nfreeman

There is no "Pommer might return." Pommer is 100% certain to return. He's not walking away from $5.6MM, and no one is going to take him off the Sabres' hands.

As a birthday gift, I'm taking my son tonight to UFC 223 at the Barclays Center here. I've never been to a live MMA event, although I did attend a Riddick Bowe title fight in MSG about 20 years ago. There are 9 fights on the card, and the main event won't start until after midnight. There's also been quite a bit of drama around this event, with Conor McGregor crashing the press conference, smashing bus windows and getting arrested. Kinda looking forward to it!

Absolutely. Karlsson will turn 28 on May 31; Risto will turn 24 on October 27. Karlsson put up 62 points in 71 games this year on a terrible team while working his way back from a very tough injury. Risto's cap hit is $5.4MM for 4 more seasons (after this one). So he'll get a big UFA contract that starts in his age 28 season. That contract will probably cost at least $6.5MM per year. Karlsson will probably cost $10MM x 8 years. So for the 1st 4 years, he'll cost $4.6MM more than Risto, and for the 2nd 4 years he'll cost $3.5MM more than Risto. Of course, Karlsson's play could decline precipitously, especially during the back half of that contract. Karlsson is still unquestionably a top-10 player in the NHL, and probably top-5. Risto may or may not be a top-pairing defenseman. I think if Karlsson is traded he will probably return more than Risto plus the #4 pick in the draft.

What if the Sabres drop to #4 in the draft -- would you trade Risto plus that pick for Karlsson?

Hogan isn't a star, but he's a nice #3 or #4 WR who was far better than anyone the Bills had in those slots since they let him leave out of Whaley incompetence.

Very reasonable. I too am pretty concerned about going into next season with Linus as the #1. I generally agree that Ullmark surpasses Lehner in these qualities (or, perhaps more accurately, that Lehner is worse than Ullmark in them) -- but FWIW I think Lehner is quicker and more athletic than Ullmark. In particular, I've noticed that once Ullmark goes down, it takes him a long time to get back up. I'm just not that confident that Ullmark is the guy, and I think goalie needs to be JBott's top priority.

Nice!

How awesome would it be if Olofsson turned into the Sabres' long-awaited overseas late-draft diamond find? From eliteprospects.com: He turns 23 this summer. He's 5'11", 172 lbs. Maybe...

I can't speak for erick, but my interpretation of the "identity" concept as put forth in the OP is "an important part of the game that the team is really good at -- to the point where it makes the team a threat to win every night and the opponent needs to gameplan for it." Clearly, such an element doesn't exist with this team, since they stink at pretty much everything. Maybe the first such element could be the PP -- but having a really good PP alone isn't enough. Now, really good PP and really good PK PLUS really good goaltending (which of course is a critical element in the PK) -- that might be achievable next year and might be enough to vault this team up a few levels to bubble team status. That might give the team another season or 2 to develop Howie's attacking defense/high speed 5-on-5 style, which is what I think the identity goal really is, and what will be needed to get to contender status. The first and most immediately critical step is to step way up at goalie.

Good man.

I wonder if the artist formerly known as Chilean Sea Bass knows this was a public poll? I wonder if goalies look better in Japan?

Please let me have missed the sarcasm...

Why, it's almost like professional hockey people think losing begets...more losing! Separately: it does sound like it's Ullmark's job to lose. That makes me kinda nervous. Give them a chance. At least McCabe, who was a rising star until this year.

No. The plan should have been to bring in a better GM with a better eye for talent -- someone who would've drafted better and brought in better players than Hodgson, Leino, Bernier, Torres, etc. My original point, of course, was that that team didn't need Crosby and Malkin. Obviously 2 HOFers would've been great, but not essential. The team just needed 2 good players with skill and heart, at least one of which was a forward -- and they would've already been on the roster if Darcy had been better at drafting.

No. Like Nick Foligno or Milan Lucic or Brad Marchand, all of whom were drafted in 2006 after Darcy picked Dennis Persson, or Martin Hanzal or TJ Oshie or James Neal or Marc-Eduard Vlasic or Paul Stastny or Adam McQuaid or Kris Letang, all of whom were drafted in 2005 after Darcy picked Marek Zagrapan.

Yes indeedly. I expect JBott knows this too. I don't think the plan will rely on Ullmark.

I think you are overstating matters here. The 2010 and 2011 teams were flawed and lacked heart in the top 6, but they were solid, playoff-caliber teams (and a division winner in 2010) with excellent goaltending and coaching, and pretty good scoring (9th in goals in 2009-10). Those teams were a couple of pieces away. They did not need a panic teardown, which is what they embarked on after missing the playoffs in 2012 and starting poorly in 2013 -- and here we are, DFL again.

Voluntarily? That would be career suicide, so I'm skeptical. This. Holy mackerel would I be psyched for Quenneville. Pretty unlikely as I mentioned above but he is a family man so who knows?

very nice.

Most improved -- Casey Nelson (a sad commentary on the team overall) Most disappointing -- Lehner and McCabe

I agree with both of the bolded. However, both could be addressed by a Reino trade in lieu of an ROR trade. Maybe it will just come down to the trade offers that are made.

Logically speaking, ROR is the most likely trade candidate. - Reino is young, relatively cheap and, despite being slow and inconsistent, he's still got 2 20+ goal seasons in his 3 years. - Risto is a good player in a position in need who's under contract for a while. - No one is trading for KO - Eichel is untouchable. - No one else on the roster would comprise a major move, which appears to be what JBott is interested in. BUT I keep coming back to (i) ROR is a pretty good player at a high-value position who is only 27, albeit a disappointment as a leader and a bit overpaid, (ii) trading him would leave the Sabres pretty young and pretty thin at center and (iii) JBott has said a number of times that he's not going to trade ROR. So that brings me back to trading Reino, Risto or both -- especially because it would seem that Reino has rescued his trade value with his strong 2nd half. We'll see.

Well, that really sounds like a major move is in the offing.

Serious question: do you not feel welcome here? You seem to post regularly, at least recently. I haven't noticed any issues with your conversations, but I could've missed something.

Please post quotes showing people attacking you for being LQ’s/RB’s mouthpiece. If there are none other than AudSmell’s recent speculation, is it possible you’ve overreacted? As for your comments about the mods — are you saying that we should be monitoring twitter and making sure that posters here aren’t heckling you on twitter? If you’re referring to the recent twitter dustup regarding an alleged trade demand that you and Mike Harrington got into — I don’t think that blogger was anyone here, but I could be wrong. I will also note that I’ve been accused of having quite a few undesirable qualities (as a mod and otherwise), but you’re the first one to say that I’m too “anything goes” as a mod. Anyway, you’re far from banned. I think I and most here would prefer that you participate in the conversation, understanding that hockey talk is greatly preferable to pointless bickering.