nfreeman

Well, he had 36 points the year before last, and he turns 35 in November -- so last year's production might not be the right benchmark.

There is a golden opportunity for one or more of the young wingers (including Zemgus) to seize a spot on Jack's line. It's a coveted NHL slot. Who will grab it?

Or you could say he had 17 goals for a terrible team, including, IIRC, something like 25 games in a row without an even-strength goal. I too think that DDB didn't get the most out of him, and I really want to see him get a chance at center. But do we have to shout down all doubts about him and pretend that he's established himself as a star?

Well, I'm a Reino-as-top-line-winger skeptic, so that comparison doesn't really move the needle for me. Regarding Andreychuk, he played in a slower league and had a much different game than Pommer -- planting that big keester in front of the goalie and using that enormous reach to snag pucks for putbacks. As for the larger question about whether the feet need to be able to keep up if the hands and head are there -- although I can see Pommer being reasonably productive (as Reino was) on Jack's wing, I think Jack's line will be most effective if his wingers are able to pressure the defense in the transition game with speed and size. I think when Eichel flies up the ice, he has the elite gift of being able to move a bit this way or that to bend the defense and create passing or shooting lanes. If he has wingers who can fly up with him and finish or go to the net for a screen or rebound, or lay a big hit on the opposing defensemen -- it will create more scoring chances. If Pommer has lost a step, I think sheltered minutes with a good playmaker (like what we hope Reino is) against lesser defensive groups will enable the Sabres to get the most out of him.

This is one of the chief reasons why I don't think he should be on Eichel's line. He just won't be able to keep up.

A stealthy Donnie and Marie reference! That is some high-quality SabreSpacing right there.

I'm not optimistic about getting much out of Pommer. Best case would be solid RW on the 3rd line with Reino and Kane, making smart plays, finishing chances with an undiminished one-timer, having enough life in his legs to play a regular shift effectively and showing the kids how to act like a pro. Worst case is Moulson 2.0 -- a terrible contract for a guy with nothing left that we're stuck with for 2 years. I think Minny thought he was closer to worst case than to best case, which is why they made the Sabres take him as part of the price for Scandella. I'm reasonably optimistic that he hasn't fallen all the way to the worst case, but the best case seems unlikely too.

This ties into something I was wondering about -- whether The Buffalo Star (a new online publication covering Buffalo sports -- e.g. they've just posted a really good article on Risto that was linked to in the Risto thread) is viable. The Star is subscriber-only and is $4 per month or $30 per year. It features good writers that will be familiar to many people here (Dave Davis, Kevin Oklobzija, Matthew Coller, etc.), and I'm virtually certain its written content will be substantially better than that of any other WNY publication. (Certainly the Risto article fits that description.) And yet I'm pretty skeptical that there are enough Buffalo sports fans who are going to be willing to pony up $30 per year to make it viable -- even combined with advertising, which I also think won't deliver much revenue. I hope I'm wrong.

And this is pretty obnoxious.

Whatever you do, DON'T sleep on Cody "Hungarian Beef" Goloubef.

Me too, and it is my aspirational 3rd line.

Definitely, because they also get 4 years to teach the horse to sing. This is a very good point though.

I too am concerned. As I and others have mentioned, the biggest risk IMHO is that someone signs him to a 4-year offer sheet. That would mean he becomes a UFA at the earliest possible time -- so even if the Sabres matched, the operating assumption would have to be that he would leave in 4 years. Any good team with $5MM-$6MM of cap space could presumably sign him to a $12MM deal, dump the other $6MM or so in salary, and then be sitting pretty with an already-good roster plus Eichel.

You're right that Nashville has escaped the final years of the Weber deal before it (presumably) becomes onerous. Of course, it's worth noting that last season, Weber, at 31, had 42 points and played over 25 min per game for a playoff team. As for whether it would be wise for Eichel to sign an offer sheet -- first, if he signs it, it's not going to be just for leverage -- it's going to be with the expectation that it's fairly likely he goes to the team he's signing with. Second, he's probably only going to sign one with a team that he's satisfied has a good roster in place so that he doesn't find himself in a crappy situation like the one you described (or like the Sabres have been for the last 6 years).

