DarthEbriate

The other benefit of OK and Z on the 4th line and not playing PP time... when you bench JJP and Quinn nearly the entire 3rd period while in the lead, you finish the season with an excellent "leading after 2 periods" record. Yes, the opponents came back and tied some games and the Sabres would win in OT, but overall the Sabres were great in the 3rd last season because of the old guys. It's why I'm not keen on Kulich and Savoie both in the lineup this season -- I expect to have to protect 3rd period leads all season. This year, JJP and Quinn will play more 3rd minutes. (As will Greenway, as he's taken the minutes from VO.) But the steadiness of Z and Okposo to close out games after the high-flying attack took the lead in the 2nd is still a good thing to have.

If Jim Benning were still employed, he'd have signed Z to a 4x$3M contract. The Beagle Treatment. Girgs has been around forever, but still has his speed. He'll probably lose a step in the next few seasons, so 1-year deals are fine. But that gives others the opportunity to grow their games and frames in the meantime. One thing also we mustn't forget: Zemgus Girgensons is a phenomenal hockey name.

Precisely. Is it an overpay? Sure, but it's a veteran overpay and there's no cap issue for a couple more seasons. He's a 4W and he's better than some 4th liners in the league and worse than others. He still hustles and has the speed to outracing people to loose pucks and negate the occasional icing. He's sturdy enough to absorb damage and win board battles. Can his PK numbers get better, or will getting a full season of Levi and maybe a veteran #4D do enough on the PK without Zemgus changing a thing? I do like the signing of Zemgus for the continuity and it locks a 4W spot up so Kulich and Savoie can keep marinating and gaining strength at the lower leagues, rather than be forced into the long haul of the Sabres season and find themselves against the opposition's top forwards in the defensive zone night after night. One note: I do expect Savoie to center Z and OK early this season like Krebs got last year. It's Krebs' spot, but give Savoie 4 games between the veterans to see what he needs to do at the NHL-level while the games are still wide open.

The Amerks have rebounded well and Appert/Peca/Weber have been a big reason why. But, so too have Quinn, JJP, Ruotsalainen, Kulich, Rosen, and Rousek. As well as Subban and Houser. Taylor never seemed to trust his rookies as much, but it could be argued he didn't have the likes of Quinn, Kulich, etc. for any breakout seasons as they'd have already been in Buffalo. He got the likes of Nylander, Olofsson, and partial seasons of Mitts and baby Tage. Precisely. And the best of luck to Peca with his promotion. Perhaps one day he's promoted again and is head coach in Rochester or Buffalo. Perhaps he'll lift the Cup with the Rangers or elsewhere. It must be noted that Taylor didn't leave for an opportunity/promotion. He, his staff, and a bunch of scouts were purged for the Covid-offseason cost purposes. He later took a promotion job with Ruff and the youthful Devils have done just fine with him on the staff. (And Brunette will get all the credit for this last year, but the previous season the offensive metrics were already there and the Devils were sunk by horrific goaltending.)

The easy reason is he's not a 1st round pick. A big trade may shake this all up, but I'm still sticking with Rousek as the 12/13 in Buffalo this season. The franchise finally has the forward depth where it isn't forced to rush players to the NHL simply because they're more skilled. Now, you need to be skilled and be able to play a complete game. This should be what we want. Quinn and JJP were the last of the "don't want our kids blocked", but now JJP and Quinn are the guys doing the blocking. That's a good thing. Savoie likely gets 8 games, then goes back to the WHL because for all he's got the vision and skill, his body is nowhere near ready yet. Kulich will see time in Buffalo this season, but he starts in Rochester and belongs there this season while honing his all-around game and also growing up. Rousek is the new Hino. If healthy, he'll play 40+ games up and down the lineup. If he becomes a valuable PK guy, all the better.

OEL is not a top 4 anymore. He would be a vet minimum reclamation project as a signing, which is fine, but you don't want him anywhere near Dahlin or Power and their assignments or minutes.

It all starts with the simple conflict of interest over the taxation of trade routes.

Another team in the US Division. Fast-growing area just east of the Cascades with a lot of Seattle money. Immediate natural rivals over the pass (Everett) and down through the desert (Tri-Cities). Hope I'll get to watch Savoie more next season (because I don't think he sticks in the NHL next year, instead he'll get the Wright treatment and do NHL/WJC/AHL to build more mass) in Seattle.

If Svechnikov (and some others) are fully healthy, Carolina is a Cup-contender. Losing Pesce would be a huge blow to their team over the course of a season/playoffs. I don't think they move him. Unlike when Skinner was dealt on the expiring deal, they don't have the defensive equivalent of Svechnikov chasing Pesce down to the 3rd pairing. Because it's an expiring deal, I doubt teams would have to give up too much for him. You sweeten the deal a bit if you can do a sign-and-trade. But from Carolina's perspective, it's best to just keep him and go for the Cup again next season, then let the cards fall where they may.

They have the space at the moment, but they won't next summer when his deal is up and new deals kick in for Aho, Teuravainen, Necas, and Jarvis.

He's got size, he's got top-pairing usage as the defensive-focused guy, he's from NY state... There are other D who score more points, there are other folks who would be credited with more hits, but there are very few defensemen available who would be considered better all-around than Pesce.

