nfreeman

Did you not see the catch on 3rd down about 90 seconds ago?

Beasley is great.

Much better pass protection on that 1st Bills drive.

That was a fantastic play by JA.

It is way, way too early to come to any kind of conclusions about UPL, with one exception: it would be insane to assume that he'll be part of the solution in goal for the Sabres this year.

What a terrible thread this is so far. @Nozlen -- nobody is interested in a bet about you deleting your account. Just post your hockey thoughts in this and other threads, contribute to the conversation and don't get in childish arguments with other posters.

As others have pointed out, it's not binary, and the GMs who are considering trading for Eichel aren't looking at it that way. They are pricing in the risk, which is substantial, that the injury will be debilitating. (For that matter, their doctors aren't giving them a binary risk assessment either. They're saying he might come all the way back and he might not.) That's why no one has ponied up their crown jewel prospects since Eichel demanded out 6 months ago, and why no one is going to do so unless their team gets off to a bad start and they feel pressure to make a move. Similarly -- they will be on the same page in the sense that the acquiring team will be OK with the ADR surgery, but not in the sense that the acquiror will be as confident in a full recovery as Jack is. It is simply not realistic to expect an acquiror to go all in and give up their crown jewels for him on top of the uninsurable $50MM commitment, unless there is a significant new development. Otherwise it would've happened already.

I'd guess that KA's plan at this point is to wait and see if teams like the Rangers and the Habs get off to bad starts and their GMs start to feel pressure to make a deal and thereby raise the price they're willing to pay for Eichel. Right now, as I've said previously, I don't think anyone is going to give up their premium prospects for Eichel due to the injury, but 20 games into a bad start could change someone's mind.

Holy mackerel that is a great freaking letter. I’m one of the jamokes that has been critical of KO but so far so good this year.

I’d guess the refusal to retain, if true, relates more to the desire to avoid, say, $3.5MM per year in dead cap room — because they are planning to be a good team that needs the cap space — than to an emotional reaction to the idea of continuing to pay part of Jack’s salary.

I'm hoping Samuelsson recovers fully enough and looks good enough in a tuneup in Rochester to come in for Joker. (Specifically, I thought Butcher did fine today, but I didn't like Pysyk, and I'd like to see Samuelsson take Pysyk's spot.)

What specifically are your reservations? They aren't giving up a ton of chances against. If Skinner, VO, TT and Cozens can start finishing their chances -- and they generated quite a few today -- and if the goaltending roof doesn't cave in, which is a huge if, I think they can be competitive most nights -- which is far more than I was expecting 3 days ago. Dahlin might be making the leap. He looks confident and like he knows the offense is going to flow through him this year, as it should, and like he's comfortable with that situation. Yes yes yes on the bolded. I agree that the passes are more on target, but I thought there were a number of plays today where they got too cute and made one too many passes. Good stuff here. Keep it coming. As I mentioned above, they won't be able to hang with the top 8-10 teams in the NHL, but that still leaves 22-24 teams that they can be competitive with most nights if they play like this and if the goaltending is even just OK.

Just when I thought I was out…

Oh R2.

They are unquestionably a faster team that plays a faster style. I don’t think we should start planning the parade just yet, but they sure looked like they can be competitive with a big chunk of the league. And I was surprised and delighted in the 3rd period, and I’m looking forward to Saturday, neither of which I was expecting to feel. Go get ‘em Donny.

Awesome. Life!

Gentlemen.

C'mon. You know better than this. I think they will rest Milano next week and then through the bye week to get that hammy healthy.

Awesome. Maybe the best JA has ever played in a big game. And now he's throwing the deep ball accurately. Sanders was a great pickup. They didn't have many sacks (if any), but they had good, consistent pressure without blitzing and with the discipline to keep their lanes closed and contain Mahomes. This is the best team they've had since the super bowl teams.

As I've said previously, KA's choices for goalie IMHO make it impossible to avoid the conclusion that he has set up the team to lose a ton of games this season for purposes of drafting high next summer.

I think most here like Power and are looking forward to seeing him wearing a Sabres jersey and hopefully helping the Phoenix rise from the ashes, but there is an awful season ahead of us plus an almost certainly disappointing resolution to the Eichel saga to get through first.

I hate to say it but I’m feeling pessimistic about this game. I’m concerned the D is a paper tiger. More importantly, until I see peak JA show up in a big game like this, I can’t be that confident that it will happen. Please convince me otherwise.

Exactly. It's in no one's interests to come out and say it, because the Sabres don't want to make Jack feel cornered, and Brisson knows that the Sabres are in the driver's seat, but I think both sides understand very well that (i) the Sabres want Jack to have fusion surgery and (ii) the Sabres are well within their rights to let Jack sit until he has fusion surgery. So KA maintains a friendly and positive, yet firm, demeanor, and Brisson subtly tries to get KA to reduce his price and the potential bidders to increase theirs.

I've been thinking the bolded is a significant factor. It sure looks like KA has decided to tank this season (which I agree is a terrible decision), so in the abstract there is no urgency to make an Eichel deal and get any more good players in the door right now. KA is probably thinking that there is no downside to waiting, say, half the season, letting Eichel stew and seeing if he caves on getting fusion surgery.

Fair question. If Jack asked for my life advice, I would have to know quite a bit more about fusion vs ADR than I know now. If the results of that research were along the lines of what's been said here and there, including on this board, i.e. that ADR is less likely than fusion to allow him to play hockey over the long term but less likely than fusion to cause back pain and other physical impairments and require additional spinal surgery later in life, I would advise him not to get fusion, try to wait out the Sabres, collect his $10MM a year and dare the Sabres not to pay him. It would likely require him to sit out an entire season, or even longer, but I think eventually the Sabres would cave and trade him for a lesser package to a team that will allow him to get the ADR. Having said that, I'll flip it around: if you were in KA's position, and your choices were either to accept a conditional 1st and another Tage Thompson-level prospect, or to wait Jack out until he caves and gets fusion, what would you do?