WildCard

So we have Cozens, Mitts, and R2 in the entire pipeline of centers for the Sabres? Good god

I did find it interesting that the Sabres have a Dr (surgeon) on staff, that works with the Bills and Sabres and has done this procedure, and are still against it. That doesn't mean Dr.Cappuccino is against it, but they've undoubtedly received his opinion from him and are still against it.

See the Eichel thread.

'[Speaking of motives] Dr.Cappuccino hasn't spoken, or the Sabres doctors haven't spoken...I didn't think it was fair to comment on their motives' It's really hard to figure out what Friedman is talking about here...I can't tell if he's saying he doesn't know Cappuccino's motives, or if they literally haven't talked.

Dumping this all here since it covers a wide variety of topics, but here are Friedman's notes from his 31 Thoughts Podcast: https://podcast.sportsnet.ca/31-thoughts/heres-32-thoughts/ Pacific - Ducks : Bob Murray, very patient. Teams hear no, no, no, then he'll randomly say yes. Anaheim asked for Sabres #1OA pick, quick no from Buffalo. Friedman would be very surprised if they go all offseason without doing something, been too quite. Might do a deal like Chicago did with Seabrooke with their Kessler contract. They're willing to get creative and do some things that are new. - Flames : Made a team filled with Sutter-like players. Still thinks Calgary is looking around like the Ducks. - Oilers : Thinks they'll regret moving Ethan Bear. Doesn't think their goalie situation is done yet. Sabres were rumored for Koskinen. - Kings : Rebuild is over, FA period proved it. Outbid NYR for Denault. - Sharks : Still looking for moves, Kane was best player last year status throws them in flux. - Kraken : Beat Colorado to Grubauer with term. Won't be any easy games against them, very physical roster. - Canucks: Deeper, better. Hughes and Pettersson contracts will be very important; can't sign long term because they don't have the cap space to do it. Good AHL depth. - Vegas : Good for both Vegas and Fleury to move on; they didn't trust him in goal, he didn't trust their on ice decisions with goalie position. People in the organization weren't happy with picture his agent posted last year with a sword in Fleury's back, they didn't forget that. Sabres - Vegas is aggressive, if they see someone good they go after him, i.e. Pietrangelo. Until Eichel is somewhere else, Friedman will always think Vegas sees Eichel as a great player they can add. Central - Coyotes : 'Pain for Shane (Wright)' brought up, Friedman - 'That's Arizona and Buffalo'. Thinks this is the right time to rebuild. Went for it under Chayka, didn't work. - Blackhawks : Chicago is going for it. Friedman - Had a couple lawyers tell him, there will be a lot of people (i.e. victims) that will feel more comfortable coming forward with potential depositions if the report the Blackhawks are doing internally is kept private, something to consider when debating releasing the report. - Avalanche : Landeskog wanted to be an Avalanche, and he wanted to win. On if Colorado was a stealthy team for Eichel: They could do it, but the cap wouldn't make it work. - Stars : There's a chance they could move a goalie. Concerned if Bishop will be able to play, hence getting Holtby. Took a run at Getzlaf. - Wild : Needed 3 D-men going into the offseason, filled all of those spots. Wanted Foligno, didn't get him. Looked at Bogosian and McCabe; Friedman is very happy for McCabe. Guerin needs to deal with Kaprizov and Fiala, and Eichel. Friedman really doesn't think they're done here, says just like Anaheim he doesn't think it's over. If they don't get Eichel, Boldy and Rossi will likely get playing time with the Wild. - Predators : Preds usually make moves late, doesn't think they're quite done just yet. - Blues : Bring in Saad at good value, and Buchnevich; latter dealt from NYR because they knew he was leaving. Tarasenko is the other big question mark in the NHL right now, the other being Eichel. Somebody in St.Louis, likely the agent, is lobbing media bombs to get him out of there every few days or so. St.Louis is doing the same as Buffalo, holding strong until they get the deal they want. Interesting comparable. Thinks Tararsenko to Islanders maybe. - Jets : Liked what they did so far. Thinks they try and move Sami Niku. Metro - Hurricanes : (Jokes?) acquiring ex NYR is their big thing right now. Owner is big on putting values on players and refusing to go past it. Hamilton and this offseason is a big test on if that approach works or not. Still