Around the NHL 2021-22

[kas23]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Another L for VGK. 3-2 to the Avs. That's 5 in their last 6.

Jack will help them out with this. 😂 

[Norcal]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Another L for VGK. 3-2 to the Avs. That's 5 in their last 6.

Trouble in the room? 😎

[Sabres Fan in NS]

13 minutes ago, Norcal said:

Trouble in the room? 😎

That didn't take long.  Started before the first game he played.

[Thorny]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Another L for VGK. 3-2 to the Avs. That's 5 in their last 6.

Rent free lol 

[PromoTheRobot]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Rent free lol 

Just care about where our pick ends up.

16 minutes ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

That didn't take long.  Started before the first game he played.

They did put Stone on LTIR, probably until the playoffs. Be a shame if they didn't make it.

[K-9]

18 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Just care about where our pick ends up.

^This. As if wanting Vegas to finish poorly is nothing more than a shot at Eichel. Talk about living rent free. 

[LGR4GM]

18 hours ago, Thorny said:

Rent free lol 

There's going to be a difference between drafting in the mid 20s versus the late teams. We need Vegas to lose and get crushed in the first round or just miss the playoffs. 

I'd monitor the Panthers pick too but they are a machine. They will finish in the top 6 of the league and they will almost certainly win at least 1 playoff round. I suppose they could lose in the first round of the playoffs but we shall see. We will finally get to see if Reinhart is "built for the playoffs" which should be fun since I recall many ppl suggesting he wasn't. 

[Eleven]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

There's going to be a difference between drafting in the mid 20s versus the late teams. We need Vegas to lose and get crushed in the first round or just miss the playoffs. 

I'd monitor the Panthers pick too but they are a machine. They will finish in the top 6 of the league and they will almost certainly win at least 1 playoff round. I suppose they could lose in the first round of the playoffs but we shall see. We will finally get to see if Reinhart is "built for the playoffs" which should be fun since I recall many ppl suggesting he wasn't. 

Is it worth it to bundle those two later picks and trade up?  Or is the first round deep enough this year that they should make all three picks?

[Norcal]

Carolina can really pass the puck. The whole team is prolific at it. 

When they are humming, they're hard to beat. 

[inkman]

5 hours ago, Norcal said:

Carolina can really pass the puck. The whole team is prolific at it. 

When they are humming, they're hard to beat. 

Which is why the Sabres need to keep adding skill.  Krebs, Power, Quinn, Peterka, will make a big difference.  Make a trade or two to balance the roster and we got something. There are at least half a dozen players on the Sabres who aren’t NHL players. 

[Zamboni]

Kyle Davidson …. Well now

[Norcal]

16 hours ago, inkman said:

Which is why the Sabres need to keep adding skill.  Krebs, Power, Quinn, Peterka, will make a big difference.  Make a trade or two to balance the roster and we got something. There are at least half a dozen players on the Sabres who aren’t NHL players. 

You're right. The difference when watching good teams is quite apparent. 

Good thing most of the the JAGs are on one year contracts and they can bring in a different bunch next year to mix in with the youngins that are ready. 

There's some meat on the bone in FA but I'm not sure the team is attractive enough to lure the better players just yet.

 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, Norcal said:

You're right. The difference when watching good teams is quite apparent. 

Good thing most of the the JAGs are on one year contracts and they can bring in a different bunch next year to mix in with the youngins that are ready. 

There's some meat on the bone in FA but I'm not sure the team is attractive enough to lure the better players just yet.

 

You're likely right about the bolded, but the teams on those guys wish lists might not have the cap space to give them what they're worth, so that overpay necessary to woo them might not be as much as in a normal year.

Plus, any guys they're looking for wouldn't be the high end top line/top pairing guys (hoping G, whether by FA or trade is an exception), but rather middle 6/ 2nd pairing types.

Hate that they don't have a real goalie right now, because getting back to even winning 1/2 their games could go a long way towards convincing someone they are on the right track.

[Norcal]

16 minutes ago, Taro T said:

You're likely right about the bolded, but the teams on those guys wish lists might not have the cap space to give them what they're worth, so that overpay necessary to woo them might not be as much as in a normal year.

Plus, any guys they're looking for wouldn't be the high end top line/top pairing guys (hoping G, whether by FA or trade is an exception), but rather middle 6/ 2nd pairing types.

Hate that they don't have a real goalie right now, because getting back to even winning 1/2 their games could go a long way towards convincing someone they are on the right track.

Bad time to need goaltending. The price to acquire a decent one is high and nobody wants to part with any good ones in these uncertain times. 

The G position definitely needs addressing in the offseason and not just current Sabres or prospects. 

If they do overpay in FA, paying up for Trochek and Forsberg would be my vote.

 

 

 

[Doohickie]

Your schadenfreude for the evening:

 

[Curt]

16 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

Your schadenfreude for the evening:

 

I see that guy’s videos on YouTube occasionally.  He is completely insufferable.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

Your schadenfreude for the evening:

 

 

[Eleven]

4 hours ago, Curt said:

He is completely insufferable.

