nfreeman

Dude. So you think the view that Portillo is most likely gone is laughable? Is it more or less laughable than Roy for Malkin or Eichel is better than McDavid or BB was an idiot for taking Josh Allen or Rossi is better than Quinn? Can you articulate specifically why you disagree that Portillo is most likely gone? It will be the Sabres vs the field. Why do you think the Sabres will get him?

Let's not be too quick to bury Ullmark, who has been playing very well and may have taken over the Bruins' #1 slot: https://theathletic.com/3240218/2022/04/10/linus-ullmark-jeremy-swayman-playoffs/

@Marvin, Sabres Fan is an excellent poster but he kinda painted himself into a corner here. @GASabresIUFAN very nicely lays out how bare the cupboard is. Yeeeeessshhh. And I agree that if KA blows the goalie situation for a 3rd consecutive season it will be a huge black mark on his tenure as GM.

Ryan Johnson should take a look at those pairings and realize that while the top 4 are pretty clear, everything after that is wide open.

I too am intrigued by a Vanek-Roy-Max redux, but I think it will come in the form of VO-Mitts-JJP, with Asplund moving to Eakin's slot with Zemgus and KO. I think VO-Mitts-JJP will get more shelter and easier matchups relative to the Cozens line, which will frequently match up against the opponents' top lines. And I think VO-Mitts-JJP, like Vanek-Roy-Max, can be highly productive in favorable situations. I also think the parallels between Mitts and Roy are distressingly substantial, although the book is far from written on Mitts.

Why would a quote from Levi, who has 2 years to go before UFA, affect how anyone feels about losing Portillo?

There is zero chance of them trading Samuelsson.

Yes — the franchise isn’t doomed, as I said in a different thread. But it’s still a bad outcome to lose a very good prospect. And yes we have a bunch of draft picks — but whoever they draft will be 4 or 5 years behind Portillo and Johnson in his development. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not good and it’s a real loss of a real asset — possibly 2 real assets.

I guess I’ve kinda been assuming that Quinn would take Vinny’s spot with Cozens and Krebs, Vinny or JJP would take Asplund’s spot with Mitts and VO, and Asplund would take Eakin’s spot with Zemgus and KO. Skinner-TT-Tuch Krebs-Cozens-Quinn VO-Mitts-JJP/Vinnie Asplund-Zemgus-KO

I am pretty sure it was about James Taylor (who I think was her ex husband). Mick sang backup on the song, though, which IMHO is a pretty cool little-known fact.

That’s not the point of the teeth-gnashing. The point is that if Johnson doesn’t sign this summer, he, like Portillo, will become a UFA next summer and the Sabres will probably lose him because at that point he will have 32 teams to choose from — and it’s a bad outcome for a franchise to lose a very good prospect.

He’s going to be a UFA with 32 NHL teams to choose from. There are a million reasons why a UFA would choose one of the other 31 teams. I can’t speak for the other pessimists, and I don’t think this means the franchise is doomed, but I don’t see how anyone could interpret this as anything other than the Sabres probably losing a very good prospect. No more, no less.

OK, here’s a theory: Dahlin hasn’t been right since he caught that big crosscheck in the back a couple of games ago. He didn’t look nearly as fluid and confident vs Carolina and Florida IMHO as he has for the past couple of months. When he had that first confrontation with Bennet last night, he looked like he wanted no part of it — like maybe his back was killing him. Just a theory.

Bummer. I think they have to trade him now, innit? He’s probably not going to sign here next summer. I agree with those who have said that they can now feel a bit freer to sign a goalie for 3 or 4 years.

Oh boy.

Well, it depends on the shows, innit?

I love Thai food but not that peanut sauce that comes with satay.

I'm glad he's coming, but we shouldn't expect too much right away. He's a rookie, he doesn't play a flashy game and he's probably pretty fried from an action-packed year that included traveling to China for the Olympics and the emotional roller coaster of the NCAA tournament, losing in the Frozen 4 and saying goodbye to his Michigan team. Think rookie Aaron Ekblad, not current Cale Makar.

Kinda interesting IMHO: https://twitter.com/BuffaloVogl/status/1512455916075032576/photo/1

Correct. They needed to change. There were plenty of different avenues they could've taken to improve. They didn't need to take the route they chose, which many at the time knew was a bad idea -- because it was likely to produce exactly the terrible results that we've seen.

Portillo mis-played the puck behind the net on the goal against in the 1st, and gave up too many rebounds in the 1st, but played pretty well in the 2nd.

I've never been to Sweden -- going to a late-season SHL game in one of those smaller Northern cities between 2 good teams is on my bucket list.

OK, so it's Michigan, with Power and Portillo, vs U. of Denver at 5:00 pm on ESPN2, and Minnesota, with Ryan Johnson (junior defenseman) and Aaron Huglen (freshman forward), vs Minnesota State at 8:30 pm on ESPNU. The main event from the Sabres' perspective is the first game, featuring Power and Portillo. Power has 3-29-32 in 32 games this year. I was somewhat surprised to see that he was not named as one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker award. He was first-team all Big 10. Portillo was 31-9 this year, with a 2.13 GAA, .926 SV% and 3 shutouts. He's a 21-year-old sophomore from Gothenberg, Sweden (which sounds like an evil place based the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books) who turns 22 in September and is 6'6", 225 lbs. He was named MOP of the Big 10 tournament and of UM's region in the NCAA tournament. He was also Big 10 all-academic and 2nd team all-Big 10. The Sabres drafted him in the 3rd round in 2019. As for the 2nd game, Johnson has gradually assembled a pretty solid resume after being taken at the end of the 1st round in 2019 with the pick the Sabres received from STL in the ROR trade debacle. He's 6'1", 190 lbs, turns 21 in June and is finishing his junior year at Minny. He's 8th on the team in scoring as a defenseman, with 3-16-19 in 38 games. He was second on the team in blocked shots (44) and seventh in shots on goal (68). In the NCAA round of 16 last week, he played over 30 min in Minny's OT win, and then over 26 min in Minny's win 2 days later in the regional final. He played for the US World Junior team in January 2021. His dad, Craig, played 10 years in the NHL. Huglen is 6'0", 170 lbs and is 10th on his team in scoring as a freshman with 7-9-16. 2 of his goals were on the PP, so presumably he's got some skill. At 21, he's old for a freshman -- he was drafted in the 4th round in 2019, after playing 2018-19 in the USHL. He then missed all of the 2019-20 season with an injury he suffered lifting weights, played in the USHL in 2020-21 and put up 15-20-35 in 39 games and was co-MVP of his team, and has now played 1 season in the NCAA. (Couple of asides: Minnesota's top goalie is Jack LaFontaine, who is not related to Pat, and Minny's captain, Ben Meyers, is one of the 3 finalists for the Hobey Baker.) Here's a pretty nifty goal by Huglen: FWIW, Michigan and Minnesota played 5 times this year, with the 2 teams splitting the first 4 games and Michigan winning the 5th. These guys look pretty promising!

Hang in there friend.

Varlamov turns 34 in a couple of weeks, but I agree that he is the type of guy, and in the current type of situation, that KA should be targeting (and should've targeted last summer, but that's another discussion). He's a proven NHL goalie with only 1 year left on his contract, and he probably wouldn't cost much to acquire.