DarthEbriate

UPL hasn't even played excellent hockey at the AHL level yet. It'd be criminal for him to be on the Sabres roster next season for anything short of multiple goalie injuries and a late-season call-up to get a preview to compete as a backup in 2022-23. He needs 50 more starts, minimum, before consideration for NHL backup time. COVID-shortened seasons, the creation of the taxi squad, and the loss of the ECHL threw this entire team's development of goalies completely out of a whack.

The cap is flat, but when it goes up, it's going to be like looking at a Death Star vs. a Starkiller Base. Nice. The TNT deal replaces the entirety of the NBC deal. ESPN is 400M of entirely new money. And as you point out, helmet ads are here to stay. Division names are silly, but profitable. A few more logos here and there. Plus Honda, Enterprise, and the advertisement revenues of both streaming and live TV. The continuing bump of new Vegas and Seattle revenue. And when the Olympics come back --- team USA might be really good, which will at least temporarily provide a spike in interest. I think we'll see the cap get over $100M/season by 2025-26. Once they get the debts of last year and this year paid off, it's going to get silly. At the end of its term, Skinner's contract will still be terrible, but not unmovable.

Please, please, please... someone make the respectable, analytics- and eye-test-driven case for protecting Okposo and Eakin. I want to be entertained today.

It also begs the question... why would LA give up all that high-potential, cheap talent to get when they have many more holes in the lineup? They just finished their tank. They have been working for years to get all the old (albeit Cup-winning) core and its reward contracts off the books. Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick, and Drew Doughty are the only rough contracts remaining. Kopitar's is high, but fine. Adding Eichel makes them better, but it doesn't make them an immediate contender with all the other holes still to fill? Plus, LA's GM would never taken on another 10M salary without getting rid of Quick or Brown (or maybe Doughty). It'd be like if we went back in time 5 years. We've just tanked. Our lineup is garbage, but we have Eichel and we have Sam. And along comes Tampa Bay and says: "Hey, we'll trade you 8M/year Stamkos who's been injured a bunch already, but boy oh boy, can he shoot the puck. You know, when he's healthy. We want Eichel, Reinhart, and 2 more picks." But then go back to our post-tank garbage lineup. Put Stamkos on it. Great, it's better. Now take away $6M in additional salaries because it was near the cap, and then take away Jack and Sam. There are still gaping holes everywhere in the lineup. Stamkos and ROR are going to be good, but that's not a good roster, and worse -- what about the chunks of every season when Stamkos isn't on the ice?

There. I did it again. I turned off the game tab and ... y'all are yelling Samson. I'm gonna pull a Wedge. "I'm hit. I can't stay with you." Y'all go blow up the Death Star without me.

I'm endangering the mission, I shouldn't have come. Every time I come back to the game from the yard, I watch a Rangers goal. Meanwhile, I go away, and we score.

Perhaps not Scheifele level, but in those final 2 years of Eichel's deal (28-29 years old, still putting up 70+ points/season barring injury, lots of PP time) I think everything is trending toward a cap above 100M. A wave of players (many on bridges now, plus anyone who negotiates here during the flat cap should be doing Hall-like 1-year deals) is going to get paid. 10M will be the new 7M and we'll see 50 players with higher salaries than Eichel. The TV contract cash flood is coming. Heck, because it's the Reinhart thread, in 2 years if Reinhart puts up 70+ point seasons and... wham... he won't be the biggest name on UFA, but he could still get more than 10M because that'll simply be the going price for any first liner. It'll simply be the going rate for a guy like "Ryan Johansen" to pull an 8M guy from the current list.

Well... that was pretty. Bad for us, but that was awfully pretty.

My argument is not about 10M/year. It's the total cap. Eichel's currently at 12% of the cap, but once the cap starts going up, it's going to go way up. My guess is Eichel's contract is going to be in the 10% range by 2024-25, and likely even further when we get to 2025-26. We're headed for a very high cap (and still only 50 contracts, and very low AHL/ECHL contracts by comparison to what the top players are going to get).

