dudacek

It's like Thorny has been saying: what team wouldn't trade their slightly cheaper, lesser version Jack with a lottery ticket for Jack? patrick kane, Tyler Seguin, Ryan Johanssen, Matt Duchene, Logan Couture, Evgeni Kuztnetsov, Matt Tkachuk, Vlad Tarasenko, Mika Zibanejad, Clayton Keller, Mark Schiefele, Patrice Bergeron, Johnny Gaudreau, Brayden Schenn, John Gibson, Sean Monahan, Dylan Larkin... In what world are GMs not putting these guys not on the table in discussing a trade for Jack Eichel? Maybe the deals fall apart with the adds, but the $10 million contract can be made $2-4 million very easily with the "player" part in a hockey trade.

Also from Lebrun: The timing is not ideal for the organization. You hate trading any player when his value is at his lowest, but a franchise player after an injury-riddled, nightmare season? In a flat cap world? Not good. They should have traded him last offseason, one rival team executive said to me Tuesday. Hindsight.

I think this was the plan for this season, adding Staal and Hall to the above core. That ship has sailed.

We started walking this path three years ago when Jason Botterill bridged Sam. It became almost impossible to avoid last fall when Kevyn Adams and Sam's camp determined a long-term deal "wasn't available." And it was etched in stone when the Krueger solution blew up in everyone's face this winter. Heck of an asset squandered by organizational incompetence.

A tear-down implies they built something. They are a last-place team with a bad reputation. Trading Jack and Sam and Risto makes them a last-place team with a bad reputation. It also adds the assets returned in those trades to a young base of Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson, Borgen, Samuelsson, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, Mittelstadt, Asplund, Thompson, Luukkonnen and a top-three pick, and gives them $45 million in cap space in a flat-cap summer. A good GM working for a good owner would shape those assets into a playoff contender this summer.

Blank slate. They are hitting the reset button and blowing the tank fruit to smithereens. It could be Vegas or it could be MessyBalls all over again. Good thing Kevyn Adams has assembled a crack team of expert hockey minds that has been busting their ***** all winter, leaving no stone unturned. The bright side is, it will be interesting. Hang on tight.

I think we have to scratch any thought of trying to match the coach to the players. Because it's pretty clear we won't have a clue what players are going to be here.

Right, so the turnover people are looking for are in the players that have been here for a while: essentially Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Okposo, Girgensons, McCabe, Risto, Ullmark

No disrespect to any of those players, or the total value of that package, which is quite high, but the lack of a 1st liner, or an elite prospect should be a non-starter. The idea that the Sabres would give up what is easily their best asset (and likely a top-10 NHL asset) and not get a top-five asset (or a top-100 NHL asset) from the Rangers in return is hard to figure. But the show-stopper of that deal for me is that another team, couldn't, or wouldn't offer a better main piece. It's for Jack Eichel.

How do you explain a backup goalie going 26/20/6 over the past two seasons with this team?

Maybe the thing I liked best about watching the Sabres’ finish to the season was that for the first time since Ryan O’Reilly wore Blue and gold, we had two lines that seemed like they were a threat to score. The thought of adding a line with Jack and Skinner to the Reinhart/Olofsson combo and the ATM group makes me think an trot out three capable lines, and teams with three capable lines generally win more than they lose. I’m firmly in the Sam at centre camp. It will be much, much easier to find a competent top-six RW than it will to be to find a 2C that can give us anything close to what Sam can.

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster: Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone. Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be. Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out. Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

I have no preferred choices, but Torterella (who I like) and Tocchet (who I don't) would be terrible choices for this group of players.

I think Murray's biggest flaw was not his penchant for home-run trades, nor his player evaluation skills. It was his failure to understand he was managing people not horses. This manifested in many ways, but in terms of his dressing room, he effectively installed Bogosian, O'Reilly, Lehner and Kane (all reasonable to good NHL players, but less than ideal personalities) as his leadership core and mentors for Eichel and Reinhart. It was a major miscalculation and placing Bylsma in charge of this group effectively derailed the rebuild.

Which is why I think the Flyers would definitely be adding young elements with upside to counteract that issue. Couturier helps us now and is capable of being your top matchup centre for at least another three more years as Cozens and Mitts mature. Couturier 28, Reinhart 25, Mitts 22, Cozens 20 to start the season is not a concern. Again, not advocating this particular trade, just talking about the type of trade the Sabres need to look at — one that brings in at least one player who is very good right now, in addition to a lottery ticket(s). *** Separately: Bogosian is gone, Montour is gone, Miller is going, Risto could be as well, and Borgen is an expansion draft candidate. Johnson, Samuelsson and Bryson are lefties. The only RHD we can count on moving forward is Jokiharju. It's not the strong point you think it is.

Freddie Anderson costs them $5 million and is coming off the books this summer. He will need to be re-signed or replaced. If he plays well in an extended playoff run he will probably be re-signed. If he does not, there is no way he is coming back. Ullmark is younger and better and can probably be had for less than $5 million.

Jack for Couturier-plus is exactly the type of trade I think we will see if Jack is moved. A hockey trade between two disappointing teams looking to shake up their cores. Columbus is another target (Seth Jones?) Calgary (Tkachuk?) Anaheim (Gibson?). I expect the playoffs will shake another one or two candidates lose. Regarding the Flyers, I’d pay attention to Risto in any blockbuster. They are in the market for a nasty RD and big Rasmus fits both Philly and Chuck Fletcher to a T.

I got that and I agree. My point is the line has already been drawn in a different spot and it’s too late to redraw it. The Sabres are hardly unique in this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Hockey_League_retired_numbers

I believe the word that embodies Kevyn’s philosophy is “relentless” Quinn and Peterka seem to have that element. Bjork and Caggiula are jags, but you can see it in their game. It’s why I think they are targeting Beniers. I don’t believe this philosophy powered last off-season, which I think was about Kevyn filling in the boxes of Ralph’s checklist. It will be interesting to see how it manifests itself in his moves this summer.

The standard has been set. Ryan is the face of the franchise’s second great team and arguably the #3 “Sabre” of all-time. Team success, individual success, longevity, and community service and connection. If the standard is Rick Martin and Danny Gare, Ryan qualifies.

I thing a lot of Sabres fans feel this way, and I strongly disagree. If I was the Toronto Maple Leafs, I would be looking very hard at Ullmark. Also, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Boston Bruins. Linus is among the cream of the UFA goalie crop and he is going to have some suitors

It lacks the kids angle, but Rolston is probably the best parallel. The team got a jolt under him initially but its laughable to suggest he was an upgrade on Lindy today. In Ron’s defence, management started the process of dismantling the team when they hired him. God save us if they are about to do that again.

There was that incident where he passed out or whatever it was was on the air last season. It was kinda brushed off, but maybe there is growing concern for his health? My original post suggested a callous motivation, but more likely it’s exactly the opposite: “we love you Gramma, but it’s time to take the keys away before someone gets hurt.”

Is it possible that PSE is ready to move on, and today was a hint?

I think you’re right. Mid-season firing haven’t happened all that much in Buffalo, period. Edit: looks like 78, 92, 13, and 14, before this year, if you don’t count the weird ***** Bowman was doing. John Muckler and Ted Nolan were the only mid-season replacements who weren’t interim.