nfreeman

I was wondering about this -- there are a number of posts in this thread asserting that Kahun demanded $2MM+ (or some other amount) per year for multiple years, but I haven't seen anything reported as to what he was asking for. Does anyone have a link?

I thought he was an all-time great. RIP and thanks for the memories Sean.

I too prefer Irish whisky to Irish beer (and to most other whiskies too).

"Den of Thieves", on Netflix, with Gerard Butler and the Sobotka kid from season 2 of the Wire, is a pretty good bank heist/cop thriller. Solid B-plus.

Well, the whole "how good would Sam be away from Jack" question, IMHO, should more accurately be "how good would Sam be if his linemates were Sobotka and Mojo?" -- i.e. would he be as bad as Skinner was last year? I tend to think that Sam's production would take a major hit but he still wouldn't be as bad as Skinner was last year. I think Skinner's ceiling is higher than Sam's but his floor is also lower than Sam's, as we saw last year. Hopefully they will both have high quality linemates from here on out and those who are so inclined can make an apples-to-apples comparison.

Dig if you will the picture: VO plays most of the season with Eichel and Hall, stays healthy, gets a lot of PP1 time and a lot of PPGs on the one-timer from the dot, because there is simply no defense for a PP1 of Eichel, Hall, Reino, VO and Dahlin, and puts up, say, 34-32-66. Reino plays most of the season -- a contract season, btw -- with Staal and Skinner, gets plenty of PP1 time and puts up, say, 26-40-66. VO played 18:23 per game last year in his 1st NHL season and had 20 goals and 22 assists in 54 games. Sam played 20:38 per game last year in his 5th NHL season and had 22 goals and 28 assists in 69 games. There is no question that Sam was a more important player than VO last season. He is, as noted upthread, a smarter and more well-rounded player, a better passer, and is better at getting the puck out of the D-zone than VO is. But VO is faster and his shot is the best NHL skill that either of them possesses. He was better in his 1st NHL season than Reino was in his. And VO will probably get a bit better each of the next few years as he gets more NHL experience and coaching, although Reino will also continue to improve. If the hypothetical numbers above prove out, VO will, like Hall, play a major role in the Sabres' thinking about whether to give Reino a big contract next offseason.

Because Sabres fans have been sniffing the taint since 2012. But that's about to change.

I think you are right that AZ will only trade Kuemper in a deal that cuts their payroll. If the Sabres retained, say, $1.375MM of Miller's salary, then a Kuemper-for-Miller deal would give AZ a $2MM gain in cap space.

OK, the Sabres are now done with their arbitration/RFA deals. Neither AZ nor Columbus has anyone going to arbitration. Miller for Kuemper, please, and soon.

Hang in there sir. Lots of rest and fluids.

I agree that he's flawed, and I hope this is the year that he ceases to lead the D in ice time. My point was more of a sentimental one -- the guy has persevered, worked hard, stood up for his teammates and done what his coaches have asked of him for pretty much the entirety of the worst period in team history. If they are finally on the upswing, I'd like him to reap some of the rewards.

This is theoretically possible but very uncommon, especially when the team involved stinks. I think if they had traded Skinner at the deadline the likelihood of re-signing him would've been quite low.

You might like the movie "Rush", which is a pretty good movie, stars Chris Hemsworth and is based on a true story about 2 rival F1 drivers in the 1970s.

Snark notwithstanding, my point was that RK's affinity for him makes it less likely that they trade him unless there are real assets coming back. Having said that, your point about cap space being a meaningful asset is valid. I just don't think they will make that kind of deal with Montour.

I want Risto to be on the Sabres when they break the drought this season. I want this franchise to give him that experience, and I want his nasty in the playoffs.

Yes, but most likely at the cost of precluding them from being able to afford to keep Hall. That would've been ill-advised, since they would've been making that decision before they needed to.

Montour was 2nd among the D in ice time last year, which means RK likes him. I don't think they are just going to dump him, including for cap space, without getting a reasonably solid asset in return -- either a goalie or an LHD.

Regardless of whether they beat the Pats, they aren't going anywhere unless the offense cranks it up to the level of the 1st 4 games or thereabouts.

I will be very surprised if Arttu isn't in Rochester to start the season, or if Cozens isn't in Buffalo for the entire season.

In addition to @Taro T’s point about Johansson, I think they can sign a cheap vet for this if needed. @dudacek I think is 100% correct that KA is working this out intentionally and skillfully to have enough cap space to eat a few million in order to bring in a goalie upgrade now, as well as huge flexibility next offseason. KA has IMHO already made more savvy moves in a few months as GM than JB did in 3 years.

I generally agree with the exception of the Zemgus contract, which continues to be nuts. Separately, I agree that this is a good deal for the Sabres. Not that good for Reino, although not really bad either, and I can understand why Sam would prefer to avoid the arbitration process. I think the door is very much open for a long-term contract next summer, but there are a lot of different scenarios in which that would not happen. This certainly gives the Sabres flexibility to choose a Hall extension over a Reino extension.

It’s not just the royalty checks either. The company car is great and I love the luxury box tickets.

Am I supposed to click every link in every post and run a check on the credibility of every site that is linked? How soon would you like the report run sir? Again: if anyone objects to anything, just point it out. And yes, in fact I just checked in a couple of minutes ago, hoping for some convivial hockey talk as I wind down my day.

Yes indeed, although I think Lazar is also in the mix to be the healthy scratch.

I think most teams generally break even or make money, although some lose quite a bit of money. However, I think most teams will lose money this year and possibly the following year as well. I think right now there are plenty of teams that, if put on sale in the next year or two, would either not sell at all or would sell only at a big loss. Yes indeedly. It will be the difference between profit and loss for most teams this year.