Absolutely. He should go 1 year from us, get to UFA, and then look for one more 1-year deal at whatever he can get comparable. Something like a $7 this year, a $6-7 next as a mercenary... and then... look out! Because the GMs and agents and players all are going to see the writing on the wall. It's like Crosby signed his massive 8.7M deal. Next thing you know, he's not even the highest paid on his team and is a bargain leaguewide. Well... in 2023-24, McDavid is going to be on a contract comparable to Crosby's. Eichel is going to be a bargain. (Skinner's contract will still be garbage, but Okposo-level garbage.)

Wow. Normally I can kind of keep up with the rosters... But between COVID protocol lists, taxi squads, and the usual AHL/NHL injury attrition, the Amerks lineup is like the opening montage of Major League (oh my... I need to watch that movie. I've not seen it in a long time. [a long time.]) Barfly: Ricky Vaughn? Brandon Hawkins*? I haven't heard of most of them. Brent Gates*... Junior? Construction Worker: Who are these f-----' guys? Groundskeeper: [in Japanese] They're ------. *no offense to Brandon and Brent. I'm sure they're talented and motivated hockey players. Just not in the Sabres pipeline.

I don't think Reinhart should agree to an extension beyond 2 years because we can't (nor can anyone else with the flat cap) pay him what he'll be able to get as a UFA when the cap bumps back up. He's been underpaid for his production his entire career. He's only going to get one big contract and we can't afford to give him 8/9 this year. No one can. But --- the ESPN deal, the other US deal, the Canadian deal, fans coming back, and Seattle expansion influx, sports gambling getting legalized in more states, advertisements on helmets and more... the cash is coming in 23-24. Sam will be 28. It won't be a long contract necessarily, but it will be his only chance to truly maximize. There is a risk for him to not lock up now, as he could be injured, and he also has to compete with the Cozens of the world who'll be eating up that cash at the same time. But Reinhart stays healthy consistently and is savvy. Some great young talents are going to wash out or get injured along the way, and bad old contracts like Okposo's will disappear across the league. And then the cap will explode and someone will completely reset the market and the money will get stupid.

Fun list of names, and while I agree Seattle should overdraft on defense and then trade them off like Vegas did --- they won't go this far in the D direction. Bleacher's list as compiled is 5 million over the cap and has 13 D and only the minimum 14 F. I agree some of those are the best players available to take from the team, but they've also got to be traded and quickly. And that's where we lose Borgen v. Miller. Or Bjork/Asplund/Thompson whichever is exposed. And if I'm a GM and want a Devon Toews for example... I'm also patient until Seattle comes down on their trade demands for the D. They can't leave themselves over the cap. And they definitely won't be able pass good folks through waivers if other teams are able to manage their caps this summer.

Were JBot the GMTM... Two things are clear: The stockpiled defensemen would be 2 years further along and we still would have traded a 3rd for Vesey.

R 2 the! Ruot 2 the!

Reino, you can't peel away until the whistle blows. Keep jabbing, sir!

No Bergeron helps. But now Boston is going to push -- let's push back. Break it open for Young Ukko

Wooooooooooo!

Glad UPL got the Miller Shutout out of the way early. Now... Marchand is the hottest goal-scorer in the league. Thompson -- you're bigger and stronger than him. A stick lift is fine once... but then please clear him to the boards. Marchand was allowed to just stand and whack away.

I'm just going to call him by his name Ukko-Pekka, Ukko Ukko, Ukko-Pekka Ukko Ukko ahhhhh, aha aha ha. I can't stop this feeling! (you'll thank me later) I Luukkonen feeling! I'm high on believing! In three years you'll be a great goalie... ^ No... This is what it is like to be on drugs.

Yeesh, too young. Rest in peace. (I always think of Parliament, particularly the Trombipulation album because I rarely ever listen to it, when hearing Digital Underground)

We also need to learn to stay in front of the net and be ready for rebounds. Because... that was too easy. Marchand's too. Gotta be willing to be there for when a rebound happens. OK --- time for dinner. I think it's safe to say this one is over. G'night, Spacers!

You beat me to it. Well... the first half of the statement anyway. 🍺

Goaltending is the difference in this game (and yeah, the powerplay, too). But tonight they've gotten the saves and we have not. Not to say there aren't a lot of other things we'd like to see (grit, shoot the puck, etc.), but the goaltending is night-and-day difference in this one.

Neither am I, given the injuries. A healthy Ullmark is a middle-of-the-pack starting goalie, even on this team. On a good team, Ullmark is a very solid NHL goalie.