Drunkard

I know nothing about him but we needed a body and we got one. Hopefully he turns out good.

Kane O'Reilly Okposo Vesey Eichel Reinhart Foligno Larsson Gionta Moulson Girgesons Ennis (wasn't this our top line a few years ago?) Deslauriers Kulikov Ristolainen Gorges Bogosian McCabe Franson Nelson Lehner Backup Goalie Not a bad lineup but could definitely use some tweaking. Would love to move some of those "4th" liners for an upgrade at defense.

I see that too, epecially if we sign Vesey, due to DB seeming to want to keep the Foligno, Larsson, Gionta line in place. Crazy to think that a few years ago we had guys like Moulson, Girgensons, and Ennis in the top 6 and now they may turn into the most talented 4th line in the league.

Exactly. There's a handful of great goalies and a handful of crappy ones. The other 50 are pretty much interchangible if you look at a big enough sample size.

I think that's as front loaded as it can get per the current CBA. I remember some stipulation about the lowest paid year can't be less than 50% of the highest paid year and something else about year to year differences.

Ville Leino, or Larry Quinn. Or one of Darcy Regier with the caption "what's he done wrong"?

Sounds like he neglects his defensive duties. Bad signing. /sarcasm

It bothers me a little but their loss is potentially our gain so I'm not gonna waste my time shedding tears for Nashville. If we are able to sign him we have a potential top 6 winger for dirt cheap for 2 years. If he plays great we'll still have his rights after 2 years and we'll have the inside track to extend him. If he plays horribly we can walk away and if his play is mediocre we can extend him for cheap or trade him for another teams disappointing scraps or a draft pick. There's practically no downside to signing him.

You bow to his demands because he's in control right now and if you don't sweet talk him he may sign elsewhere. The thing about it is though is that changes as soon as he signs. Teams can make all the promises they want to get him to sign but once he does that's it and whatever team will play him where they see fit. We can promise him playing time with Eichel but if he struggles he'll get demoted to a lower line for sure. He'll have no choice but to accept it, play better, or whine and pout for 2 years and then he'll be free to sign an offer sheet elsewhere when his contract is up. At that point he'll no longer be limited in earning potential though and the number of interested teams will likely be smaller too. Right now he's in control though because it's rare to be able to add a player of his caliber, talent, and age that is so cost controlled. The fact that he's limited in what he can earn means literally every team could use him regardless of their cap situation.

It is explicity his right because of the language in the CBA. You can argue that the rule is messed up and I'd be incline to agree with that but he has every right to do it based on the rules, just like how a free agent (RFA or UFA) can choose to go to the KHL if they don't like the deal(s) offered in the NHL. If teams don't like it they can always draft someone else instead and avoid the risk. Who knows maybe this will lead to GMs becoming wary of NCAA players the way some are wary of Russians due to the KHL risk. Being that the vast majority of college players sign with their teams after ther junior years though I don't see it happening.

This is nonsense. He has a right to play in the NHL because there are NHL teams who will be jumping over each other at the chance to sign him. Whether he turns out to be good or he busts has yet to be seen but he's earned his right to do exactly what he's doing by playing well enough at Harvard to have NHL teams lining up to talk with him. The NHLPA negotiated these terms with the league and put them in the CBA. As stated previously, he doesn't owe Buffalo anything at this point and Tim Murray knows this. If Murray took the same approach that you and others seem to be taking with him than he walk right out the door and sign with someone else.

Aren't the Sabres required to expose a goalie to the expansion draft? If they picked up Bishop and didn't extend him wouldn't that require them to expose Lehner by default? I think they should sign whatever backup they can bring in to a 2 year deal.

They didn't make enough price gouging people for draft tickets and the price of fuel is in the toilet. I predict pay toilets in the stalls next.

He hasn't had a chance to talk with any teams except for Nashville and Buffalo at this point though. Being on an ELC ensures that basically every single team in the NHL could/would be interested. He could sign a 2 year deal with Chicago or Pittsburgh and have a chance to play with Toews, Kane, Crosby, or Malkin and go from not playing a minute in the NHL at 23 to having 2 cups by the time he hits 26 years of age. It's not about money since it'll be the same everywhere but he could make his decision based on location, possible teammates, the coaching system, or anything else. Just because the Sabres traded for his rights doesn't mean he owes them a damn thing.

I agree. Ennis has been playing RW out of necessity but with Okposo, Reinhart, and Gionta there's no need to keep him out of position just to put Reinhart out of position too.

I like McGinn but I was happy we traded him at the deadline and I'm glad someone else signed him. Outside of trading multiple forwards for a defenseman, we would have no spot for him in the lineup. LW: Kane, Vesey (hopefully), Foligno, Deslauriers, Moulson Center: O'Reilly, Eichel, Larsson, Girgensons RW: Okposo, Reinhart, Gionta, Ennis Where would he slot next season unless we managed to pull off some sort of 4 quarters for a dollar type trade of Foligno, Girgensons, 2nd rounder for Fowler type deal?

I miss the fine upstanding citizens of Buffalo sports past. Drunks like Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith, along with guys like Barnaby and of course OJ. There have always been athletes who broke the law, but now with the world wide web in everybody's pocket news spreads further and faster than ever. Something like thia might not have even made the paper in the 70's, 80's, or 90's.

That's a deal for the Sabres. Leaves plenty of space to load up at other the other spots on defense as well.

His value could definitely get lower and will the closer he gets towards free agency, not to mention if he has any more run in with law enforcement, but contract is the key value driver. If Shattenkirk was locked up for the next 4 or 5 seasons at $5 to $6 million his value would be much higher. If O'Reilly was locked up long term we wouldn't have been able to get him for what we gave up. Edmonton went after Larsson even though Shattenkirk is clearly better because they didn't want to risk losing him for scraps at the deadline or see him walk for nothing. Given Shattenkirk's rumored interest of playing in the Northeast and coupled with our favorable cap situation and deep pocketed owner I personally wouldn't worry about it though because I think we could extend him with no issue.

Trade him for Fowler or Shattenkirk or keep him. I have no desire to trade him for scraps.

I would move Kane for either of them because I perceive them to be of equal or greater value plus being a position of greater need, but I have no interested in moving Kane for a discount.

I believe this is true. The bonuses should get taxed at the Florida rate of 0% so he's golden there. He'll still pay Federal Taxes on all of it and state taxes on road games played in other states but only on the $1 million dollar salary, not the bonuses. He's going to make out well but even with the higher taxes he still could've made more money after taxes elsewhere, especially Toronto after the endorsement deals are taken into account.

Yeah, I remember him saying that at some interview or press conference. A super fan that didn't know the team was for sale seems curious, but building a billion dollar fracking empire probably took up the vast majority of his time in those days. I'm still happy he owns the Bills and Sabres but I don't think he's as altruistic and some seem to believe.

If McDavid is smart he'll sign an offer sheet that's a 4 year deal once he's eligible. Edmonton will match it for sure but that will still set him up to reach UFA status after the minimum 7 years and he'll be able to punch his ticket basically anywhere. He'll be the best UFA ever at the age of 25.

He'll retire way sooner than that. Most likely before the 2022-2023 season when his salary drops from $6 million to $3 million or if not then then certainly before the 2023-2024 season when he starts making $1 million per year.