Taro T

Yep. McLeod and the brand new 4th line allow Cozens to no longer necessarily have to be pencilled in to playing against the other team's top line when the coach doesn't want to run L1 v L1 (or gets forced into it on the road). They're really well set up with the other roster moves to let the Cozens - Quinn - ??? line fill the old '06 role of the RAV line. But if Mittelstadt were still in Buffalo, rather than McLeod, would that Cozens line still be able to be the young sheltered bunch? Don't believe they would be because the Mitts line would need more protection than the McLeod line will. (And personally thought Mitts was actually much better in his own end than most people here believed. But he isn't as good back there as McLeod will be.) Also expect (maybe it's more hope than expectation, but semantics, whatever) that more than a fair portion of Byram's issues last year is it was likely the 1st time since Squirts that he played on a team with so little defensive structure. He was really good his 1st 3 or so games and then he stopped just playing and trying to fit into the system. He could be one of the guys getting the biggest boost from having Ruff behind the bench. Especially as it seems that Ruff will likely have him pencilled into the 3D role with either Power or Samuelsson typically filling the 2D role. And stil hate the Mitts deal because it was trading a player that was entering his prime for one that will be hitting his prime in the Quinn-Peterka-Kotalik-Power-Levi timeline. But right or wrong, Adams did stick to his plan and timeline. (And really believe that Mitts being more of a top 6 style F than a middle 6er (much like the other 2C's up in the top 6; with none of the 3 showing a REAL affinity for strong play in his own end) and Krebs showing no affintiy yet for strong play in the opponent's end so more of a bottom 6er than a middle 6er was the driving force of using Mitts as the piece to acquire the top 4 D-man that Adams coveted.) And at the end of the day, the team now has a true 3C on the roster. And that position was filled at the price of one of the myriad prospect F's. People are arguing that the Sabres traded from a position w/ little depth to one that has too much depth now; but am not sure that's the case. (Especially on the stinking timeline that Adams seems to be working on.) They went from 3 - top 6C's and 2 (or 3 depending on whether Samuelsson is included as one) top 4D and 0 3C's to 2 - top 6C's (with Kulich, Östlund, Rosen, and Helenius in the pipeline still) and 3 (or 4) top 4D and 1 - 3C today. Personally would say they did lose 1 position of depth but filled 2 holes by doing so. Isn't that what GM's are supposed to do?

Pretty sure that though the people on this board are overall fairly down on the team, people in WNY (and on the NP) are generally happy with getting Ruff back and view last season as a bump in the road on the upturn. Mentioned how few seats were marked as being available for STs at the B&G I with Ruff and Adams and it seems from looking at maps of available seats that they've even sold 500 - 1,000 more ticket packages than had been sold then. WNY & the NP are true hockey hotbeds. Will remain to be seen if the people that continue to come back will be proven right or wrong, but the ticket base rose once again.

We had tix to that game but weren't listening to GR nor WNSA on the way into town. Stopped off at a Mighty to grab dinner and a few kids sitting at the table next to us were talking about how LaFontaine was dead and the game had been postponed because of it. We brushed it off as sometimes kids have really weird senses of humor. But when we got downtown, traffic seemed REALLY light for a game night. So we're wondering if those kids were actually serious. Walked towards the rink and when we got about 1 block away a cop told us the game had been cancelled because the scoreboard crashed. Managed to talk wifey into listening to the pregame when we went to the games after that. 😉 Ended up going over to my cousin's house and watching whatever game Empire broadcast instead of the regularly scheduled Bruins game they were planning on showing.

Funny. But actually one of the pulleys failed or a cable snapped (ottomh don't recall which it was; want to say pulley failure, but not positive) when they were raising the scoreboard back up into position and the sudden increase in load on the pulleys next to the failed one caused most of the rest to fail in a domino-like chain until very little of the scoreboard was still hanging where it should.

