Sabres shopping Mittelstadt?

[sabrefanday1]

Crazy to say that being dished badly has not affected Dylan's game...in fact, it is exact opposite. Dylan was playing without concern or care and being very aggressive to the point where he was open to defending players and willign to fight when pretty wel no one else was on the team. No doubt getting crushed has played a big role in his sudden change. he is more worried clearly and not playing anywhere as aggressive as he was.

  Tage too is clearly not using his size as he di dlast year. I saw so may times last year where he just psuhed his way through two defensemen and used his size to do so. Now, he is going to the outside and not uysing his size and it is affecting his game. 

   I also think that KA still has the Carolina mentality as he came from there, and saw first-hand how they rebuild that team quite easily whenever needed. he has built the Sabres in the moul dof Carolina, small fast skilled players. Mind you, our team is not small, just play small. But I do think KA fels that this team will jell and get it right atsome point without doing much of anything except use what he as already assembled. I do nto bvelieve for a minute he will trade Mitts.

   Letting KO or Gergs go to a contender would be a obvious move just for their own good. Funny KO has I believe 10 goals which is far away better then most other team's 4th line guys. 

  I also do think that any trade may help shake this team up...look at Calgary who made that trade for LIndholm and they have got better after doing so. This team needs a goo dkick in the butt for sure. Not sure KA will do anything though...

Edited February 12 by sabrefanday1

[Doohickie]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:43 PM, kas23 said:

Buffalo should be listening to other teams for any player not named Benson or Dahlin. KA wouldn’t be doing his job if he wasn’t. 

Benson is a curious choice for an untouchable player.  Yes, he looks good when he plays, but he's an undersized teen with 4 goals and 10 assists in 40 games.  What about that screams "untouchable"?

[oddoublee]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

Benson is a curious choice for an untouchable player.  Yes, he looks good when he plays, but he's an undersized teen with 4 goals and 10 assists in 40 games.  What about that screams "untouchable"?

I agree with you - Benson can be moved if the price is right. 

The only players I believe they should be building around are Tage, Mitts, Quinn, Peterka, Dahlin, Powers, UPL and ... that is it. 

Cozens, Tuch, Samuelson, Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Levi, Östlund are all term players we should consider moving if the return is right. Any players with FA pending goes without saying - although a Girgs trade and resign would be good by me. 

If three of the mentioned players above plus a few draft picks can be turned into 4-6 legit NHL ready players - go for it. The teams veteran depth is putrid enough to warrant it. 

[Weave]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Benson is a curious choice for an untouchable player.  Yes, he looks good when he plays, but he's an undersized teen with 4 goals and 10 assists in 40 games.  What about that screams "untouchable"?

He’s yesterday’s Dylan Cozens.

Shiny new toy syndrome.

[kas23]

5 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Benson is a curious choice for an untouchable player.  Yes, he looks good when he plays, but he's an undersized teen with 4 goals and 10 assists in 40 games.  What about that screams "untouchable"?

Simple. He doesn’t play like any other on the team - he takes his shots from high danger zones. He plays bigger than he is. This is something you can’t teach. Now, the other biggest reason is he hasn’t been with the organization long enough to be ruined. There’s something about this team that makes players improve, hit a wall, and get worse. The whole team has. I’m not sure if it’s reversible, but the team needs a new coach before it’s too late. 

[Norcal]

KA put these rumors to rest. The rest of this info chafes me quite a bit.

The fact that Pegula is in on the daily goins on and said to be frustrated is just asinine tbh.

Do something Terry. This team is begging for it. 

[Buffalonill]

1 minute ago, Norcal said:

KA put these rumors to rest. The rest of this info chafes me quite a bit.

The fact that Pegula is in on the daily goins on and said to be frustrated is just asinine tbh.

Do something Terry. This team is begging for it. 

This organization is a ***** Hangover headache .

Adams ***** off I'm sick of this wait and see ***** 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Dear Mr Adams

1). Your team is already eliminated.  Time to begin the auditions.

