DarthEbriate

Another draft pick simply for staying close to cap-compliant. Dallas is going to be kicking themselves when Jakub Konecny (for Taylor Fedun) and this pick turn into the next Gaustad and Olofsson and help the Sabres win the Cup in game 4 in Dallas in 2027 (defending their 2026 Cup where they won in game 4 on home ice, obviously).

We do it for ... a pick? A 1st maybe? from Dallas (ala Toronto paying a 1st to move Marleau) so that Dallas can sign extensions for Oettinger and Robertson now and not have any worries about the future cornerstones of their team.

I wonder if this was the part of the 3-way trade on deadline day that the 2 primary teams just couldn't get together on... and now it's beginning with Bishop news moving? But of course, Bishop didn't play two years ago and played 1 AHL game last season. The Stars are giving the Sabres something extra for this. Dallas needs all the money it can clear for Robertson's new deal.

Is there a Lesser Buffalo Sports HOF?

What kind of talk is that? To hell with Boston. And all its professional sports teams. And any willing UFA who signs with any of them. They had their chance. Now it's time for them to be has-beens and hacks for another 30 years.

^ this. There are too many perennial playoff teams (or teams who consider themselves perennial playoff teams, one of whom we'll soon be replacing in said playoffs) between 16 and 27 that would be happy to take a flier on a player with his potential. He was a top-5 pick before his diagnosis. Playoff teams give away a late 1st for a playoff rental, they'll be more than happy to nab someone who might join an ELC in a couple seasons and be inserted into their top 6 as their current playoff-caliber players price themselves out of the core. WAS, PIT, STL, MIN, TOR... I doubt he makes it through that gauntlet if the medical records look hopeful.

Loving the conversation in this thread. Now to take it slightly off the rails.... Based on who you've historically really liked (e.g., Jarvis) and those correlations (Jarvis = Imperial officer) and based on my research for my all-important "Star Wars reference" rankings (now there's a teaser!)... I'm really starting to pump up Nazar or Kemell at #9. If Nazar and Kemell are available at 9, whom do your senses and [edit: much more hockey- and stats-based real-world] research tell you to select?

I find it hard to blame Cassidy for losing all the road games to a 116-point 1st seed Carolina team in the opening round of the playoffs (even if Ullmark wasn't great in the first 2 games.) Carolina continued to win all their games at home until game 7 against the Rangers & Shesterkin.

Hall + Krueger = miss the playoffs + lottery win = Bedard. Oh! And trade for Eichel this offseason before his NMC kicks in while everyone else is on LTIR. Then LTIR Eichel down the stretch. This is the way.

But in the end, his play did match his contract. Ullmark started the season cold and we all rightfully chortled. But he warmed up and played really solidly. Ullmark also had 2 garbage playoff starts and then Swayman (who started hot, then cooled dramatically, then finished hot) carried them to the next round, so that's some recency bias. [Edit: My bad, Carolina closed out Boston in 7. So Swayman won his home starts.] Here are the regular season numbers: Ullmark 41 GP, .917sv%; Swayman 41 GP, .914sv% It can be argued as a bad contract for the Bruins, but Swayman has one more season and then RFA (where he can be bridged), so is Ullmark really blocking him? If Swayman improves and outplays Ullmark, it's win-win for the Bruins. Ullmark also finished T-9th in the NHL with that .917, where overall goaltending save percentages were lower than normal. 6th .919 Jarry, Husso; 8th .918 Saros; 9th: Ullmark, Forsberg, Stolarz; 12th .916 Vasilevskiy. Ullmark's a good and adequately compensated goalie. By comparison: Anderson 31 GP, .897sv%; Tokarski 29 GP, .899sv% We all loved Anderson and how the team played well better with him. In particular you could see (and hear, depending the broadcast) how well he communicated and directed his young defensemen. But if Anderson had saved .917 instead of .897, he'd have given up 18 fewer goals in his 31 games. That's worth several points in the standings and we're likely drafting 12th-13th right with the Isles/BJs. [Yes, yes, Boston is more solid defensively. But Ullmark rocked a steadily-improving career .912 in Buffalo, regardless of the different coaches/systems and poorer talent/possession in place before him.] The danger was always his injury-history with the 2 previous seasons being shortened by his knees. Any veteran starter in his prime is going to make $5M/year or more -- that was the going rate last summer. Whichever quality veteran starter (not Anderson, not an RFA on a trade/bridge, not a backup's contract) that GM Sheevyn signs this summer is going to make at least $5. We (and Adams) might want less term than the 5 years Ullmark signed, but who exactly would he be blocking? UPL hasn't proven anything and there's no one signed in the pipeline.