But all those guys in "Sabres Years" are 47-59. 😉

Umm, don't they now have a legit 3C - McLeod? Isn't the issue finding either an upgrade at 2W or at 2C allowing Cozens to slide to 2W?

Close. Pretty sure MySpace is the Matt Ellis of video conferencing platforms. 😉

Still say the big key THIS year is does UPL finally believe in himself even when there is credible competition on the roster. IF he finally does, and what he did from January until Levi was back in B&G full time, is the real UPL then the GTing will be quite good enough. He pushed through some serious mental hurdles last year as we saw him get to a point he trusts the hips enough to go post to post aggressively and still keep himself rather large. So, he's shown an ability to push through hurdles in the past few seasons and especially last season when he was horrible in camp but started playing larger & doing a 1/2 crease slide under control when he finally got an opportunity to play in the fall. It's the 1 test he still hasn't fully passed. If he passes that test this year, the Sabres might've gone in just over 2 seasons from arguably the worst goaltending in the league to a top 5 situation and arguably even better than that as they can be looking at having a tandem with both goalies in the conversation of who are the top 10-15 goalies in the league by the time playoffs are rolling around. Obviously, am really pulling for him to finally get all the ghosts that entered the machine w/ the double hip surgeries out of it. Not sure if that's the most important question to be answered or how big of an effect will Ruff have on this team; but get them both to fully break our way and the Sabres should be playoff bound.

Except there are very limited situations where "performance bonuses" are allowable. And a player signing an 8 year contract after his ELC deal is NOT eligible for them. EDIT: but yes, a player old enough to qualify for performance bonuses can end up having them count against the next season's cap if there wasn't room in that season's cap to cover the bonuses. If there is room for them to come in under that season's cap, the bonuses count against the current season's cap; but if that would exceed the cap the overage counts against the ne t season's cap.

If somebody defers $60MM into a 9th year, there are going to be some seriously large cap hits in years 1-8 when the player actually earns that money. Again, much ado about nothing. And if some player wants to defer $40MM out 40 years, then he has a horrible fiscal representative.

Am not looking at their contract details at 2AM, but you are likely wrong about that. Presumably they retired while still having years remaining on their contract. With them retiring while having a signing bonus that hadn't been fully realized against the cap, that outstanding amount would have to show up on the books that next season. Because if they had deferred bonuses that they received after the contract ended, that money would already have hit the cap when it was earned. And yes the deferred payments count against the cap when those payments are earned. So, it doesn't show up against the cap nor the players total compensation when it is actually paid because it counted against both when it was earned.

So, as said earlier, all the hand wringing over him getting over $60 MM nominally over 9 years was for naught. He doesn't even earn the originally speculated $7.5MM/yr.

Yes. Because apparently that is what the total value of the contract is with deferred money prorated back to the season in which it is earned. (Presumably THIS season as that gives the Canes the largest discount on the cash to be paid in the 9th year.)