2) you can make roster room by clearing out the dead weight on the roster.  Don’t wait until the deadline.  Be aggressive, start now.  

3) Sign Mitts, trade Skinner.

 

[Weave]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Dear Mr Adams

1). Your team is already eliminated.  Time to begin the auditions.

2) you can make roster room by clearing out the dead weight on the roster.  Don’t wait until the deadline.  Be aggressive, start now.  

3) Sign Mitts, trade Skinner.

 

***** auditions.  Expect wins.

[Flashsabre]

Auditions for young players or auditions for coaching staff?😛

[Thorny]

On 2/9/2024 at 8:41 PM, Ctaeth said:

I enjoy this bit you're doing 

Is the bit called “being AI”? 

[GASabresIUFAN]

So who is the no.1 center on this team?

Candidate no. 1. - He leads the team is points, assists, and +/- and his line scored 3 of 6 even strength goals (and was partially on the line for a 4th).

Candidate no. 2 - Is 7th in points, tied for 3rd in goals and has the worst +/- on any forward on the team by a whopping -7.

Candidate no. 3 - Is 6th in points, 8th in goals and has the second worst +/- on any forward on the team.

Let’s trade Candidate No.1

Edited February 14 by GASabresIUFAN

[PerreaultForever]

On 2/12/2024 at 9:25 AM, Doohickie said:

Benson is a curious choice for an untouchable player.  Yes, he looks good when he plays, but he's an undersized teen with 4 goals and 10 assists in 40 games.  What about that screams "untouchable"?

Simply because you do not ever trade away youth with as much upside as he shows. Not unless the return is so incredible you can't say no (which won't happen). 

There's a sweet spot around the age of 20-21 where you decide for your own organization if you really think your prospect has "it" or he won't, and if you think won't you move him while some other GM might still think he has an upside to him and before he reveals himself to be a meh or even a bust.

Benson, for his age, appears to have "it".  

[inkman]

On 2/12/2024 at 12:09 PM, sabrefanday1 said:

Crazy to say that being dished badly has not affected Dylan's game...in fact, it is exact opposite. Dylan was playing without concern or care and being very aggressive to the point where he was open to defending players and willign to fight when pretty wel no one else was on the team. No doubt getting crushed has played a big role in his sudden change. he is more worried clearly and not playing anywhere as aggressive as he was.

  Tage too is clearly not using his size as he di dlast year. I saw so may times last year where he just psuhed his way through two defensemen and used his size to do so. Now, he is going to the outside and not uysing his size and it is affecting his game. 

   I also think that KA still has the Carolina mentality as he came from there, and saw first-hand how they rebuild that team quite easily whenever needed. he has built the Sabres in the moul dof Carolina, small fast skilled players. Mind you, our team is not small, just play small. But I do think KA fels that this team will jell and get it right atsome point without doing much of anything except use what he as already assembled. I do nto bvelieve for a minute he will trade Mitts.

   Letting KO or Gergs go to a contender would be a obvious move just for their own good. Funny KO has I believe 10 goals which is far away better then most other team's 4th line guys. 

  I also do think that any trade may help shake this team up...look at Calgary who made that trade for LIndholm and they have got better after doing so. This team needs a goo dkick in the butt for sure. Not sure KA will do anything though...

Does being dished mean getting his face smashed during a fight?  I honestly don’t know.  Saw Cuzzy postgame in the locker room as well as him blocking shots.  He’s turning into a man.  It hasn’t been at the pace we would have liked and getting his marbles knocked loose didn’t help but his actions and physique are impressive.  Kid is putting in the work.  He’s too talented for it to not work out on some level.  

[French Collection]

36 minutes ago, inkman said:

Does being dished mean getting his face smashed during a fight?  I honestly don’t know.  Saw Cuzzy postgame in the locker room as well as him blocking shots.  He’s turning into a man.  It hasn’t been at the pace we would have liked and getting his marbles knocked loose didn’t help but his actions and physique are impressive.  Kid is putting in the work.  He’s too talented for it to not work out on some level.  

He’s not falling down as much, lower centre of gravity, core muscles.

