nfreeman

I am hoping one of your resolutions for the new season is the elimination of all of the “ha ha, some posters are so dumb” posts that seem to be your calling card.

Great post, especially the comparison to McKee, who was worth every GD nickel the Sabres refused to pay him. Well, you may not be focused on points, but your position appears to be based on the assumption that points are the only factor that would cause Mule’s cost to rise. I think that assumption is faulty. If Mule signed a 2- or 3-year bridge deal, he’d be due for a new contract after 2 or 3 years. During that period (and I’d expect that KA is quite confident in this), Mule would’ve been Dahlin’s partner and the #3 defenseman, averaging 22-23ish min per game, on a hopefully ascendant powerhouse team — and at the end of that value-juicing period, the cap is likely to be spiking. As @Doohickiehas noted, Cernak, who is a good comparable, just signed an 8-year extension at $5.2MM per year. Cernak, who had 1 goal last year in 19 min per game, will be 26 when that contract starts. I think in that context it’s quite possible that Mule could’ve cost $6MM per year following a bridge, with the subsequent big contract covering fewer of his prime years and more expensive post prime years.

Holy mackerel is PTR in trouble if they lose.

Well YMMV, of course, but I don't think Asplund has enough game to justify a long-term commitment. I think what he brings is fungible enough, and the Sabres will have enough other guys who will be expensive, that it will be important to hold down the cost of Asplund's 4th-line checking F slot.

So as of today, here are the guys who are signed long-term: Skinner TT Tuch Mule ...and that is it. The only other guys who are under contract past next season are Quinn and JJP. Cozens and Asplund are RFAs after this season, which jibes with @tom webster's post above about KA wanting to get them signed -- although I kinda doubt Asplund will get a long-term deal.

Wow. Congrats Mule. If he's as good as most of us think he is, this is a good deal for the Sabres.

I like DG too, and if this was his last year under contract then I agree with giving him an extension, but it's way too early to come to any conclusions on him or the state of the team. They could easily stink again this year. (I don't think they will, but it's quite possible.)

Sir, you are a great poster here, but sometimes it's not a bad idea to just let something go.

Marketing mistake. Good Sabrespace keeping-them-on-their-toes work there. They are on notice.

I think the guys know what the salary structure and the overall plan is, and have bought in. Spending $4MM x 2 years on a mediocre vet outsider who may be a slight upgrade at #6 D would be a major departure from that plan -- which has negative effects in the room -- for almost zero on-ice return. I also think that KA and DG think that one of their #6-#8 guys will be at least as good as Reilly by the end of this season. As for the bolded -- IMHO it's more accurate to say that KA's plan is to grow a team into a perennial Cup contender, not to scrape into the playoffs this year at all costs. My guess is that Krebs starts out looking mediocre and ineffective, and JJP starts out looking lost. There will be much anguish on this board about them. By game 12 or so, I think Krebs will look solid and JJP will improve to mediocre (by which, @Taro T and @Thorny, I mean average or a bit below average but in a pejorative way, but anyone who responds with a linguistics dissertation will get thrown in the SabreSpace dungeon). By game 25, I think Krebs will look good and JJP will look solid and bristling with potential. If we're very lucky, that potential will force its way out in the 2nd half of the season. I like it. The 3 letter-wearers, plus TT, Tuch and the FNG.

He looked really good today.

Well, Davis is clearly a major difference-maker in this offense. Let's just hope he stays healthy. As an aside, I read a great feature on Pitts' QB yesterday in the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/3662427/2022/10/06/kenny-pickett-steelers-starting-debut/ The article includes a clip of Pickett faking a slide in a big college game last year, and taking it in for a long TD after the fake: When I saw that, I thought it was a great play, but it also means that defenders are likely to err on the side of hitting him when he looks like he's going to slide. I wonder if that affected the refs in not calling Hamlin for his hit on Pickett's slide today. On any other QB, that hit is pretty clearly a flag.

I agree that driving the net and driving the play are 2 different things, but I don't think anyone here was confusing the 2, and I think most here would agree that Tuch drives the net. As for driving the play, I think it's a reasonably interesting question whether Tuch's speed, range, forechecking, hockey IQ, etc. constitute driving the play. As I mentioned above I haven't generally thought of Tuch as a play-driver. However, if his qualities as a player result in good possession/Corsi/other analytics indicating the Sabres generally control the play when he's on the ice -- maybe he is driving the play. It's something I am going to keep an eye on while watching the games this year. Regarding Mitts, I have been as down on him as the next guy, but I think we still haven't seem him play enough to fully evaluate him. He's either been hurt or playing as a rookie in the Kruger poopshow for his entire NHL career. I want to see how he looks after a healthy 40 games under DG. And, as I've said previously, the fact that DG has consistently praised Mitts, and is giving him an important slot in the lineup is pretty meaningful IMHO. Also, I know this is kinda dumb, but I was encouraged about Mitts after watching this:

I get this, and it's kind of you to say it, but I also think this tweet (and many of his others, and plenty of his questions at Sabres pressers over the years) are indicative of a type of behavior by Harrington that would explain why seemingly no one can stand him.