I think this is right. I would further guess that Jackie boy wants to be in McD's neighborhood -- and that it chafes him more than a little that the Sabres want to give him, say, 25% less than McD.

It was a valid point. He's had a cup of coffee at center. And it's not realistic to think that his skating can drastically improve. He's been skating his entire life, and is a below-average NHL skater. He might improve a bit but is never going to be better than average.

Unless, as PTR posits, Jack is lukewarm-to-negative about staying in Buffalo and is fully negative about signing for substantially less than McD got. As for Weber -- I don't agree that it would've been a dumb move for Philly, which has been mired in mediocrity for years. Weber is one of the best players of his generation and he was 26 when he signed it. The fact that Nashville matched is also an indicator that it wasn't a dumb offer. I don't want Eichel to sign an offer sheet either, but we shouldn't pretend that it's an impossibility. The Sabres have been atrocious since he arrived, they don't have much of a winning tradition, they play in a small, cold-weather market, they have a history of losing their best players and they are stepping into the unknown with an untested coach and untested GM.

Well, I don't think Eichel gives a crap about ticking off the fan base. I also think signing an offer sheet does not in fact alienate more than a small portion of the fan base. Vanek was pretty popular here despite signing an offer sheet -- we had a pretty active thread just recently with many posters agitating to bring him back. Vanek and Shea Weber.

It will be kinda disappointing if all of the forward kids are in Rochester on opening night and Moulson is in the lineup.

An offer sheet -- specifically, a 4-year offer sheet, which would result in Jack becoming a UFA upon expiration -- is my concern.

Now this is just some outstanding hockey talk boys (and btw dudacek this has been an excellent series -- thanks). I like Weave's take but I think Pommer is a more apt comparison than Sharpe, who had/has much more of an edge than Reino. I do think Reino is a better playmaker than Pommer, although Reino's speed lags behind both of them. I too hope Howie uses him at center, preferably in a 3-scoring-lines structure with Kaner on his wing. I agree with much of this but I don't think Reino is a #1 center on any playoff team. Well, someone's been into the sauce for lunch on Labor Day!

Prediction: it's either his last or 2nd-last NHL season.

This also raises an interesting question -- i.e. not "when" they decided this, but have they in fact decided this? I don't think trading Sammy, Darby and Ragland necessarily means that they have decided to sell off assets as a rebuilding move. The Darby and Ragland trades could simply have been unloading guys whom they felt didn't fit their schemes. The Watkins move could have been either (i) they didn't want to commit huge $$ to a guy with Sammy's injury history or (ii) they didn't want to commit huge $$ to WR before they knew they had the right QB. I think it's most likely that the Darby and Ragland moves were designed to make the team better and were scheme-driven. I'm not sure about the Sammy move, but if it was about not paying for a WR until they have a QB, then it's kinda of a piece with the Darby and Ragland moves -- and my biggest concern about McD and BB is that each of these moves (as well as some of their draft-day trades) smacks of being too clever by half. In other words, it's too clever to dump good young players because they don't fit your scheme, instead of adapting your scheme to the talents of your players. It's too clever to dump a superstar WR because you are trying to time your WR cap space to coincide with year 2 or year 3 of some future QB who may or may not materialize. It's too clever to give up draft picks because you think the guys you've identified in rounds 2 and 3 are sleepers. I'm not sure if it would be too clever to dump Dareus, but it might be. So while as I've said previously I like a lot of what I see from McD and BB, I am concerned that they might be missing the forest for the trees and accordingly we might be looking at yet another debacle. We'll see.

I don't either. For example, I think Grigorenko was never going to be a good NHL player. However, I do think proper development can help a prospect realize his potential more quickly and more completely. Zemgus is 23. If he has more to give, there's plenty of time for him and Wowie to figure out how to extract it.

This raises another interesting question -- how much rope do McD and BB think they have? And how much do they actually have? Surely they're aware that TP has shown a fairly short fuse with coaches and GMs of both of his franchises -- do they not think they are at risk of the same fate if the team delivers 2 crappy seasons in a row? Especially if Mahomes turns out to be a star and/or if Dareus does the same for another team?