He’s also back to skating hard in a northern direction, where he’s from.

[Drag0nDan]

9 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So who is the no.1 center on this team?

Candidate no. 1. - He leads the team is points, assists, and +/- and his line scored 3 of 6 even strength goals (and was partially on the line for a 4th).

Candidate no. 2 - Is 7th in points, tied for 3rd in goals and has the worst +/- on any forward on the team by a whopping -7.

Candidate no. 3 - Is 6th in points, 8th in goals and has the second worst +/- on any forward on the team.

Let’s trade Candidate No.1

Contract has to be taken into consideration 🙂

Theoretically the compensation for candidate 1 would likely be the largest as well by looking at this.  Though i think tage would probably get you the most based solely off averaging 40 goals over 2 seasons before this bust year.  

[bob_sauve28]

So, before I heard any of this talk of trading Casey I turned on GR55 at 3 and they were actually talking hockey. I'm thinking the comments from Bulldog started all this trade talk of Casey. 

 

Bulldog claimed that he had asked Adams if he or Casey agent had had any discussions of Casey signing an extension, He said Adams said that neither side had broached the topic. Who knows what the context was, but he made it sound like neither side was interested 

[GASabresIUFAN]

10 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

So, before I heard any of this talk of trading Casey I turned on GR55 at 3 and they were actually talking hockey. I'm thinking the comments from Bulldog started all this trade talk of Casey. 

 

Bulldog claimed that he had asked Adams if he or Casey agent had had any discussions of Casey signing an extension, He said Adams said that neither side had broached the topic. Who knows what the context was, but he made it sound like neither side was interested 

First, Adams needs to know his budget from TP before re-signing UPL and Mitts.  He also wants to see how the season plays out.  Both key RFAs have arbitration rights giving them some leverage in the negotiations.  Therefore, it's in their interest to let things play out as well especially as they are having breakout seasons.  I believe both players have 2 seasons left before becoming UFAs.  

 

[bob_sauve28]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

First, Adams needs to know his budget from TP before re-signing UPL and Mitts.  He also wants to see how the season plays out.  Both key RFAs have arbitration rights giving them some leverage in the negotiations.  Therefore, it's in their interest to let things play out as well especially as they are having breakout seasons.  I believe both players have 2 seasons left before becoming UFAs.  

 

Hope they lock them both up long term. Seems like other teams get this done

[seer775]

7x7 years.

Lock him up Kevyn. Don't make a mistake.

[inkman]

On 2/9/2024 at 2:14 PM, inkman said:

So says one former Sabre.  No idea if it’s accurate. 
 

 

 

30 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

So, before I heard any of this talk of trading Casey I turned on GR55 at 3 and they were actually talking hockey. I'm thinking the comments from Bulldog started all this trade talk of Casey. 

 

Bulldog claimed that he had asked Adams if he or Casey agent had had any discussions of Casey signing an extension, He said Adams said that neither side had broached the topic. Who knows what the context was, but he made it sound like neither side was interested 

I started the thread based on Andrew Peters assertion.  Not sure if Bulldog would be Petey’s source but weirder things have happened. 

[Pimlach]

10 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So who is the no.1 center on this team?

Candidate no. 1. - He leads the team is points, assists, and +/- and his line scored 3 of 6 even strength goals (and was partially on the line for a 4th).

Candidate no. 2 - Is 7th in points, tied for 3rd in goals and has the worst +/- on any forward on the team by a whopping -7.

Candidate no. 3 - Is 6th in points, 8th in goals and has the second worst +/- on any forward on the team.

Let’s trade Candidate No.1

If only these stats projected out to next year and the year after, then we might know.  But they don't.  

Mitts is not getting traded, especially not for a #1 goalie.   We could use a better backup goalie, but we sure don't need to trade Mitts to get that.  

Peters is a boob.  So is Rivet. 

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, seer775 said:

7x7 years.

Lock him up Kevyn. Don't make a mistake.