With hindsight it looks like Drury's done quite the job (an ECF appearance and Hasek-level goaltending will have that effect). I'm not accustomed to doing Rangers research and it feels a bit gross, but let's delve into the timeline anyway! 5/5/21 - Drury hired/promoted as GM [groomed as AGM for years] 6/16/21 - Hires Gerard Gallant as head coach. [Good call] 7/17 & 7/22/21 - acquires F Goodrow from TB for a 2022 NYR 7th. Goodrow is set to be UFA, but on 7/22 extends 6x$3.6M [this is a magnificent move for playoff contributor, though some might worry on the term]. Also trades F Howden to SJ for DiSimone and a pick. 7/21/21 - F Dryden Hunt 2x$762k [grit... ] 7/23/21 - Buys out D Anthony DeAngelo. [GM Gorton waived DeAngelo during the previous season for incident with G Georgiev. Per article, this was not isolated: "Gorton said waiving DeAngelo was the result of a culmination of incidents this season that was becoming a distraction, including the way the defenseman reacted to being scratched." From <https://www.nhl.com/news/tony-deangelo-of-new-york-rangers-clears-waivers/c-320927558>. Drury follows through on the buyout and getting rid of a rotten, if talented, piece.] 7/23/21 - Trades F Buchnevich to STL for F Blais and a 2022 2nd. [No indication of not liking the player/dressing room aspect here, simply clearing a player they can't extend with Fox's extension kicking in and other offseason extensions to be made. No one generally agrees with return... didn't get enough for a good offensive player.] 7/23-24/2021 NHL DRAFT: 1-16 LW Othmann (OHL), 3-65 C Grubbe (WHL), 3-75 C Korczak (WHL) [I didn't research the picks any further] 7/28/21 - Signs F Greg McKegg 1x$750k [more grit...] 7/28/21 - D Patrik Nemeth 3x$2.5M (M-NTC) [more and more grit... this "Tom Wilson fear" is getting ridiculous... who is going to score for this team now that Buchnevich is gone? Is Chris Kreider going to put up 50??? Getouttahere!] 7/29/21 - Trades 2022 3rd to VGK for F Ryan Reaves (then extended through 22-23 season at $1.75M (same as his acquired contract). [This is absurd and GM Drury is a laughing stock for his fear of Wilson and simply trying to be tougher to play against. No one can take the Rangers seriously.] Summer extensions: F Chytil (2-year bridge); D Lindgren (3 year); G Shesterkin (4x$5.6M), Zibanejad (8x$8.5M), Fox (7x$9.5M) [Can't argue with any of those in hindsight.] [And then Kreider goes off the hook and Shesterkin goes from .916 in 35 games (and some Calder votes, after super-hot "unsustainable" intro season of .932 in 12 games) to .935 in 53 games. Here's where [edit: Drury] really makes hay... the 2022 trade deadline acquisitions that essentially chase all of the offseason "grit" players out of the lineup except for Reaves, who is skating <10 min/game, [edit: and move the kids (LaFreniere/Kaako) into their proper positions in the lineup.]] 3/16/22 Acquires F Frank Vatrano from FLA for a 2022 4th 3/21/22 Acquires D Justin Braun from PHI for a 2023 3rd 3/21/22 Acquires F Nick Merkley from SJ for D Anthony Bitetto 3/21/22 Acquires F Andrew Copp and 2023 6th from WPG for Morgan Barron, 2022 1st (it was conditional 1st/2nd and conditions are met to bump it to a 1st this year - NYR won 2 playoff rounds), 2022 or 2023 2nd (WPG's choice), and a 2023 5th 3/21/22 - Acquires F Tyler Motte from VAN for a 2023 4th 52-24-6 (110 points), 2nd in Metropolitan [They've got home-ice advantage against TB's (matching 110 points but only 51 wins) in the ECF. All-in-all a really good first year as GM.]

Redford would've made a good Jedi. Also, we might just have a fun conclusion to the series in the East. Palat being playoff Palat.

Oh yes, definitely higher skill than Zemgus. But he's got that similar (locomotive?) engine that I think ends up being a solid complementary player to fill out a mid-6 role for a nice 10-year career. Though I think we'd all prefer him at 16 to 9.

That 14-15 season, wow... My "it couldn't be him, could it?" guess finished third in scoring. But the player who finished second in scoring makes perfect sense in hindsight.

