nfreeman

There's no question Reino has great hands, a ton of other hockey skills and a high hockey IQ. He's also not offense-only and doesn't shy away from traffic. IMHO the question with him is whether some combination of coaching, contract motivation and internal determination/maturity/focus will be able to get it out of him consistently enough such that he becomes a mainstay that they can rely on to play a big role in lifting them out of loserdom. That's what they need from him, and from anyone to whom they make a long-term, big-money deal.

One guy had likely borderline suicidal depression, another had bipolar disorder with substance abuse and the third forced his way off a team for the 2nd time. Would any of the the outcomes have been different on, say, Tampa? Maybe, but the first 2 seem pretty likely to have happened anywhere. In any case there is NFW of knowing and thus not really "because Buffalo" evidence.

The article doesn't say anything about Howie.

I read today that Siakam’s nickname is “Spicy P”.

Is every player the same as every other player, with age being the only distinction?

Nylander had 61 pts in each of his 1st 2 full NHL seasons, averaging 16:01 min and 16:41 min per game. (His 3rd season was largely wiped out due to his holdout.) Reino had 42, 47 and 50 pts in his first 3 NHL seasons, in about 17 min per game each year. Nylander has more speed and produces more shots, despite playing fewer minutes. It's a closer call than the other guys you mentioned, but I'd rather have Nylander. The numbers comparison is similar with Ehlers -- better production in his 2nd and 3rd NHL seasons (64 and 60 pts), with more shots, on fewer minutes. Ehlers (like most NHL forwards) also is faster than Reino. Now, both guys almost certainly have benefited by playing with much better teams than Reino has -- but I think it's fair to say that both got off to stronger starts to their careers than Reino did, which made their GMs more comfortable with awarding fat 2nd contracts than JB did with Reino.

Yes -- I'd rather give it to Skinner. As I've posted before, I think goal-scoring is the most valuable skill there is in hockey, and Skinner has tons of it. He scores in a bunch of different ways. He's also fast, he plays with an edge and he fits beautifully on Eichel's wing. There is a decent chance that Reino proves to be worth more than Skinner, but he's not close to being there yet IMHO. (BTW, I moved a bunch of the Reino posts to the new Reino thread -- thanks @LGR4GM)

I think this is kinda unfair -- Edwards is certainly a homer and "blowhard" can be sometimes applicable but he's pretty knowledgeable about hockey IMHO.

Your comparison of Eichel and Marner is acute, as always. I think though that Marner is as good as Eichel in gaining the zone and carrying the puck. Marner is also more relentless, although Toronto's depth probably helps there. As for Reino, I will agree that his 1st half last season was better than good and close to great, but I will stand by "crappy" for his 2nd half (and was ready to do so before @Thornystepped up with the fact-checking). Look at his game log: http://www.espn.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3114722/sam-reinhart He had 3 points in true garbage time, i.e. the last 2 games of the season. So he had 22 pts in the 1st 39 games of the 2nd half -- a 46-pt pace. More importantly, as I've posted previously, there was a 19-game stretch from early Jan to late Feb in which the Sabres went from 3-4 games over DeLuca .500 to 3-4 games under -- and in that stretch, which was when the season was lost he was meh, with 1 or 2 shots on goal in 11 of those games, 1 goal in an 8-game stretch and 2 goals in an 11-game stretch. Was Reino as bad in the 2nd half last season as he was in the 1st half of the previous season (which, I'm sure you'll recall, was, similarly, when that season was lost at the same time Reino went on leave)? No. But he wasn't good, he wasn't a leader, notwithstanding his throwing of his goalies under the bus, and he sho-nuff didn't deliver what an allegedly (and incorrectly described, as Skinner is better) 2nd-best forward on a team is supposed to deliver. As for your list of comparables: if we're using the "25 GMs" metric, Pastrnak, Monahan, McKinnon, Barkov, Ehlers and probably Nylander are all clearly better than Reino -- and they all demonstrated it earlier in their careers. Well, you're kinda ignoring the key point here, which is how much it will cost to keep him. I certainly don't want to "move on" from Reino just because I'm annoyed with his inconsistency, his lousy skating, his lack of leadership and the fact that he isn't as good as Draisaitl. Even with those drawbacks, he's still a good, young, improving player with plenty of potential on a cost-controlled contract. But the decision isn't made in a vacuum. I don't want to make a long-term commitment to Reino unless and until he proves that he's part of the solution to the terminal suckitude that the Sabres have stupidly immersed themselves in. I think when guys get fat contracts that they don't deserve, it affects the mental state of the rest of the team. This is what happened with Roy and Stafford, and I don't want to repeat it. As I said last summer, I think Reino needs the motivation that a bridge deal provides. He improved last year over the prior year and I expect him to do the same this year. If he does, and puts together a consistent season in which he plays a big role in the team re-establishing itself as a non-joke franchise, he'll have earned the contract that many here are ready to give him -- and of course we'll never know whether he would've done so if he'd already had the contract in his pocket. YMMV, of course. Fair point, although as I note above, it's impossible to know whether he would've become a 65-point guy without the motivation of a bridge deal.