Seems much ado about nothing. He'll get a payment of about $3.2MM in year 9 but per the CBA the value of that, in the year it is earned (NOT the year it is paid), is included in the players' share of earnings. Had a beeyotch of a time trying to find the 1 year LIBOR rate (seems that LIBOR has been getting phased out) but it seems to be ~5.35%. And in present day $'s, presuming he earns that deferred payment this season, would be ~$1.92MM presuming he earns it this season. Puckpedia is showing his contract's total value as $60MM over 8 years. It's being reported that the contract is actually $63.2MM over 9 years. But personally don't believe he's actually getting $63.2MM. Expect he's actually going to get ~$61.28MM over the 9 years as the $3.2MM to be paid in the 9th year is supposed to be getting funded with $1.92MM of the $7.5MM he's due to earn this season. Serivalli has an article about the contract at the Daily Face Off, but it doesn't seem he's read the CBA. Because he is saying the money that has been deferred doesn't count against the cap in the year it is earned. But the CBA clearly says it does. 50.2.A.ii Deferred Salary; (A) "Deferred Salary" means any Paragraph 1 NHL Salary that is earned during the term of an SPC during which the services attributable to that Paragraph 1 NHL Salary are performed, but is not paid until after the expiration of such SPC. By definition, Deferred Salary that is earned during the term of such an SPC may not be paid until after the expiration of such SPC. Player Salary denominated as "Deferred" but payable within the term of the SPC shall be counted in the League Year in which the Player Salary is paid and shall not be treated as Deferred Salary. For purposes of calculating a Club's Upper Limit and Lower Limit, as well as the Players' Share, Deferred Salary shall be counted as Player Salary in the League Year in which the Player performs the services for which it is earned, at the Deferred Salary's present value at 1-Year LIBOR plus one and one-quarter (1.25) percent at the time the SPC is registered (unless the Deferred Salary is to be paid with interest, in which case it shall be counted in the League Year in which the Player performs the services for which it is earned, at the Deferred Salary's stated cash amount). Other than Deferred Salary or Deferred Bonuses as set forth below, any other compensation must be paid in the year that it is earned. Cap Wages doesn't have the contract listed yet. Presumably because they're waiting on getting more details on the contract before publishing the data. So, while it looks like this money doesn't count against the cap, that is misleading and per the CBA it DOES count against the cap. But at only about 60% of what he'll actually get paid in year 9. (Time value of money and all.)

Ruff has said that Dahlin will be used with both Power and Samuelsson. The rest of them'll likely get a little bit of time with him too. But Lindy explicitly said Dahlin will be paired with multiple guys and those 2 were specifically mentioned.

In fewer words, he doesn't.

NOT Pronman's article. NOT YOUR posts. GA's post was responding to one which was referring to a post that was ONLY about the relative merits of the SHL & Liiga. Wtf does Levi have to do with ANY of the relative merits of the 2 leagues? (Spoiler alert, he doesn't.)

May he and his brother RIP. What a horribly tragic way for their sister to begin her married life. Prayers to the family and all involved.

WTF does any of the Levi stuff have to do with the relative strength of the SHL & Liiga? Btw, still say Levi's ceiling is Saros, so am REALLY unsure why you chose this paticular poster to lecture on the merits of Levi.

Just have 'em snake a tube down her throat and tell her you'll be there in a few hours. 😉

Bills didn't make any waivers claims either. Though they did trade for the returner from the J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST and the former J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST and Fishies backup QB that Milano nearly killed folding him in half like a pocket knife.

Have said this before, but personally would like to see them run: Thompson - Quinn - Peterka w/ Tuch down low and Dahlin up top. If that doesn't work, would try Cozens or Benson in the Quinn role and Zucker or Benson in the Tuch role. (There's a few other permutations that could be tried, but surely some form of that will be effective.) Would run a 2 D second unit with Power up top and Byram working towards the right side wall predominantly with Zucker Cozens and Benson getting 1st crack at being the F's on that unit. And there's a few other guys that could get looks on that unit (primarily Kulich when he finally gets the call) depending upon circumstance. And especially in the 2nd period, when the Sabres bench is close to the action would consider having McLeod take the draw and replace him as soon as convenient with the last F of the unit. Getting the unit set up in zone should be a priority. Not sure why it was an afterthought for the other guys. And before Liger chimes in with "they need to be moving," well yes they do. And these positions should not be viewed as being static. There should be a LOT of movement on the PP, both puck and player. And when there is a loose puck, they need to overwhelm the opposition and gain control of it. Skinner was bad at regaining loose pucks. So was Olofsson. The guys slated for the top unit are all quite good in that role and the guys slated for the 2nd unit aren't exactly slouches themselves.

My condolences for your loss. Glad you were spared having to put him down. Never easy losing a pet.

He can ASK for anything. Can't see Jacobs putting him anywhere close to Bobrovsky territory.

Wifey is hoping for the same thing. She loves that song.