2 interesting points here. When I think about driving the play, I usually think of carrying the puck, which I don't think is Tuch's strong point. But he does have a forceful, ice-tilting game that seems kinda like play driving -- and that Mitts lacks. As for UPL, I think this is quite possible, but I also think DG will give Comrie and Anderson a reasonably long leash before he goes to UPL.

Not up to speed on Kale Salad or Chase Priskie? How dare you post here. Although I’m a bit unsettled by thorny’s font choices, I too agree that Mitts and Cozens, along with Comrie, are critical factors this year. I might add a bit of nuance by saying that 2 out of Cozens, Mitts and Krebs need to be very good, and 2 out of Comrie, UPL and Anderson need to be very good.

Well, this page was a real thrill ride.

Whoops -- now unlocked and pinned (which was the original plan!). Sorry for the disruption in the matrix. Anyway, as others have observed, it looks like DG is leaning towards the following 2nd/3rd lines: Quinn-Mittelstadt-Tuch Krebs-Cozens-Peterka I think this means DG likes what he's been seeing from Mittlestadt, which is good. I haven't seen much from Mitts that I've liked, although I've only watched parts of a few of the games. They are putting Cozens with 2 rookies, which is interesting, although they will probably get more favorable matchups than Mitts' line. That Cozens line doesn't look like the kind of line they'd match up against, say, Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak.

So I was at the game in Baltimore yesterday with some old and close friends. I've been attending 1 or 2 Bills games per year as long as I can remember. I think that was the best Bills win I've seen in person since pre-drought (last year the only game I attended was the home stinker loss to Pittsburgh). My wife, who is not a football fan, also attended, as did my friends' wives. This was her first good NFL game and she enjoyed it too. We also attended the most recent Bills game in Baltimore, which was also a rainy day. That game was much worse -- it rained much harder, and the Bills lost 47-3 in JA's first game, which he was forced into after Nathan Peterman got hurt. I will admit to having serious reservations about McD after that game. So far though he's working out well! Anyway, my impressions of the game were: - JA and LJ are both great, great players. - It was a thrilling NFL game. - The Bills dropped a lot of passes. - The Bills need another weapon on offense and at least 1 or 2 upgrades on the O-line. - I don't usually engage in "our fans are better than your fans" discussions, as I think it's pretty close to complaining about the refs in terms of dumb sports talk, but I'll make an exception in this case. Bottom line is that the Ravens fans were scared off by rain in the weather forecast. It was still 60 degrees! The tailgate lots were 1/3 full, at least 50% of which were comprised of Bills fans, the stadium was about 80% full, and it sounded like a Bills home game when we tied it at 20. Pretty weak showing IMHO.

I chose option 2 on scoring and no on captain. I like Tuch, and I expect him to be the #1 or #2 RW for the foreseeable future, but I don't think he has quite the offensive toolbox needed to get to, say, 65 pts. I think he'll contribute 52-57 pts, a solid 200-foot game, good forechecking and 2ndary scoring on a top scoring line, good play in all situations and leadership -- and overall that is a player that I'm quite happy with. As for the captaincy, I wouldn't be unhappy if he gets it, but I kinda don't like giving it to someone who just arrived last season. It feels like it would be a bit too similar to when they gave it to Craig Rivet immediately after trading for him -- i.e. it was an admission that the existing team, still reeling from Black Sunday the previous summer, needed a heart transplant because they didn't have enough heart in the room when he arrived. I think I'd rather give it to KO or Cozens or Dahlin or one of the other holdovers.

You're right, of course, but I think pretty much every fan base has a bunch of yobs delivering terrible homer takes on twitter.

I'd caution against reading too much into those forward lines and D pairings (although I think the top 4 D is pretty much locked in and the only open question is who Boosh's partner will be, as I think that spot is open for competition between Bryson, who is the most likely winner, Fitzie and Pilut). As for the forwards, I'll be pretty surprised if Skinner isn't with TT and if Tuch isn't with either those 2 guys or Cozens on line 2. Otherwise I think it's pretty wide open and that DG is just checking out alternatives.

I'm as down on Bjork from Ork as the next guy, but that line with Savoie and Vinnie has a ton of speed.

Both of these seem highly unlikely, although I think Florida will want to unload Bobrovsky ($10MM per year for this season plus the next 3) by next summer, since they are now locked into $14.5MM per year in cap hit for the goalie position.

Good call, but is the right to the compensatory pick transferable? Or is that minimum value relevant only to the Sabres?