thinks this team is good, love Ethan Bear. - Blue Jackets : Werenski contract reminds Friedman of OEL in Arizona, have to do it for credibility of franchise; A) we'll pay B) people want to stay here. Lot of people didn't think they could keep Werenski; teams called, they were determined to keep him. This is where analytics miss, not understanding the intangibles (fans, organizations, perceptions, player mentalities) on keeping a guy like Werenski. - Devils : Wanted to breath some life into their franchise (Hughes draft pick, and Hamilton). Have looked into Tarasenko; some teams, including NJ, aren't crazy about his health. NJ isn't done, looking for a winger. - Islanders : Friedman's theory is Lou Lamoriello is trying to trade for someone (possibly Tarasenko) and he hasn't resigned players because he doesn't want anyone to know how much cap he has. He thinks Palmeri, Parise, and Cizikas are all signed, but Lamoriello is willing to wait months to keep teams in the dark. - NYR : Thinks Tom Wilson was a factor for Reaves, but he also thinks the Islanders pushing them around was a factor too. They have some big decisions to make with existing players on their teams on what/whether to pay them or not. Thinks they were in on Denault. Doesn't think they're remotely close to done. - Flyers : Probably take a run at signing Hart long term. They're gambling on coaches, players being much better on defense this year. They wanted people caring more during play/about winning, sighted Ristolainen and Atkinson as 'high care guys'. - Penguins : Friedman thinks they've been trying to move Marcus Pettersson. - Capitals : Ovechkin is not too much term to give up, as far as Friedman is concerned you can never pay him enough based on what he's meant for that organization. Thinks he wants Gretzky's record. Doesn't think they're going to be able to move Kuznetsov. Atlantic - Bruins : Ullmark was really, really, surprising, makes you wonder about Rask's future. Need a 2nd line center. With Krejci gone and Bergeron having 1 year left and getting older, Friedman wonders if they're looking around the league looking for a #1 center. - Sabres : Did the interview with the doctor on the neck procedures, says people reached out after and educated Friedman on insurance and how the surgery goes that he hadn't thought of and wishes he asked in that interview. The Sabres and Bills share a Dr.Capaccuino that has done these neck procedures before. That Dr. and Eichel's camp have not spoken yet. How much does the Peter Fish note move an Eichel trade along? Sentiments don't surprise anyone, Eichel just wants the process to be over and wants to get the procedure done on if he can do it. Russo (Wild) commented on Friedman's interview and said the Wild will let him make that decision. Eichel's camp probably knows that. Eichel is mad, but Sabres are mad too by being pushed. He thinks the Sabres have that line and will not move at all; if they would, he'd be gone already. 'Sports are very alpha. You have to be able to handle intimidation, and be willing to intimidate. Sabres are looking at this as a test to that' (paraphrased). Believes he's eventually traded. Sabres will look for more vets, and goalie help. Thought Anderson would retire, he's there to mentor really. They're looking to fit pieces around kids that will play. They want Mitts and Cozens in big roles. They want to evaluate Mittlestadt. - Reg Wings : Yzerman is building, still a long term play. - Panthers : Bennett and Montour are good deals. Spencer Knight will likely be starter, with Bobrovsky splitting. Would like to have Chara. Believes they're trying to sign Barkov. Reinhart could be anywhere between 7 years, $6.5-7.5M per year. - Canadiens : Savard really wanted to go to Montreal. Hoffman and Montreal flirted last year, couldn't move Tatar to make room. Denault gone makes Suzuki's role much different/harder, because now he's a 2 way guy instead of the scorer he was. - Senators : Friedman believes they challenge for the playoffs. Surprised Dadanov didn't fit there. Wonders if they go after a veteran on a short term contract. - Lightning : Likes what they did this offseason. Biggest question is how are they going to replace the Gourde, Goudreau, Coleman line. - Leafs : Maple Leaf players sense mentality around organization is they want to ramp up urgency on the team, won't even be easy to make the playoffs in this division. 4 teams for 2 playoff spots, that's tough. The organization is really trying to convey if they don't accomplish something this year, there will be changes.

