Drunkard

Yeah, his signing bonus was $7.5 million, all payable on July 1st with a salary of just $1 million. O'Reilly's cap hit was also $7.5 million and the cap hits of the depth guys we received in return were Berglund ($3.85 million for 4 years), Sobotka ($3.5 million for 2 years), and Thompson ($925,000 for 2 years) for a total of $8.275 million. Even though it was the offseason (when you're allowed to exceed the cap) we brought in more cap than we sent out. Sure it was 3 players and a 1st round pick, but those 3 guys combined can't even max O'Reilly's production.

4th line anything isn't a position of need and I'm pretty sure even when he was here, Larsson was the one playing center on that line. 4th line winger is even less important. Botterill may have thought of him (or Sobotka) as 2nd line center insurance for Mittelstadt but it didn't play out that way for either of them and it's not like Mittelstadt played so well that there wasn't ample opportunity to supplant him.

I'd stand pat with the current defense unless someone offers me something good for either Scandella or Bogosian. McCabe Ristolainen Dahlin Montour Scandella Bogosian Hunwick That seems like a solid lineup to me, plus we have Pilut (LHD) and Borgen (RHD) in Rochester developing who can get called up in case of injury.

Berglund was overpaid trash earning almost $4 million to play on the 4th line. He can be replaced by someone for much less than he was earning. We were fortunate he quit, regardless of the fact that future ex GMJB should have picked some plug off the waiver wire to replace him in the lineup.

He took on 2 cap dumps because he (or Pegula) wanted somebody else to be on the hook for O'Reilly's bonus payment and to help the numbers work. It doesn't change the fact that it was a ***** deal made even shittier by how poorly Sobotka has played and the fact that before Berglund left he was an almost $4 million guy playing on the 4th line with two other plugs in Girgensons and Larsson. At least Berglund quit and we aren't stucking with his cap hit for 4 seasons, but it doesn't change the fact that O'Reilly out produces all 3 of these supposedly "valueable depth players" single handedly. Apparently a bunch of nothing and a lottery ticket was worth it, but I still don't see how. Thompson at least has the chance of improving over the next few seasons, but even if his improves to the point of becoming a regular top 6 forward that's still a big drop from having one of the 5 or 10 best #2 centers in the league.

We'll see if that holds when he's facing top line duties with little to no help because Bogosian gets hurt and Botterill ships off Ristolainen to try fix his #2 center mistake.

I would say so, although not as big of a downgrade as the one from O'Reilly to Miller. I just don't get why so many people want Ristolainen gone. He's better than everyone else we have on the right side. He provides offense, rarely misses time due to injuries despite being one of our most physical players, and he manages to hold his own despite getting thrown to the wolves from early on in his career. Despite that you never hear him bitch or complain to the press.

I'm glad it makes you happy but if this comes to pass all Botterill did was downgrade two positions. O'Reilly to Miller is a significant downgrade at #2 center Ristolainen to Montour is a downgrade at #1 RHD

Yep. I think he'll get the Pominville treatment rather than the Moulson one. Unfortunately he won't be nearly as productive as Pominville has.

Our GM was stupid enough to think Sobotka had value so anything is possible, but the more likely scenario will be us keeping him on the roster for the duration of his contract.

So Thompson and Sobotka are playing like trash and Berglund packed his bags to go home. So much for the O'Reilly trade providing that valuable depth the team lacked. Either that first round pick needs to turn into Wayne Gretzky or Montour needs to turn into Gordie Howe (depending on which pick we give Anaheim) or that trade will continue to look like garbage.

He'll probably be ready by the time I become eligible for an AARP membership (I'm 37 now).

As you can see above he said if Borgen was ready it definitely makes Ristolainen available for a trade to help the forwards. I think that would be a huge mistake. I'm not opposed to Borgen competing for a spot in Buffalo, I am against trading Ristolainen. If Borgen's play warrants a spot on the roster, I'd prefer they demote or move somebody lower on the depth chart (like Bogosian or Nelson). There are better way to improve our forward ranks than shipping off our best defenseman.

I have no problem with Borgen competing for a spot, but if it truly is an honest competition there's no way the spot he takes is Ristolainen's. If he's ready he should replace Nelson or Bogosian. Ristolainen has practically been our top RHD since he was drafted so he isn't the weakest link that needs to be replaced. The defense is stronger with him on it than it is with him gone and Bogosian or Nelson in his place.

