Curt

Its true. I think Risto is not very good at making quality outlet passes though. Even compared to some of his fellow Sabres defensemen.

I'm not understanding your logic on this. Why is adding Gardiner a sign that Risto's trade value is very low?

That’s a huge part of what defense is. Getting the puck out of the defensive zone.

-Thompson isn’t a C. When is the last time that he played C, high school? -ERod and Vesey both can play RW, and have in the NHL on a semi regular basis. ERod does well at C too. Thompson and Sheary I think can also play either side. -LW(Skinner, Olofsson, Sheary, Girgs, Nylander) -RW(Reinhart, Vesey, ERod, Okposo, Thompson) -C(Eichel, Mittesltadt, Larsson, Sobotka? ERod? In my eyes, C is the real think holding the team back.

Based on the frequency of offer sheets in general, I would say it probably wouldn’t happen regardless. Also need to keep in mind that signing Point to an offer sheet means that Point has to agree to and sign it. An offer sheet is something that a team does along with a player, not something that a team does to a player. He has to decide that he would like to leave Tampa and come to Buffalo. That in itself is pretty unlikely at the moment.

To me it seems clear that the biggest weakness in the lineup is a quality middle-6 C. I’m not hearing much for rumors about any being available in trade. In UFA the only one that looks interesting is Johansson. Does anyone else have any ideas about where a good middle-6 C could come from?

It’s the same reason that no one likes Kevin Hayes! ?

Ah, ok. Yes, maybe 4 years from now in order to not lose him for nothing. That’s possible.

I would be a little surprised if Aho was traded. 1) He can’t be traded in the next calendar year. 2) He is due to make something like $21M in that 1st calendar year. So after the first year, Aho’s contract will actually be rather cheap. Doesn’t really help to trade him at that point. He’ll be owed only about $21M over the last 4 years.

24 goals, in 57 games I don’t know if he will be successful in the NHL or not, but his KHL production, and size, is pretty close to Panarin at the same age.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. His name has 6 K’s, but it’s a really terrible nickname and I’m never going to use it. Should just call him Ukko (Finnish Thunder God=badass)

5x5 would be quite a bit for Johansson, but there is nothing stopping Buffalo from acquiring but him and Gusev. That’s not really an either/or situation, they play different positions.

Winnipeg for sure needs D. Lost Trouba and Myers. Has interesting F’s and needs cap relief. That’s my #1 target.

Except Vesey didn’t say Buffalo sucks. He decided that he wanted to play for the N.Y. Rangers, that’s all.

That’s an interesting idea. Kerfoot offer sheet.

Yeah, you are right.

I think the benefit is that Rochester will be a good hockey team. Thus, the prospects will come up through a positive, competitive environment.

Totally agree with the overall ideology of this. Patience is needed, even if Buffalo fans are all out of it. Regarding the bolded. One thing that may help Risto’s trade value is that he is signed for 3 more seasons, as upposed to 1 for Barrie. Agree that 2C’s generally do not come cheap. Botterill is going to be on the lookout for a good value buy opportunity. Mittelstadt at 2C does not fill me with confidence, but it may be better to start the season with that than overpay in term/salary or in trade assets.

I like that he goes to the areas around the crease and can put it in the net. I think he would do well with a playmaker who can create some danger around the net. Seems to be a bit of a liability in the defensive end though. Looks like a guy who could do well on a middle six line that is going to be put in a lot of offensive situations. Only signed for one year, but only gave up a 3rd for him, so that’s very reasonable.

Haha. Florida got a bit better next year, and probably a lot worse 4 years from now.

You know it’s been about 8 hours since free agency started and there are 2+ months before next season begins? I doubt Botterill is thinking he is all set. Maybe give it a couple weeks. Everyone agrees that the team needs a better Center to really be competitive. It doesn’t need to be relitigated every day. It would seem that Botterill is going to be patient with this and look for that value acquisition. To your actual question: I don’t think those forward lines look great. Probably would have a tough time making the playoffs with that. They probably need to add a #2C, just like yesterday.

Details on Capfriendly. Kadri, Calle Rosen, 2020 3rd for Barrie(salary 50% retained), Kerfoot, 2020 6th.

It’s gotta be Kadri to COL.

If their young players needed a Dad, they should have signed a grizzled vet to play on the 3rd line and act as a billet family for $3M or something. They wouldn’t have had to give up a 1st just to ditch him 2 years later. That’s just my opinion though. Maybe I’m wrong and the Marleau contract and subsequent cap dump was an amazingly smart series of events.

Exactly. He would say the same thing about Kevin Porter or Danny O’Regan.