IKnowPhysics

Let me correct this. It sounds stupid, but this ***** works in politics and other industries, and it's already being used in professional sports, and it won't surprise me when it's tried in the NHL.

Absolutely agree. Specifically, it's economically good for the media businesses reporting the information as content, as their revenue is aided by views/clicks/etc. That's how TSN makes their money and that's why EPSN reports more than the final scores. The league and teams might benefit as the league media contracts swell, but it's a secondary or tertiary effect. Does Taylor Hall sign with the Buffalo Sabres if there's a persisting rumor Jack EIchel will be traded? Maybe or maybe not, but it sure doesn't help the Sabres' case to land Taylor Hall. The front office confirmed they used playing with Jack Eichel as a major selling point for Hall; Hall confirms he looks forward to playing ona team with elite players like Jack Eichel. I can't find it now, but there was at least speculation, if not a source-confirmation, somewhere that the Sabres front office was quietly pissed that Jack Eichel trade rumors were spun up bigly at a national level just a couple of weeks before free agency- the feeling was that this hampered their ability to sell the team to UFAs that wanted to win. It sounds stupid, but this ***** works in politics and other industries and it won't surprise me when it's tried in professional sports.

Journalistic integrity is a vital weapon to defend against information warfare. Just as it is between states and between competing corporations, information warfare will soon be waged in the professional sports industry, if it isn't already. The power of viral rumors and misinformation will be leveraged by teams' social media and their fanbases against opponents to weaken their competitiveness. "Jack Eichel gave the Buffalo Sabres an ultimatum." "Kevyn Adams is taking calls regarding trading Jack Eichel." "Taylor Hall only signed with Buffalo to get an even bigger contract next UFA period." Facts only need to be twisted or spun slightly to create a stir and a PR situation that burns wild. It took three-plus definitive statements by the GM and one by the player's agent to put the Jack Eichel fire down to a smolder (but not completely extinguished).

Narrator: This was not it.

If we didn't have a flat cap, we could likely get Kahun back or splurge on a D/G (with a trade). Even the basic case would be sick: Hall-Eichel-Olofsson Skinner-Staal-Reinhart Girgensens-Eakins-Kahun Cozens-Lazar-Thompson Rieder That's a matchup problem for most teams. But in the what-if with looser caps, the league-wide quest for Hall might have been more difficult.

I'm down; that'd put us about a mil below cap. The less these three sign for, the more shoulder room we have for D and G and trades and playoff rentals.

Agreed. A one-act play: Jeff Skinner: Who does this bitch-assed 1st overall bust, draft-lottery winning, merely $8M/1year chump think he is walking into this lineup like he owns the place? I got 40 more career goals than this punk ass. I'll pirouette on his kicked-in face. Taylor Hall: I'mma drive my yacht that says 'Ralph' on the back over your nine assist-havin' ass, license or no license, like Olofsson ran over your roster spot on Jack's hip, beeaatch. I LIKE BOATS.

Aye, it is. But winning would surely alleviate bad feeling about line assignments, which is what we'll get from an improved roster: a better chance to win. If he was going to be mad, I would have though he'd be mad about not playing with Jack this past year. He signed a guaranteed eight year contract. Do you think he had an expectation that he would be able to choose his linemates for eight years? He knows he has a role to play and there are high expectations (nine million expectations) of his performance. He's competitive. He wants to win. I think he'd be looking forward to an improved team, improved linemates (from this past year especially), and likely easier quality of competition. And hell, with his competitive spirit, he may even make it his business to try to usurp Hall on the top line.

Play with Jack and lose. Play with Staal and win. Hmm.

VGK would probably need to eat salary for us to take him if Reinhart and Olofsson are signed to expected deals and/or go to arbitration... unless we send them Hutton and Miller/Montour.

But I'm sure he ain't mad about Staal, and eventually Cozens. Better than an in--over-his-head Mittelstadt or a non-ideal Johansson.

Our top six would create a nightmare for opposing matchups to our second line, which is exactly what you want from your depth scoring. Hall-Eichel-Olofsson Skinner-Staal-Reinhart Who do you put your best defenders up against? It's gotta be the HEO Show. That leaves SSR against the 2nd pair, which is likely favorable to us.

EAT, MY CHILD SUCKLE ON THE TEET THAT IS REPOSTED TSN TWEETS

It's potentially a savvy move by both parties: KA and RK get to tryout an elite talent to see if there's a good fit and production worthy of a Jeff Skinner+ contract in price and term. They also get some time to finagle the Sabres cap situation and the upcoming RFAs (Dahlin). If things work out, they make a hefty, but worthwhile, contract extension offer. TH gets to tryout the Sabres org. He takes some injury risk on a one year, but in a weird, flat salary cap year with lots of uncertainty, he buys one year of slightly reduced contract ($8M instead of $9M+) in order to play next to Jack and put his stats off the rails. If successful, he goes UFA in a better economic climate and better stats and gets a monster deal in price and term, easily gaining back his slightly reduced price. If the Sabres fall flat, he wields his NMC to chose which playoff team to go to. Bonus: he gets to play for a coach he says he likes.

