DarthEbriate

Just pondering... Just pondering... Hall is on LTIR. Let's say he's really hurt and out 6 months (highly doubtful, it's going to be 6 weeks), but let's just ponder for a moment. He's got a 16-team M-NTC he would have submitted at the beginning of this season. If you're Boston's GM... do you ship him to one of the tankers or also-rans to give them the "Hall for 1st" guarantee? I'm betting the Saint Louis wasn't on his no-trade list to start the year. Vancouver? Big-market Chicago? All the others in the bottom 10 probably were on his list. Trade for Hall, guarantee yourself Bedard. Add one more guy and you've got a top line right there for a few more years! Hall finds himself right back on a last-place rebuild being overshadowed by a kid. Hall doesn't deserve nice things. Make it happen!

It's entirely dependent on Bergeron and Krejci and who they have to replace them. They're two of the best 2-way centers in the league and they're making a combined $3.5M. Take them both off the ice for a season and that team is a shell.

The Bruins aren't in cap hell. They're all in this season and only have $11M in cap space next year after the Pasta deal. Lots of bottom 6 holes to file, yes. But if they get Krejci and Bergeron for a combined $3.5M next season like they are this year, then they can still ice a perfectly good roster with a bunch of small contracts because the top 3 lines will be set. There's no reason they can't retain one of Orlov or Bertuzzi next season if Bergeron/Krejci retire or play for next-to-nothing again. Now -- once Krejci and Bergeron hang them up -- that's when we'll see what really happens there.

The Cap as a total joke is the NFL, though you do have to work in floating 5-year increments based on when you decide to apply the signing bonuses. So... the NFL cap is not the hard cap it claims to be, but it isn't a total joke. It's not 'Nam is what I'm saying: there are rules. The Concept of the Cap has only one big loophole in the NHL and that's that an LTIR player isn't out until the start of the next league year. Close that loophole and this Cap is both hard and downright vicious. Speaking of LTIR: Taylor Hall has been placed on it, thus the Bertuzzi pickup for Boston. While Hall is definitely hurt, I'm guessing it's one of those where he'll be out until exactly April 16th, but he'll be able to practice with the team (but not be cleared to play) for a couple weeks before then.

If you move Anderson then you sell the season and any chance of the playoffs. You'd need to also send Okposo with retention (for cap floor and also a higher pick in return), Girgs for... a 2nd?, and Hino... for a 5th? out immediately. edit: Check that. If you retain all 50% on Girgs you might be able to get a 1st for him as a rental. There are contenders who'd love his game and it's worth the late, late 1st and the deflation of draft picks this season. The circle would be complete: Gaustad -> 1st -> Girgs -> 1st

I hope the Sabres are awake from the start, play with urgency, play with the passion they did in their last game against Boston, and win again.

While the D is young and the forwards sometimes really struggle in their own zone and all the RJ "Not out!"s over the years... it's really come down to this. JBot and GM Sheevyn have neglected goaltending since the instant Hutton's eye was injured. Arguably since Miller was traded, but there were tank reasons to not worry about it then. As soon as Hutton's eye became an issue they needed a veteran starting goalie. Ullmark was improving and became a slighty-above-League-average starter while with the Sabres but had no backup. They let him walk. Since then it's been designed around a player that was about to retire which is a garbage plan. No pressure, Levi! (Darth Aside: Though, as the spawn of the trades of Reino Amidala and Jackikin Eichkwalker... [Princess] Levi and Tuch [Icewalker] are the destined leaders of the destruction of 2 Cups [sandwiched by a Cup-loss to Eichel Strikes Back in the Final], then another Cup and ... whatever Snoke's ship counts for... as their careers end... depending on how you interpret the sequels.)

One note: because of retention, McCabe is only costing the Leafs $2M/year each of the next two seasons. That's a fantastic deal for a guy who can be a 4 with the right partner, and excel as a 5.

A full list with some RFAs here: https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2024/caphit/all/defense?stats-season=2023 Several of the enticing ones (Dunn, Miller) will get locked up by their current teams before hitting free agency. Unlikely to find any top-4 available in UFA this summer, but there will be lots of 5/6/7 options.

11. 😇 Out of more than 2000. Listen... I'm not saying he was a contender, just that he was noted for his defensive skills as a forward and earned some votes. It's really sad that the only other Sabre to even get a vote last season for any major award was VO. 28 votes for the Lady Byng. He finished 23rd. https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/voting-2022.html But this year will be quite different.

GM Sheevyn says:

The spring of 2012 and a heroic charge to 9th. The Sabres got into 8th place with a win over the Caps with 5 games to go (knocking the Caps into 9th), then lost to PIT and @TOR to effectively end their season and miss the playoffs by 3 points. They've not gotten close to 89 points since then, but are on pace to surpass that this season.) I saw Ville Leino score 2 goals in Vancouver just a few days after that Gaustad trade. Kassian scored 1G-1A against the Sabres after being swapped for Hodgson.

Asplund finished in 19th place in Selke voting last year.

Not in my 1-0-0-4-1 five goalie defensive mastermind system. We call it the ultimate Alamo Death Star II mode.

And Moulson and Cody McCormick did.

The beauty of this is that Portillo will sign elsewhere and in a few years, LAK will trade a 3rd for him again just to make him their backup for a year before he walks in UFA again.

I know he's rumored because he's on an expiring contract, but the Kraken are in a great spot to make the playoffs and take their chances. I think they keep him and just let him walk. Otherwise they've got to go find someone to take his place.

We didn't have the 3rd until trading Portillo. That said, Gostisbehere is all offense and almost no defense. He's not what the Sabres need on the blueline.

2024 begins the Ontario Reign of NCAA Sabres-picked UFA Goalies!

D'oh. There goes my Portillo and Levi both sign and we dress 5 goalies dream. Good trade though if he's going to UFA. Heck, we could still sign him in the offseason. Now that we've got the 3rd we can trade it for Schenn. D'oh, again!

Too busy protecting this year's 1st and 2nds, likely.

Huh. Seems like the Sabres easily could've swung that and included Bryson.

If I'm ARZ, I'm getting Edvinsson in the deal. Or Yzerman can ask again in the summer or add in a few more 1sts.

++There's a big difference between mostly week-to-week and ALL week-to-week. Mostly week-to-week is slightly 8 days. All week-to-week? Well, there's only one thing you can do with all week-to-week. --What's that? ++Put him on LTIR and trade for a player with an equal cap hit for the playoffs.

They had to replace Stillman. 😇 Hronek is a very good upgrade for them. He's top-4 capable with the right partner, but would be an excellent 5/6. It's Detroit I'm a bit surprised by. Two losses to Ottawa shouldn't have caused them to abort their run, but perhaps it did. Edvinsson is LHD and needs a spot next year, but Hronek's been very steady for them. He still has a year left on his deal and is RFA at the end.