tom webster

The tank is on!

This is a thing you deal with when it comes to players who are comfortable playing overseas. It could be a negotiation ploy but in this case, the threat is real.

They their top three forwards, Tage, Dylan and Tuch locked up for the next three years for less than $20M. Unless they completely screw up they will not have cap issues for the foreseeable future. I don’t know any other way to put it. They will be able to afford any additions they deem necessary.

We’ve covered this and articles have posted stating cap is going to rise pretty steadily after next year. When I have time I’ll lay it all out for you but it’s fairly straight forward but gist is that at minimum cap will be $88M for 24/25, $92M for 25/26.

They have a lot of cap space, especially considering cap is expected to rise significantly after this year.

This is not correct

As I’ve said previously, they sold a significant amount of new season tickets inventory. A good off-season and I think the crowds will be there from the start.

I’m sorry but I still don’t get why anything overly useful is going to come out of these, especially with a sharp, business savvy guy like Adams. These guys live by the credo “promise less, deliver more,” with just a tad of public relations thrown in. By all accounts, business is brisk at the ticket office so there may be even less pr

And the 27th pick in the NFL draft would be one of over 600 starters if he’s lucky. I really don’t know where you are going with this. Have a great day.

Why is it sad? It’s just a function of the sport. There are 22/23 spots on an NHL team. 12/15 NBA. A third liner in hockey would be a top 18 player. A starter in the NFL could be the 22nd player.

Actually, football is the only draft where you expect a player at the 27th pick to be a starter.

There is no doubt winning a draw is better then losing a draw and like you intimated, all draws aren’t equal. Like most things, there are several factors involved and rarely does one factor define to, or lead to success.

Sure, throw some factual link out there while I try to compose a well thought response.😉

You would think the last sentence would be obvious but it’s not. History has shown that there is less correlation than one would assume between winning face offs and maintaining possession. Colorado, Minnesota and Seattle are amongst the worst face off teams in the league yet easily made the playoffs. If all coaches put a premium on winning draws, faceoff specialists would be employed by every team.

Your middle sentence is correct.

Compher had 18 goals last year and after struggling early in his career he is at virtually 50% on draws last two years. I’m not a big face off guy but you want your defensive center to at least be competent and he has developed into that.

I am assuming Girgs, Savoie and Kulich, maybe Rousek. Savoie because there really is no realistic option, Kulich because they showed with Quinn and JJP they believe they can learn as much up here as down there and Rousek because he deserves. Krebs’ other issue is to that he hasn’t been very effective at wing.

I keep going back to the same thing. They can’t keep everyone and I keep hearing they believe they need a Compher type center, a more defensive guy but with some solid skill. Something has to give. Either they believe Cozens is better suited on the wing or they aren’t as high on someone as the rest of us, or they plan on going with 15 forwards and 3 defenseman( just kidding). Somebody good is going to be traded. I’ve thought it would be Mitts but his play the last couple of months plus his maturation off the ice has me believing Krebs is the odd man out.

Compher and Hanifan have been mentioned by multiple people who cover the team. I know both were part of Chad’s off-season plan. Chad takes some heat but he has a couple of pretty good sources. Wilson was rumored on two less than reliable sources but when I asked, it wasn’t dismissed as strenuously as I would have expected. The Sabres are in an interesting position, they believe they need a couple of certain things upfront, but they also know they could run it back with players and prospects they already have. It will be an interesting off-season.

I don’t know that I’ve met two people whose personalities were more dissimilar to the personalities of Tuch and Miller.

It’s interesting to me that Wilson, Compher and Hanifan are names that I keep hearing being mentioned in connection with Buffalo. It might not end up being the actual player, but everyone seems to be targeting three skill sets; 1) defensive first center with some skill, 2) rugged winger with skill, 3) top 4 defenseman.

Where did I say that? I did say that both of them gained virtually nothing from playing in the AHL.

I believe players can develop their game without any exposure to the AHL. That being said, the AHL definitely serves a purpose for “non-elite” prospects.

Buffalo and Boston both knew Ullmark would be a hood goalie before last year. The only difference between the two organizations was a little inexperience on one of the GM’s part.

I like Lance a lot but there is no way, after watching this guy play and bring so closely involved in his development that they still haven’t decided. I still believe he signs, but this feels like “spin control.”