Randall Flagg

If we traded Tage, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen and a 1st in 2024 for mcdavid, our roster would be Skinner - McDavid - Tuch JJP - Cozens - Quinn Krebs - Mitts - Greenway Rousek - Z - KO We would still have functional first rounders of recent drafts in Benson, Östlund, Power, Cozens, Quinn and Krebs. It would be impossible for the Sabres to "gut" themselves in any trade, even one that would be the second or third biggest trade in league history

The trade I proposed got rid of 4 or 5 first round picks, but we also added 4 or 5 excess first rounders over the last few years. The prospect pool would be completely fine and probably still better than those of most contenders. Our roster is already full and we have like 6 first rounders who aren't on it yet. The point of doing that is to use the extra pieces as ammunition. What better target is there than Connor mcdavid, in this thought experiment? "Gutting the team" are we doubling the NHL roster sizes in the next CBA or something? We are going to have to ship out piles of prospects anyway if not. Our team is completely full of young talent now, yet I read somewhere that we have the best and deepest pool of young talent behind them!

I mean, I'd gut the pipeline for those extra 2 years of McDavid when our cup window is brand spankin' new and wiiiide open.

Well pretend that you are GM for a day, and the request comes out that day. What is the best offer you can stomach sending off?

If McDavid publicly demanded a trade next April after a playoff miss or early exit, what would you offer? I would do Tage, 3 of the last 4 first round picks we made, and add another 1st or two on top of it. Would any other team beat that?

This is actually Kevyn's end game btw He's not clinging to assets to establish his reputation, or because he loves them too much, or loves the slow burn on his timeline He is getting ready to pounce when McDavid asks out 🙂

I see a lot of hall of fame talent on those Oilers teams, and Wayne never won again once he left, while the oilers won again right after he left. The current oilers roster would be a bottom 3 team if you replaced mcdavid and draisaitl with league-average "top two forward production" It's those two and then 3 4th lines, and Nuge is sometimes ok

Ryan O'Reilly

Good grief! SMH at these people!!

I'd keep UPL over adding Vladar

"safely" should have been "definitively" - they owned the spot outright AND had games in hand

That's what I'm saying. I would have to dig fairly deep in our prospect pool to find a guy I'd give up for a 1OA from 3 years ago. Because he sucks

The first prospect in our pool I'd swap straight up for Lafreniere is Kisakov

The Sabres could build a 105-110 point team if they want to. But I see mid-90s right now assuming the injury bug doesn't hit harder than average

Damn. The league better be terrified!!

What year is it

They did collapse hard enough that a 9-3-1 run wasn't enough to save a team that was safely in a playoff spot at the end of February. They nearly resurrected the corpse, but they became the corpse first by going 1-9-2. Mind bogglingly bad

I don't believe in science. And I do it for a living!

To be fair to Jack, this was a sober interpretation of reality when he was here.

Joki is definitely our 5th best defenseman. Only issue is that Boosh is not far behind and less redundant skill-wise

For what? The moment the log jam forces our hand, and the cap has long since gotten back to normal? when our leverage in any conceivable situation is half of what it is now, after a record drought extension?

Happy to admit I haven't kept up on Barkov though something could have changed there

You know that I am a guy who refuses to downplay what Jack did here and what he meant to fans. I pride myself on remembering things as they were When I tune into Vegas games because I like the guy, I simply don't see the same guy. I see a very good player who is just what Vegas needed. I don't see the guy from that January game in Boston just before the collapse, or home against Nashville that year (or the next?) and haven't seen him in a long time

Barkov played like ***** because he came back from injury to play in playoffs no? I always had Barkov above eichel BEFORE eichel's game breaking talent faded, so I will keep him there now. Jack was awesome in the finals no doubt

I left Bergeron off because I'm not sure if he's playing yet And my list FTR takes track record and trajectory into account. So I am not sure I'd put Bergeron on even if he came back because I don't anticipate him being a better player than Tage in the 23-24 season, and that's why I give matthews benefit of doubt even tho Tage was better last year All those guys are better than post-surgery jack, but he leads the next tier