dudacek

Does that suggest they are keeping their retention powder dry for a move beyond Hall? And does the fact this was Florida suggest they aren't in on Hall?

Montour will be a better player elsewhere than he was here. Curious to see if Miller is also headed out or if that was just a maintenance thing. Botterill will not even be gone a year and his only veteran acquisition left on the team will be Jeff Skinner and his worst contract in the NHL. Jason was so, so bad.

Seems to becoming more common in the insider Tweet world. I've seen it phrased different ways, but I've seen a lot of these guys Tweet stuff like "As 1st posted by Brawndo, can confirm Brandon is popular with the wives" as a defence against accusations they are pretending to break something.

Any thoughts on the return? A 3rd or similar prospect?

How so? Is he not just crediting the person who broke it? (I'm assuming he confirmed it)

Is this significant? Has Hall been practicing since he started sitting?

I am hoping Adams might be able to leverage Hall into a good but not elite 18- to 23-year-old young player or prospect with adds, dumps and/or salary retention involved. I'm thinking another team's version of a Tage Thompson, Ryan Johnson or Rasmus Asplund? Someone like Jokiharju was when Botts traded for him? I see these teams as potentially interested in Hall: FLA, Bos, Col, Tor, Stl, Nas, Min, Edm, Mon, NYI... Maybe a Grigori Denisenko or a Tyson Jost? Is this reasonable?

I've watched three MLB games live: A Blue Jays exhibition game indoors in the dome in Vancouver in the late '80s where me and my buddies amused ourselves from the boredom of the game by making up stories about Rance Mulliniks A Mariners game 6-8 years ago in Safeco in Seattle with the wife and kids where we left early after the beautiful architecture and the King Felix bobbleheads stopped being distractions A gorgeous summer afternoon in San Diego where my young bride and I watched the Expos and Padres through a haze of sunshine and way too many weak American beers. None of the good times in any of those experiences had anything to do with what was happening on the field. There are rare occasions when the drama transcends the action and the game can become riveting. But as a spectator sport, a routine baseball game just ain't got it.

Every single player I cited was also a pending UFA. I wouldn't say I'd be "happy" with a second, but I would be OK with it. It's on the low end of the going rate. As for the rest of your post, I would hope what the other skill players are doing in the wake of Ralph's firing nudges a few cautious GMs in the right direction.

This should be reinforcing how well Ullmark has played.

You are not wrong, but you need to add Asplund in there too. It's so refreshing to see, It has been years since we've seen players develop the 'normal' way around here. Ullmark tends to get overlooked in this area for some reason, so like Stafford/Ennis/Foligno maybe? Enjoy the moment, my friend. They are too few and far between,

Man if someone told be three years ago that in the spring of 2021 Casey Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin would be driving our offence and making holy ***** plays every period, I would have said, of course — haven't you read the hype, they are two of the best prospects outside the NHL. Three weeks ago on the other hand... How could somebody coach Rasmus ***** Dahlin not to play like this? He is so ***** talented. Dustin Tokarski learned how to play goalie from watching old Mario Lessard tapes on VHS.

Somebody better versed than me will have to explain the particulars, but the short story is we don't have to use it we will be in better shape cap-wise with things like bonus payments in the future.

I don't think I'm overthinking it at all, and I've already posted I think Hall's value is a high second. Getting less than a 2nd would be a huge surprise to me. 40-point wingers go for 2nd-rounders all the time. Hall has 19 points to Palmieri's 17, as well as better analytics, a higher skill level, and a better track record. If you want to add to your top six, who else is available? Mike Hoffman isn't as good as Hall. Neither is Ryan Dzingel or Markus Granlund or Nick Foligno. Athanasiou went for two seconds last year. Pageau for a 1st and 2nd. Zucker for a 1st. Toffoli went for a 2nd, a 4th and a prospect. People got 2nds for Andy Green, Brendan Dillon and Marco Scandella and 3rds for Patrick Marleau and Ilya Kovalchuk The corpse of Eric ***** Staal went for a 3rd and a 5th this year. Hall is putting up numbers about 75 percent of last year when he got a 1st, a 3rd and two B prospects. We will have to eat salary, but we are getting more than a 3rd-round pick for Taylor Hall.

Interested in what R2 might offer. It feels like Dusty T is due for a blowout.

Gotta quarantine from Ari to NYS? How long? Also, beyond Hall, it's entirely possible that Sheahan and Rieder could be sent packing. They are both useful 4th liners on minimum contracts. Contenders frequently add those types for late-round picks for the playoffs.

Because Don and Drake are part of the Sabres plans going forward?

A lot of interesting players have cleared waivers this year. Drake ain't one of them. Minimum wage, expiring contract, small and quick, not very good, 2 goals, ...he does fit the 2021 Sabre profile. 🤷‍♂️ Seriously, a body to fill in for the guys getting traded is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Questions for the business-heads out there: Lebrun says the Islanders getting Palmieri hurts the Sabres by removing a suitor. Why? Wouldn't that only be the case if there were only two teams interested in Hall, and one was the Islanders, meaning the Sabres are left to deal with only one prospective buyer? I think it's pretty clear Palmieri was the only player out there anywhere near Hall's class in terms of rental forwards. If there are two or more teams still chasing a top-six rental forward, wouldn't the Palmieri deal help the Sabres because now they have cornered the market on supply?

Sure, but so would I.

I wasn't endorsing that line-up, just making a general comment.

This stuff fascinates me. it is pretty clear that Dreger is being fed info by Darren Ferris in order to get some of Hall's preferred destinations to step up. It is also clear that Lebrun is being fed info by a leading Hall chaser, trying to pressure Adams into taking what's on the table now.

Skinner Eichel New Guy Olofsson Reinhart Cozens Asplund Mitts Tage Zemgus Lazar Kyle ...looks a lot better than it did a month ago, with Cozens and Reinhart shifting according to whatever position/style new guy is.

Edmonton and Toronto. And kudos to Adams if he can get those top two northern teams bidding against each other.

I am the opposite I put Hall's value at somewhere between pick 30-40. If Adams gets better than that I'll be quite happy. If he gets a pick in the 50-60 range, plus a small sweetener, I'll be mildly disappointed, but accept it as the best the market had to offer. I hope Adams can get creative, like Fitzgerald did with Palmieri, but it's pretty easy to put myself in a GM's shoes and decide that the player I've been watching this year isn't worth a 1st.