can't fear the cap. I'd make the acquisition and make the hard choices later... which may or may not actually be hard, depending on player development and salary cap increases. If we have a shot at acquiring top-level talent, we should seriously consider it, and while doing so, keep in mind that we're better prepared to be aggressive than most other teams because of our cap situation. Sure, Boston, Philly, and Calgary put themselves in cap hell at one time or another, but Chicago, Pittsburgh, and others have managed quite expertly.

If the Blues were afraid of him not signing their offer and going to arbitration - where the result would likely be moderately-priced but SHORT term deal that would yield no compensation when completed - then the better path is to let another team determine the market rate, which then gives the Blues the power to commit to or walk away from Tarasenko, with the option of collecting compensation if they walk. The down side for the Blues is that the financial component of a deal (salary, term, cap hit) is out of their hands, but the power of committing to a likely long term deal or collecting compensation is reserved. And if Tarasenko's agent is any good, he's pushing Tarasenko to collect offer sheets anyways, and the financial negotiation was never in the Blues hands to begin with.

Kinda funny that we just moved Compher in the deal to land O'Reilly, whom we traded up to draft along with receiving Jamie McBain in exchange for shipping out Sekera, and we might try to pursue Sekera again tomorrow.

Second coming of Jay Feaster?

Merge it with the boobs thread, and we got a stew goin'.

Semin had a resurgence his first season with CAR, but then it tailed off worse than it did in WSH. The team got worse, but he did as well.

IKnowNothing

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/morning_roundup/2015/06/oreilly-excited-about-joining-buffalo-sabres.html Term of extension- AAV - Age at expiration 6 years - $10M - 31 7 years - $8.5M - 32 8 years - $7.5M - 33 9 years - $6.7 - 34 10 years - $6M - 35 11 years - $5.5 - 36 12 years - $5M - 37 13 years - $4.6M - 38 14 years - $4.2M - 39 15 years - $4M - 40 In bold is the nice sweet spot in my mind. Good AAV, especially in the future higher-cap years. Locks up all of his prime years. Reduced risk of retiring before the contract's up/minimizes penalty. He can extend that contract in a different (reduced?) role as an old man and retire a Sabre if he/we wants.

[at no one specific] Where'd you learn that, Cheech, drug school?

Pierre McGuire says an off ice incident occured at a border crossing. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/pierre-mcguire-indicates-mike-richards-contract-breach-occurred-at-border-crossing-235356704.html I'm going to go ahead and speculate that Richards' long rumored drug habit, which may have gotten him ousted from Philly to a forgiving Lombardi, was caught with possession at the border, exposing him to Lombardi as a failed promise and to the public as a potential criminal.

¿Que? Everyone tendered but D'Amigo was acquired or drafted by Darcy.

Cedar Park.