nfreeman

Wait just a second. Who said this and when? If it was his mom when he was 13, we can't go throwing around this kind of assertion.

...he said bravely. I sure hope so.

Great thread @JoeSchmoe I haven’t seen many of the lakes mentioned here, but I will say that lake George is beautiful.

I agree with most of this but would point out that Eichel's price was substantially discounted due to the injury/surgery risk. I just don't see Minny giving up JEE without getting back a good, young, NHL player with upside and a good contract, plus a really good pick or prospect. I think the Sabres meeting that standard for the first component are JJP, Quinn and Byram, and I kinda doubt KA will give up Byram so soon after trading for him. This also raises IMHO an interesting question: as a Sabres fan, if you had to trade one of Quinn or JJP to bring in a difference-maker like JEE, which one would you rather keep? I think I'd rather keep Quinn and part with JJP, but it's a very tough decision, not least because of the Quinn injury risk.

An army of sheep led by a lion is a pretty good description of this team at present. Very nice.

Interesting. Foligno turns 33 this summer and is slowing down. He also has a 4-year, $4MM per year contract extension starting next year. That is exactly the kind of contract a rebuilding team typically looks to unload. I would make the trade you suggest in a heartbeat. Foligno shouldn't cost much due to the contract, but JEE will be very expensive. I'd guess that Minny would demand either Quinn or JJP instead of Rosen though. Would JJP, Savoie and #11 be too high of a price? Or maybe JJP, Jokiharju and #11? I think I would do the latter but not sure about the former.

Good stuff here. For a bit more context, I'd note that Krebs's first full NHL season was 2022-23, when the Sabres had a good offense. He had 26 pts in 74 games that year, which is a 29-pt pace. That's not bad for an aspiring 3C in his 1st full NHL season at age 22. Then, like most of the roster, he was pretty disappointing this past season when the wheels fell off.

I agree that Krebs hasn't seized the opportunity he's been given repeatedly here, and that there's really no reason to be confident he'll ever amount to much. My point is simply that Krebs was one of the key pieces in the return for Eichel. GMs typically don't like to give up on a guy in that situation -- and if KA does, it will be because he knows he doesn't have the luxury of "letting the kids develop for another year and seeing how it goes" -- i.e. it will be because his feet are being held to the fire, as they should be. I doubt anyone has Krebs penciled in as 3C. I'd guess that if he's here, he's penciled in as 4C with the hope that he develops into a 3C.

Good stuff here, and I too would freaking love Eriksson Ek (and would pay through the nose for him). But I think Guelli's calculus in taking the job with TP was at least 90% driven by the Bills, which are an elite NFL franchise. I'd guess he viewed the Sabres as an interesting extra item but not much more than that.

Interesting. Parting with Krebs would be further evidence of desperation on KA’s part IMHO.

I agree that Power is a valuable asset. I would trade him and #11 for Tkachuk in a heartbeat. I think there is very close to zero possibility of this happening though.

What is the point of this post? Did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and feel like insulting someone who adds a lot to this board and is always friendly and respectful?

I too think having Quinn and Muel each playing 70+ games would help quite a bit. But each has a substantial enough injury history that it doesn’t seem very likely.

The Sabres are dying for a guy like Drury. And I've heard it opined by credible sources that when the captain/best player is also a demanding AH, it can be extremely effective in getting the most out of his team. Maybe Dahlin can become that guy, although I think they need it from Tage, Tuch and/or Cozens. He was a fantastic playoff player, albeit a very hateable opponent. Briere was also fantastic in the playoffs.

I don't disagree, but how do we know that they didn't try?

Both of these are obnoxious. Do not communicate like this here. I don't think Florida will trade Bennett -- he's a core piece for them. But if they did, the price would be much, much higher than this -- i.e. one of the Sabres' top forward prospects plus a decent player. Something like Kulich plus Joki or Östlund plus Ryan Johnson. Your broader point -- that Byram isn't a dominant defenseman -- is fair, but the bolded is #hammymath. It's true but misleading. In his first 2 seasons -- i.e. his age 19 and 20 seasons -- he played a total of 49 games and averaged under 20 min per game. In his next 2 seasons, he was at 21:53 and 20:24 per game.

Hay fever season!

Just so everyone is clear: you're not getting Tkachuk without giving up Power or Quinn plus one of #11, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen or Östlund. And I would make that deal in a heartbeat. @thewookie1 is of course free to propose Rosen and a #2 (the pick, not the other #2, I think), but that isn't getting you anywhere except getting hung up on.

I never knew about this trade. Pretty interesting -- after their 1st season in the NHL, they traded a goalie for 2 guys who became mainstays.

I thought Waddell pooped the bed in Atlanta and with the US team as well. Still, the Canes have undeniably been a high-end NHL franchise on his watch: I gotta figure that he had plenty to do with that success. I will be pretty happy if the Sabres add a guy with that track record to their FO.

https://memes.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/fa2dc3fe-7608-4f87-89dc-9a3de8eeccba/gif

JFC. You claim not to be bitter/obsessed about the Mitts trade, but half of your posts are long rants about that trade! Not wanting to give Mitts a long-term deal doesn't mean KA is opposed to long-term deals. It just means he didn't think Mitts was worth what it would've cost to keep him. Indeed -- it's only a "stated goal" if it was stated. And the fact that KA has given a number of guys long-term deals seems to indicate that he's not opposed to doing so. No. Tallinder/Lydman were the top pair and were generally together.

I didn't see much of the Canucks this year -- can you give me the sales pitch as to why he'd be a good signing? He's got good size and seems to play the kind of crash-bang game the Sabres need in their bottom 6 -- but as I posted elsewhere, I'm a bit concerned about getting too excited about a guy who is 28 and only has 2 seasons as a full-time NHL player.

Speaking only for myself, I'd say the Sabres are not currently built to be a cup contender, but had a good enough roster to make the playoffs this season -- i.e. they should've beaten out the Isles or the Caps -- and failed to do so because of coaching.

I think the most likely outcome is that Lindy will try to get the most out of Skinner -- which probably means putting him back with TT and Tuch. Certainly it's quite possible that it doesn't work to Lindy's satisfaction and that Skinner moves down the lineup -- maybe to an offensively-oriented 3rd line that benefits from plenty of O-zone starts like Vanek-Roy-Max back in the day. If that happens, I wouldn't be surprised if Greenway moved up to the top 6. So maybe: JJP-TT-Tuch Greenway-Cozens-Quinn Skinner-XXX-Benson XXX-Krebs-XXX