I hope not. I'd like to replace Pominville, Okposo, and Sobotka at an absolute minimum, but we shouldn't have to trade Ristolainen to find upgrades over those guys. Heck I bet Olofsson, Smith, and Wilson would do better in their places and even if they couldn't, they'd at least be cheaper.

Why would Borgen make Ristolainen expendable? That makes absolutely no sense. In fact it sounds like the recipe for having no depth in perpetuity. Hey, this Borgen guy is playing pretty well in Rochester. Even though he hasn't proven squat in the NHL, we should move him up to Buffalo, pencil him in on the top pair, then ship off our top minute eating defenseman. I suppose you want to trade Ristolainen for a #2 center, right? I wonder why we even need one of those? Probably because once we finally had some depth at the center position our fearless idiot in charge traded away one of the best #2 centers in the league. One of the few guys on the team who actually earned the money he got paid. Then when Borgen flames out on the top pairing and Bogosian has his next inevitable injury we can go back to having Casey Nelson in our top 4. Then maybe we can trade Reinhart for a replacement defenseman, who won't be nearly as good as Ristolainen then figure out what other players we have left who are worth a damn to try to replace Reinhart.

It takes two teams to make a deal so I imagine most of the deadline sellers still want to be competitive or still believe they have a chance at the playoffs earlier in the year. Another factor is the cap implications that R-Dudley alluded to a few posts up. Adding a $8 million player with half the season to go requires you to have $4 million in cap space but if you push it off until the trade deadline you don't have to free up nearly as much money since the trade deadline comes so late in the NHL season. That's why buyers can get away with mostly giving up futures (picks and prospects that have no impact on their cap now) for rental players with larger salaries.

Yeah, I don't expect either of them to get offers sheets from another team either. They are both solid players, but part of their value stems from them being relatively cheap, versatile, and signed to short term deals. Guys like that have a place in the league and I think they have a place on this team both now and in the future (especially once guys like Dahlin and Reinhart start getting paid the big bucks). If they end up getting passed on the depth chart by better, cheaper players, you can always put them on waivers. Trading them is always possible,, but you're either looking at low draft picks or other bottom 6/bottom pairing defenders in return. Either way, this team has plenty of problems, but those guys aren't part of it by a long shot.

That is fine by me. I'd offer both of them (Girgensons and Larsson) small raises on 2 or 3 year deals and keep them around for bottom 6 duties. If they want more they can pound sand though. If they can convince/sucker some other GM to give them a big raise and a spot in their top 6 good for them. I'd thank my lucky stars, take the compensatory picks, and move on. I hope O'Regan and Wilson both play well with the chance they are getting. Not to replace 28 and 22 but to replace guys like Pominville and Sobotka with cheaper alternatives. That would be a step in the right direction and provide cap flexibility.

This times 1000. Girgensons and Larsson are not the problem. They are relatively young and effective 4th line players earning 4th line salaries. It's the guys earning big bucks who aren't producing squat that need to be weeded out. Pominville will be done within 2 months, but we've still got 14 months for Sobotka, and half a decade for Okposo.

I understand that it's a natural reaction as a fan to do this, but it almost borders on split personality at times. Kane fetches a conditional first that comes to fruition because they re-signed him and Botterill is suddenly a genius. He trades away O'Reilly for garbage depth, a prospect and a first and he's definitely a genius now. We have 3 first round picks, he's the man, and so on. Now he trades one of those firsts and suddenly the first isn't so valuable. It doesn't matter because it's a late first, basically a second, we need to re-evaluate how we think of late 1st rounders, etc.

I like the trade and agree that it's in a similar vein to the Murray trades (multiple futures for a prime aged asset). Score one for Future Ex GM Jason Botterill (despite the fact that I'm not exactly a fan of his). There's definitely an inherent bias by many on this board to jump on board with whatever decisions is made by the guy in charge at the moment and view it in the most favorable light.

I hope you didn't clean it up. I was saving that for later.

I can't see what the video is (IT has it blocked) but if it's not Rob Ford it should be.

O'Reilly made "I" statements like that all the time, whether he played well or not, and he was chastised for being a depressed whiny crybaby who had a dark cloud following him around like he was Charlie Brown from Peanuts. Maybe Reinhart thought following suit would put him on the next bus out of town.