dudacek

Yeah, I don't do that deal either, mostly because there is a reasonable chance neither Byfield nor Turcotte justify their draft position.

If I was trading Eichel my ask would initially be a hockey trade, either straight across along the lines of Johansson/Jones or, more likely a package, like Lafontaine/Turgeon If they go the traditional "futures" route, my ask would include a 1st-round pick/equivalent prospect, a good top-six NHL forward and a high-end young player/prospect. One of the latter-two assets would have to have 1st-line ability. So, for the Rangers: Chytil/Miller Krieder/Zibanejad Kakko/Lafreniere The Kings are tougher: Turcotte Kempe Byfield lacks the top-6 element, but might make up for it in the strength of prospects and the cap space.

For the record, Rangers fans would not trade any of Fox, Laf or Shesterkin on their own for Eichel. Now, the Rangers aren't the same as Ranger fans, but I am reasonably certain Fox would not be on the table and I am also reasonably certain the Sabres would want an asset as good as Lafreniere coming back.

I don't think I'm alone in saying all that really matters as a fan right now is a chance to enjoy watching the Sabres again.

It's possible Hall finds a game again in Boston. He still has some skill, it was the will that was lacking here. But I still have hope he might continue his Sabre-suckitude in Beantown. I'm loving what Eric Staal has brought to Montreal.

Bjork had good game last night, but lets not try and turn this into a Miro Satan-type steal quite yet. He's fast, works hard and seems to be responsible. His hands might be lacking. Girgensons?

The 2017 draft was so weird. It will be interesting to see how it all settles out in 5 or 6 years. Did you know Casey sits 7th in his class in goals, and 10th in points? I wonder if the internet experts are still talking him up as a bust and Gabe Villardi, Morgan Frost, Cody Glass as studs-in-the-making?

What you can't forget is how much the lineup has changed already: R2, Bjork, Bryson, Thompson, Mittelstad, Asplund and to a lesser extent Cozens weren't regulars under Ralph

Cozens was so good last night: fast, strong, smart and committed. I think it was his best game as a pro.

I’m telling you man, even if you’re right, just go with the flow. You deserve it.

And a 24-year-old Eichel. Casey is suddenly looking every inch the player we thought he’d become in three years, three years ago. Cozens tonight went from good for a rookie, to good. That kid was made to be a hockey player. I’ve conditioned myself to not expect things like this to ever happen, but I’ll be goddamned if I don’t enjoy a moment like this when it’s here.

Gil Perreault

Joki is smooth like Hjalmar though and good both ways.

This. I certainly heard it more as "We didn't have very many options and we do think he has a skillset that might work there, with the emphasis on the first half.

That GR doesn't represent how many games left until you have to protect him. I think it's how many games left until he counts as towards the number of players you must expose. (Teams have to expose a minimum number of "NHL" vets)

Are we really so stupid that we kept a player that good on the taxi squad and in the minors? Honest question. (And for the record, Parakyo is three inches taller and 25 pounds heavier, and his least productive season in the past nine years was 17 points in 33 games as a college freshman. Borgen's most productive at any level was 15 points in 36 games as a college junior)

Could you be more specific?

It sure looks like it should go that way on paper.

I think Karmanos has stronger opinions about the way a scouting department should be constructed than he let on. But he's careful enough to do his due diligence and savvy enough to not want to make the crew he will be managing unduly uncomfortable. Comes across as a very measured dude.

I certainly hope this is not the lineup next October, but it is interesting to see how the depth chart looks including only players 25-and-under: Olofsson Eichel Reinhart Peterka Cozens Quinn Asplund Mittelstadt Thompson Bjork Ruotsalainen Pekar Dahlin Jokiharju Samuelsson Johnson Bryson Borgen UPL Portillo And you throw in a 10-pick draft that should include a top-3 selection and an extra 2nd, and our pipeline certainly looks better than it did a year ago.

While I do not want to trade Eichel, I do not, for a second, believe this is the inevitable result.

I think when it comes right down to it, this conversation comes down to whether you think Borgen is better the Ristolainen. A few will talk contracts and analytics etc. but overall it's because they believe the drop-off from Risto to Borgen next year will be negligible, if there is any at all.

To be clear, his drafting wasn't stellar after they switched to video scouting and started trading 2nds for rentals. From 98-06 he was money In nine years, he drafted 26 NHL players, 19 of them regulars: Core players: Vanek, Pominville, Miller, NHL regulars: Kalinin, Ballard, Paille, Stafford, Roy, Weber, Enroth, MacArthur Sekera, Hejda, Butler, Gerbe, Kotalik, Kaleta, Gaustad and Wideman And depth guys: Novotny, Peters, Thorburn, Janik, Zigomanis, Biega and Paetsch That's pretty outstanding, especially considering he had only 1 top-10 pick, and 7 in the top 20.

After hearing that on top of the rest of the Eichel whispers, my impression is evolving from "the Sabres will keep Eichel unless he wants out" to "the Sabres will look to trade Eichel unless he's all in."

If Linus is out for any length of time, the end of the season is going to be very painful.