Possibly, but I think this will depend on the kind of year he has next season. If it's another good-half-lousy-half situation, and he disappears again in crunch time, they may decide to move on from him rather than making a big commitment.

I don't think offer sheets are a realistic fallback since they essentially never happen. ...he said bravely. I think it's pretty GD close, myself, and I certainly can't fault anyone who prefers Marner. Now this is nuts. Reino isn't half the player that Marner is. This is fair, but this year was the first time he was paired with someone like Eichel, and he was on pace to get 50+ until he hurt his ankle. You may be right about Reino's inclination to sign a deal this year, but IMHO he hasn't earned a fat contract yet. He had another season with one good half and one crappy half, and was again out to lunch when the season was lost. That's not a guy you make a huge commitment to.

This is all reasonable...but Eichel is now going into his FIFTH season. If the Sabres are ever going to build a good team around Eichel, he absolutely needs a high-end winger to play his prime years with. Skinner was fantastic in that role this year until he hurt his ankle. He just turned 27 a couple of weeks ago. He's tough, he's fast and he can score in a bunch of different ways -- including playoff-type goals from the dirty areas. I think he's pretty much a lock to score 35+ per year for at least the next 5 years. Will he continue to deliver at the same level until he's 34? Probably not, but that's part of the price here. The Sabres need to keep him. They can't screw around with this and hope that Olofsson or TT or Nylander magically grows into that role. And they can't afford the psychological blow that losing him would deliver.

Once more, with feeling: if you're saying "I don't want the Sabres to give Skinner an 8-year deal," what you're really saying is "I don't want the Sabres to re-sign Skinner." He's not signing here unless he gets the 8th year.

I keep saying this but I am going to try again this year. And thanks Tom.

Well, Mahomes was the 10th pick, so it was McD and 9 other GMs. And I'm not inclined to give a coach credit for a 6-10 season, especially following a 9-7 season and especially a season in which he chose to start Peterman twice despite overwhelming evidence that Peterman cannot play in the NFL.

I generally agree with all of this, although I will point out, regarding Mahomes, that passing on him was McD's call, not Whaley's, and that McD is pretty much running the show at OBD -- so I think he owns that decision, which looks like a bad one. My real point though was that there is quite a bit of triumphalism going on regarding the Bills and their management -- much more than a 6-10 record and a bunch of questionable decisions would seem to justify.

Regarding the Bills and BB/McD: while I am optimistic about the Bills, it's awfully early to proclaim that BB and McD have succeeded in putting together a good team, or that BB is a good GM. If they were that good, why were they drafting 8th this year? Why didn't they get anything out of any of the FAs they signed last year? Why were their OL and receiver groups so freaking terrible last year? Why didn't they draft Mahomes, who looks like he's going to be in the running for MVP for the next decade? Speaking of QBs, the Bills put a ton of eggs in Allen's basket, and if he doesn't improve significantly this year, they are going to stink again.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

OK, so I just watched the Dreger interview. I'm officially psyched about RK. He has presence and exudes confidence and leadership -- exactly what this team has been dying for. I still want an upgrade at goalie, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to get more consistent play out of Hutton and Ullmark. Let's go.

The Clippers have a very good organization too, and if they get Kawhi they could easily land another big star FA, so if he wants to go home it would be a logical landing spot for him.

I would love to see Kawhi stay in Toronto. He is awesome and they have a very good organization.

Got my son home for the summer after his 1st year of college. Family dinner last night and then hung out with him and watched the NBA playoffs.

Not that it really matters, but I don't think Nicole and Ronald were addicts. I think Nicole was a recreational user and there is plenty of doubt as to whether Ronald was a user at all. Nicole was a long-time battered spouse and Ronald was 25 years old. Pretty sympathetic victims IMHO.

So -- is there *anything* OJ could've done post-Bills career that would make you feel differently? What if he were a child rapist? What if he killed 10 people? How about 100? The point, of course, is that at some point it doesn't matter how great a player he was -- and he was a great freaking player -- if he's a bad enough guy, he shouldn't be honored by the team. As others have noted, retiring/not using his # is unquestionably an honor bestowed on him by the team. What? If they hadn't been cocaine users, would you feel differently about retiring his #? Pure crapola here.

I think the proposed contracts also need to include # of years -- e.g. I think most of those who are leery of giving Skinner $8MM x 8 years would gladly do so for 4 years.