He has the Smolinski-face.

[Thorny]

17 hours ago, Eleven said:

He has the Smolinski-face.

What makes it so satisfying is everyone knew *exactly* what Smolinski was “saying” when he made this face. 

[Eleven]

5 hours ago, Thorny said:

What makes it so satisfying is everyone knew *exactly* what Smolinski was “saying” when he made this face. 

What makes it even more satisfying is that the smug jerk lost that game.  And the series.

[LGR4GM]

On 2/28/2022 at 9:33 AM, Eleven said:

Is it worth it to bundle those two later picks and trade up?  Or is the first round deep enough this year that they should make all three picks?

The first round isn't deep, there isn't enough of a difference between the early teens and the early twenties for me to want to go from two shots to one. 

[DarthEbriate]

We packaged a pick (a 4th) to move up for JJP. But with 4 picks in the top 40, I use them all. We've had so little depth for so long. I want a stacked Amerks team of guys forcing their way onto the Sabres roster in a 3-5 years. A wave of NHL-ready ELCs that allows us to move the vets that cost too much. Think CAR and Skinner. They were happy to move Skinner because of the pipeline coming along and Skinner turned in 40 goals the next season --- and Carolina was better for it. That's where I want to be.

Also of note: at this point, the Contracts limit of 50 is not yet a concern (as it was for GMTM).

[thewookie1]

26 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

We packaged a pick (a 4th) to move up for JJP. But with 4 picks in the top 40, I use them all. We've had so little depth for so long. I want a stacked Amerks team of guys forcing their way onto the Sabres roster in a 3-5 years. A wave of NHL-ready ELCs that allows us to move the vets that cost too much. Think CAR and Skinner. They were happy to move Skinner because of the pipeline coming along and Skinner turned in 40 goals the next season --- and Carolina was better for it. That's where I want to be.

Also of note: at this point, the Contracts limit of 50 is not yet a concern (as it was for GMTM).

To me it depends where the picks land. If Vegas misses and Florida is ousted in round  1, we likely end up picking around 6,15,24,38 In that situation I’d use all 4. If Vegas and Florida meet in the Finals, we’d end up with 6,31,32 and 38. In that case I’d either trade a pick for a player now or package the 31/32 with our 3rd to move up some. If well spaced, we can hit multiple levels of prospects and get both quantity and quality. If they are stacked at the back, it’s wiser to trade up once to get more quality at the cost of a little quantity.

[DarthEbriate]

2 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

To me it depends where the picks land. If Vegas misses and Florida is ousted in round  1, we likely end up picking around 6,15,24,38 In that situation I’d use all 4. If Vegas and Florida meet in the Finals, we’d end up with 6,31,32 and 38. In that case I’d either trade a pick for a player now or package the 31/32 with our 3rd to move up some. If well spaced, we can hit multiple levels of prospects and get both quantity and quality. If they are stacked at the back, it’s wiser to trade up once to get more quality at the cost of a little quantity.

In the right scenario, I can see moving one of the late-1st picks. (For an immediate starter with term on contract, like a RHD that fits our needs; or if some team loves a prospect this year and is willing to give a 2022 4th and their 2023 1st for him -- unlikely because the 2023 draft is considered stacked). But in general, I say stack the cupboards with every pick. We're already looking at nearly all our recent 1st/2nds either being in Buffalo (Power, JJP) or still in Europe (Rosen, Poltapov, Kisakov) at the start of next season. Johnson (if signed) might be the only 1st/2nd round Amerk next season. We need a stockpile of high-talent, young assets to get into the system and the sooner the better.

[Curt]

3 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

To me it depends where the picks land. If Vegas misses and Florida is ousted in round  1, we likely end up picking around 6,15,24,38 In that situation I’d use all 4. If Vegas and Florida meet in the Finals, we’d end up with 6,31,32 and 38. In that case I’d either trade a pick for a player now or package the 31/32 with our 3rd to move up some. If well spaced, we can hit multiple levels of prospects and get both quantity and quality. If they are stacked at the back, it’s wiser to trade up once to get more quality at the cost of a little quantity.

Just a note.  Rules for draft order are as follows.

1)  The teams that did not qualify for the playoffs the previous season (picks 1–16)

2)  The teams that made the playoffs in the previous season but did not win either their division in the regular season or play in the Conference Finals (picks 17–24 up to 28)

3)  The teams that won their divisions in the previous season but did not play in the Conference Finals (potentially picks 25–28)

4)  The teams that lose in Conference Finals (picks 29 and 30)

5)  The team that was the runner-up in the Stanley Cup Finals (pick 31)

6)  The team that won the Stanley Cup in the previous season (pick 32)

 

So, the Florida pick will almost definitely be in the 25-28 range, even if they lose in the 1st round.  Unless they make it to the conference finals, which they absolutely could.

This doesn’t really take away from your overall point.  I just wanted to share some info.