Posted the rest of the notes in the Around the NHL thread about every other team, but here's the Sabres (Eichel only portion, rest on Buffalo is in the Around thread) portion on Friedman's 31 Thoughts podcast: https://podcast.sportsnet.ca/31-thoughts/heres-32-thoughts/ - Sabres : Did the interview with the doctor on the neck procedures, says people reached out after and educated Friedman on insurance and how the surgery goes that he hadn't thought of and wishes he asked in that interview. The Sabres and Bills share a Dr.Capaccuino that has done these neck procedures before. That Dr. and Eichel's camp have not spoken yet. How much does the Peter Fish note move an Eichel trade along? Sentiments don't surprise anyone, Eichel just wants the process to be over and wants to get the procedure done on if he can do it. Russo (Wild) commented on Friedman's interview and said the Wild will let him make that decision. Eichel's camp probably knows that. Eichel is mad, but Sabres are mad too by being pushed. He thinks the Sabres have that line and will not move at all; if they would, he'd be gone already. 'Sports are very alpha. You have to be able to handle intimidation, and be willing to intimidate. Sabres are looking at this as a test to that' (paraphrased). Believes he's eventually traded.

Which is fine if that's what you like. Personally while NCAAF moments are great for those few games where some unranked team knocks off Notre Dame, that happens so few and far between it can't match the consistency of a good game the NFL will put on. Also, now with the NCAAF playoffs, those upsets matter a lot less. Notre Dame will still make the playoffs even if they're upset once.

Jets have to make the playoffs first 😉 The NBA couldn't be further from this. It is, by far, the professional league with the least parity. True dominance is what the NBA is all about.

How can having too much parity be a bad thing for any sport? I'll tell you right now the CFB playoffs and title game. How is that better than the NFL where any team in the playoffs can realistically win the Super Bowl?

Where are you seeing that?

It's not an old story, and the guy isn't really a source. It's a joke on the internet to take absurd template stories like that and fill in the names of different players to troll/rile up fans on different forums.

Is BuffaloNill just shitposting copy pasta then? Like the marine story?

I really, really doubt Eichel said any of that. His interactions/involvement in the community have pointed to the exact opposite of that response to fans.

You mean people would do that? Just go on the internet and...lie? That's crazy

Seems likely they weren't. I'm still in the camp of if you can't get a prospect of that level back, you keep Eichel.

Wonder if some sort of 3-way deal between Sabres, Wild, and Montreal can work where we end up with Rossi, Montreal gets Jack, and the Wild get a ton of prospects.

Still not sure what Montreal could offer that would rival Rossi, Zegras, or Krebs.

I'm not trying to argue with you lol I just literally don't care about how much he's paid. You're quoting me in a discussion in which I'm not concerned about at all with his pay and responding with the contract details. I am talking about the reasoning reported by the Buffalo News for why he wouldn't go 6 years: ”Ullmark, for example, signed for four years in Boston and reportedly wanted six from the Sabres, a scenario that would have severely impacted the development curve and playing time of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the team's top prospect goalie.”

Again, I'm not discussing, at all, if the contract is good or not. If it was 6x5, or it could have been 6x1, and that still wouldn't be what I'm discussing.

I wouldn't pay Ullmark that, but that's not what I'm discussing in the quote I took from SDS. Adams explanation is simply the term, not the cost, and only because it affects UPL/other goalies potential playing time years down the line, not because of Ullmark's injury history.

I'm not sure how two extra years does that to UPL. Just bench Ullmark. Or if you're that upset about potential playing time for an extremely unproven goalie prospect 4 freaking years from now, trade Ullmark when the time comes. That is an insane reason to not sign him. Honestly I don't believe it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BuffaloVogl/status/1420852313196007433 Former teammate weighs in in Jack the leader

You want...what this team? Trying very hard to think about what that bleep could be