Didn't and didn't. And it was all cleaned up in less than 10 minutes. It's another reason why 'Space is such an excellent place.

Isn't he a little short for a stormtrooper defensive d-man?

It's right there in the name!

A (Sabrespace) communications disruption can mean only one thing.... Admins, we'd like to all thank you in advance for taking care of this morning's mess.

If Simashev or Reinbacher is at 13 and it's believed either could reach a 2D defensive stalwart level to hang with the Dahlins and Powers of the world... the Sabres ought to take him. In 2 years, Muel will have a bunch more blocked shots on his frame (from playoff games), and all these forwards will be filling out a top 9.

Drafting Star Warsy names in the 13 range, plus a couple bonus 2nd/3rd round options: Sandin Pellikka "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and it gets everywhere. I especially don't like getting sand in my pellikka." Barlow - an Imperial officer Benson - "I don't know anyone named Ben Son, but Old Ben…is kind of a strange old hermit." Simashev - an Ithorian in the cantina Brindley - a gunner in the backseat of a T-47 airspeeder for the Rebellion But - pod racer. George Lucas plays his name for laughs. Quentin Musty - bounty hunter Wood - "What is… something you find on the moon of Endor?" Stenberg - he was in the Legislative Youth Program. He was not, however, as dreamy as Palo. Cristall - the alias of a ritzy gambler visiting Canto Bight Perron - Mon Mothma's husband Willander - a stodgy, mustachioed colonel in the Rebellion Perreault - a Rebel spy carrying valuable information. Once he uploads the data to an R2 unit… it's curtains. Reinbacher - a helmsman on the Executor (Imperial navy) Honzek - smuggler, gambler, scum... you'd like him. Yager - human A-wing pilot, but it's an A-wing with experimental superfast sublight engines. Hameenaho - a Mon Calamari X-wing pilot Leonard - boring! Moore - boring! Sale - boring! Ritchie - The younger kid neighbor on Tatooine who thinks Luke is the bee's knees. Luke is totally annoyed by him and doesn't want anything to do with him. Then, one day Luke is asked by Owen to drive Ritchie into town as a favor for the neighbors. In this 23-minute episode, Luke learns a valuable life lesson that even annoying kid neighbors can turn out to be pretty cool. Zeb Forsfjall - a Lasat. There aren't many of them left. Bonk - a boxy droid waddling around saying, "Bonk! Bonk!"

Jackikin Eichwalker and his Golden Knights in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final saying hello to the Florida kids without Tkachuk.

Overall, it's been a very entertaining hockey season.

If he's unprotected. The Sabres GM/coaching staff was still very high on TNT's potential. Super-duper hindsight says we protect: Eichel, Reino, Tage, Mitts, Dahlin, Risto (to trade), Joker, Borgen, and Ullmark. It would depend on what Seattle's leadership thought of VO, knowing he was not a defensive forward but had a lethal shot. They probably take Asplund if this is the 4+4 setup. Who the Sabres Protected in 2021: Asplund (F), Bjork (F), Eichel (F), Mittelstadt (F), Olofsson (F), Reinhart (F), Thompson (F), Dahlin (D), Jokiharju (D), Ristolainen (D), Ullmark (G) Available in 2021: Caggiula (F), Dea (F), Eakin (F), Fogarty (F), Girgensons (F), Oglevie (F), Okposo (F), Rieder (F), Sheahan (F), Skinner (F), Smith (F), Borgen (D), Davidson (D), Irwin (D), McCabe (D), Miller (D), Nelson (D), Houser (G), Hutton (G), Tokarski (G) He waived his NMC with about a week before the expansion draft knowing Seattle was staying away $9M/yr and coming off a 7-goal season.

The Sabres were in the Final in their 5th season. Just gotta cash in the chances you get.

If he hadn't already requested a trade, they'd likely have gone with his preferred surgery as the face of the franchise. They'd have seen it as risky, but he'd almost led them to the playoffs (play-in) and had gotten better year-after-year up to that point. But once he said he was out, they weren't going to risk his trade value.

That's fair. Risto turned into Hagg, Rosen, Karlsson, and the 2023 PHI 2nd still to be determined. Joker (1st rounder) had just been acquired for a 1st rounder; they weren't going to keep Borgen over that investment. They should have exposed Bjork and gone 4F-4D with Borgen, but he was the fresh new acquisition from the Hall trade and no one wants to give up on their newly traded-for piece. But then, maybe Seattle takes Skinner or Okposo and there's no 1st liner resurgence or Dad-figure? (Doubtful, it's true, because cost. But it could've happened.)

In Russia, they describe Samuelsson as the "Voorhees Township Novi".

I'm not sure it's so much a matter of suburbia as where in suburbia/boonies. It's a matter of access for the entire metro region. Arlington is smack between Dallas and Fort Worth. For Orchard Park's comparison it'd be as is <looks at map> ... Springville... was another city with 250,000 people. NE New Jersey has another 2-4M people within a short distance of the Meadowlands coming from the opposite direction of NYC. If it's centrally located and you've got population centers of 6M and 20M, suburbia isn't really an issue. If you're winning (and the tickets aren't music concert cost), then the more casual fans will show up. If you lose for 10 years, you won't have nearly as many kids asking to go to a game. You won't be able to rally a few friends to make a weeknight of it to go watch your team get caved.