dudacek

Eichel signing off on a surgery side deal, cementing details of a flip trade, a secondary deal to accommodate cap. The same things I mentioned when the alleged Vegas offer was revealed. You can agree on value and still have to make other moves to accommodate your framework. Also, Holy *****!

Last time Cozens dominated against his peers was the last time he played against them. Cozens had 8 goals and 8 assists in 7 games 10 months ago, when he was arguably the best of the best junior-aged players in the world at the WJC. He's also opened this season with 40-plus NHL games and more than 200 games of major junior hockey or above under his belt, at least 2/3s of those in a top-line role. Quinn opened the year with about 130 major junior games about half of them as a top-line player. It's less about the 7 months and more that he's proven much less than Dylan has in terms of his development. Not saying that Dylan can't or won't benefit from playing in the minors, but i don't agree that they are at the same points in their development.

Because the Sabres didn't think Quinn was ready for the NHL and they thought Cozens was? I mean it hasn't even been 10 games. Cozens is older, physically more developed and was more dominant against his peers. I agree that we will likely see Cozens moved to wing when Mitts comes back, assuming we aren't dealing with another centre shuffle from an Eichel trade.

It's more a question of expectations. People want to see him dominate, not screw up. Maybe he makes more mistakes than most of the forwards, but he also makes more plays too. He hasn't been as effective as Thompson, Olofsson, Asplund and Girgensons, and arguably Caggiula, Skinner and Okposo. But he's certainly been no worse than R2, Hayden, Bjork or Hinostroza.

From what I've read, he is their cap dump of choice. He and Monahan roughly equal Eichel in salary.

Cozens has not played anything close to a 1C role. He has been behind both Thompson and Girgensons in ice time and match-ups.

Can I say that Tage has played better than his 5 points? From a production standpoint he's led the team in posts hit and robbed by goalies. (That toe-to-stick-to-shot thing on the rush last night was stunning) But what I like and have been surprised with most is the way he backchecks so hard and effectively, and the authority with which he is carrying the puck. Soft and a step behind mentally were his early hallmarks and he seems to have shaken off both labels. He's essentially been handed the 1C role without getting 1st-line wingers and having never played the position. He hasn't shined — he will never be a 1C — but he has manned up and held his own. LOL, 56. But we can always dream. Actually, Couture is a pretty good standard for a best-case scenario with Cozens.

Cozens and Dahlin were each badly embarrassed on a Hertl goal, which is going to reinforce the bad impression of what were uneven games. Centre depth is a huge issue for the Sabres. But I'm not sure Cozens' issues are anything that would be fixed by having Eichel and ROR in front of him. He's getting offensive 3C minutes and hasn't really been forced to play elite opposition. He lacks the strength for the game he wants to play, he's squeezing his stick and he's trying too hard. I think his personal struggles are more a Cozens issue than a lineup issue. Tage and Zemgus have been handed much tougher roles for their skillset than Dylan has, but are coping better. Every game Dylan shows signs of how good he can be, and how young he is. I'm still thinking it's too early for the minors, but have to admit he is trending that way.

Not blaming him, but Anderson looked more like what I expected from him.

Adams may be considering: Tuch, Krebs, Coghlan, conditional 1st based on Jack’s games played Monahan, Zary, Dube, 1st, maybe an additional pick I easily take the better high end from the Knights over the deeper Calgary offer. What say you?

It’s Cozens D3 year. In Couture’s D3 year he had 9 points in 25 NHL games. It was a vintage Skinner performance tonight. Which is frustrating as hell, but I’ll certainly take over what we saw the past two years.

Hertl is head and shoulders above anyone else in this game.

The Sharks and the Sabres are practically the same team and it shows.

Way too American. And Boucher is telling a predetermined story, not the game.

I would suggest it is highly unlikely that Adams would have negotiated a deal only have Terry reject it based on salary retention. I would think Terry would have made his feelings on retention strongly known to Kevyn prior to negotiations and Kevyn would have bargained accordingly. If the GMs actually struck a tentative deal on the players, I would assume any hang-ups would be contingent on other cap-related or health-related moves that still have to happen, be it a separate trade to create cap, Eichel signing off on some insurance brokering of his contract, or some other ancillary move. It could literally be a team wanting to wait a few extra days for cap to accumulate or an injured player’s status to become clearer. This trade, as described, is almost entirely for futures, no one is counting on parts to be added ASAP.

It was always crystal clear the Sabres were taking on a cap dump to facilitate the Eichel trade.

I think it means it’s a deal that each side would do, but can’t because of salaries. The delay in closing the deal is addressing that. (See my wild speculation up-thread)

Putting my own spin on, but Tuch and a conditional 1st ain’t getting it done, no way, no how, so IMO pretty clearly the former.

Sean Monahan makes $6.3, plays centre and is a spare part for the Flames at the moment. The Flames have been scouting the Sabres. Dots are fun.

No holes in their lineup. Tuch is hurt, Krebs is their 12/13 forward and the other two are prospects. right now the Knight have $5.7 in LTIR space to acquire salary, the Sabres are using Jack's $10 million to stay $5.5 above the cap floor.

The other move is the Sabres acquiring a $5 million salary to stay above the floor, then putting Jack on LTIR. Once Jack is on LTIR, he doesn't affect the Knights' cap at all. Their issues happens when Stone and Jack come off LTIR. But maybe they have plans to Kucherov one or both.

Asplund is good, but I don't yet consider him dangerous.

Me too. If that was actually the framework, I suspect that framework still exists. The reason the trigger is not pulled is because the teams would have to make the necessary cap moves to accommodate that framework. Vegas needs to free up $4-5 million, Buffalo to add a similar amount.

MIttlestadt and Olofsson (maybe Tage?) are really the only forwards on this team who are in any way shape or form dangerous He has been the best of the JAG forwards, IMO (Hinostroza, Eakin, Bjork, Hayden being the others) For the record, I think of Sabres in three groups: the JAGs who are space fillers (Hagg, Pysyk, Butcher, Miller, Wolanin, Tokarski), the Vets who have leadership roles and/or may be around for a while (Skinner, Okposo, Girgs, Anderson), and the Kids who have to carve themselves a role on this team moving forward (Asplund, Thompson, Olofsson, Ruotsalainen, Cozens, Dahlin, Bryson, Jokiharju, Murray and Mitts)

Looks like limit of 2 teams retaining per contract, maximum 50 per cent of the contract retained, although it doesn't clarify if that's per team or per contract. https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/retained-salary