I dig Kasper. The Athletic's Pronman has Kasper rated #9. Based on podcasts and not the linked article, Kasper is in top 10 not because of what Pronman thinks but because of how his contacts in the league are talking. I'm looking at who is drafting 8 and 9 and their needs --- Detroit, Buffalo. They need/crave 200-ft centers who can be a part of a young core and play the high-energy, attacking style, and basically could be plug-and-play contributors in 2023-24 (not this next 22-23 season) like an Anton Lundell. Like you, I really wish he'd be there at 16, but I'm feeling he's an Yzerman or Adams style guy. He's a Zemgus that I see as a center, not a wing. Looking close at Detroit -- they've taken a boatload of D with their rebuild picks, including sneaky good high picks on Seider (several picks higher than expected) and Edvinsson (maybe 2-3 picks higher than expected). But more to the point, they've stockpiled on recent 2nd-rounders on D. At #8, if they do sneak in a D-man that's down the ladder a bit, I could see them looking at Bichsel. Feels like a reach, but with the track record on Seider and Edvinsson, it's hard to argue with any D they take. However, Detroit needs forwards in their pipeline, particularly 2-way centers.

Bergeron status unknown. Marchand out through November. Grzelcyk out to start the season. And now add McAvoy to be out through the first half of the season (6 months https://theathletic.com/news/bruins-charlie-mcavoy-shoulder-out/WRlnWpBcZxLP/ ) with shoulder surgery. They can definitely sign a bunch of folks and LTIR these guys, but then they run the risk of having to move big contracts out to reactivate these players. And... it's one thing for a loaded TB team to lose Kucherov all season and make the playoffs. It's quite another if Bergeron retires and Marchand and McAvoy are out for half the season in a division with TB, TOR, and FLA already locking up the top 3 spots. VGK is now the cautionary tale. Maybe Boston is fine with a mini-tank season and count on Hall to win them the lottery... but I don't believe for a second they'll be bad enough to compete with the teams that will be for-real tanking hard for Bedard. Edit: But for the Sabres (and Wings/Sens/Habs too, I guess)... there's a 4th spot open in the Atlantic... if you can also stay ahead of a wild card Isles/Caps/Jackets squad.

So... a mcavoy? 😇 Definitely an option at 28 if they've already nabbed a couple forwards.

And Rosen can see it for himself as well. The Rasmuses and VO can give him guidance on the transition in gameplay and living situations. VO dominated in the SHL and still needed AHL time for the ice surface and increase in suddenness.

Nope, you're correct. To @Brawndo you must listen, not me. For timeline: Leading ROC D-scorer Redmond left 4/26/20 for the DEL. It was reported Pilut signed in KHL on 5/27 and it was confirmed he was gone 6/9/20. Now, you could argue that Pilut could've easily been given a 1-way contract as our 7D because the 7th D that 2020 season was Matt Irwin. Down in ROC, Samuelsson had signed his 3-yr ELC earlier in the spring. JBott signed Laaksonen to his 3-yr ELC on 6/15. JBott was fired the next day as part of the great purge.

Aren't you a little short(er) than your team's roster had you listed? I'm wondering if he makes it past Ottawa's pick.

I knew Hodgson led the team in scoring once and he was definitely near the lead when he was healthy in other seasons. But I couldn't tell you if that would have been the 12-13 or 14-15 season.

Counterpoint: Pilut correctly identified that Coach Krueger was garbage and that any NHL franchise for which he was head coach was a bantha poodu franchise as well as a dearth to any offensive defensemen and their future earnings potential. His leaving the team in the 2020 summer offseason was the 2nd step (actually, Zach Redmond was the first to get the hell out of here) in GM Sheevyn and Donny Meatballs confirming that Krueger could not be trusted with the future of Dahlin and any other offensive-minded player. Pilut helped save this franchise. He's been beaten out by Bryson. But for the Amerks, he's good. One engaged season and he can be a free agent. That's good motivation.

None of these are developmental: I'd definitely look at re-signing Jankowski and Malone. Heck, see the Amerks would offer a rich AHL contract to Malone. Don't forget Bjork after he passes through waivers if either JJP or Quinn make the Sabres out of camp or soon after.

Fitz is signed next season. He has to make it through waivers, but that's pretty likely as every team has a tweener or two and GMs rarely pluck each other's tweener except in COVID/injury bugs (as we did to get Wolanin, and then he immediately went back to his old team). He'd be the top-pair RHD. Ryan Johnson's camp should be clamoring for him to sign. No NHL franchise is just going to hand him NHL minutes, but here in Buffalo the only person he has to currently beat out to get to the NHL is Bryson. In the AHL he'd be able to start out battling for top pair minutes.

Contract spots and playing time. I don't want to end up with 2 goalies still on 3-year ELC deals down in Cincinnati without trade value because I felt good about them the previous years and now they've been supplanted by a new pick/someone coming up from NCAA/Europe to Rochester. Every other year keeps a full pipeline as long as I find one NHL-caliber goalie that I re-sign his RFA years. Now -- all this to say, the Sabres have nothing in the pipeline beyond UPL right now (Levi and Portillo aren't even on ELCs yet). If there's ever a stretch to draft 2 goalies in the same draft or to do a back-to-back this year and next with the surplus of picks... now's the time.