Estimating based on comparables and 3rd party projections (here, here, and here): Reinhart, $6.25-7.5M, best guess $6.5M Olofsson, $4-5M bridge, best guess $4.25M Estimating based on flat-ass guessing: Linus Ullmark, $2M-2.5M, best guess $2.4M Maths: $10.5M-$15M, best guesses $13.15M Note: this leaves little room to sign anyone else, but still need upgrades at LD and, if possible, G. We might try to move an RD, such as Miller ($3.875M) or Montour ($3.85M), for an ELC LD.

Jesus, after reading that, I want an 82 game season to start tomorrow.

We have $13.646M to use, including signing RFAs. Of the four minimum QOs sent, three filed for arbitration: Reinhart, $3.65M - min $3.75M Olofsson, $0.7675 - min $0.7M Pilut, $0.925M - min $0.8325M Ullmark, $1.325M - min $1.325M

As of 3:30pm EST today, 10/12/20, the Sabres numbers are as follows: The salary cap for 2020-21 is $81.5M. The current Sabres cap space, not counting minimum qualifying offers ($6.608M), is $13.646M. The total NHL roster is currently: 12F, 9D, 2G. Cap committed to NHL players under contract (10F, 8D, 1G), totaling $65.575M of salary (new contracts in bold): Eichel, $10M Skinner, $9M Hall, $8M Okposo, $6M Staal, $3.25M Eakin, $2.25M Girgensens, $2.2M Thompson, $1.4M Lazar, $0.8M Rieder, $0.7M ($43.6M for Fs) Ristolainen (RD), $5.4M Miller (RD), $3.875M Montour (RD), $3.85M McCabe (LD), $2.85M Dahlin (LD), $0.925M Jokiharju (RD), $0.925M Davidson (LD), $0.7M Irwin (RD), $0.7M ($19.225M for 3LDs and 5RDs) Hutton, $2.75M ($2.75M for Gs) Buyout: Hodgson, $0.792M Carryover Bonus Overages: $1.4875M For RFAs and UFAs and non-rostered players, this leaves $81.5M - $65.575M - $0.792M - $1.4875= $13.646M RFAs that have been qualified and not yet signed (2F, 1D, 1G) and previous salary, totaling $6.768M, and minimum qualifying offers, totaling $6.608M: Reinhart, $3.65M - min $3.75M Olofsson, $0.7675 - min $0.7M Pilut, $0.925M - min $0.8325M Ullmark, $1.325M - min $1.325M Non-rostered players and NHL cap hit if rostered (doesn't include UFAs): Biro, $0.925M Ruotsalainen, $0.925M Cozens, $0.894M Asplund, $0.845M Murray, $0.775M Pekar, $0.764M Oglevie, $0.750M DiPietro $0.75M Dea, $0.7M CJ Smith, $0.7M Mittelstadt, QO - $0.8325 Samualsson, $0.925M Bryson, $0.889M Borgen, $0.864M Fitzgerald, $0.858M Laaksonen, $0.853M UPL, $0.778 Jonas Johansson, $0.7M Most info sourced from CapFriendly.

I don't even feel any sense of righteousness or pride from this. Just intense relief. Bliss, almost.

VGK trading Schmidt to FLA to make room for Pietrangelo.

Who's the first line right winger on this team? The fallacy of a player not in the top 10 at their position not being a 1st line player seemingly never dies. Is 22nd among players listed at RW not among the 30 highest point totals among players listed at RW? Or 62nd among the 90 highest point totals among forwards? Complain that Reinhart isn't Pastrnak, Kucherov, Kane, or Marner, but Reinhart is irrefutably a 1st line RW.

COL out on Hall.

@john wawrow you gotta press the front office on what roles they're expecting these players to play and what analytics they used to arrive at this being anything near ok. Jason Nightingale is one of only two things right now: 1) Tearing his hair out. 2) A genius operating on a plane well beyond our understanding. Because the only visible bright spot on Cody Eakin is his 50 games of playoff experience, and that's not analytical.

Jesus ***** christ. Remember when Hodgson was being paid 1C money to play 4W minutes and Phil Varone wasn't on th 4th line? Let's never post that again.

If we have any faith in management, gotta believe there's something noteworthy percolating behind closed doors. Something that improves this team.