nfreeman

Having read about him a bit more, I think Gilbert is the fighter that Lindy was talking about. I also think that if Joki is traded, Gilbert might dress for more games than we are currently expecting.

FWIW, I never thought of Jimbo as dumb – but certainly a grade A meathead.

I'd like a 2C or strong 3C too! I just think real 2Cs change teams very rarely. Were there any that changed teams in the last week that you wanted for the Sabres?

My man! Well, this would've been great, but pretty unrealistic IMHO. Legit 2Cs are precious and rare and don't move around that much. For that matter, high-end 3Cs like Cirelli and Eriksson Ek don't either. (And I don't want to hear about Monahan -- he stinks.) I think Cozens and TT are both going to have big bounceback years. I wish I felt as confident about Krebs.

It's an interesting question -- what's the right price for the Sabres to pay for a good, but not great, winger who is 1 year from UFA and who has refused to sign an extension as part of a trade? If the Sabres' 1st-round-equivalent assets are: Rosen Levi Ryan Johnson Östlund Savoie Helenius Kulich 2025 #1 ...how many of those are you prepared to give up for Necas or Ehlers, when both have already said no thanks to an extension? I'd have a hard time giving up more than 1, but YMMV.

Good stuff @tom webster. I don't think it's necessarily fair to criticize KA for not being able to convince Ehlers or Necas to sign extensions, if that's what some posters here are inclined to do. Those guys are 1 year from UFA -- they aren't going to give that up to sign extensions in NHL Siberia. Then the question becomes how much are you prepared to give up for 1-year rentals who mentally have one foot out the door upon arrival and are likely to play that way all year. I'm not inclined to give up that much for that kind of player, but YMMV.

I wouldn't bet that they'll be top 3, as it's highly unlikely for anyone to finish top 3 -- in the last 3 seasons, there have been 8 different teams that have finished in the top 3 in scoring. But a jump from #23 to top 10 is a meaningful jump, and I'm prepared to bet on that. More importantly, my point is that Lindy will restore the potency of their offense -- which was terrible last year -- and will greatly improve their general focus and intensity and their performance at home.

Byram was a fairly big name. The Sabres were 3rd in the NHL in scoring in 2022-23, with 3.57 goals per game. They had one 90+ pt scorer, 1 80+ pt scorer and 2 70+ pt scorers, one of whom was a defenseman. Guess who was 4th in scoring that season, with 3.52 goals per game -- and, interestingly enough, the same number of 90+, 80+ and 70+ pt scorers (one of whom was a defenseman)? And guess who coached that 4th-highest-scoring team? I'll bet you $25 to the charity of the winner's choice that the Sabres are top-10 in scoring next season.

Serious question: does anyone here personally know anyone named Colton? I feel like Coltons started to emerge around 10 years ago in the NHL draft but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone named Colton who isn't an NHL player.

Good for Victor. I hope he thrives there.

Well! Isn't this a lovely ray of sunshine.

Lindy was a huge addition IMHO. To me they looked, pretty much all season, like a bunch of dumb kids goofing around because they had a substitute teacher. That is officially over with. I think there's a pretty good likelihood that even without a good 3C coming in, Lindy will have them playing hard every night and back to their 2022-23 offensive production -- if Quinn can stay healthy he'll make a big difference in that regard -- with greatly improved defense. I think that will be enough to get them into the playoffs. And if KA can close a deal for a good 3C before the season starts, I'm going to start making all kinds of outlandish predictions. This of course is a very good question. I think teams can be over the cap now until September (?), so maybe there will be some teams that need to move someone at some point.

Not sarcastic at all -- Reimer is a credible veteran goalie, and signing him IMHO takes the pressure off of Levi and frees him up to continue developing in the AHL if that's what's best for him.

This is very plausible. Holy mackerel I hope you're right.

It is a good move and, like the Skinner buyout, it's the move of a team that is serious about trying to be good next season. They just need to bring in a real 3C and then we can disperse the line of Sabrespacers who are waiting their turn to jump off the cliff.

I kinda think Zucker will play on the 2nd line with Cozens and JJP, putting Benson on the 3rd line with Greenway and please-let-it-be-an-interesting-new-acquisition-who-isn't-Krebs.

Unfortunately I had the same impression of KA's answers. I hope I'm wrong.

You don’t see too many 3-year deals at the vet minimum. In any case, farewell Zemgus. I hope you get to have some fun in the playoffs.

It kinda feels like they're done in the FA market and will look to add a 3C via trade -- which may not happen for a while. That's fine with me, and probably the correct approach, but it will of course depend on whom they bring in. I think the likelihood of Florida trading Lundell is about the same as the likelihood of TB trading Cirelli -- i.e. zero. The good teams don't trade their core guys. They figure out how to dump a couple of overpaid fringe guys instead.

OK. Time to take it down a notch.

Well, we all wanted, and expected, a major renovation in the bottom 6. No surprise so far.

Was that reported, or is it your assessment/guess? "Generational" is a bit strong here. Datsyuk was a great player, to be sure -- one of the best in the world for quite a few years and one of Russia's all-timers. Good range of outcomes here. I like Krebsie and want to see him at age 25 after 2 years of being coached by Lindy. It's very possible he could develop into a credible 3C by then. OTOH, I despair of his hands and I have a hard time seeing him producing offense in the NHL.

OK, so I guess this trade is now officially Helenius vs Sam Dickinson, a 6'3" skating defenseman drafted by SJ from the OHL at #11, and, to a slightly lesser extent, vs Zeev Buium, a 6'0" NCAA defenseman drafted by Minny at #12 and Jeff Luchanko, a 2-way C drafted by Philly at #13 from the OHL. If any draftniks here have any thoughts -- please fire away. I bet Helenius is the best of the 4 of them.

As stipulated upthread, buying out Skinner constituted a major move. Don't hate the playa, hate the game (although in this case of course the playa created the game, sooooo...)

I think there's been plenty of up-and-down in their oeuvre (and there's today's Sabrespace word of the day!), but the highs are very, very high.