3putt

How is being the most productive player on the team since his arrival being the weed?

Actually it does. Hall was the exact wrong piece to acquire if you wanted to make a positive difference. So was stall with other younger FA available. Hall on a one year deal way above market rate was the perfect poison pill with no consequence the following year.

Sounds like KA is being the dick. I think TPegs got taken by a con man. Again.

Jack always spoke glowingly of the Pegs. KA has gotten a GM fired, that GM’s coach fired, and TPegs consolation prize to tune out completely. The people I know in Chicago with league ties think he is a weasel. But that is neither here nor there. He is the architect of your new Buffalo Sabres.

Agree. And I find the logic that this is somehow good baffling. The same people who brought this situation to this level are still calling the shots. Why does everyone think it will somehow turn out differently?

If they could they would.

No he doesn’t get better. He is the same player being gifted minutes due to no alternative. He is what he is at this point. He isn’t getting any more aware on the ice. If anything he is getting worse.

Asplund is a good hockey player. Thompson has skills not often seen in a player of his size. He is mentally challenged when it comes to seeing the ice and making the right play. He is not a good hockey player. But either or both should be bait for a better player that can play a full 82 games above NHL replacement level.

But this is true of any deal. Trade Dahlin and you will get assets that may make you better in 2 or 3 years. Sam, Cozens, Mitts. It is the same calculus. Trading more certainty for less with the beta being future profit.

In a few years? Possibly. Next year. I have my doubts.

But this assumes that what we have seen the weeks without him is good enough. I do not. They were playing in a no pressure environment with nothing to lose and still would not have been good enough to make the playoffs. Upgrade the roster by all means but start with Skinner, OK Risto Eakin and the goaltender(s). If you want grit, send VO and TT somewhere for a player. I simply do not believe the return everyone assumes will transform the roster will be much different than that form the ROR deal. We made that trade for the wrong reasons and it was exploited. I think the reasons people want to use to rationalize the move are approaching that line of thinking.

Not at all. If the Oil want to send us Connor or the Leaves Matthews you listen. What I do not understand is the consternation that a pending trade clause forces anyone’s hand. You keep your best players and work on replacing worse ones. If you can upgrade do it. I simply do not see many scenarios where the team is better without JE and with more, different and almost certainly lesser players.

But I ask why are we as consumers accepting a longer timeline than start winning next year? That won’t happen with futures. I have advocated that the issue is not JE it is the black hole of 15M in the bottom 6. And we are willing to accept 3 years of waiting for it to go away. It can be fixed sooner. It will be expensive and many will not like the cost, i.e. their favorite shiny toy being moved. But it can be done. KyA has to sit down with Skinner and say look, you are not part of the solution. My options are to sit you in the press box for two years until we can buy out your deal while I open a roster spot for an elc to fill your role. In two years you can try and get TO to sign you, but that is unlikely because you haven’t played a minute in two years. Or you can work with me on finding another solution. It can be done. But it seems a vast number of people resigned to the fact that we need to wait and rebuild while the recency bias of the last 30 meaningless games is either validated or lands us in the same position 3 years down the road.

But all of this is presupposed on a very big if. He wants to win. We want the team to win. If it is apparent that this team can win, why would he want out? Trading him is simply buying an inexperienced gm 5 years to show he was the wrong choice to begin with. If there was one thing to support the idea that they, management, is still spinning its wheels and the decision tree has not been fixed it was the fact KA was not allowed to replace the coach when he was hired. If he was and did not then I could see a scenario where Jack approaches Terry and says it looks like YOU want to move in a different direction and I will play ball. I simply do not believe JE is the type of player who will not try and give it all no matter where he is. It is not in his nature. When healthy he produces. The conversation seems to be a culture war. “I like this player” or “ this kid will be a beast.” But the only known is that JE was in consideration for MVP on a shyte team. And management wants to get rid of that?

Disagree. Jack has no leverage. If he doesn’t play he doesn’t get paid. Period. He is not going to throw that kind of money out the window. He can ask but then the leverage is in the teams hands, i.e. waive your clause. This idea that he can demand anything and even wants to is in the minds of fans and pundits who most likely have not even spoken with him.