nfreeman

Well, I certainly agree that KA is accountable for the results. I think the results in terms of Hall's productivity were terrible, as were the broader results of KA's first year as a GM. However, the Hall results in terms of asset management were fine -- they didn't have to give up any assets for Hall, he was on the team for 37 games, and they got a 2nd-rounder and a prospect young player for him. This is nuts. There are multiple credible NHL insiders saying they weren't going to get any more for Hall than what they got, and they were contractually committed to Hall for less than 1 season. This was a country mile away from an Okposo or Skinner debacle, or the tank, or the ROR trade, or GMTM's failed tenure, or JB's failed tenure, or Housely, or Krueger, or for that matter trading Schoenfeld, Rico and Gare.

Again: did anyone here, at the time we signed Hall, say that he/she would've walked away from signing him because of the NMC?

Well, TP did agree to pay $8MM for Hall this season, and eat 50% of Hall's salary for the last 1/3 of the season (so TP is paying 5/6 of Hall's salary), so I don't think there were financial constraints on KA in this deal. Bottom line is that Hall was terrible all year and that, as Bob McKenzie reported, no one was going to give the Sabres a #1 for him. The rest of it (not your post -- I'm referring to all 23 pages of this thread) is just noise.

Who said this and what exactly did he/she say?

If KA had refused to give Hall the NMC, which had led Hall to sign elsewhere, would you (or anyone else) have called that a good decision by KA at the time? The question answers itself.

Has this ever happened? And if KA had taken this rounte, would it not have been a major debacle that would have made the Sabres look even more like a Mickey Mouse franchise? Bob McKenzie, who is pretty credible, said this morning that no one was giving up a first-rounder for Hall. Between that, common sense and seeing how awful Hall was this year, I don't see how anyone can think otherwise.

OK, Mr. Smarty-Pants, but the question remains: do you think Lazar-for-Bjork was something the Bruins made the Sabres do, or vice-versa?

No. Foligno, who is a warrior with some skill, is a much more desirable commodity for a playoff run than Hall, who has looked terrible and useless all season. Exactly. This was a great move for the Leafs. Frankly, if the Sabres had traded Hall for Foligno and given him an extension immediately, I would've been thrilled. Do you seriously think the Bruins made the Sabres take Bjork? I really doubt that -- I think the Sabres wanted a prospect with upside in the deal and the upgrade from Lazar to Bjork was the extra part of the price the Bruins paid for Hall.

Caggiula is on an expiring contract and was a waiver claim. He is not relevant here.

Good question! However, the same is true for Foligno vs Hall. separately: here is the very knowledgeable Eric Duhatschek on the trade: Bjork never realized his potential in Boston; a change of scenery might inspire him to new heights. Lazar is an underrated support piece — an energizer bunny of a depth forward, with a pleasing personality and an easy dressing-room charm. A second-rounder, going Buffalo’s way, when it took firsts to land Foligno and Palmieri, suggests just how far Hall’s stock has fallen. On the other hand, considering Hall’s pedigree and presumably his motivation to succeed, it’s a risk well worth taking if you’re the Bruins. It’s up to Hall to provide the necessary reward. From Buffalo’s side, to extract any sort of value for a player that came and went in such a flash has to be seen as a positive. Bruins grade: C-plus Sabres grade: B minus

If you were loading up for a playoff run, would you rather have Hall or Palmieri? I guaran-dam-tee that Lou L and Trotz prefer Palmieri.

Here’s a question: if you were KA, would you take the same package for Linus (a 2nd plus a Bjork-type prospect) that you just got for Hall, since Linus has said he’s testing FA? I would.

Later stage prospect maybe? He’s only played 138 NHL games. @dudacek — he’s also more solidly built than ERod.

He’s missed quite a bit of time with injuries but when healthy has pretty consistently played 12ish min per game for an upper echelon team. He has more upside than Lazar.

We got a second which could be the 17th or so pick in the 2nd round and a prospect for a guy no one was going to give up a first for and a likable JAG. I think this is entirely respectable.

A bit more on Bjork: he’s 6’0”, 198, he had 52 pts in 39 games as a junior at ND, then turned pro. It looks like he missed about half of each of his 1st 2 pro seasons with injuries — he played 39 total NHL/AHL games in his 1st year and 33 in his 2nd, before playing 65 last year. He’s played in 30 out of Boston’s 39 games this year.

No GM with functional eyesight would’ve valued Hall as equal with Palmieri or Foligno for a playoff run starting in a few weeks at this point. He’s been freaking terrible. Palmieri is a smart, consistently productive forward who can score it and pass it and Foligno is a warrior. No one was giving up a #1 for Hall. I’d guess you’re right that they view Bjork as having more upside than Lazar. Bjork, by the way, is fast, turns 25 this summer, played 3 years at Notre Dame, a very good NCAA program, and was very productive, a 2nd team all-American and a hobey baker award finalist. Maybe this one will cash in. In the meantime as noted upthread he comes from a winning organization.

Pittsburgh probably didn't have to give up much for Carter. They might still be interested in Hall (if they were to begin with).

Pittsburgh's 2022 first is interesting. It gives them a #1 for Hall, which is inherently a good asset, but it does nothing for them next year and presumably for a couple of years after next year, unless they include the pick in a trade this summer. Certainly it would represent recouping real value from the very disappointing 2/3 of a season they got from Hall.

Well, I only saw the 3rd, but I thought Casey looked pretty bad -- he was turning it over in the offensive zone every time he had it...until the very sweet move for the ENG...which the coach enabled by trusting Casey to close it out at the end of a 1-goal game. Marty Biron said something I found interesting on the post-game show about that line -- he said Mittlestadt is a quick-starting skater, but not that fast overall, while Asplund is really fast, and that Asplund uses his speed to be an effective forechecker, which is the key to that line's success. Also, I sure enjoyed seeing Skinner look like a force again and seeing Cozens again. R2-Cozens-KO was an interesting and entertaining line to watch. Against all odds, this team is giving us a reason to watch the games again -- even without Eichel!

This is reasonable, but I need to know what they can get for him before I decide whether I'm on board with keeping him. If it's a #2 or a good prospect -- I'd probably trade him.

If he wants to test FA it's at least 75% likely that he leaves. I'm OK with that outcome. Depending on the contract I'm OK with them keeping him but if they are determined they can bring in 2 goalies who are at Ullmark's level.

FTR, I'd much rather have Foligno than Hall.

Well, he's another guy to watch in the "how bad did the Sabres make player X look" competition. I think he he's not the guy to drag the Sabres out of the ditch they've dug themselves, but he has all the tools to be a bona fide top-4, 19-plus min per game guy on a good team.