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Around the NHL 2023-24 Season


Brawndo

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1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

Sorry, @Brawndo.... didn't see your thread when I created mine.  I did look but I think it slipped down in the order overnight.

Honestly this policy of having a summer around thread alllllllllll the way through preseason needs to end. Once preseason starts, summer thread should be locked. 

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14 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’d take a goalie of his caliber no matter the contract.  Good teams always find ways to navigate the cap.  

Haha.  This is like a survivor bias kind of thing.

Is it really that all teams with good players figure out how to successfully navigate the cap and be good teams?

Or is it that only the teams that successfully manage their cap actually end up being good teams?

I think that it’s the 2nd one.  There are plenty of examples of teams with a group of very good players who bungled their cap and struggled to be good as a result.

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24 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’d take a goalie of his caliber no matter the contract.  Good teams always find ways to navigate the cap.  

It's not the cap that worries me. It's the term. Unless we get a Stanley cup with him as our starter, I feel like that kind of move handcuffs our future. I'd really only want him for 2-4 years.

 

The other factor is, not only would we potentially be saddled with a much longer contract than I'd like, we would also have needed to give up some major assets just to get him. Likely young (read: cheap) prospects that could be adding value to this team in the future when we can no longer afford some of our older players and have to trade them or let them walk.

 

At some point you need to make some of those calculated risks. Given how our defense played most of last season, and during the preseason this year, I'm not convinced we're a high caliber goalie away from a cup. It could end up the difference in us making the playoffs this year. It's always hard to say.  Maybe it would. We'll never know. I'd still rather be a bit more patient, even if it means missing the playoffs again this year (which I don't think we will).

 

 

Edited by SabresBaltimore
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2 hours ago, French Collection said:

Real NHL action tonight.

I am going to watch the Bedard debut.

 Benson put up 2/3 of the points that Bedard did last year in the WHL. Let’s see how they do at the NHL level.

I’ve seen Eichel with a 200 ft game (so, current Jack Eichel) mentioned, as well as Wayne Gretzky mentioned a couple times.. maybe we get lucky for once and he ends up somewhere, while I won’t say in the “middle”, somewhere in between the two 

To me I kind of see Brayden Point

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21 hours ago, SabresBaltimore said:

Definitely glad we didn't trade for Hellebuyck now

Will you still think that way if Levi and the rest of the goalies shat the bed and you aren't making the playoffs?

The Sabres need to make the playoffs this year whether they go out in 4 straight or on a long run. They owe it to the fans if nothing else.

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15 minutes ago, Ducky said:

Will you still think that way if Levi and the rest of the goalies shat the bed and you aren't making the playoffs?

Yes. My opinion won't change. I'll be disappointed at another lost season. But if I only enjoyed this team when they won/made the playoffs I would have bailed on them years ago.

 

I have not been happy at the goalie moves KA has made, but I'm also not convinced he had better options than what he did. I'm convinced KA is trying to build us not only a playoff team, but a perennial playoff team.

 

That doesn't mean he'll be successful, but so far I'm cautiously optimistic. I think we'll make the playoffs this year. I think we'll be frustrated with the team at times too. I think it's very possible we'll fall short again if they go through large slumps.

 

There are no guarantees in sports. Injuries happen (we've already lost Quinn for a large part of the season). Players don't live up to their potential. Hell even with bad goaltending and defense we almost made the playoffs last year anyways. That's why they play the games.

 

I'm also not trying anyone to convince anyone I'm "right" about anything. It's just my opinion.

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1 hour ago, Ducky said:

Will you still think that way if Levi and the rest of the goalies shat the bed and you aren't making the playoffs?

Yes.  If they make the playoffs with Helle but then are hamstrung as time goes on with that crap contract as he inevitably declines, I would be pissed as hell.

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One situation I’ll be keeping an eye on this season is the Elias Pettersson contract situation.

His situation is a parallel of Dahlin’s.  Both Swedes drafted the same year, both signed a 3 year bridge that they are about to play the last season of, and both had big star breakouts last season.  However, unlike the Sabres and Dahlin, the Canucks and Pettersson have publicly put contract talks on hold.  Seems like they are having trouble seeing eye to eye and Pettersson may be unsure if he wants to commit to that organization long term.

If they ever entertain the idea of trading him, I wouldn’t mind the Sabres taking a run at adding him.  He can play either C or W, he is a good defensive forward, and a very dynamic offensive player.  If the Sabres are going to make a trade packaging several assets to acquire a sure thing upgrade, he is a good candidate.

I’d consider including anyone except Skinner, Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Levi, and maybe Benson.

Edited by Curt
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14 minutes ago, Curt said:

Both Swedes drafted the same year, both signed a 3 year bridge that they are about to play the last season of, and both had big star breakouts last season.  However, unlike the Sabres and Dahlin, the Canucks and Pettersson have publicly put contract talks on hold.  Seems like they are having trouble seeing eye to eye and Pettersson may be unsure if he wants to commit to that organization long term.

If they ever entertain the idea of trading him, I wouldn’t mind the Sabres taking a run at adding him.  He can play either C or W, he is a good defensive forward, and a very dynamic offensive player.  If the Sabres are going to make a trade packaging several assets to acquire a sure thing upgrade, he is a good candidate.

Not a smart move from managemnt's point of view.

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6 minutes ago, Ducky said:

Not a smart move from managemnt's point of view.

They had put themselves in a bad spot.  They managed their cap poorly, spent too much on UFAs.  They couldn’t afford to give him the $10M type of deal that he deserved on a long term contract.  They needed the $2.5-3M they saved by bridging him.  They are going to pay for it now because he is about to have all the leverage and either force his way out or bend them over on this next deal.

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