I go back and forth on him, I would think/like a deal to be a bit less than that, but then I see the market rate for similar players...I don't know.  The most comparable I see is Barzal.  Now, I think Barzal is a little better of a player than Mitts, and I think Barzal is overpaid, BUT:

-Mitts was an 8th overall pick Barzal was a 16th overall pick

-Mitts is 6'1"  195. Barzal is 6'1"  190.

-Barzal is one year older, one year further into his development, and already signed his deal, but he is at  15g, 41a this year. Mitts is at 12g, 31a (which is a BETTER pace than Barzal had last year in his 25 year old season last year)

-Barzal is, has turned into, a 15-24 goal, 40-50 assist guy. Mitts looks to be pretty much the same, maybe slightly behind but if he keeps improving maybe not behind that.

-The BIG thing Barzal has over Mitts is he had 85 points his 2nd season in the league, but that was (so far) a career year. Since then, he has played 6 seasons and has been an 'in the teens' goal and 30-45 assist per year guy, that is who he is (and might be who Mitts is).

-Barzal signed an 8 year, $73 million dollar deal ($9.15 million per year) the year AFTER he had a 15 goal, 28 assist season (in 55 games, a 67 point pace over 82 games). The season before that, he had 19 goals and 41 assists in 68 games (a 72 point pace over 82 games)  At the time of signing, that was 15% of the cap, currently it is still over 11% of the cap.  With a likely upcoming cap of $88m next year...even if you go with the 11% lower number, that would still be well over $9m per year.

Again, Barzal had one great year his 2nd season....and his overall game is somewhat better than Mitts (but really IS it?)  But if I'm Mitts agent, I'm using that Barzal Deal as my target.  I can't see Mitts getting even close to that.  And if Mitts keeps progressing (hes on pace for almost 20 goals, close to 70 points this season) what is his value/ceiling?

Again, I'm not saying Mitts is as good as Barzal, but their pedigree is similar (Mitts actually a higher pick) and their levels of production are similar (Mitts currently on a tad behind Barzal), If can see Mitts looking for that Barzal deal as a benchmark.

I'd like Mitts on a semi-long term deal for about 6-6.5 million. Any more than that....and I wonder if it might be better to trade him and see what kind of D-man you could get back in a deal for him, knowing you have your 'top 2' centers locked up already, and a few potential #3 centers in the pipeline.  And while he is looking 'decent' in his own end, I don't quite fall into the camp that he is a great (or even good) 2-way center. He is better than Tage and better than Cozens for sure right now, but that doesn't make him 'good'. He plays in the defensive zone the way he 'should', that just looks 'good' compared to what else is on the ice.

I guess I see Tage, at his best, as a difference maker. I see Cozens, at his best, as a potential differnce maker. Mitts? I see as a really good player, but not one who is a true difference maker, not someone who can ever take a game over (or a series over in the playoffs) like the other 2 might be able to do.

I know this post is kinda all over the place and wandering a bit, but when I think of Mitts and what he is worth, what his value is/should be, who might be able to replace his role on the team in the pipeline, I have no idea what to think anymore.

Edited February 14 by mjd1001

[GASabresIUFAN]

Barzal is way overpaid. That said, honestly Mitts has better talent to play with (on paper).  Still, it's a great comparison.  I have long argued that 100K per point is a starting point for a forward's contract.  Mitts has cooled down a little of late, but he could still finish close to 70 points, thus 6.5 to 7 is the likely starting point for a long-term deal.

[LabattBlue]

21 hours ago, Norcal said:

KA put these rumors to rest. The rest of this info chafes me quite a bit.

The fact that Pegula is in on the daily goins on and said to be frustrated is just asinine tbh.

Do something Terry. This team is begging for it. 

No one can convince me that Pegula is not meddling day to day.  It doesn’t stop at…

“Says TP is involved in the amateur scouting meetings; mostly listens, but takes notes and asks questions”.

When you have ruined the franchise to the point where they have missed the playoffs for 13 straight years in a league where half the teams make the playoffs each year, you get zero benefit of doubt.

Just sell the f***ing team already.