MattPie

Not unreasonable, but not something the Sabres want to put all their chips on I think. I think you'll lose some in the deal. In the Sabres current state, I doubt anyone they bring in has better or even equal numbers to what they have now based on how the Sabres play. Other than wins, I suppose. For another GM, they can reasonably say, "I'm not giving you that much, the numbers have dipped the last N years". I'd be wary of an offer sheet. We have some pretty serious players coming up that would justify astronomical offer sheets. Best way to derail this thing would be to start having to trade away good players because someone offered Dahlin $13M. Not saying it shouldn't be done, but there may be repercussions.

It'll be interesting to see if Ol' Torts stays. Philly is playing out the next 4 weeks, and then there will (presumably) be a new GM and that most often means a new coach. But man, that would be a sight to see.

I don't know the market. I'd say Rosen and a second or something like that for a solid starting G. After that, it's just D, and I'm not sure that's anything other than a 2nd or later pick or UFA. The Sabres 3 of a top-4 locked (Muel, Dahlin, Power) so it doesn't need to be someone incredible. Like Muel2. Otherwise we wno't be able to pay everyone a couple years down the road.

No, it doesn't. I wonder if this is the start of lower-viewership cable networks dying off. I wonder how much of MSG's costs are actual game production vs. other stuff like licensing other content and random shows. I don't think enough people will pay the ~$300/yr for MSG Plus as a standalone product to keep the the game streaming afloat, but if that cost came down a bunch (maybe through another streaming platform) they might be able to make something work.

There are still a lot of residual Rags fans in the Binghamton area from when the B-Rags played there. It's 3 hours drive, an early start game, and Buffalo is likely way easier to get a ticket than at MSG these days.

Are McD and staff idiots? No. Are McD and staff capable of winning big games? (Probably) No.

The Sabres are perpetually in an unwinnable situation.

Toronto seems to be the one to worry about, Boston and Tampa are still good but likely guys start falling off as they age. Best thing that happens is Toronto has a lackluster playoffs and they fire the GM and Coach and it throws them into disarray as the new guys mess with things. 🙂

Probably because Quinn is a RW, and Casey is not. As for the rest, I can't seriously take his full-year stats at face value since he was terrible early in the year. No one will deny that. He's not terrible now, he's probably at "pretty good" and "legit middle-6 wing". If one of the kids pushes him out, cool. But until one of the kids does that, he's a working piece of a decent team. I don't think 5'9" Savoie is going to replace his full skills set yet. Kulich has a better chance I suppose, but a 19-year-old kid has to be pretty exceptional to truly succeed in the NHL.

Ralph Kreuger

IIRC, it was the both the Js first NHL game on top of that.

We can worry about that when it comes to pass. Too long have the Sabres penciled guys in that have played ZERO NHL games to start jettisoning people that can play. We have no idea what Kulich and to a lesser degree Savoie are going to look like in 2 years.

Or even if he came over in a trade. Or waivers. I looked a bit ago and Casey and Jost are of similar draft pedigree, Jost being a year younger. If Casey had been an acquisition in the last few months, we'd all be pretty happy.

It might not even be that easy for the kids to push him out if they can't play along the boards as recent-Casey has been. He appears to be solid middle-6 for awhile now, so there's no reason to jettison him until there's a good reason. And as you say, if he continues playing this well it could well be an NHL trade for something else the team needs if it happens, not just a pick or prospect.

Grow up, this is BS. He's bitter for other reasons. First time: "eh, the person's just having a bad day". Sees the same person acting the same ***** way: "this is a pattern, not an isolated incident." Makes sense to me.

Madness!

Well, 2+2 = 5 for large values of 2.

I was going to say John Scott, but he has an Engineering Degree from Michigan Tech, not Michigan. So what you're saying is, a player in Juniors can decline their first team, decline their second drafting team, and then be a UFA after four years and pick their spot? That number sounds familiar somehow.

So, Dahlin is on IR for the week he's already been out, the Sabres use his roster spot for Stillman tonight, and tomorrow (Saturday)? Dahlin could be back on the roster since there's no limit after the trade deadline. This sounds a lot like a paperwork deal with zero implications. Unless, THE SABRES ARE FREEING UP A ROSTER SPOT FOR THE HUGE TRADE. 🙂

But likely, using one of the 50 NHL contract slots. New guy might be on an AHL-only deal, although I don't know if that affects the contract count. THIS COULD BE THE SABRES CLEARING ROOM FOR A HUUUGE MOVE! Or they're just doing right by a player.

Don't know what his business is, but odds are it's easier to run that business in LA than it is from Buffalo. In-person work in Buffalo would be a non-starter for a lot of people in the rest of the country.

Adams should have gotten that pick bundled with Stillman if they were going to give it away.

I doubt the pull it off too. And I can't image that many people are going to pay $309 for it either. Times change, but NHL Gamecenter/CI was like $150/season for all the teams, and MSG wants twice that for just a handful of teams?

I agree with some of what you're saying, but checking and energy guys (if pure energy guys even exist now) can be had in the off-season every year for cheap as UFA. During the season a non-1st (or probably non-2nd) draft pick gets it done. It's cool to grow your own players, but Bloom isn't an irreplaceable guy. There will be teams looking for those skill guys as well, and it's entirely possible down the road if there's a log jam to turn a top-6 guy into a bottom-6 plus a D or something.