nfreeman

I am pretty confident that Vesey will have a season that obliterates Pommer's last few seasons, and Pommer's effectiveness will be even more diminished this year. We shall see.

Thanks boys and @Ogre I'm glad you enjoyed your evening!

If anyone who watched the game would like to describe Allen’s play, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.

I too would take Mantha for Risto.

Waiving Sobotka is a real possibility IMHO. KO still brings more to the table than Pommer and probably enough to have an NHL roster spot (although I'd be perfectly happy with, say, CJ Smith or Asplund in that spot instead). I don't think waiving KO this year is realistic, although I can see him getting the Moulson treatment in KO's 2nd-last and last year.

I think all of the following can be true and are true: - Pommer is better than Sobotka - Pommer on a 1-year deal is preferable to KO on a 4-year deal - Pommer is not good enough to be on the Sabres this year

Well, he might be good enough as a rookie to handle that #1 RW slot, but not good enough to beat out Mittsie for #2C.

Excellent post @GASabresIUFAN. The notion of a Skinner-Eichel-Cozens top line starting in October 2020 makes me happy.

Pominville has been done like dinner for a couple of years now IMHO. I will be pretty surprised, and disappointed, if the Sabres sign him.

'Twas indeed an excellent point, and it could indeed result in one of those "rich team pays for the expensive injured guy and gets a good asset from a budget team in return" situations. Of course, the incentive for Anaheim disappears if Kesler's contract is in fact insured.

Well, I don't know anything about Kase, but he'd better be pretty GD good if the Sabres have to take Kesler, who turns 35 in 9 days, has a $6.675MM cap hit for 2 more seasons after this coming one and had 8 pts in 60 games last year. OTOH, I've always liked Kesler's blood-and-guts qualities, and if the Sabres could unload KO as part of the deal, I would probably do it (assuming Kase is the real deal).

Mittsie's development is IMHO a huge under-the-radar swing factor for the Sabres' fortunes this season (the more obvious ones being whether they get better goaltending and coaching). I am pretty skeptical that they will be able to bring in a legit #2C this summer, so the job -- which is a critical role in the lineup -- is open. If Mittsie can step up and fill the #2C role capably, then the 2nd line will be much better than it was last year, which will make a major difference. But if he's unable to process the game at NHL speed -- which IMHO is the biggest risk here -- he again will add negligible value and the Sabres will need someone else to fill that role, and do it well, or else they'll be screwed.

Only the professionals go out boozing on Monday nights!

So I binge-watched season 1 of "The Last Kingdom," which is a joint BBC-Netflix production (there are 4 seasons so far). It's a bit like Game of Thrones, but historical fiction with no magic, dragons, etc. It's based on the history of the 9th-century war between England (when England was more like Westeros, with a bunch of regions, each with his own king) and the invading Danes (before they became known as Vikings). It's not as good as Game of Thrones (and the sex and violence quotients are lower, but still ample), but it's pretty enjoyable and beautifully shot. I give Season 1 a B to a B-plus, and I'm going ahead with Season 2, at least until TV sports resumes.

@LGR4GM -- why do you think it will be a Canadian team?

The Cowboys team that spanked the Bills in back—to-back SBs had a decidedly non-choir-boy character, but I think that most of them were very serious about winning and busted their butts to do so.

These write-ups are terrific, but I must admit I’m not clear on how the poll works now. I’ll say that TT has the highest ceiling out of the 2nd group, and that RK is eventually going to nurture it out of him, but that VO is going to have the best 2019-20 out of the group.

This is reasonable. A different but related question is: what if the motivation is that JB (or TP, or whoever the decision-maker is) is legitimately concerned that one more big hit to the head will leave KO with a serious and degenerative condition that will materially impair his life (and his family's) from the age of 33 onward? I appreciate your point about personal freedom, and I'm not sure what I would decide if I were the one who had to make the call for the Sabres, but I can understand someone saying "take the money, but I'm not going to sign off on you getting on the ice again and risking everything."

It's my problem, not yours, but I get more and more agitated each time you suggest this. And this is why! Beat me to it. One of those 2 components absolutely needs to be included, or I am a very firm NFW on Turris. You mean if the worst is true and RK is a snake oil salesman who immediately makes it clear that he hasn't coached in the NHL in 6 years, is in miles over his head and sold JB a bill of goods, bringing JB down in flames with him?

Heartily supported on both @LGR4GM's value-added prospect talk and on the plans for the polls. Maybe Fitzgerald is a sleeper?

Well, I was kinda joking about Joker, but not so much about Mitts. Are you confident that Mitts is going to live up to expectations? As @GASabresIUFAN points out, he hasn't set the world on fire at the sub-NHL levels, and as I and others have stated previously, he did not seem able last year to keep possession and make plays against NHL defenders. That isn't a "he needs to hit the gym so he can win more battles" problem. It's a "he might not be able to handle the speed of the NHL game" problem.

I've got Cozens, mostly because I love the potential story of the kid from the territories coming down like Tormund Giantsbane, not being afraid of anything and attacking like a mighty warrior, relentlessly and at high speed. Also because Dahlin isn't in the competition, Mitts is starting to feel more like Renly Baratheon than Jaime Lannister, goalies are too hard to predict, and we got Joker for Nylander so he can't be that good.

Regarding Wade -- awesome. Separately, I think Ed Oliver is my new favorite Bill.

Vacation starts at COB today!!

The 2 bolded items reminded me of something JB said on WGR yesterday -- in response to a question about extending Reino and Montour now, he was pretty definitive in stating that he believes in paying once the results have been delivered, and that the team hasn't delivered results sufficient to justify giving those guys (or others) fat extensions. I'm going to claim that one as a victory for my "don't pay Reino until he's shown that he can deliver a good full season and help lead the team out of the dumpster" view. I agree that those are the 2 hardest building blocks to find, but in order to get back to real team status, they absolutely gotta have: - goaltending - coaching - real contributions from a number of the unproven young guys None of which they got last year (or the year before that or the year before that, etc.). But I like the optimism and I kinda share it. If RK can justify JB's love, the defense, goaltending, team confidence and youngster development could all harmonically converge in a feedback loop and each factor could contribute to the other factor. It's not impossible, and in fact I think it's JB's plan.