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Right. This is implied in what I said. To add: we, as a fanbase, are going to have to get used to seeing the value in whatever moves we make as relative to our needs and not in how a player may fit in to the abstract concept of an imaginary team built with abstract, imaginary statistical players.

Barring a NMC, the players have nothing to do with the trade. The other GMs across the league know the position we're in and will take advantage of it. There will be no fair trades for us.

So this is an Appert acquisition.

I agree this guy looks like, on paper, the grit we need. Haven't seen him play and don't know how he was used by/thought of by the Cap's coaches. I mean we have no choice but to hope he works out but Adams conception of a "gritty player" has been way off the mark - see Greenway, Robinson.

Didn't notice a past tie to Lindy. Usually that kind of thing can explain a move like this. Perhaps Kev thinks he's insightful and clever?

Haven't we established in every single active thread on this board that we're going to have to over pay to bring an NHL roster player here? This is what that looks like. Even the non-glamorous moves are going to be that way.

We like our reclamation projects.

We got ourselves a farm boy who hits and takes penalties. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/03/beck-malenstyn-family-hops-farm/

From the looks of it he's better than Krebs right now.

For all whose heart has been crushed by Mitts signing with the Avs, this guy here is just like Mitts. Actually, while he plays like Mitts, he hits better than Mitts does.

I don't get the hand wringing. All of our decent forward prospects are on the cusp of being in the NHL so we need to stock up for the future. If you want a player overpay with some of the current prospects and roster players. In the meantime we got a true center who already has a two-way game and whose realistic ceiling is a 2C. I remember when finding a good, true center was a challenge - is that no longer true?

The question is: what kind of contract do y'all see Skinner getting after he's bought out?

I'm going to seem like I'm defending Adams although really I don't like him, but, if those moves weren't Sabres' moves they would certainly look appropriate. I mean, if we were analyzing a team that we don't follow closely doing the same thing under the same circumstances, it would look like the GM has taken a brick hammer to the hockey side. But @LGR4GM has the correct mindset here; Adams has a lot to account for. This thread, the draft thread, the off-season thread, all should be full of Sabres activities. The front page of the forum needs to be filled with Sabres doings - and smart, clever, interesting doings, too, not stuff that makes us throw up our hands.

Who would be surprised if that wasn't exactly what it is?

Whatever McJesus did, it fit the "criteria" more than Bob's. And if it didn't, we should redefine what the "criteria" is until it does.

"The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the most valuable player (MVP) during the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs. It is named after Conn Smythe, the longtime owner, general manager, and head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Each year, at the conclusion of the final game of the Stanley Cup Final, members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association vote to elect the player deserving of the trophy." https://thehockeywriters.com/docs/conn-smythe-trophy/

For games 4&5, the rest of the team took the first two periods off. Hardly an indictment of KO. FFS, I'm not even a KO fan, just being fair with what I have observed.