thewookie1

I'd like a Top 6 forward to but I have zero idea where'd we get one from; feels like are choices are either patience or trade multiple pieces for a single player and just pray they don't get hurt or walk asap. Plus all the freaking old teams are refusing to rebuild for example Washington and Pittsburgh thus leaving the vast majority of trade prospects trapped in NHL trades which doesn't do us any good. Meanwhile UFAs rarely work out for anything besides causing cap strife down the line. Well in some ways we should..... we have an NHL hockey team in Buffalo and only 31 other cities have them. Make the best with what you have and hope things work out. What else can we actually do? I'm not willing to let the team leave in order to get a new owner regardless if they won 10 Cups in a row afterward; it'd be meaningless if they aren't in Buffalo. I just don't see purpose in complaining about something we can't change. As for complaining about us being cursed; well to be frank sometimes that's the only way to see it. Both Buffalo teams, regardless of circumstances, ownership, players, etc will always seem to find some magical way of endlessly being screwed by injuries, league rules or even just acts of God. The Sabres, and the Blues who were an expansion team, are the only teams the greatest NHL coach of all time didn't win a Cup with. The Sabres had one of the greatest goalies to ever play the sport and we very nearly did win it all if not for us getting screwed by the league. The Bills have a list 10 miles long of bad luck and inexplicable occurrences. The mathematical odds that both teams are 0-6 in Championships and seem to always either get riddled with injuries any promising year or outright choke are infinitesimally small. While every team has injuries and controversial calls can you find any other professional team that can literally point to 2 illegal playoff goals, a forward lateral and a fumbled kickoff all counting against our side. Staying positive that eventually we'll get a lucky break is the only way to even stay sane because frankly sometimes it feels we could have an All Star staff and team and still lose somehow.

That would tell me Holloway is a goner. They just acquired his replacement.

This part just sounds like sour grapes from Yerdon that we didn't make some absurd trade this offseason. No sane GM is going out and trading Power or Cozens for some sort of Hail Mary acquisition. We have most of our core and roster filled already so I'm not sure where he wants us to put some sort of major piece. This endless obsession with Mitts by you two gets rather old to be frank. He took a nice deal in Colorado; he very likely would wanted Thompson/Cozens' contract here and paying your 3 centers 7mil each isn't a great move. You guys complained we don't make any big trades and that Adams wouldn't make a bolder move and yet when he does; "oh no, not that guy." Personally I agree with the take that Byram wasn't the right target styled defenseman and struck down plenty of that deal on CapFriendly. But we have Byram now and as such he should be supported as one of our guys.

Connelly is the biggest what if for me. While Lafontaine is another great question, it’s more of a longevity question versus would he have been good since he was despite his injury history. Another interesting What if? Casey Mittelstadt doesn’t get hurt in the 1st game 2 years ago, does Thompson ever take off?

Easy no, Kulak is another LHD and we already have 7 LHDs capable of fulfilling the 3 spots and we have 1 playing on the Roght due to that stock already

Henrique and Arvidsson were just signed As was Skinner Corey Perry, Ceci and Kulak are all that’s left. Kane can go on LTIR for a bit but still wouldn’t save both players. My prediction would be Ceci and a pick to Anaheim for a cheaper pick

Even more so with the fact its very related to Buffalo.

Chaos in St. Louis and Edmonton

Frankly feels underhanded and disrespectful to be honest. It's not like Tavares has 5 more years on his contract nor does the C give anyone any special perks. Seems like a slap in the face for Tavares who literally made himself the enemy of an entire fanbase to go home and lead them.

I think the issue stems from if a team wanted to trade for Zegras they would have to send a roster player back purely because of the cap floor. For teams trying to rid of a cap dump; that makes the price even higher and thus very lopsided in assets. Additionally the teams with solid roster players looking at Zegras are unlikely looking to deal a roster player to get a different roster player while also playing with the cap space issues.

I'd shift Ottawa down as well as Detroit, move up all up to Seattle up. I'd say Buffalo has done just as well as Ottawa or Detroit at this point.

If you have a personable relationship with the guy I'd be tempted to just tell him about the issue and see how he responds.

Rosen to me was the fallback when they didn't get Eklund; he was far rawer as a prospect but had many similarities in traits etc. Leinonen was a position pick; they felt they needed a new goalie prospect; weren't overly impressed with the cupboard's offerings. So they jumped the gun to give them a goalie prospect they liked.

Devine was the one who said Benson worked out well. Struck me as if there were two factions last year and the Benson side won by either default, the other guy being selected prior, or outright. While I question their pro scouting staff; I do think their youth scouting system seems very effective.

Supposedly he was willing to in regards to Skinner which is curious

That’s absurd and frankly if they think that then their supposed interest in trading him is a complete fabrication akin to Ehlers

I said caveats, not full fledged excusing. Girgensons was overpaid, at 2.5mil but he’d of been more inline at 1.25mil. Again as I said, Olofsson with 50% retention was still higher than what he signed for this year. I highly doubt we had any intention of adding a sweetener or paying for a 3rd team in order to jettison him. You are also likely giving Zucker far less credit than he deserves.

I do feel caveats must be added to pretty much all of the players mentioned. For starters, all of them are 1 year older now so in the case of guys like Girgs and Johnson; it will go down more often than not eventually. Girgs was overpaid but part of his lower contract AAV is due to it being 3 years long and Tampa having less taxes to contend with. He’s making about 1.25 x 3 in Buffalo comparatively. Erik Johnson was a vet pickup for leadership, to get him required overpayment in cap. Olofsson’s contract is a show-me deal after his past two seasons have shown a consistent decline in numbers and effectiveness. He made 4+ on his huge goal scoring years leading to an injury that hampered his prowess. Seeing as he’s making less than a quarter his previous contract gave, even half retention must not of worked in trade attempts. Skinner was 6/7mil winger making 9mil. The buyout gives him 2.5mil a year. He’s making 3mil in Edmonton and gets to play with McDavid. His real salary is more akin to 5.5mil. As for Jost, Robinson and Comrie; 1mil differences on bot 6 and back ups is merely trying to wring water from a rock.

Not a great hockey owner but he certainly looks like a good husband.

He fell into the guy with an A Also all their jerseys have A's on them lol

It feels as if nothing KA can possibly do will ever suffice. He signs UPL to a 2 year deal and he takes off you'd be the first person throwing up your arms in fury that we didn't trust him and yet again we let a guy leave as a UFA just like Ullmark. I will agree that the contracts haven't yet been valuable however the whole point is to save money and cap in the latter half of the deal. Tage playing on a freaking bad hand for the majority of the year and yet he still made an admirable effort by season's end to make his season less disappointing. He likely hits 30 if he doesn't get hurt early in the last game of the season.

Arbitration is rarely a wise decision; it can very easily burn bridges. Plus 1 year deals rarely work out for us

Well what was your preference exactly? I wanted 3/4 but 5 isn’t terrible at 4.75mil

Well if it purely stemmed from the Timmies thing than sure.

It might be a year longer than I wanted but the money is good and it gives Levi plenty of runway to grow and gain experience while it keeps UPL working his ass off like he did last season.