dudacek

Or that both sides are using it as a PR cover to justify the break-up. And, in the Sabres case, the willingness to take on a poor return.

Is Jack's career potentially over? Because no one in the industry is saying that but people on the internet are talking about the trade as if that is a possibility. If it is a possibility, then we are talking about a Lafontaine situation. They may offer a token pick, but no team will be making a legitimate offer for Jack and his $50 million contract. Seems to me it comes down to the doctors. If they 80 per cent chance he returns to full value, does that mean you offer 80 per cent of his value? If I'm the GM and I get that report, I'm not trading for him at all.

Is anyone saying Power is a strong #1? I thought the main issue at hand is whether he is #1 this year. all kinds of players who don’t play in the NHL at all at 18 become stars.

Yep. To be clear, I agree that it would be disappointing to me as well to see Power ranked 3rd on our depth chart right now, not so much if McCabe was under contract. That’s not the same as thinking it’s unusual, because Power is a boy, Samuelsson a man. Boys who can play in the top half of an NHL roster don’t come around all that often.

To be third on the depth chart? 2nd overall Quinton Byfield wasn’t in the top four of a pretty mediocre team. 2nd overall pick Sam Reinhart wasnt top 4 on an awful team. Lafreniere was 3rd on the Ranger LW depth chart this year, Hughes was 4C for Jersey the year before.

I’d feel differently if I thought there was clear separation two weeks ago, but if you are starting from the premise the top players are very close, then I disagree with this. When you are looking for incremental differences, 6 games out of a 30-game season is relevant. Games at a higher level of competition are relevant.

I don’t see it as much different than saying Byfield is behind Villardi, or Quinn behind Tage.

Ah sorry. I fell into thinking of Samuelsson as an Amerk still, but I can see that, just in terms of physical development.

The Worlds will affect this. It was close before and Power was in the lead. Since then what has happened? Guenther was meh at the U18s, Berniers was not much of a factor at Worlds. Hughes got hurt. Havent heard any buzz at all about the other contenders. Power was a key player in a gold medal performance at the senior level. Does this mean it’s no longer “close enough”? I think it certainly will in the public eye. @Thorny has alluded to the pressure on the team at the top to take the presumed top player. It took a while, but I think the past week has cemented Power as that guy. I mentioned it before, the internet will erupt with a “Sabres gonna Sabre” chorus if we don’t pick Power. Will that affect Adams’ decision-making process? Perhaps more importantly, will it influence Terry? And given the shape of our scouting department this year, shouldn’t we be more trusting of the consensus? Behind Bryson…? That’s a little disturbing for a top 10 pick, let alone first overall.

Not disagreeing, but I don’t get to hear many actual assessments from scouts. And a good number of opinions on here I find can be pretty well-informed.

Do you have people ahead of him, and, if so, why? Love to see your top 5 or 10. (Or anyone’s really)

What are the odds of Power turning into Alex Pietrangelo? Is that a good comparable? Why or why not?

Why are you assuming we won't be? The Kraken have to draft about $50 million in cap space, and they will be spending close the cap when all is said and done. They will be taking on some big contracts The Kraken have to draft at least nine defencemen. I would be very surprised if 9 better blueliners than Risto will be made available. The Kraken will be attracted to veterans on expiring contracts that they can flip at the deadline for draft picks. How many players will be made available in the expansion draft that will be worth the 2nd-round pick at the deadline that Risto would likely fetch? I know there is a portion of Sabrespacers who would give Risto away for nothing, but I would be shocked if that's his value around the league.

Byfield is unlikely to ever be as good as Eichel, IMO. Personally, with a glowing medical report, I would give up Byfield to get Eichel in a second. I'm not sure what you are saying here, that Kaliyev is worth more than Risto and Victor combined? Kaliyev had 14 goals in the AHL last year, Victor had 13 in the NHL. It's not like Kaliyev offers a ton of other elements to his game that Victor doesn't.

Your point seemed to be that players from certain areas don't care or give honest effort. Not sure how wide the net you want cast for "local" is, but Kennedy, Sheahan, Paille, Ellis, Kaleta, Jordan Nolan, Andrew Peters and Marcus Foligno are some others that come to mind with roots in the area.

And I think that nails the crux of our disagreement. I say Borgen as a $25 chip = concept of Borgen. Borgen as a $5 chip better represents his true value right now around the league.

There is no doubt in my mind the Sabres have decided to trade Eichel. There is also little doubt in my mind that they have had preliminary conversations with many teams and have a good sense of the potential return. How many people believe the decision to trade Eichel has been made because they already know they are going to get an Eichel-worthy return, and how many think they simply decided they need him gone and they are going to take the best offer available between now and the draft?

But you can get other $25 chips practically for free.

I suspect Risto will be worth a heckuva lot more at the trade deadline when team’s are looking for his type at minimum cap hit than he would be before the ED when teams would be required to leave their current 3D unprotected in favour of a pending UFA.

Im not ignoring the contract issue at all. IMO, it’s the strongest element of the pro-Borgen argument. My point is asset management: think of Risto as a $50 chip you can cash in at the deadline. If Borgen is a $50 chip too, keeping him makes sense. But he’s not right now. And he can probably be replaced in the lineup for no assets and $1 million by this year’s UFA version of Luke Schenn or Derek Forbert. But people think he’s worth more. Thus the concept of Borgen.

The Sabres’ focus should be on a 5-star prospect - Byfield or Zegras or Lafreniere - even if it means the secondary pieces are far less. I’m very interested to know if any is on the table and my estimation of Adams would go up if he can bring one of them back. (Take a look at where I listed Beniers)

I think the Sabres have deliberately scheduled this partially in order to see what happens with a few coaches under contract. Sullivan and Brind’Amour are the two I had in mind, there may be others. I think either is unlikely, but I doubt we see a Sabres announcement prior to Rod officially telling them no.

Disagree. You are overlooking the posters who think we need to take less-than trivial steps to protect him because he projects to be the next Jay McKee. The “concept of” part comes the fact he “needs” protection, which implies that he could become a top 3 defenceman when nothing he has done to date suggests that is the case, and nothing we’ve seen to date from the industry indicates that he projects that way. And from the idea of protecting him over Risto, which implies he’s better than an equally physical defenceman who puts up 40 points a year, or at least the return that defenceman would garner at the trade deadline. What would be more shocking: getting a 2nd rounder for Risto at the deadline, or getting a 2nd rounder for Borgen? He’s likeable, and probably useful, but he’s not an important player, and probably never will be. Most teams in the league will be exposing a Borgen-level player.

It should be considered that #8 should put the Sabres in a good position to grab a very good offensive prospect. Think McTavish, or Johnson, or even Guenther or Eklund. (After Beniers, Power, Hughes, Clarke, Edvinsson and maybe Wallstedt).

I like Will Borgen but he has joined Guhle and Kassian on the list of greatest “concept of” Sabres of all time.